Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/56

 tunnies); but the same fish which is usually called [Greek: thynnos], the Attic writers call [Greek: thynnis].

67. But as to the thunnis, Aristotle says that this is the female, differing from the male thunnus in having a fin under the belly, the name of which fin is the "ather." But in his treatise on the Parts of Animals, he again distinguishes the thunnis from the thunnus; saying, that "in the summer, about the month Hecatombæon, it drops something like a bag, in which there are a great number of small eggs." And Speusippus, in the second book of his Similitudes, distinguishes the thunnis from the thunnus; and so does Epicharmus, in his Muses. But Cratinus, in his Pluti, says—

For I'm a thunnis, a melænas, or A thunnus, orphos, grayling, eel, or sea-dog.

And Aristotle, in his treatise on Fishes, says that the thunnis is a gregarious fish, and also a migratory one. But Archestratus, who is so fond of petty details, says—

And then the thunna's tail, which I call thunnis, That mighty fish, whose home's Byzantium. Cut it in slices, and then roast it all With accurate care, strewing on nought but salt, Most thinly spread; then sprinkle a little oil; Then eat it hot, first dipping it in brine. Or if you like to eat them dry they're good; Like the immortal gods in character, And figure too; but if you once forget, And vinegar add to them, then you spoil them.

And Antiphanes, in his Pæderastes, says—

And the middle slices take Of the choice Byzantian tunny, And let them be neatly hidden Under leaves from beet-root torn.

Antiphanes also praises the tail of the thunnis, in his Couris, where he says—

A. The man who's country bred likes not to eat Food from the sea extracted; unless indeed It comes quite close in shore. Such as some conger, Some ray, or tunny's                             B. Which part of the tunny? A. The lower part. B. Well, you may eat that safely. A. All other fish I reckon cannibals. B. Do not you eat those fish with the ugly backs? A. Which? B. The fat eels which haunt Copais' lake.