Chap. 81.] PEESEBTE8 FOB MUEENjE. 469 



more recently hit upon, of feeding the oysters of Brundisium 

 in Lake Lucrinos, &mished as they must naturally be after so 

 long a journey. 



CHAT. 80. TTHO WAS THE FIESI INTENTOE OF PBESERTES FOK 



OinEB PISH. 



In the same age, also, Lieinius Murena^ was the first to 

 form preserves for other fish ; and his example was soon fol- 

 lowed by the noble families of the Philippi and the Hortensii. 

 Lucullus had a mountain pierced near Naples, at a greater out- 

 lay even, than that which had been expended on his villa ; 

 and here he formed a channel,^ and admitted the sea to his 

 preserves ; it was for this reason that Pompeitis Magnus gave 

 him the name of " Xerxes in a toga." " After his death, the fish 

 in his preserves was sold for the sum of four million sesterces. 



CHAP. 81. (55.) WHO rtrVENTED PBESEHVES FOE MUEBN.*. 



C. Hirrus^ was the first person who formed preserves for 

 the murena ; and it was he who lent six thousand of these 

 fishes for the triumphal banquets of Caesar the Dictator ; on 

 which occasion he had them duly weighed, as he declined to 

 receive the value of them in money or any other commodity. 

 His villa, which was of a very humble character in the interior, 

 sold for four millions^ of sesterces, in consequence of the valu- 

 able nature of the stock-ponds there. Next after this, there 

 arose a passion for individual fish. At Bauli,*" in the territory " 



® He was the first of this family, a branch of the Licinian gens, who 

 bore the snmame of Mnrena, from his love for that fish, it was said. He, 

 like his &ther P. Licinios, attained the rank of prstor, and was a contem- 

 porary of the orator, L. Crassos. 



2« "Enripum." 



^ "Xerxen togatnm," or " the Soman Xerxes," in allnsisn to Xerxes 

 cutting a canal through the Isthmus, which connected the Peninsula of 

 Mount Athos with Chalcidice. See B. ir. c. 17, and the Note, ToL i. 

 p. 300. 



^ Probably the same person as the C. Hirrius Posthnmius, who is 

 mentioned as a voli^tuary by Cicero, De Fin. B. ii. c. 22, } 70. Varro 

 speaks of him, as ezpendmg the rent of his houses, amounting to twelve 

 millions of sesterces, in bait for his murenae. 



29 This is, probably, the meaning of " quadragies " here, though it has 

 been translated 400,000. 



3" See B. iu. c. 9. 



