OO FISHERIES OF THE ORIENTAL REGION, 



says: — "The masters in gastronomy inform us that the Mullet 

 when dying assumes a variety of colours and succession of shades, 

 and that the hue of the red scales, growing paler and paler, 

 gradually changes, more especially if it is looked at enclosed in 

 glass. M. Apicius, a man who displayed great ingenuity in all 

 that related to luxury, states that it is a most excellent plan to 

 let the Mullet die in the pickle known as the ' Garum 

 Sociorum ;' "* for we find that even this has found a surname ; 

 and he offered a prize for anyone who should invent a new sauce 

 made from the liver of this fish. I find it much easier to relate 

 this fact than to state who it was that gained the prize. 



In Book XX., chapter 23, treating of garlic, he says that it is 

 a remedy for leprosy when reduced to ashes and applied as an 

 ointment with oil and garum. 



Horace refers to Garum in the 8th Satire, line 46. This 

 poem, as most readers will remember, relates the particulars of 

 the supper given by Nasidienus to Maecenas, Horace, and some 

 of his friends. In the conversation a contemptuous description 

 of the fare is given, with ridiculous comments from the host by 

 way of making every dish pass for something extraordinary. 

 Speaking of a lamprey he says : — 



" His mistum jus est oleo quod prima Venafri 



Pressit cell a, Garo de succis piscis Iberi, 



Vino quinquenui, &c ;" 

 Or, this sauce is of the primest Yenafrian oil mixed with 

 Garum, made from the juice of Spanish fish, five-year-old wine, 

 <fec." Commentators vary in their interpretation of the passage. 

 Some say that the Garum was a juice or pickle of certain fishes 

 called Gari which were suffered to dissolve in salt. It is, how- 

 ever, a gratuitous assumption that there ever were such fishes, 

 and if there were it is hard to believe that they were so very soft 

 as to let themselves be dissolved in brine. It is difficult to 

 reconcile this with any kind of evolution which made them salt- 

 water fishes. 



* Bostock and Riley translate this expression as " Garum of the Allies," 

 but I prefer to leave it as it is, regarding it as a popular name for the 

 sauce in question. 



