380 



ON THE PLACE OF FISH IN 



The later 



value. 



General 



inferences. 



Athenaeus and the numerous authorities he quotes 



shows that fish was a rec g nised article of diet> 



anc i that the greatest care was taken in the se- 

 lection of the best and most digestive species for the 

 table. 



More than forty kinds are enumerated as eaten by 

 the Greeks. Among the shellfish were oysters from 

 Abydus, mussels from JEnus, and cockles from 

 Messene, which were eaten raw, but on account of the 

 amount of salt water they absorb, which rendered 

 them indigestible, Mnesitheus, the Athenian, recom- 

 mends their being boiled ; the reason he states being 

 that when boiled they get rid of all, or at all events of 

 most, of their saltness. Of the sea-fish eaten we find 

 mention of tunny, turbot, mullet, char, and conger 

 eels as most in favour, while pike, eels, and gray- 

 ling represent the freshwater fish. The great fond- 

 ness of the epicure for fish is illustrated by an anec- 

 dote preserved to us by Athenaeus. Philoxeus of 

 Cytheras, learning from his doctor that he was 

 going to die of indigestion, from having eaten too 

 much of a most exquisite fish "Be it so," he 

 exclaimed ; " but before I go allow me to finish the 

 remainder." 



So far as we can gather the history of fish-eating 

 among the Greeks seems to have been this : the poor 

 always used them as the many streams and countless 

 bays and inlets of the irregular coast furnished them 

 in abundance. The wealthy who relied on their 

 herds and flocks for food, despised fish till in the 

 later period of fastidious luxury the daintier kinds, 

 or those which could only be obtained at trouble and 

 cost, became fashionable delicacies. Those who 



