FISHES. 577 
his triumphs, distributed six thousand among his friends. _ Licinius 
Crassus was celebrated among wealthy Romans for the splendour of 
his eel-ponds. They obeyed his voice, he said, and when he called 
them they darted towards him in order to be fed by his hands. The 
same Licinius Crassus, and Quintus Hortensius, another wealthy 
Roman patrician, wept the loss of their murznas on one occasion, 
when they all died in their ponds from some disease. This, however, 
was only a matter of taste, passion, or fashion, sometimes, however, 
accompanied by cruelty and gross corruption. 
It was thought among the Romans that mureenas fed with human 
big. 370.— Lhe 5ea-bei (Muraena neiena). 
flesh were the most delicately flavoured. A rich freedman, named 
Pollion, who must not, however, be confounded with the orator of 
the name, had the cruelty to order such of his slaves as he thought 
deserving of death, and sometimes even those who had done nothing 
to excite his anger, to be thrown to them. On one occasion, when 
he entertained the Emperor Augustus, a poor slave who attended had 
the misfortune to break a precious vase; Pollion immediately ordered 
him to be thrown to the eels. But the indignant Emperor gave the 
slave his freedom, and, in order to manifest his indignation with 
Pollion, he ordered his attendants to break every vase of value which 
the freedman had collected in his mansion. 
In the present day sea-eels are little esteemed in a gastronomic point 
of view. Nevertheless they are still sought for on the coast of Italy, 
and the fishermen avoid with great care the bites of their sharp teeth. 
LL 
