Ill] OF FISH-PONDS 347 



Those of the one kind, in which water is supplied 

 to our home-fed fishes by the river Nymphs/ are 

 kept by men of the people, and are profitable 

 enough; while the other sea-water ponds which 

 belong to the nobles, and get both water and 

 fishes from Neptune, appeal more to the eye than 

 to the pocket, and empty rather than fill the 

 owner's purse. For they cost a great deal to build, 

 a great deal to stock, and a great deal to feed. 

 3 Hirrus^ used to make 1 2,000 "^ sesterces (;^96) a 

 year out of the buildings round about his fish- 

 ponds — and spent every penny of it on food for the 

 fishes. And no wonder, for I remember he lent 

 on a single occasion to C. Caesar 2,000 ' lampreys 

 by weight, and that his villa fetched four million 

 sesterces (;^32,ooo) when sold, owing to the great 



' Lymphae. Keil in both editions writes this word with a 

 small Ir.itial letter. It seems much better to write it with a 

 capital, for the sake of the antithesis between the Lymphae 

 and Neptune. Varro has already (i, i, 6) mentioned Lympha 

 as a goddess : Nee non etiam precor Lympham ac Bonum Eveiu 

 turn. 



^ Hirrus. Cf. ii, i, 2. 



' Duodena milia. Cf. note, iii, 16, 11. 



* Duo milia. Pliny (ix, 55) has six thousand: Murenarum 

 I'iifarium privalim excojifitavit C. Hirrus ante alios qui cenis 

 triumphalibus Caesaris Dictatoris sex milia numero murenarum 

 mutuo appendit (Varro's mutua inpondus dedit). Nampermutare 

 quidem pretio noluit aliave merce. Hirrus would accept no 

 payment in money, but stipulated for the return of the same 

 weight of lampreys. Macrobius (ii, 11) repeats Pliny's state 

 ment and adds the detail that Hirrus's villa was not very big 

 {quamvis non amplam aui latum). 



