BOOK IX. Lxxix. 169-LXXXI. 172 



likewise — not to carry out this census of the larder 

 to its conclusion. The coasts of Britain were not yet 

 in service when Orata used to advertise the fame of 

 the products of the Lago Lucrino ; but subsequently 

 it was deemed worth while to send to the end of 

 Italy, to Brindisi, for oysters, and to prevent a 

 quarrel between the two deUcacies the plan has 

 lately been devised of feeding away in the Lago 

 Lucrino the hunger caused by the long porterage 

 from Brindisi. 



LXXX. In the same period the elder Licinius FishpoMs. 

 Murena invented fishponds for all the other sorts of 

 fish, and his example was subsequently foUowed by 

 the celebrated record of Phihp and Hortensius. 

 LucuUus had built a channel that cost more than a 

 country house, by actually cutting through a moun- 

 tain near Naples and letting in the sea ; this was why 

 Pompey the Great used to call him ' Xerxes " in 

 Roman dress.' After his decease the fish from this 

 pond sold for 4,000,000 sesterces. 



LXXXI. The first person to devise a separate Lamprey- 

 pond for lampreys was Gaius Hirrius, who added to ^°" 

 the triumphal banquets * of Caesar lampreys to the 

 number of 6000 — as a loan, because he would not 

 exchange them for money or for any other commodity. 

 His less than moderate country estate was sold by 

 its fishponds for 4,000,000 sesterces. Subsequently 

 affection for individual fishes came into fashion. At 

 Baculo in the Baiae district the pleader Hortensius 

 had a fishpond containing a lamprey which he fell 

 so deeply in love with that he is beheved to have 

 wept when it expired. At the same country house 

 Drusus's wife Antonia adorned her favourite lamprey 

 with earrings, and its reputation made some people 

 extremely eager to visit Baculo/ 



279 



