They say in other things the Egyptian race
Is clever also, since they think the eel
On a level with the gods; or I may say
By far more valuable. For, as to the gods,—
Those we gain over by our prayers alone;
But as for eels, without you spend at least
Twelve drachmas you can scarce get leave to smell them.
So it is altogether a holy beast.
And Anaxandrides, in his Cities, directing what he says to the Egyptians, speaks as follows—
I never could myself your comrade be,
For neither do our manners nor our laws
Agree with yours, but they are wholly different.
You do adore an ox; I sacrifice him
To the great Gods of heaven. You do think
An eel the mightiest of deities;
But we do eat him as the best of fish.
You eat no pork; I like it above all things.
You do adore a dog; but I do beat him
If e'er I catch him stealing any meat.
Then our laws enjoin the priests to be
Most perfect men; but yours are mutilated.
If you do see a cat in any grief
You weep; but I first kill him and then skin him.
You have a great opinion of the shrew-mouse;
But I have none at all.
And Timocles, in his Egyptians, says—
How can an ibis or a dog be able
To save a man? For where with impious hearts
Men sin against the all-acknowledged Gods,
And yet escape unpunish'd, who can think
The altar of a cat will be more holy,
Or prompter to avenge itself, than they?
56. But that men used to wrap eels up in beet, and then eat them, is a fact constantly alluded to in the poets of the old comedy; and Eubulus says in his Echo—
The nymph who never knew the joys of marriage,
Clothed with rosy beet will now appear,
The white-flesh'd eel. Hail, brilliant luminary,
Great in my taste, and in your own good qualities.
And in his Ionian he says—
And after this were served up the rich
Entrails of roasted tunnies; then there came
Those natives of the lake, the holy eels,
Bœotian goddesses; all clothed in beet.
And in his Medea he says—
