118 



THE SWORD-FISH. 



THE SWORD-PISH. 



wonder he was formerly called " the Emperor." * It 

 might well be supposed that he exercised a kind of im- 

 perial authority over the inhabitants of the deep. The 

 ancients seem to have regarded him with a curiosity 

 which had something of terror in it; and we find Sophocles 

 exclaiming : 



Ap* OVK 'E/8H/V9 TOUT' e^aA/cei/cre i<|>os 

 ...... Syp-iovpyos a*yptos. 



What Erinnys, or what evil-doer, 

 Armed thee, Xiphias, with thy pointed sword? 



His temper is as keen as his weapon. He is the most 

 quarrelsome of ocean monsters, the most pugnacious of 



* He may also have been designated "imperatore," in allusion to his power- 

 ful weapon ; the Roman imperators, in their pictures, being always repre- 

 sented sword in hand. 



