44
Twyes each day sacrifise is perfourmed, to the which allecomen. To Iove thei sacrificen withouten ony noys, ne syngynge not ne floytynge; but whan thei presenten offrynges to Iuno, thanne thei syngen and floyten and sounen cymbales. And as to this thei mighte not telle me no thing certeyn.
45
Ther is also a lak, a lityl fro the temple, in the whiche holy fissches ben norysscht, withouten nombre and of dyverse kyndes. Some of hem ben ful grete, and thise han names and comen whan thei ben cleped. And whan I was there, amonges hem was oon that werde gold. On his fynne was festned a ioyelle of gold; and often tymes I saughe him, and he hadde that ioyelle."At Hierapolis in Syria, in the lake of Venus, they (the fish) obey the spoken commands of the acditui; when called, they come with their golden ornaments; they show affection and let themselves be tickled (adulantes scalpuntur), and they open their mouths for people to put in their hands” (Pliny, Nat. Hist. 32, 17). According to Aelian (Nat. Hist. 12, 2) they swam in regular formation, and had leaders. The pond still exists, but the fish are no more (Cumont, Etudes Syriennes, p. 36 sq.). There were similar ponds at Ascalon, Edessa, and Smyrna: see the interesting inscription from Smyrna in Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscr. Grace.*, No. 584. The custom was transmitted to modern times (Baudissin, Studien, ii, pp. 159 and 165; Hogarth, Jc, p. 189). On the fish tabu in Syria, see Xenophon, Anab. 1, 4, 9; Menander, fragment 544 Kock; Cicero, de Nat. Deor. 3, 39; Diodorus 2, 4, 3; Plutarch, Moral. 170 D, 730D; Ovid, Fasti 2, 461 sqqg.; Athenaeus 4, 157 B; 8, 346 ¢ sqq.; Clement Alex., Protrept. 2, 39, p. 35 e; Hyginus, Fab. 197;. Astron. 2, 30.
