Part 21

The Romans, imitators and emulators of the luxury of the Greeks, were almost equally fond of this fish; and, like them, reserved it for princely tables, or aristocratic opulence. It would seem, however, that the enthusiasm excited by the sturgeon somewhat cooled under the reign of Vespasian.[XXI-34] Perhaps at this period it became more common, or was sold at a more moderate price. Nothing more was requisite in Rome to deprive a dish of its most brilliant vogue and most powerful patronage.

However, the poet Martial, by nature no great flatterer, passes a pompous eulogium on the monstrous fish,[XXI-35] and judges it worthy of being placed on the luxurious tables of the Palatine Mount, that Westend of Rome, rendered illustrious by the presence of kings, nobles, and emperors.[XXI-36]

We have before observed that the sturgeon was formerly a royal dish in England.[XXI-37] A celebrated traveller assures us that, at the present day, the Chinese abstain from it, and that the sovereign of the Celestial Empire consigns it to his own kitchens, or dispenses it to a few of his greatest favourites.[XXI-38]

This gigantic accipenser, which often weighs two hundred pounds, is quite common in Siberia, where they even catch some of a much larger size, since some of the females have been found to contain two hundred pounds weight of eggs.[XXI-39] In 1750, one was caught in Italy which weighed 550 lbs. There are some in Norway, the head alone of which yields a tun of oil,[XXI-40] and whose immense proportions would formerly have astonished the most intrepid gastrophilists of Athens, Syracuse, and Rome.

An alimentary substance, called caviar, furnished almost exclusively by Russia to the rest of Europe, is prepared from the spawn of several kinds of sturgeons.

The spawn of the large sturgeon produces caviar of an inferior quality; that of the common sturgeon, and the sterlet, is prized as being more delicate, when it is carefully separated from the vessels and membranes with which it is intersected, well impregnated with brine, pressed, and slightly dried. White caviar, it is said, is the best of all. It is reserved for the court.[XXI-41]

There are two sorts of caviar: granulated caviar, and sack caviar.

The manufacture of the first named is performed by pressing the spawn on a sieve, and rubbing it in every direction to remove the pellicles which adhere to it, after which it is put into strong brine for one hour, then drained in a sieve, and, finally, pressed close into barrels, so as to entirely fill them before the head is fastened down.[XXI-42]

The manufacture of the other kind of caviar only differs in two particulars. The spawn is manipulated while in the brine, in order to soften it, and it is put, in small portions of about half-a-pound each, into linen bags, which are powerfully twisted to extract all the brine before it is pressed into the barrels.

The workmen employed in these operations make a third kind of caviar with the refuse. This sort, used only by the poorest classes, deserves no notice.

For some years past, they have introduced the method of salting the roes as they are taken from the fish, and packing them into barrels, where they remain seven or eight months; after which they are again salted, and then dried in the sun.

Caviar occupies a very distinguished place in Russian, Turkish, German, and Italian gastronomy. The Greeks, in particular, live upon it almost exclusively during the long Lent fasts prescribed by their Church.[XXI-43]

RED MULLET.

Philoxenes, of Cythera, supped one night with Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily. It happened that the prince was served with a magnificent mullet, whereas a very small one was presented to his guest. The philosopher took his fish in his hand, and, with a very serious air, held it to his ear. Dionysius asked him what he was doing. “I am busy with my Galathea,” replied Philoxenes, “and I am questioning him on the subject of Nerea; but I can obtain no answer from him, because he was taken at too early an age. I am certain, however, that the other, evidently much older, which lies before you, is perfectly well acquainted with what I wish to know.” The tyrant, who happened that evening to be in a good humour, laughed at the joke, and offered the larger mullet to the witty gastronomist.[XXI-44]

The unbridled and cruel luxury of ancient Rome required that this fish should be cooked by a slow fire, on the table and under a glass, that the guests might gloat on its sufferings before they satiated their appetites with its flesh.[XXI-45] It is true this barbarous gratification was very expensive, and it was necessary to be very rich to indulge in it--consequently it was decidedly very fashionable, quite natural, and in the very best taste.

Ordinary mullets weighed about 2 lbs.;[XXI-46] these hardly deserved that their dying agonies should for an instant amuse the guests; they were worth only about £15 or £20 each. But sometimes fortune threw in their way much larger ones; and the opulent amateur esteemed himself only too fortunate when he could obtain a fish of three[XXI-47] or four pounds[XXI-48] for a much higher sum than he had paid for the slave, tutor of his children.

Crispinus was fond of mullets. He obtained one weighing four or six pounds, for which the fishmonger asked only £60.[XXI-49] This was giving it away; and certainly the man did not understand his trade. Crispinus, on becoming the possessor of this wonderful treasure, was astonished at his good fortune, and the whole of Rome long refused to believe it.

In the reign of Tiberius, three of these fish were sold for 30,000 sesterces,[XXI-50] or £209 9_s._ 8_d._; and this emperor was one day generous enough to give up to P. Octavius, for the low price of 5,000 sesterces, a very fine mullet which had just been presented to him.[XXI-51]

And yet some persons of culinary authority paid but little attention to the flesh of this delicate fish; they sought only the liver and head; and if they paid for it so dearly, it was solely to find some few mouthfuls more in these two parts,[XXI-52] to which caprice, enthusiasm, that fever of admiration, and we know not what extraordinary gastronomic rage, gave an inestimable price, which at the present day excites only a smile of incredulity.

Pliny speaks of a mullet caught in the red sea, which weighed eighty pounds.[XXI-53] “At how much,” adds this great naturalist, “would it have been valued had they caught it in the environs of Rome!” We may suppose, without the least exaggeration, that many a senator would have offered £1,500 to become its possessor.

It is thus that the mistress of the world foolishly dissipated in ephemeral whims the immense treasures poured into her lap by tributary kings--conquered and spoliated nations. Each day her patricians, knights, and nobles, tired of their importunate opulence, solicited new diversions, and invented new excesses. The mullet for a moment satisfied their prodigality, and amused their barbarity; but Heliogabalus appeared, and he imagined prodigies of gluttony which excited at once admiration and envy. The liver of this fish appeared to him too paltry; he took it into his head to be served with large dishes completely filled with the gills.[XXI-54] Now, we know that the mullet possesses only two. This dish, whose price would have enriched a hundred families, was worthy of the Sardanapalus of Rome, who, at the age of eighteen, had exhausted the treasures of the empire, and whom a violent death seized most _à propos_, at the moment when he had attained the extreme limits of crime and infamy.

The Romans served the mullet with a seasoning of pepper, rue, onions, dates, and mustard, to which they added the flesh of the sea hedge-hog reduced to a pulp, and oil.[XXI-55]

When the liver alone was to be eaten, it was cooked, and then seasoned with pepper, salt, or a little garum--some oil was added, and hare’s or fowl’s liver, and then oil was poured over the whole.[XXI-56]

The Greeks knew how to appreciate the mullet. They thought highly of those caught on their own shores[XXI-57], and placed them in the first rank of the most exquisite dishes of their delicate cookery.

“It is with the eggs of mullets, when salted, pressed, washed, and dried, that the preparation known as _botargo_ or _botarcha_ is made. It is very _recherché_ in Italy, and other southern countries, as a seasoning.”--DR. CLOQUET.

SEA-EEL.

The sumptuous abode of L. Crassus echoes with his sighs and groans. His children and slaves respect his profound sorrow, and leave him with intelligent affection to solitude--that friend of great grief; so grateful to the afflicted soul, because tears can flow unwitnessed. Alas! the favourite sea-eel of Crassus is dead, and it is uncertain whether Crassus can survive it!

This sensitive Roman caused this beloved fish to be buried with great magnificence: he raised a monument to its memory, and never ceased to mourn for it.[XXI-58]

This man, who displayed so little tenderness towards his servants, had an extraordinary weakness concerning his fine sea-eels. He passed his life beside the superb fish-pond, where he lovingly fattened them from his own hand. Ornamented with necklaces of the finest pearls, and earrings of precious stones,[XXI-59] all, at a signal, swam towards him; several fearlessly took the food he offered them; and some, as familiar as their absent and regretted companion, allowed their master to caress them without seeking to bite or avoid him.[XXI-60]

This singular passion, which at the present day we can hardly believe, in spite of the respectable authority of the most serious writers, was very common at Rome, amongst those who were rich enough to rear such fish. C. Hirtius was the first to construct fish ponds on the sea shore, to which many visitors were attracted by their magnificence.[XXI-61] The family of Licinius took their surname of _Muræna_ from these fish, in order thus to perpetuate the most silly affection, and the remembrance of their insanity.[XXI-62]

Sea-eels necessarily pleased men cloyed with pleasures, and who substituted a kind of cold and cruel curiosity for the terrible emotions which beings peculiarly organized hope to find in evil-doing: gladiators murdering each other; lions or tigers lacerating the _bestiarii_; all these agonies of the amphitheatre had long since lost the attraction of novelty. It was a much more exciting spectacle to witness a swarm of sea-eels tearing to pieces an awkward or rebellious slave; besides, it greatly improved the fish. The atrocious Vedius Pollio, who understood these matters, never failed to have sea-eels served him after their odious repast, that he might have the pleasure of eating some part of the body of his victim.[XXI-63]

Thank Heaven! however, some amateurs of this dreaded fish were not so barbarous; they fattened them very well without having recourse to such criminal food. Veal was cut into thin slices, and steeped in the blood of the animal for ten days, after which the fish greedily regaled themselves with it.[XXI-64]

It was, doubtless, in this manner that the skilful speculator, Hirtius,--the same already mentioned--nourished his sea-eels, which produced him an immense revenue. His fish ponds contained so great a number that he was able to offer six thousand to Julius Cæsar on the occasion of the public feast that general gave the day of his triumphal return from the conquest of Gaul.[XXI-65]

The greater part of the Roman emperors were exceedingly fond of sea-eels. The greedy Vitellius, growing tired of this dish, would at last only eat the soft roes: and numerous vessels ploughed the seas in order to obtain them for him.[XXI-66] This exquisite rarity again appeared too common to the maniac child, who dismayed and astonished Rome for the space of three years. Heliogabalus brought the soft roe of the sea eel into disrepute by ordering that the peasants of the Mediterranean should be gorged with it.[XXI-67] This folly amused him, and only cost several millions. That was a trifle when compared with the blood which almost always flowed to satisfy his whims.

The Greeks and Latins thought much of sea-eels caught in the straits of Sicily.[XXI-68] They were sometimes served surrounded with crawfish;[XXI-69] but more frequently they were dressed with a seasoning much in fashion, composed of pepper, alisander, savory, saffron, onion, and stoned Damascus plums. These various substances were mixed together, and to them were added wine, sweet sun-made wine, old wine reduced by boiling, garum, vinegar, and oil.[XXI-70]

At Rome the fish market was abundantly supplied with sea-eels from the Tiber. Connoisseurs thought nothing of them;[XXI-71] they were sold at a low price, and their disgrace became complete directly they appeared on plebeian tables.

The Egyptians venerated this fish, and always esteemed it sacred.[XXI-72] Among the Sybarites, just appreciators of its culinary qualities, the fishers and sellers of sea-eels were exempt from all taxes.[XXI-73] They often procured some of such enormous size, that we should be tempted to accuse the old chroniclers of exaggeration, if we were not aware that this animal attains considerable dimensions. In the year 1786 a sea-eel was taken in the Elbe, weighing sixty pounds. This extraordinary fish measured seven feet two inches in length, and twenty-five inches in the girth.[XXI-74]

LAMPREY.

In spite of its soft and viscid flesh, this fish occupied in Rome a most honourable rank among the multitudinous dishes which intemperance was ever augmenting, and preference was given to that species caught by enterprising speculators in that strait which separates Sicily from Italy. These good people averred that lampreys which rise to the surface of the sea are immediately dried up by the sun, and cannot any more descend to the depths of the ocean.[XXI-75] This little story did no harm to their sale; on the contrary, they became on that account more curiously interesting.

It was also said, and the serious Gesner himself has repeated this fable:[XXI-76] That if the fish fastens its mouth to the side of a vessel it immediately stops, and that the combined power of the wind and the efforts of the rowers are unavailing.[XXI-77] The fact is that, by means of a kind of suction, it can fasten firmly on any bodies; and one weighing only three pounds has been seen to sustain in the air, with its mouth, a stone weighing twelve pounds.[XXI-78]

The lamprey has not always been the fashion, but it has had brilliant and glorious epochs. In 1135 it caused so great a fit of indigestion to Henry I., King of England, that that prince died in consequence of it.[XXI-79] Since then, in the 16th century, it has been honoured with the reputation of having caused more than one death.[XXI-80] It was sold at a very high price, £3 at least, and at certain periods the Roman nobles even paid as much as £20 for one of these fish.[XXI-81] The ancient metropolis of the world had sometimes strange reminiscences of her former grandeur.

The Italian epicures of that remarkable era used to kill the lamprey in Candian wine. A nutmeg was placed in the mouth, and a clove in each of the openings of the gills. They rolled them round in a saucepan, and after adding crushed almonds, bread crumbs, Candian wine, and spices, the whole was cooked over a slow fire.[XXI-82]

SEA-WOLF.

Hicesius, one of the most estimable ichthyophagists of antiquity, does not hesitate to place the sea-wolf above all the fish which by their excellence were dear to Greece;[XXI-83] and the great Archestratus says, that the _lubridan_ (a species of the sea-wolf) is a child of the gods.[XXI-84]

The Romans, touched no doubt by these magnificent praises, granted to the sea-wolf that favour which a high reputation commands. The immense sturgeon itself was eclipsed by it, and the sea-wolf had the glory of throwing this powerful and renowned rival into oblivion.[XXI-85]

Their love for its white and tender flesh knew no bounds,[XXI-86] and the fishermen of the Tiber were no longer equal to the task of supplying them for the impatient gluttony of the rich inhabitants of the Palatine Mount. Still this fish only fetched a high price when taken in a certain part of the river; from any other place it hardly commanded a few _as_ (pence). Between the Sublicius and Senatorius bridges, a deep, black, and fetid water announced the presence of the continual flood of filth which the giant city poured into it night and day. It was in the midst of these impurities that shoals of sea-wolves were seen disporting; they fattened on that shocking slime, and thence passed to the delicate tables of Lucullus and Cæsar.[XXI-87]

The Greeks contented themselves with lubridans taken in clear water, and preferred the head to any other part.[XXI-88]

SCARUS, OR, PARROT-FISH.

The scarus--its modern name is still problematic--furnished the Greeks with one of those exquisite dishes the remembrance of which never dies. The Romans were not yet acquainted with it, when Octavius, the commander of a fleet, brought on board the vessels a great quantity of this fish, which he ordered to be thrown into the sea along the coast of Campania, and which soon became the delight of the epicures of Rome.[XXI-89] History has shown too much disdain by neglecting to say more than a few passing words on the subject of this great service. May a tardy homage of gratitude be paid to the memory of the benefactor of his country.

The scarus was prepared without being embowelled, and epicures found it impossible to satiate themselves with the entrails,[XXI-90] which obtained for it a gastronomic vogue it long enjoyed without a rival.[XXI-91] It was asserted that the fish ruminates;[XXI-92] that it feeds only on herbage;[XXI-93] and that, far from being mute, like the other inhabitants of the water, it not only emits sounds, but is able to express by its cries the different sensations it experiences.[XXI-94] These anomalies, either real or supposed, had, perhaps, as great a share in rendering the scarus celebrated, as the delicacy of its flesh, and the exquisite flavour of its intestines. Merit the most real can so rarely keep the field unsupported by cajollery.

TURBOT.

Rome and Italy were indebted to the prætor, Sempronius, or to Rufus Rutilius,[XXI-95] for the turbot, which they taught their countrymen to appreciate. This fish quickly obtained the success which it merited, and was compared to the pheasant, as soles were likened to partridges, lampreys to quails, and sturgeons to peacocks. Some preferred turbot from the Adriatic Sea, others that of Ravenna;[XXI-96] but all united in declaring that there was not a more delicious food, and that a feast loses all its charm when this delicacy is wanting.

In the reign of Domitian a monstrous turbot was taken; such a one had never been seen in the imperial kitchens.[XXI-97] The emperor convoked the senate, and deferred to them to decide in what dish it should be cooked, in order that it might be served whole. The deliberation was long and stormy; all Rome was in a state of expectancy; and the august assembly strove to prove itself worthy of the high confidence reposed in it by Cæsar. At length the illustrious old men were tolerably unanimous in their idea that the best way would be to make a dish expressly for the fish--since there was none large enough ready-made--and also that a stove should be constructed vast enough to allow the dish to be placed commodiously upon it.[XXI-98]

The emperor, the city, and the court applauded the profound wisdom of this decision; and “_le turbot fut mis à la sauce piquante_.”[XXI-99]

Aristotle does not mention this fish; but his compatriots esteemed highly the turbots of Attica.[XXI-100]

TUNNY.

The Greeks greatly praised the tunny fish of Pachynum.[XXI-101] Persons who prided themselves on their knowledge in the art of good living, eat only the belly part,[XXI-102] and never touched the remainder.

The Synopians formerly gained immense sums by the tunny fishery along their shores,[XXI-103] the effigy of which, perhaps in gratitude, they stamped on their money. This fish came from Palus Meotides, and passed thence to Trebizond and Pharnacia, whence it followed the coast of Sinopus, and, at length, reached Byzantium, where they took nearly all those which escaped the fisheries of the two first-named stations.[XXI-104]

The Romans offered tunny fish in sacrifice to Neptune, in order that that god might deign to prevent the _xiphias_ fish from tearing their nets, and forbid the too officious dolphins to assist in their escape.[XXI-105] They sold it at a very good price during the autumn and winter; but it fetched less in summer because it was thought to be unwholesome during that season.[XXI-106] The jole and belly were thought the most delicate parts.[XXI-107] They were either fried or boiled, with pepper, alisander, cummin, onion, mint, sage, and dates, to which was added a mixture of honey, vinegar, oil, and mustard.[XXI-108]

Archestratus, who, on account of his gastronomic voyages, was looked upon as a high authority, asserts that Sicily and the neighbourhood of Constantinople furnished excellent tunny fish; but that the best were those from Samos.[XXI-109] These latter were much renowned among the Greeks, who carefully prepared the entrails, and feasted on this dish. Athenæus relates, on this subject, a witticism of the poet Dorio, a keen and caustic spirit of the period of Aristotle and Philip of Macedon. Being at supper with that prince, a guest ridiculously praised a dish of tunny-fish intestines, just placed on the table. “They are certainly excellent,” said Doric, “when eaten as I eat them.” “How, then, do you eat them?” rejoined the gastronomic courtier. “With the firm determination,” replied the poet, “of thinking of nothing better.”[XXI-110]

This fish abounds in certain seas, and Pliny avers that it obstructed the navigation of the Indian Sea to such an extent, that the fleet of Alexander the Great was obliged to change its course, in order to avoid this impassable barrier.[XXI-111]

Tunny fish sometimes attain an immense size. Father Cetti tells us, that some were caught in Sardinia weighing no less than 1,000 lbs., and sometimes even 1,800 lbs.[XXI-112]

CONGER-EEL.

Near Sicyona, a city of the Peloponnesus,[XXI-113] they formerly caught conger-eels of such immense size, that it required a waggon drawn by oxen to carry a single one.[XXI-114] The body, the whole of the head, and even the intestines[XXI-115] were eaten. This dish, worthy of being offered by Neptune to his divine colleagues, was capable, like ambrosia, of bestowing immortality on those who had the good fortune of tasting it, and the dead would return to life, had it been possible to serve them with a piece of this exquisite fish.[XXI-116]

These childish exaggerations have not prevented Galen from treating the conger-eel with very little respect: he affirms, that nothing is more hard or indigestible.[XXI-117] And, indeed, epicureans of some repute allowed only the head to appear on their tables;[XXI-118] and then only at rare intervals, and under the auspices of a relishing sauce which assured its reception.

The Romans had still less esteem for this too highly praised fish. However, sometimes a fried conger-eel occupied on the _sigma_ an obscure place, in the midst of a seasoning flavoured highly with pepper, alisander, cummin, wild marjoram, dried onion, and hard yolks of eggs; with which a skilful hand carefully mixed to the whole, vinegar, sweet wine, garum, and cooked wine.[XXI-119]

EEL.

In some parts of Egypt the eel was not eaten, because it was thought indigestible.[XXI-120] In other places it received religious worship.[XXI-121] They were ornamented, whether they liked it or not, with silver, gold, and precious stones, and priests daily offered them the entrails of animals and cheese.[XXI-122]