The very highest position among all valuables belongs to the pearl. It is principally the Indian Ocean that sends them to us. Across many a sea, and over many a lengthened tract of land, scorched by the ardent rays of a burning sun, must the pearl seeker pass, amid those monsters so frightful and so huge which we have already described. The places most productive of pearls are the islands of Taprobana and Stoïdis, and Perimula, a promontory of India. But those most highly valued are found in the vicinity of Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, which forms a part of the Red Sea.
The origin and production of the shell-fish is not very different from that of the shell of the oyster. When the genial season of the year exercises its influence on the animal, it is said that, yawning, as it were, it opens its shell, and so receives a kind of dew, by means of which it becomes permeated; and at length small, hard bunches form in its shell, in the shape of pearls, which vary according to the quality of the dew. If this has been in a perfectly pure state when it flowed into the shell, then the pearl produced is white and brilliant, but if it was turbid, the pearl is of a clouded color also; if the sky should happen to have been lowering when it was generated, the pearl will be of a pallid color; from all which it is quite evident that the quality of the pearl depends much more upon a calm state of the heavens than of the sea, and contracts a cloudy hue, or a limpid appearance, according to the degree of serenity of the sky in the morning.[142]
If, again, the fish is satiated in a reasonable time, then the pearl produced increases rapidly in size. If it should happen to lighten at the time, the animal shuts its shell, and the pearl is diminished in size in proportion to the fast that the animal has to endure: but if, in addition to this, it should thunder as well, then it becomes alarmed, and closing the shell in an instant, produces what is known as a physema, or pearl-bubble, filled with air, and bearing a resemblance to a pearl, but in appearance only, as it is quite empty, and devoid of body. Those which are produced in a perfectly healthy state consist of numerous layers. It is wonderful, however, that they should be influenced thus pleasurably, by the state of the heavens, seeing that by the action of the sun the pearls are turned of a red color, and lose all their whiteness, just like the human body. Those which keep their whiteness the best are the pelagiæ, or main-sea pearls, which lie at too great a depth to be reached by the sun’s rays. Those pearls which have one surface flat and the other spherical, opposite to the plane side, are for that reason called tympania, or tambour-pearls. I have seen pearls still adhering to the shell; for which reason the shells were used as boxes for unguents.
As soon as the fish perceives the hand, it shuts its shell and covers up its treasures, being well aware what is sought; if it happens to catch the fingers it cuts them off with the sharp edge of the shell. No punishment could be more justly inflicted. There are other penalties as well, for while the greater part of the pearls are only to be found among rocks and crags, the others which lie out in the main sea aregenerally accompanied by sea-dogs.[143]And yet, for all this, the women will not banish these gems from their ears! Some writers say, that these animals live in communities, or swarms like bees, each of them being governed by one remarkable for its size and venerable age; while at the same time it is possessed of marvellous skill in taking all due precautions against danger; the divers take special care to find these, because when once they are taken, the others stray to and fro, and are easily caught in their nets. When the pearl-fish are taken they are placed under a thick layer of salt in earthen-ware vessels; as the flesh is gradually consumed, the pearls are disengaged and fall to the bottom of the vessel.
There is no doubt that pearls wear out with use, and will change their color, if neglected. All their merit consists in their whiteness, large size, roundness, polish, and weight; qualities which are not easily to be found united in the same. Indeed no two pearls are ever found perfectly alike; and it was from this circumstance, no doubt, that our Roman luxury first gave them the name of “unio,” or the unique gem: for a similar name is not given them by the Greeks; nor among the barbarians by whom they are found are they called anything else but “margaritæ.” Even in the very whiteness of the pearl there is a great difference to be observed. Those are of a much clearer water that are found in the Red Sea, while the Indian pearl resembles in tint the scales of the mirror-stone, but exceeds all the others in size. The color thatis most highly prized of all is that of the alum-colored pearls. Long pearls have their peculiar value, especially those called “elenchi,” which are of a long tapering shape, resembling our alabaster[144]boxes in form, and ending in a full bulb. Our ladies quite glory in having these suspended from their fingers, or two or three of them dangling from their ears. For the purpose of ministering to these luxurious tastes, there are various names and wearisome refinements which have been devised by profuseness and prodigality; for after inventing these ear-rings, they have given them the name of “crotalia,” or castanet pendants, as though quite delighted even with the rattling of the pearls as they knock against each other; and, at the present day, the poorer classes are affecting them, as people are in the habit of saying, that “a pearl worn by a woman in public, is as good as a lictor walking before her.”[145]Nay, even more than this, they put them on their feet, and that, not only on the laces of their sandals, but all over the shoes; it is not enough to wear pearls, but they must tread upon them, and walk with them under foot as well.
Pearls used formerly to be found in our sea, but more frequently about the Thracian Bosporus; they were of a red color, and small, and enclosed in a shell-fish known by the name of “myes.” In Acarnania there is a shell-fish called “pina,” which produces pearls; and Juba states that on theshores of Arabia a shell-fish is found which resembles a notched comb, covered all over with hair like a sea-urchin, and the pearl lies imbedded in its flesh, bearing a strong resemblance to a hailstone. No such shell-fish, however, as these are ever brought to Rome. The Acarnanian pearl is shapeless, rough, and of a marble hue; those are better which are found in the vicinity of Actium.
It is quite clear that the interior of the pearl is solid, as no fall is able to break it. Pearls are found in various places in the body of the animal. Indeed, I have seen some which lay at the edge of the shell, just as though in the very act of coming forth, and in some fishes as many as four or five. Up to the present time, very few have been found which exceeded half an ounce in weight, by more than one scruple.[146]It is a well-ascertained fact, that in Britannia pearls are found, though small, and of bad color; for the deified Julius Cæsar wished it to be distinctly understood, that the breast-plate which he dedicated to Venus Genetrix, in her temple, was made of British pearls.
I once saw Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor Caligula—it was not at any public festival, or any solemn ceremonial, but only an ordinary wedding entertainment—covered with emeralds and pearls, which shone in alternate layers upon her head, in her hair, in her wreaths, in her ears, upon her neck, in her bracelets, and on her fingers, and the value of which amounted in all to forty millions of sesterces ($1,525,000); indeed she was prepared at once to prove the fact, by showing the receipts and acquittances. Nor were these any presents made by a prodigal potentate, but treasures which haddescended to her from her grandfather, and obtained by the spoliation of the provinces. Such are the fruits of plunder and extortion! It was for this reason that Marcus Lollius was held so infamous all over the East for the presents which he extorted from the kings; as a result of which he was finally denied the friendship of Caius Cæsar, and took poison; and all this was done, I say, that his granddaughter might be seen, by the glare of lamps, covered all over with jewels to the amount of forty millions of sesterces! Now let a person only picture to himself, on the one hand, what was the value of the habits worn by Curius or Fabricius in their triumphs, let him picture to himself the objects displayed to the public on their triumphal litters, and then, on the other hand, let him think upon this Lollia, this one bit of a woman, the head of an empire, taking her place at table, thus attired; would he not much rather that the conquerors had been torn from their very chariots, than that they had conquered for such a result as this?
Yet even these are not the most supreme evidences of luxury. There were formerly two pearls, the largest that had been ever seen in the whole world: Cleopatra, the last of the queens of Egypt, came into possession of them both, by descent from the kings of the East. When Antony had been sated by her, day after day, with the most exquisite banquets, this queenly woman, inflated with vanity and disdainful arrogance, affected to treat all this sumptuousness and all these vast preparations with the greatest contempt; upon which Antony enquired what there was that could possibly be added to such extraordinary magnificence. To this she made answer, that on a single entertainment she would expend ten millions of sesterces. Antony was extremely desirous to learn how that could be done, but looked upon it as a thing quite impossible; and a wager was the result. On the following day, upon which the matter was to be decided, in order that she might not lose the wager, she had an entertainmentset before Antony, magnificent in every respect, though no better than his usual repast. Upon this, Antony joked her, and enquired what was the amount expended upon it; to which she made answer that the banquet which he then beheld was only a trifling appendage to the real banquet, and that she alone would consume at the meal to the ascertained value of that amount, she herself would swallow the ten millions of sesterces; and so ordered the second course to be served. In obedience to her instructions, the servants placed before her a single vessel, which was filled with vinegar, a liquid, the sharpness and strength of which is able to dissolve pearls. At this moment she was wearing in her ears those choicest and most unique productions of Nature; and while Antony was waiting to see what she was going to do, taking one of them from out of her ear, she threw it into the vinegar, and as soon as it was melted, swallowed it. Lucius Plancus, who had been named umpire in the wager, placed his hand upon the other at the very instant that she was making preparations to dissolve it in a similar manner, and declared that Antony had lost—an omen, which, in the result, was fully confirmed. The fame of the second pearl is equal to that which attends its fellow. After the queen, who had thus come off victorious on so important a question, had been seized, it was cut asunder, in order that this, the other half of the entertainment, might serve as pendants for the ears of Venus, in the Pantheon at Rome.
Antony and Cleopatra, however, will not bear away the palm of prodigality in this respect, and will be stripped of even this boast in the annals of luxury. For before their time, Clodius, the son of the tragic actor, Æsopus, had done the same at Rome; having been left by his father heir to his ample wealth and possessions. Let not Antony then be too proud, for all his triumvirate, since he can hardly stand in comparison with an actor; one, too, who had no wager to induce him—a thing which adds to the regal munificence ofthe act—but was merely desirous of trying, by way of glorification to his palate, what was the taste of pearls. As he found it to be wonderfully pleasing, that he might not be the only one to know it, he had a pearl set before each of his guests for him to swallow. After the surrender of Alexandria, pearls came into common and, indeed, universal use at Rome; but they first began to be used about the time of Sylla, though but of small size and of little value, Fenestella says—in this, however, it is quite evident that he is mistaken, for Ælius Stilo tells us, that it was in the time of the Jugurthine war, that the name of “unio” was first given to pearls of remarkable size.
And yet pearls may be looked upon as pretty nearly a possession of everlasting duration—they descend from a man to his heir, and they are alienated from one to another just like any landed estate. But the colors that are extracted from the murex and the “purple” fade from hour to hour; and yet luxury, which has similarly acted as a mother to them, has set upon them prices almost equal to those of pearls.
Purples commonly live seven years. Like the murex, they keep themselves in concealment for thirty days, about the time of the rising of the Dog-star; in the spring season they unite in large bodies, and by rubbing against each other, produce a viscous saliva, from which a kind of wax is formed. The murex does the same; but the purple has that exquisite juice which is so greatly sought after for the purpose of dyeing cloth, situated in the middle of the throat. This secretion consists of a tiny drop contained in a white vein, from whichthe precious liquid used for dyeing is distilled, being of the tint of a rose somewhat inclining to black. The rest of the body is entirely destitute of this juice. It is a great point to take the fish alive; for when it dies, it ejects this juice. From the larger ones it is extracted after taking off the shell; but the small fish are crushed alive, together with the shells, upon which they eject this secretion.
In Asia the best purple is that of Tyre, in Africa that of Meninx and the parts of Gætulia that border on the Ocean, and in Europe that of Laconia. It is for this color that the fasces and the axes of Rome make way in the crowd; it is this that asserts the majesty of childhood;[147]it is this that distinguishes the senator from the man of equestrian rank; by persons arrayed in this color are prayers addressed to propitiate the gods; on every garment it sheds a lustre, and in the triumphal vestment it is to be seen mingled with gold. Let us be prepared then to excuse this frantic passion for purple, even though at the same time we are compelled to enquire, why it is that such a high value has been set upon the produce of this shell-fish, seeing that while in the dye the smell of it is offensive, and the color then is harsh, of a greenish hue, and strongly resembling that of the sea when in a tempestuous state?
The tongue of the purple is a finger in length, and by means of this it finds subsistence, by piercing other shell-fish, so hard is the point of it. They die in fresh water, and in places where rivers discharge themselves into the sea; otherwise, when taken, they will live as long as fifty days on their saliva. All shell-fish grow very fast, purples especially; they come to their full size at the end of a year.
Were I at this point to pass on to other subjects, luxury, no doubt, would think itself defrauded of its due, and so accuse me of negligence; I must therefore make my way into the very workshops, so that, just as among articles of food the various kinds and qualities of corn are known, all those who place the enjoyment of life in these luxuries may have a still better acquaintance with the objects for which they live.
There are two kinds of fish that produce the purple color; the elements in both are the same, the combinations only are different; the smaller fish is that which is called the “buccinum,” from its resemblance to the conch by which the sound of the buccinus or trumpet is produced, and to this circumstance it owes its name: the opening in it is round, with an incision in the margin. The other fish is known as the “purpura,” or purple, and has a grooved and projecting muzzle, which being tubulated on one side in the interior, forms a passage for the tongue; besides which, the shell is studded with points up to the very apex, which are ordinarily seven in number, and disposed in a circle; these are not found on the buccinum, though both of them have as many spirals as they are years old. The buccinum attaches itself only to crags, and is gathered about rocky places.
Purples are of numerous kinds, differing only in their element and place of abode. There is the mud purple, the sea-weed purple, both of which are held in the very lowest esteem; the reef-purple, which is collected on the reefs or out at sea; the color from which is still too light and thin. Then there is the variety known as the pebble-purple, wonderfully well adapted for dyeing; and, better than any of them, that known by the name of “dialutensis,” because of the various natures of the soil on which it feeds. Purples are taken with a kind of osier kipe of small size, and with large meshes; these are cast into the sea, baited with cockles which snap at an object, just as we see mussels do, and close the shell instantaneously. Though half dead when they are returned to the sea, theseanimals come to life again, and open their shells with avidity; upon which the purples seek them, and commence the attack, by protruding their tongues. The cockles, on the other hand, the moment they feel themselves pricked, shut their shells, and hold fast the object that has wounded them: in this way, victims to their greediness, they are drawn up to the surface hanging by the tongue.
The most favorable season for taking these fish is after the rising of the Dog-star, or else before spring; for when they have once discharged their waxy secretion, their juices have no consistency: this, however, is a fact unknown in the dyers’ workshops, although it is a point of primary importance. After it is taken, the vein is extracted, of which we have previously spoken, to which it is requisite to add salt, twenty ounces to every hundred pounds of juice. They are then left to steep for a period not exceeding three days, for the fresher they are, the greater virtue there is in the liquor. It is then set to boil in vessels of tin, and every eight thousand pounds ought to be boiled down to five hundred pounds of dye, by the application of a moderate heat; for which purpose the vessel is placed at the end of a long funnel, communicating with the furnace; while thus boiling, the liquor is skimmed from time to time, and with it the flesh, which necessarily adheres to the veins. About the tenth day, generally, the whole contents of the cauldron are in a liquefied state, upon which a fleece, from which the grease has been cleansed, is plunged into it by way of making trial; but until such time as the color is found to satisfy the wishes of those preparing it, the liquor is still kept on the boil. The tint that inclines to red is looked upon as inferior to that which is of a blackish hue. The wool is left to lie in soak for five hours, and then, after carding it, it is thrown in again, until it has fully imbibed the color of that bright lustre, which approaches the shining crimson hue of the kermes-berry, a tint that is particularly valued.
For my own part, I am strongly of opinion that there is sense existing in those bodies which have the nature of neither animals nor vegetables, but a third which partakes of them both:—sea-nettles and sponges, I mean. The sea-nettle wanders to and fro by night, and at night changes its locality. These creatures are by nature a sort of fleshy branch, and are nurtured upon flesh. They have the power of producing a smarting pain, just like that caused by the nettle found on land. For the purpose of seeking its prey, it contracts and stiffens itself to the utmost possible extent, and then, as a small fish swims past, it will suddenly spread out its branches, and so seize and devour it. At another time it will assume the appearance of being quite withered away, and let itself be tossed to and fro by the waves like a piece of sea-weed, until it happens to touch a fish. The moment it does so, the fish goes to rub itself against a rock, to get rid of the itching; immediately upon which, the nettle pounces upon it. By night also it is on the look-out for scallops and sea-urchins. When it perceives a hand approaching it, it instantly changes its color, and contracts itself; when touched it produces a burning sensation, and if ever so short a time is afforded, makes its escape.
Sponges grow on rocks, and feed upon shell- and other fish, and slime. It would appear that these creatures, too, have some intelligence; for as soon as they feel the hand about to tear them off, they contract themselves, and are separated with much greater difficulty: they do the same also when the waves buffet them to and fro. About Torone it is said that they will survive after they have been detached, and that theygrow again from the roots which have been left adhering to the rock. They leave a color like blood upon the rock from which they have been detached, especially those which are produced in the Syrtes of Africa.
The manos is the one that grows to the largest size, but the softest of all are those found in the vicinity of Lycia. Where the sea is deep and calm, they are more particularly soft, while those which are found in the Hellespont are rough, and those in the vicinity of Malea coarse. When lying in places exposed to the sun, they become putrid: hence those which are found in deep water are the best. While they are alive, they are of the same blackish color that they are when saturated with water. They adhere to the rock not by one part only, nor yet by the whole body: and within them there are a number of empty tubes, generally four or five in number, by means of which, it is thought, they take their food. There are other tubes also, but these are closed at the upper extremity; and a sort of membrane is supposed to be spread beneath the roots by which they adhere. It is well known that sponges are very long-lived.
Vast numbers of sharks infest the seas in the vicinity of the sponges, to the great peril of those who dive for them. These persons say that a sort of dense cloud gradually thickens over their heads, bearing a resemblance to some kind of animal like a flat-fish, and that, pressing downward upon them, it prevents them from returning to the surface. It is for this reason that they carry stilettos with them, very sharp at the point, and attached to them by strings; for if they did not pierce the object with the help of these, it could not be gotrid of. This, however, is entirely the result, in my opinion, of the darkness and their own fears; for no person has ever yet been able to find, among living creatures, the fish-cloud or the fish-fog, the name which they give to this enemy of theirs.
The divers, however, have terrible combats with the sharks, which attack with avidity the groin, the heels, and all the whiter parts of the body. The only means of ensuring safety, is to go boldly to meet them, and so, by taking the initiative, strike them with alarm: for in fact, this animal is just as much frightened at man, as man is at it; and they are on quite an equal footing when beneath the water. But the moment the diver has reached the surface, the danger is much more imminent; for he loses the power of boldly meeting his adversary while he is endeavoring to make his way out of the water, and his only chance of safety is in his companions, who draw him along by a cord that is fastened under his shoulders. While he is engaging with the enemy, he keeps pulling this cord with his left hand, according as there may be any sign of immediate peril, while with the right he wields the stiletto, which he is using in his defence. At first they draw him along at a moderate pace, but as soon as they have got him close to the ship, if they do not whip him out in an instant, with the greatest possible celerity, they see him snapped asunder: and many a time, too, the diver, even when already drawn out, is dragged from their hands, through neglecting to aid the efforts of those who are assisting him, by rolling up his body in the shape of a ball. The others, it is true, are in the mean time brandishing their pronged fish-spears; but the monster has the craftiness to place himself beneath the ship, and so wage the warfare in safety. Consequently, every possible care is taken by the divers to look out for the approach of this enemy.
The surest sign of safety is to see flat-fish, which never frequent the spots where these noxious monsters are found: and for this reason the divers call them sacred.
The first person who formed artificial oyster-beds was Sergius Orata, who established them at Baiæ, in the time of Lucius Crassus, the orator, just before the Marsic War. This was done by him, not for the gratification of gluttony, but as a commercial venture, and he contrived to make a large income by this exercise of his ingenuity. He was the first to invent hanging baths over heating furnaces, and after buying villas and trimming them up, he would every now and then sell them again. He, too, was the first to adjudge the preëminence for delicacy of flavor to the oysters of Lake Lucrinus; for every kind of aquatic animal is superior in one place to what it is in another. Thus, for instance, the wolf-fish of the river Tiber is the best that is caught between the two bridges, and the turbot of Ravenna is the most esteemed, the murena of Sicily, the elops of Rhodes; the same, too, as to the other kinds, not to go through all the items of the culinary catalogue. The British shores had not as yet sent their supplies, at the time when Orata thus ennobled the Lucrine oysters: at a later period, however, it was thought worth while to fetch oysters all the way from Brundisium, at the very extremity of Italy; and in order that there might exist no rivalry between the two flavors, a plan has been more recently hit upon, of feeding the oysters of Brundisium in Lake Lucrinus, famished as they must naturally be after so long a journey.
In the same age, Lucinius Murena was the first to form preserves for other fish; and his example was soon followed by the noble families of the Philippi and the Hortensii. Lucullus had a mountain pierced near Naples, at a greater outlay even than that which had been expended on his villa, inorder to admit the sea to his preserves. For this reason Pompey gave him the name of “Xerxes in a toga.”[148]After his death, the fish in his preserves were sold for the sum of four million sesterces ($150,000).
C. Hirrus was the first person who formed preserves for the murena; he lent six thousand of these fishes for the triumphal banquets of Cæsar the Dictator; on which occasion he had them duly weighed, as he declined to receive the value of them in money or any other commodity. His villa, which was of a very humble character in the interior, sold for four millions of sesterces, in consequence of the valuable nature of the stock-ponds there. Next after this, there arose a passion for individual fish. At Bauli, in the territory of Baiæ, the orator Hortensius had some fish-preserves, in which there was a murena to which he became so much attached, as to be supposed to have wept on hearing of its death. It was at the same villa that Antonia, the wife of Drusus, placed earrings upon a murena which she had become fond of; the report of which singular circumstance attracted many visitors to the place.
Fulvius Lupinus first formed preserves for sea-snails, in the territory of Tarquinii, shortly before the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey. He also carefully distinguished them by their several species, separating them from one another. The white ones were those that are produced in the district of Reate; those of Illyria were remarkable for the largeness of their size; while those from Africa were the most prolific; those, however, from the Promontory of the Sun were the most esteemed of all. For the purpose of fattening them, he invented a mixture of boiled wine, spelt-meal, and other substances; so that fattened periwinkles became quite an object of gastronomy; and the art of breeding them was brought tosuch a pitch of perfection, that the shell of a single animal would hold as much as eighty quadrantes (fifteen quarts). This we learn from Marcus Varro.
There are still some wonderful kinds of fishes which we find mentioned by Theophrastus: he says, that when the waters subside, which have been admitted for the purposes of irrigation in the vicinity of Babylon, there are certain fish which remain in such holes as may contain water; from these they come forth for the purpose of feeding, moving along with their fins by the aid of a rapid movement of the tail. If pursued, he says, they retreat to their holes, and when they have reached them, will turn round and make a stand. The head is like that of the sea frog, while the other parts are similar to those of the gobio, and they have gills like other fish. He says also, that in the vicinity of Heraclea and Cromna, and about the river Lycus, as well as in many parts of the Black Sea, there is one kind of fish which frequents the waters near the banks of the rivers, and makes holes for itself, in which it lives, even when the water retires and the bed of the river is dry; for which reason these fishes have to be dug out of the ground, and only show by the movement of the body that they are still alive. He says also, that in the vicinity of the same Heraclea, when the river Lycus ebbs, the eggs are left in the mud, and that the fish, on being produced from these, go forth to seek their food by means of a sort of fluttering motion,—their gills being but very small, in consequence of which they are not in need of water. It is in this way that eels also can live so long out of water; and that their eggscome to maturity on dry land, like those of the sea-tortoise. In the same regions of the Black Sea, he says, various kinds of fishes are overtaken by the ice, the gobio more particularly, and they only betray signs of life, by moving when they have warmth applied by the saucepan. All these things, however, though very remarkable, still admit of some explanation.
It would not be right to omit what is said about the fish called anthias, and which I find is looked upon as true by most writers. I have already mentioned the Chelidoniæ, certain islands off the coast of Asia, in the midst of a sea full of crags and reefs. These parts are much frequented by this fish, which is very speedily taken by the employment of a single method of catching it. A fisherman pushes out in a little boat, dressed in a color resembling that of his boat; and every day, for several days together, at the same hour, he sails over the same space, while doing which he throws a quantity of bait into the sea. Whatever is thrown from the boat is an object of suspicion to the fish, who keep at a distance from what causes them so much alarm; but after this has been repeated a considerable number of times, one of the fish, reassured by becoming habituated to the scene, at last snaps at the bait. The movements of this one are watched with the greatest care and attention, for in it are centred all the hopes of the fishermen, as it is to be the means of securing them their prey; nor is it difficult to recognize it, seeing that for some days it is the only one that ventures to come near the bait. At last, however, it finds some others to follow its example, and by degrees it is better and better attended, tillat last it brings with it shoals innumerable. The older ones, at length becoming quite accustomed to the fisherman, easily recognize him, and will even take food from his hands. Upon this, the man throws out, a little way beyond the tips of his fingers, a hook concealed in a bait, and smuggles them out one by one, standing in the shadow of the boat and whipping them out of the water with a slight jerk, that the others may not perceive it. Meantime another fisherman is ready inside to receive them upon pieces of cloth, in order that no floundering about or other noise may scare the others away. It is of importance to know which has been the betrayer of the others, and not to take it, otherwise the shoal will take to flight, and appear no more for the future. There is a story that a fisherman who quarrelled once with his mate, threw out a hook to one of these leading fishes, which he easily recognized, and so captured it with a malicious intent. But the fish was recognized in the market by the other fisherman, against whom he had conceived this malice; who accordingly brought an action against him for damages; and, as Mucianus adds, he was condemned to pay them on the hearing of the case. These anthiæ, it is said, when they see one of their number taken with a hook, cut the line with the serrated spines which they have on the back, the one that is held fast stretching it out as much as it can, to enable them to cut it.
OTTER.—Lutra Vulgaris.
OTTER.—Lutra Vulgaris.
Following the proper order of things, we have now arrived at the culminating point of the wonders manifested to us by the operations of Nature. For what is there more unruly than the sea, with its winds, its tornadoes, and its tempests? And yet in what department of her works has Nature been more seconded by the ingenuity of man, than in this, by his inventions of sails and of oars? In addition to this, we are struck with the ineffable might displayed by the Ocean’s tides, as they constantly ebb and flow, and so regulate the currents of the sea as though they were the waters of one vast river.
And yet all these forces, though acting in unison, and impelling in the same direction, a single fish, and that of a very diminutive size—the fish known as the “echeneïs”—possesses the power of counteracting. Winds may blow and storms may rage, and yet the echeneïs controls their fury, restrains their mighty force, and bids ships stand still in their career; a result which no cables, no anchors, from their ponderousness quite incapable of being weighed, could ever have produced! A fish bridles the impetuous violence of the deep, and subdues the frantic rage of the universe—and all this by no effort of its own, no act of resistance on its part, no act at all, in fact, but that of adhering to the bark! Trifling as this object would appear, it suffices to counteract all these forces combined, and to forbid the ship to pass onward in its way! Fleets, armed for war, pile up towers and bulwarks on their decks, in order that, upon the deep even, men may fight from behind ramparts as it were. But alas for human vanity!—when their prows, beaked as they are with bronze and with iron, and armed for the onset, can thus be arrested and riveted to the spot by a little fish, no more than half a foot in length!
At the battle of Actium, it is said, a fish of this kind stopped the prætorian ship[149]of Antonius in its course, at the moment that he was hastening from ship to ship to encourage and exhort his men, and so compelled him to leave it and go on board another. So that the fleet of Cæsar gained the advantage in the onset, and charged with a redoubled impetuosity. In our own time, too, one of these fish arrested the ship of the Emperor Caius Caligula in its course, when he was returning from Astura to Antium: and thus, as the result proved, did an insignificant fish give presage of great events; for no sooner had the emperor returned to Rome than he was pierced by the weapons of his own soldiers. Nor did this sudden stoppage of the ship long remain a mystery, the cause being perceived upon finding that, out of the whole fleet, the emperors five-banked galley was the only one that was making no way. The moment this was discovered, some of the sailors plunged into the sea, and, on making search about the ship’s sides, they found an echeneïs adhering to the rudder. Upon its being shown to the emperor, he strongly expressed his indignation[150]that such an obstacle as this should have impeded his progress, and have rendered powerless the hearty endeavors of four hundred men, particularly as the fish had no such power when brought on board.
According to the persons who examined it on that occasion, and who have seen it since, the echeneïs bears a strong resemblance to a large slug. Some of our own authors have given this fish the Latin name of “mora.”[151]
If we had not this illustration by the agency of the echeneïs, would it not have been quite sufficient only to cite the instanceof the torpedo, another inhabitant also of the sea, as a manifestation of the mighty powers of Nature? From a considerable distance even, and if only touched with the end of a spear or a staff, this fish has the property of benumbing even the most vigorous arm, and of riveting the feet of the runner, however swift he may be in the race.
The statements which Ovid has made as to the instincts of fish, in the work[152]of his known as the “Treatise on Fishes,” appear to me truly marvellous. The scarus, for instance, when enclosed in the wicker kype, makes no effort to escape with its head, nor does it attempt to thrust its muzzle between the oziers; but turning its tail towards them, it enlarges the orifices with repeated blows therefrom, and so makes its escape backwards. Should, too, another scarus, from without, chance to see it thus struggling within the kype, it will take the tail of the other in its mouth, and so aid it in its efforts to escape. The lupus, again, when surrounded with the net, furrows the sand with its tail, and so conceals itself, until the net has passed over it. The muræna, trusting in the slippery smoothness of its rounded back, boldly faces the meshes of the net, and by repeatedly wriggling its body, makes its escape. The polyp makes for the hooks, and without swallowing the bait, clasps it with its feelers; nor does it quit its hold until it has eaten off the bait, or perceives itself being drawn out of the water by the rod.
The mullet, too, is aware that within the bait there is ahook concealed, and is on its guard against the ambush; still, however, so great is its voracity, that it beats the hook with its tail, and strikes away from it the bait. The lupus, again, shows less foresight and address, but repentance at its imprudence arms it with mighty strength; for, when caught by the hook, it flounders from side to side, and so widens the wound, till at last the insidious hook falls from its mouth. The muræna not only swallows the hook, but catches at the line with its teeth, and so gnaws it asunder. The anthias, Ovid says, the moment it finds itself caught by the hook, turns its body with its back downwards, upon which there is a sharp knife-like fin, and so cuts the line asunder.
Trebius Niger informs us that whenever the loligo is seen darting above the surface of the water, it portends a change of weather: that the xiphias, or, in other words, the sword-fish, has a sharp-pointed muzzle, with which it is able to pierce the sides of a ship and send it to the bottom: instances of which have been known near Cotte, a place in Mauritania, not far from the river Lixus. He says, too, that the loligo sometimes darts above the surface, in such vast numbers, as to sink the ships upon which they fall.
At many of the country-seats belonging to the Emperor the fish eat[153]from the hand. In the fountain of Jupiter at Labranda, there are eels which eat from the hand, and wear earrings.[154]
At Myra, too, in Lycia, the fish in the Fountain of Apollo, known as Surium, appear and give oracular presages, when thrice summoned by the sound of a flute. If they seize the flesh thrown to them with avidity, it is a good omen for the person who consults them; but if, on the other hand, theyflap at it with their tails, it is considered an evil presage. At Hierapolis,[155]in Syria, the fish in the Lake of Venus obey the voice of the officers of the temple: bedecked with ornaments of gold, they come at their call, fawn upon them while they are scratched, and open their mouths so wide as to admit of the insertion of the hand.
In the same degree that people in our part of the world set a value upon the pearls of India do the people of India prize coral: it being the prevailing taste in each nation respectively that constitutes the value of things. Coral is produced in the Red Sea also, but of a more swarthy hue than ours. It is to be found also in the Persian Gulf, where it is known by the name of “iace.” But the most highly-esteemed of all, is that produced in the vicinity of the islands called Stœchades, in the Gallic Gulf, and near the Æolian Islands and the town of Drepana in the Sea of Sicily. Coral is to be found growing, too, at Erythræ, where it is intensely red, but soft, and consequently little valued.
Its form is that of a shrub,[156]and its color green: its berries are white and soft while under water, but the moment they are removed from it, they become hard and red, resembling the berries of cultivated cornel in size and appearance. They say that, while alive, if it is only touched by a person, it will immediately become as hard as stone; and hence it is that the greatest pains are taken to prevent this, by tearing it up fromthe bottom with nets, or else cutting it short with a sharp-edged instrument of iron: from which last circumstance it is generally supposed to have received its name of “curalium.”[157]The reddest coral and the most branchy is held in the highest esteem; but, at the same time, it must not be rough or hard like stone; nor yet, on the other hand, should it be full of holes or hollow.
The berries of coral are no less esteemed by the men in India than are the pearls of that country by the ladies among us; their soothsayers, too, and diviners look upon coral as an amulet endowed with sacred properties, and a sure preservative against all dangers: hence it is that they equally value it as an ornament and as an object of devotion. Before it was known in what estimation coral was held by the people of India, the Gauls were in the habit of adorning their swords, shields, and helmets with it; but at the present day, owing to the value set upon it as an article of exportation, it has become so extremely rare, that it is seldom to be seen even in the regions that produce it. Branches of coral, hung at the neck of infants, are thought to act as a preservative against danger. Calcined, pulverized, and taken in wine, or, if there are symptoms of fever, in water, it acts as a soporific. It resists the action of fire a considerable time before it is calcined.
The palm has been awarded to oysters at our tables as a most exquisite dish. Oysters love fresh water and spots where numerous rivers discharge themselves into the sea. Generally speaking, they increase in size with the increase of the moon, but it is at the beginning of summer, more particularly,and when the rays of the sun penetrate the shallow waters, that they are swollen with an abundance of milk.[158]
Oysters are of various colors; in Spain they are red, in Illyricum of a tawny hue, and at Circeii black, both in meat and shell. But in every country, those oysters are the most highly esteemed that are compact without being slimy from their secretions, and are remarkable more for their thickness than their breadth. They should never be taken in either muddy or sandy spots, but from a firm, hard bottom; the meat should be compressed, and not of a fleshy consistence; and the oyster should be free from fringed edges, and lying wholly in the cavity of the shell. Persons of experience in these matters add another characteristic; a fine purple thread, they say, should run round the margins of the beard, this being looked upon as a sign of superior quality, and obtaining for them their name of “calliblephara.”[159]
Oysters are all the better for travelling and being removed to new waters; thus, for example, the oysters of Brundisium, it is thought, when fed in the waters of Avernus, both retain their own native juices and acquire the flavor of those of Lake Lucrinus. Mucianus, who is really a connoisseur, says:—“The oysters of Cyzicus are larger than those of Lake Lucrinus, fresher than those of the British coasts,[160]sweeter than those of Medulæ, more tasty than those of Ephesus, more plump than those of Lucas, less slimy than those ofCoryphas, more delicate than those of Istria, and whiter than those of Circeii.” For all this, however, it is a fact well ascertained that there are no oysters fresher or more delicate than those of Circeii, last mentioned.
According to the historians of the expedition of Alexander, there were oysters found in the Indian Sea a foot in diameter:[161]among ourselves, too, the nomenclature of some spendthrift and gourmand has found for certain oysters the name of “tridacna,”[162]wishing it to be understood thereby, that they are so large as to require three bites in eating them. We will take the present opportunity of stating all the medicinal properties that are attributed to oysters. They are singularly refreshing[163]to the stomach, and tend to restore the appetite. Luxury, too, has imparted to them an additional coolness by burying them in snow, thus making a medley of the produce of the tops of mountains and the bottom of the sea. Calcined oyster-shells, mixed with honey, are good sprinkled upon burns, and are highly esteemed as a dentifrice.