AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



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cocks. The peacock was a constant dish at all the great 

 entertainments. It was the truffled turkey of those days. 



Hirtius Pansa, who had the ill luck to give a feast where 

 this indispensable article did not appear, was reckoned a 

 niggard, a man without taste, and was ever after scorned by 

 delicate feeders. In those aviaries thrushes and pigeons 

 were bred. It seems, too, there were then the same fan- 

 cies as there are at present. Certain varieties were much 

 sought after. Varro relates that a couple of pigeons brought 

 2000 sesterces, about 19/. of our money. Sempronius 

 Lucius first had served on his table young storks. Geese 

 were crammed in the same manner as now to enlarge their 

 livers; but it was a dish too easily obtained, and soon those 

 who wished to distinguish themselves invented new sorts 

 of meat. They dressed the brains of ostriches, and the 

 tongues of flamingos. Wild geese were sent for from Phry- 

 gia; cranes from Melos; and pheasants from Colchis. 



Fishes. — As to fish, luxury went even farther than in 

 birds and quadrupeds. At one period of the republic, a 

 man eating a fish would have been thought shamefully dain- 

 ty. But the severity of manners disappeared on the intro- 

 duction of riches; and Cato complains, that in his time, a 

 fish sold as dear as an ox. Yet, even then, Gallonius was 

 publicly accused in the senate, and was nearly deprived of 

 his rank, on account of the luxury of his table, having had 

 sturgeons on it. The inventor of fish-ponds was Lucinius 

 Murxna, and thence came the surname which was after- 

 wards borne by this family. 



Hortensius followed his example, and even went beyond 

 it. Very soon, it was not enough to have fresh-water fish, 

 for salt-water ponds were formed, in which were bred sea- 

 trouts, soles, John Dories, and shell-fish of difierent kinds. 

 Lucullus, in order to let in sea-water to one of his preserves, 

 had a mountain cut through, and from this extravagance was 

 deservedly called Xerxes Togatus. At his death there 

 were so many fish in his ponds, that Cato of Utica, who 

 was trustee on the succession, having ordered them to be 

 sold, received for them the sum of 32,000/. sterling. The 

 sale of the fish-ponds of Irrius yielded the same price. 

 Caesar wishing, on a particular occasion, to give a feast to the 

 Roman people, applied to this Irrius for some lampreys. 

 Irrius refused to sell any, but, according to Pliny, agreed to 

 lend him six thousand. Varro says only two thousand. 

 The object then was, who could be most absurd about lam- 

 preys. Hortensius had some of which he was more careful 

 than of his slaves, and not for the purpose of eating them. 

 Those served on his table were bought in the market. He 

 is said to have wept on the death of one of these fish. Cras- 

 sus, the orator, in a like case, went farther, — he put on 

 mourning. His colleague Domitius chid him for it in the 

 senate; but all this was no-thing compared to the deeds of 

 3Y 



Claudius Pollio. He more than once threw in living men 

 to be devoured by his lampreys. 



Other fish were equally the object of prodigality of which 

 we can hardly form a conception. The accipenser was 

 generally sold for more than a thousand drachmas. It was 

 never set on the table without a flourish of trumpets. The 

 accipenser was not, as it would seem, the ordinary sturgeon, 

 but the sterlet, a small species with a pointed snout, caught 

 in the rivers that fall into the Black Sea. The mullet, or 

 roach of Provence, called in Paris the sun-mullet, was also 

 sold excessively dear. A mullet weighing four lbs. fetched 

 £37; another £Q2. Three together, in the reign of Tibe- 

 rius, were sold so high as £250. These fish used even to 

 be brought alive to the dining-room, by canals filled with 

 salt-water which passed under the table. The fact is un- 

 doubted, and is attested by the invectives of Seneca. 



Snails and Oysters. — Singular attention was likewise 

 paid to snails. The same Fulvius Hirpinus, who had 

 thought of parks for quadrupeds, contrived parks for them 

 too. As snails could not be retained by inclosures, the 

 places in which they were kept were surrounded with water. 

 Jars of earthen-ware were set for them to retire into, and 

 they were fattened with mulled wine and flour. Pliny says 

 there were some of the weight of 25 lbs. Those that grew 

 to this size were certainly not Italian snails. But we know 

 that snails were likewise brought from foreign countries, as 

 Africa and Illyria. 



The man who first showed the way of making oyster-beds 

 was Sergius Aurata. He, like Lucinius, derived his sur- 

 name from a fish, the John Dory. The preserver of the 

 Lucrine Lake had for a long time the character of produ- 

 cing the best oysters. Next to them were those of Brun- 

 dusium. At last refinement was carried farther; and the 

 oysters of Brundusium were taken to be parked in the Lu- 

 crine Lake. 



Fruits. — It appears that fruits were less sought after then 

 than they have been since. The only new fruit introduced 

 at this time was the cherry, which Lucullus brought from 

 Cerasus, a town in Asia Minor, sixty-nine years before 

 Christ. 



Perfumes and Dress. — The luTLUTjin perfumes was be- 

 yond measure, and drew to Rome the most costly aromatics 

 of the East. The luxury of dress was equally great, and 

 made known purple, pearls, and precious stones. At one 

 time there was quite a rage for opals; and one individual, 

 rather let himself be prosecuted, than give up to Sylla a 

 very fine one the dictator desired to have. 



Furniture. — The dominion of fashion extended equally 

 to furniture, and raised the value of certain kinds of wood 

 to an enormous amount. For a while the citrus was pre- 

 ferred. The tree thus named was not the citrus of Theo- 



