414 ON THE PLACE OF FISH IN 



it ever has been, an object of injury to those who 

 indulge in the luxuries of the table, so that it became 

 a proverb that those who caught it never knew the 

 taste of it ; but to obtain it in its perfection it ought to 

 be in the hands of the cook within a few hours after it 

 has been taken out of the water. The ancients were 

 aware of this, and it was something more than curiosity 

 which led the Romans to produce living fish on the 

 table for the inspection of the guests, before they de- 

 livered them to the cook. Seneca tells us they were 

 scarcely valued unless they died in presence of the 

 guests. 



In no article of luxury does it appear that the 

 Romans of the Empire went to such extravagant and 

 even ridiculous extent as in regard to this fish. 



Stone Bass. They form an excellent dish at table. 



Red Mullet. Lucullus is sufficiently known for the great expense 

 he was at in forming his ponds, . . . and yet he was 

 blamed by Hortensius for want of care in allowing 

 his fish to remain in what he considered an unhealthy 

 situation. 



Martial has an epigram on one who sold a valuable 

 slave, that with the price he might for once thus 

 indulge himself and be talked of, although, in fact, he 

 gave his guest little else to eat. Under these cir- 

 cumstances the price might be expected to be high. 

 A Mullet of 2 lb., each pound 12 ozs., was expected to 

 bring its weight in silver. This value, however, was 

 often exceeded, and specially when the fish had grown 

 scarce in their own waters, and in consequence were 

 sought for on the distant coasts of Corsica and the 

 south of Sicily. . . . Juvenal speaks of a single Sur- 

 mullet as having obtained the price of almost fifty 



