HALIEUTICA, III. 4.82-501 



Yea, and the Grey Mullet,** albeit he is no glutton,'' 

 thev vet deceive by clothing narrow hooks with bait 

 mixed with flour and gifts of curdled milk." There- 

 with they knead also the sweet-smelHng herb of 

 mint. Mint, men say, was once a maid ^ beneath 

 the earth, a Nymph of Cocytus, and she lay in the 

 bed of Aidoneus ; but when he raped the maid 

 Persephone from the Aetnaean hill, then she com- 

 plained loudly with overweening words and raved 

 foolishly for jealousy, and Demeter in anger trampled 

 upon her -with her feet and destroyed her. For she 

 had said that she was nobler of form and more 

 excellent in beauty than dark-eyed Persephone and 

 she boasted that Aidoneus would return to her and 

 banish the other from his halls : such infatuation 

 leapt upon her tongue. And from the earth sprang 

 the weak herb that bears her name. Mint, then, 

 the fishers mingle with the bait which they put 

 upon their hooks. And in no long time the Grey 

 Mullet, when the odour reaches him, first approaches 

 the hook distantly and regards \\-ith eyes askance 

 the snare ; like to a stranger who, chancing upon 



says : " On amorce aussi simpleraent avec de la pate de 

 pain melee avec du fromage pour lui donner un peu 

 d'odeur." Cf. A. 391 a 18 6 5e /ce<^aXos xai 6 Kearpivs SXwj 

 fxovoi ov aapKo<(>ayoi'ffiv' ffijfiuov 5^, oCre yap iv rj Koikiq. xwtot' 

 ^XOi'TCT €i\ijuu4voi (id ToiovTov oiiSev, oUTe SeXeari xpQi/rai vpbi 

 avTovs ^i^uv (xap^iv dXXd nd^rj. 



** Strabo 34-1- irpos tu S' iariv 6pos tov VLvXov -rXrjffiov tTiovv/iov 

 Miv0r]t, fjv fivdevovffi iraWaKr]v tov At8ov yfvofj^vrjv vaT-rjdelca.v 

 inrb TTJi K6/>7;j tii rrjv Ktjiraiav pdvdrjv pLfra^aXuv, rjv riva 7}8vo<Tp.ov 

 [Mentha viridis, spearmint, Theophrast. H.P. vii. 7. 1] 

 «caXoO(Tt ; schol. Nicandr. Alex. 375 Mjc^t; Ai5ou xaXXa/c-Jj oCtw 

 KoKovfUvr], ijv Sifcrxdpa^fv rj Ilfpff€<p6yri. i<p' tj tt)v ombw/xov iroav 

 aydSwKtv 6 AiStjs ; Ov. ^[. x. 7-28 an tibi quondam | Femineos 

 artus in olentes vertere menthas, j Persephone, licuit ? 



387 



