Book 7
83
And Sophron, in his Countryman, speaks of The cothons, who bathe in mud; and perhaps it was from the name of this fish that he called the son of his Tunny-catcher, in the play, Cothonias. But it is the Sicilians who call the tench κώθων, as Nicander the Colophonian tells us, in his book on Dialects; and Apollodorus confirms the statement, in his treatise on the Modest and Temperate Man. But Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Marriage, names the tench, calling it κώβιος:— The turtle with their sting behind, and then the tender tench. And Antiphanes, in his Timon, praising the tench, tells us in what places they are to be found in the greatest perfection, in these lines:— I come, but I have been to great expense In buying viands for this marriage feast. I've bought a pennyworth of frankincense To offer to the gods and all the goddesses, And to the heroes I will offer cakes. But when I bid that rascally house-breaking Seller of fish to add a dainty dish, I'll throw you in, says he, "the borough itself, For they are all Phalericans." The rest I do believe were selling our Otrynicans.The burgh of Otryna was one of the most obscure ones, while the Phaleric burgh was one of those of the highest reputation. Menander, in his Ephesians, says— A. There was a fishmonger not long ago, Who asked four whole drachmas for his tench. B. A mighty price indeed. And Dorion mentions river tench also, in his book on Fishes.
