200 THE EEL OF ANTIQUITY. 



taste, and the continual revolutions of the culinary code, 

 the eel has maintained a just celebrity.* 



The Egyptians worshipped eels, and so did the Greeks, 

 but in a different way. " Your idol is likewise my idol," 

 exclaimed Antiphonus, a Greek epigrammatist, who nour- 

 ished about 100 B.C.; "but I don't worship him in the 

 same manner : you Egyptians reverence him as a deity, I 

 adore him in a dish ! " " The Egyptians," remarked an- 

 other profane wit, " are right in esteeming eels above 

 their other divinities ; for the latter can be gained to 

 one's side only by prayers and vows, while the former you 

 secure for a few drachmae." The best eels were eagerly 

 sought after, and almost as many countries contended for 

 this distinction as cities for the honour of having given 

 birth to Homer. The Macedonians asserted that none 

 could equal theirs ; Sicily protested that hers deserved 

 the pre-eminence, especially those which came from the 

 neighbourhood of Syracuse ; Phrygia put in a claim for 

 profit and laudation ; so did the rivers Euclen and Eloris, 

 and the Thracian Strymon ; but it seems to have been 

 admitted that the finest and fattest came from Bceotia. 

 The Boeotians were not unthankful for their good fortune. 

 They crowned their eels for sacrifice, threw over them the 

 usual salted cake, and offered up a devout prayer to the 

 gods ; after which, we may suppose, the priests and their 

 attendants enjoyed a glorious banquet. 



If the finest eels came from Bceotia, the finest Boeotian 

 eels came from Lake Copais ; they were sent in consider- 

 able quantities to Athens, where they found a ready sale. 

 Pausanias says :t " The fish of this lake differ not in 



* Badham, "Ancient and Modern Fish-Tattle," p. 369. 

 t Pausanias, bk. ix., c. 24. 



