THE MURjENAJ 
S r 
HifcdiSitcly from the net into the boat, where they laid 
hold of the head with a forceps, rubbed its l'nout againfl: 
i'ome hard fubftance to deftroy its teeth, and beat it on 
the tail, where the life was fuppofed to lie*. That the 
principle of life, among eels iti general, is placed in 
the tail, is itill a prevalent opinion ; and when taken, it 
is not by beating the head, but the tail, that the fifher 
endeavours to deprive them of animation. 
Poifonous as the bite of thefe animals may be^ and hi- 
deous in their external figure as they certainly are, yet 
thefe circumftances did not prevent the luxurious citi- 
zens of ancient Rome from adding them to the endlefs 
lift of delicacies with which they pampered their appe- 
tites f . This fpecies, the bafl'e (Lupus), and a kind of 
mullet (Myxo), formed that pride of Roman banquets* 
the tripatimam ; fo called, according to Arbuthnot, from 
their being ferved in a machine of three bottoms J. 
The flefh of this animal mull: be various, according to 
the manner in which it is fed ; it is faid, however, to 
be in general white, tender, and of an agreeable flavour^. 
It was reared with much care in the filh ponds of Italy, 
and fold at a high price ; of its eftimation among the an- 
cients, we have full evidence in all the dailies, that have e'u 
ther praifed good eating, or ridiculed gluttony. A fenator 
«f Rome, whofe name will be tranfmitted with infamy to 
pofterity, was highly complimented for the delicacy of his 
hauroente. ligcllinus, Manucius, and all the celebrated epi- 
M 3 cures 
* Plinii Hift. Nat. lib. 3a. cap. a. 1 
+ Pliny, Ovid, Juvenal and others. 
} Atque lit luxu quoque aliqua concingat audtoritas figlinis Trifatinam , 
Paincftclla apellabatur , fumma cjenaium kutitia : Una erat Mura, 
“'rum, altera Lnporum, tenia Myxonis pifeis. Plinii Hift. Nat. lib. 5$, 
■* 4 P- 1 a. 
*> CVillougb. lib. 3. f>. 164, 
