Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/84

 114. Then there is the sparus. Icesius says that this is a more juicy fish than the sprat, and more nutritious than most other fish. And Epicharmus says, in his Hebe's Wedding,—

Neptune then arives himself Laden with most beauteous nets In the boats of fair Phœnicia, Then we all do spari catch. And scari too, that sacred fish, Whose very dung may not be thrown away.

And Numenius says, in his treatise on Fishing,—

The sparus or the hycas fond of company.

And Dorion mentions this fish, in his treatise on Fishes.

115. There is also the scorpion. Diocles, in the first book of his treatise on Wholesome Things, addressed to Plistarchus, says—"Of fresh fish, the following have drier meat: the scorpions, the sea-cuckoo, the sea-sparrow, the sargi, and the rough-tail. But the mullet is not so dry as these are; for all fish which keep near the rocks have softer flesh." And Icesius says—"There are two kinds of scorpion; one of which lives in the sea, and the other in marshes. And the one which lives in the sea is red, but the other is rather black. But the sea-mullet is superior to the other, both in taste and in nutritious qualities. But the scorpions have purging qualities, are easy of secretion, very juicy, and very nutritious; for they are a cartilaginous fish." The scorpion brings forth its young twice a-year, as Aristotle tells us, in the fifth book of his Parts of Animals. But Numenius says, in his treatise on Fishing,—

The phycides, the alphestes, and besides The red-flesh'd scorpion, and the black-tail quick, Which guides the perch all through the stormy sea.

But that he is a fish which has the power of stinging, Aristotle tells us, in his book about Fishes or Animals. And Epicharmus, in his Muses, says that the scorpion is a variegated fish:—

The variegated scorpion, the grayling, The fat and well-fed lizards.

The scorpion is a solitary fish, and feeds on seaweed. But, in the fifth book of his Parts of Animals, Aristotle speaks of scorpions and scorpides in different places; but it is uncertain whether he means the same fish; because we ourselves have often eaten the scorpæna and the scorpion, and there is no