the people of delos were the first to cram poultry, and to originate that abominable mania for devouring fattened birds, larded with the grease of their own bodies. i find in the ancient sumptuary regulations as to banquets, that this was forbidden for the first time by a law of the consul caius fannius, eleven years before the third punic war; by which it was ordered that no bird should be served at table beyond a single pullet, and that not fattened; an article which has since made its appearance in all the sumptuary laws. a method, however, has been devised of evading it, by feeding poultry upon food that has been soaked in milk: prepared in this fashion, they are considered still more delicate. not all pullets are looked upon as equally good for the purposes of fattening, but only those are selected which have a fatty skin about the neck. then come all the arts and affectations of the kitchen—that the thighs may have a nice plump appearance, that the bird may be properly divided down the back, 225 and that poultry may be brought to such a size that a single leg shall fill a whole platter. the parthians have taught their fashions to our cooks; yet after all, in spite of their refinements in luxury, no article is found to please equally in every part, for in one it is the thigh, and in another the breast that is esteemed.
the first person who invented aviaries for the reception of all kinds of birds was marcus l?nius strabo, a member of the equestrian order, who resided at brundisium. in his time we thus began to imprison animals to which nature had assigned the heavens as their element.
but more remarkable than anything else in this respect, is the story of the dish of clodius ?sopus, the tragic actor, which was valued at one hundred thousand sesterces, and in which were served up nothing but birds that had been remarkable for their song, or their imitation of the human voice, and he purchased each of them at the price of six thousand sesterces, being induced to this folly by no other pleasure than that in these he might eat the closest imitators of man; never for a moment reflecting that his own immense fortune had been acquired by the advantages of his voice; a parent right worthy of the son of whom we have already made mention as swallowing pearls. it would not be very easy to decide which of the two was guilty of the greatest baseness, unless, indeed, we admit that it was less unseemly to banquet upon the most costly of all the productions of nature, than to devour tongues which had given utterance to the language of man.
