Arcesilaus;
but those who frequent the fish-market, and soonest hear the
market-bell. Thus when Demosthenes had told Philocrates that the gold
he got by treachery was spent upon whores and fish, he upbraids him as a
gluttonous and lascivious fellow. And Ctesiphon said pat enough, when a
certain glutton cried aloud in company that he should burst asunder: No,
by no means let us be baits for your fish! And what did he mean, do you
think, who made this verse,

You capers gnaw, when you may sturgeon eat?

And what, for God's sake, do those men mean who, inviting one another to
sumptuous collations, usually say: To-day we will dine upon the shore?
Is it not that they suppose, what is certainly true, that a dinner upon
the shore is of all others most delicious? Not by reason of the waves
the sea-coast would be content to feed upon a pulse or a caper?--but
because their table is furnished with plenty of fresh fish. Add to
this, that sea-food is dearer than any other. Wherefore Cato inveighing
against the luxury of the city, did not exceed the bounds of truth, when
he said that at Rome a fish was sold for more than an ox. For they
sell a small pot of fish for as much as a hecatomb of sheep and all the
accessories of sacrifice. Besides, as the physician is the best judge
of physic, and the musician of songs; so he is able to give the best
account of the goodness of meat who is the greatest lover of it. For I
will not make Pythagoras and Xenocrates arbitrators in this case; but
Antagoras the poet, and Philoxenus the son of Eryxis, and Androcydes
the painter, of whom it was reported that, when he drew a landscape of
Scylla, he drew fish in a lively manner swimming round her, because he
was a great lover of them. So Antigonus the king, surprising Antagoras
the poet in the habit of a cook, broiling congers in his tent, said
to him: Dost thou think that Homer was dressing congers when he writ
Agamemnon's famous exploits? And he as smartly replied: Do you think
that Agamemnon did so many famous exploits when he was inquiring who
dressed congers in the camp? These arguments, says Polycrates, I have
urged in behalf of fishmongers, drawing them from testimony and custom.

But, says Symmachus, I will go more seriously to work, and more like a
logician. For if that may truly be said to be a relish which gives meat
the best relish, it will evidently follow, that that is the best sort
of relish which gets men the best stomach to thei