II] OF ASSES 197 



to be found in Sicilian waters, and the *'helops"* 

 in the neighbourhood of Rhodes, that these fishes, 

 of the same quality and size, exist in every sea. 

 3 Of asses there are two kinds, the one wild, called 

 '^onagri," such as are found — many flocks of them 

 — in Phrygia and Lycaonia, the other tame, as are 

 all those of Italy. The *' onager"^ is suitable for 



the great rival of Cicero, loved a lamprey so much that he 

 wept when it died ! 



* Helops. Pliny (ix, 17) says that this fish was the same as 

 the acipenser (sturgeon?), "which was the most famous of all 

 fishes amongst the ancients," and that it was the only one the 

 scales of which turned towards the head (unus omnium squamis 

 ad OS versis). Varro {tTri ry Ta<py fivpov) calls it m,uUinummus^ 



Nee multinummtis piscis ex saJo captus 

 helops ; 



but in Pliny's time it was not of much account, rare though 

 it was — nuUo in honore est . . . cum sit rarus inventu {loc. cit.). 

 Columella (viii, 16, 9) says that it fed only in the depths of the 

 Pamphylian Sea (Gulf of Adalia), which is a couple of hundred 

 miles from Rhodes, though in the same latitude. Non enim 

 omni mart potest omnis esse, ut hehps qui Pamphilio pro/undo 

 mc alio pascitur. 



^ Onagrus. The Geoponica (xvi, 21) repeat this statement 

 of Varro. Columella (vi, 37), however, seems to contradict it 

 indirectly, for, speaking of the progeny of a he-ass and a mare, 

 he says : '' Neque tamen ullum est in hoc pecore aut animo aut 

 forma praestantius quam quod seminavit asinus. Posset huic 

 aliquatenus comparari quod progenerat onager, nisi et indom- 

 itum et ser\itio contumax, silvestris more, strigosum patris 



Ipraeferret habitum." He goes on to speak of the onager's 

 swiftness and strength, and recommends the breeder to put 

 r—- 



