Latin Texts & Translations

The Euxine, however, is never entered by any animal ^[Note] that is noxious to fish, with the exception of the sea-calf and the small dolphin. On entering, the tunnies range along ^[Note] the shores to the right, and on departing, keep to those on the left; this is supposed to arise from the fact that they have better sight with the right eye, their powers of vision with either being naturally very limited. In the channel of the Thracian Bosporus, by which the Propontis is connected with the Euxine, at the narrowest part of the Straits which separate

Europe from Asia, there is, near Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side, a rock of remarkable Whiteness, the whole of which can be seen from the bottom of the sea at the surface. Alarmed at the sudden appearance of this rock, the tunnies always hasten in great numbers, and with headlong impetuosity, towards the promontory of Byzantium, which stands exactly opposite to it, and from this circumstance has received the name of the Golden Horn. ^[Note] Hence it is, that all the fishing is at Byzantium, to the great loss of Chalcedon, ^[Note] although it is only separated from it by a channel a mile in width. They wait, however, for the blowing of the north wind to leave the Euxine with a favourable tide, and are never taken until they have entered the harbour of Byzantium. These fish do not move about in winter; ^[Note] in whatever place they may happen to be surprised by it, there they pass the winter, till the time of the equinox.

Manifesting a wonderful degree of delight, they will often accompany a vessel in full sail, and may be seen from the poop following it for hours, and a distance of several miles. If a fish-spear even is thrown at them ever so many times, they are not in the slightest degree alarmed at it. Some writers call the tunnies which follow ships in this manner, by the name of "pompili." ^[Note]

Many fishes pass the summer in the Propontis, and do not enter the Euxine; such, for instance, as the sole, ^[Note] while on

the other hand, the turbot ^[Note] enters it. The sepia ^[Note] is not found in this sea, although the lolig ^[Note] is. Among the rock-fish, the sea-thrush ^[Note] and the sea-blackbird are wanting, as also purples, though oysters abound here. All these, however, pass the winter in the Ægean Sea; and of those which enter the Euxine, the only ones that do not ^[Note] return are the trichiæ. ^[Note]—It will be as well to use the Greek names which most of them bear, seeing that to the same species different countries have given different appellations.—These last, however, are the only ones that enter the river Ister, ^[Note] and passing along its subterraneous passages, make their way from it to the Adriatic; ^[Note] and this is

the reason why they are to be seen descending into the Euxine Sea, but never in the act of returning from it. The time for taking tunnies is, from the rising of the Vergiliæ ^[Note] to the setting of Arcturus: ^[Note] throughout the rest of the winter season, they lie concealed at the bottom of deep creeks, unless they are in- duced to come out by the warmth of the weather or the full moon. These fish fatten ^[Note] to such an extraordinary degree as to burst. The longest period of their life ^[Note] is two years.