THE GTJENAED GffiOUP. 169 



was made as well of this fish as of the grey mullet^ and 

 of raphanus (horse-radish) in ' raphanidosis/ the punish- 

 ment awarded to adulterers by the Athenian executive. 

 The grey ^mullet, or Kea-Tpeix;, derived its name from a 

 short thrusting Persian instrument of war, which it re- 

 sembled in shape and was made to resemble also in func- 

 tion ; ' quod pisce isto teli modo in anum immisso pub- 

 Hoe poenas luerent adulterii/ a practice to which there 

 are several allusions in the Latin poets, sufficiently re- 

 markable to quote, but insusceptible of translation : 



Necat hie ferro, secat ille cruentis 

 Verberibus, quosdam moBobos et mugilis intrat ;* 



and again in Terence : 



Quern attraotis pedibus patente porta 

 Percummt rapbanique mugilesque. 



A like employment was made of the present fish, the 

 scorpsena : crKopirlo's oil nraxxru 76 crov itpwierov inreX- 

 Oeiv.f From the very different amount of suffering in- 

 flicted by these difierent agents, it is apparent that the 

 same crime was looked upon with very difierent eyes by 

 the legislature : the gravity of the punishment being 

 proportioned to the rank of the adulteress, and the last 

 the worst of any, ' ut nempe ex raphano poenas darent 

 qui cum plebeia aliqua mcechati essent ; mugilem vero, 

 si cum honesta aliqua matrona; scorpio denique ex- 



prsestant per antipathiam, ut Tiperanun oaro morsm viperajnun 

 medetur. Terreus scorpius ietibua suis remedio est ; sic muUus 

 marini draconis. Aranei ao gcorpionis iotibus medetur, si orudus 

 atque dissectus loco admoveatur.' — ^From this passage it would 

 appear that Rondolet was half a legitimist and half a quack ia 

 physic, and that, like some modem medicasters, 



' Without the least offence to either. 

 He'd freely deal in both together,' 

 when it served bis turn. 

 * Juvenal. t Aristoph, 



