VIVARIA. 35 



to take up his parable^ and to enucleate to the client 

 his future destiny. 



We have not succeeded in finding any notices of Greek 

 vivaria^ but a very noble one was constructed by the in- 

 habitants of Girgenti in Sicily, for the tyrant Gelon : this 

 was a reservoiTj according to Diodorus Siculus, of many 

 miles in circuitj and very deep, fed wi\h. fresh water, and 

 stocked with fish. There can be no doubt, from this and 

 from Moschon's account of Hiero's ship, which we sub- 

 join, that the Sicilians, at any rate, were used to breed 

 fish in preserves. The following are a few of the par- 

 ticulars recorded in Athenseus, of this interesting vessel. 

 She was built at Syracuse, under the superintendence of 

 Archimedes, and intended for the transport of corn ; the 

 timber felled on the sides of ^tna for the purpose, was 

 sufficient for the fabrication of sixty common galleys. 

 When Hiero had collected all the necessary planks, 

 nails, cordage, pitch, and other materials for his pur- 

 pose, he brought his artisans together, and set them to 

 work. Archias was the master builder; three hun- 

 dred carpenters, without counting helps, worked night 

 and day at the sides. When the wooden walls had 

 been reared to half the intended height, the hulk was 

 launched by Archimedes himself, and the building 

 finished on the water. She was a three-decker, and had 

 twenty rows of rowers ; the floors in aU the rooms were 

 mosaics, exhibiting a series of subjects taken from the 

 Iliad, wonderfully executed,; there was a gymnasium and 

 an English flower-garden, a treUised vineyard and ave- 

 nues of trees, to shade the walks on deck ; an aphrodi- 

 sium, inlaid with a rich assortment of Sicilian agates 

 and cypress panels; an academic saloon, a library, ten 

 stables on each side the gangway, and cribs, all along 

 the ship's sides, for grooms, harness, and accoutrements. 

 This wonderful ship contained moreover, near the prow, 

 a large reservoir, made of planks, weU caulked and 



