Chap. 72.] 
WHO FIEST INVENTED AVIARIES. 
531 
laying snares for it ; nor, indeed, is it a bird that is any longer 
known to exist. It will be better, therefore, to confine my re- 
lation to those the existence of which is generally admitted. 
CHAP. 71. (50.) WHO FIRST INVENTED THE ART OF CRAMMING 
POULTRY : WHY THE FIRST CENSORS FORBADE THIS PRACTICE. 
The people of Delos were the first to cram poultry ; and it is 
with them that originated that abominable mania for devouring 
fattened birds, larded with the grease of their own bodies. I 
find in the ancient sumptuary regulations as to banquets, that 
this was forbidden for the first time by a law of the consul Caius 
Fannius, eleven years before the Third Punic War ; by which it 
was ordered that no bird should be served at table beyond a 
single pullet, and that not fattened ; an article which has since 
made its appearance in all the sumptuary^ laws. A method, 
however, has been devised of evading it, by feeding poultry upon 
food that has been soaked in milk : prepared in this fashion, they 
are considered even still more delicate. All pullets, however, 
are not looked upon as equally good for the purposes of fatten- 
ing, and only those are selected which have a fatty skin about 
the neck. Then, too, come all the arts of the kitchen. — that 
the thighs may have a nice plump appearance, that the bird 
may be properly divided down the back, and that poultry may 
be brought to such a size that a single leg shall fill a whole 
platter.^ The Parthians, too, have taught their fashions to our 
cooks ; and yet after all, in spite of their refinements in luxury, 
no article is found to please equally in every part, for in one 
it is the thigh, and in another the breast only, that is es- 
teemed. 
CHAP. 72. WHO FIRST INVENTED AVIARIES. THE DISH OF 
^SOPUS. 
The first person who invented aviaries for the reception of 
all kinds of birds was M. Lsenius Strabo, a member of the 
equestrian order, who resided at Brundisium. It was in his 
time that we thus began to imprison animals to which JS'ature 
had assigned the heavens as their element. 
(51.) Eut more remarkable than anything in this respect, is 
s Those called Orc?iia, Didia, Oppia, Cornelia, Antia, and Julia namely. 
^ Eepositoria. See B. xxxiii. c. 49. See also E. ix. c. 13. 
M M 2 
