Apicius offered a prize to any one who could invent a new brine
compounded of the liver of red mullets; and Lucullus had a canal cut
through a mountain, in the neighbourhood of Naples, that fish might be
the more easily transported to the gardens of his villa. Hortensius, the
orator, wept over the death of a turbot which he had fed with his own
hands; and the daughter of Druses adorned one that she had, with rings
of gold. These were, surely, instances of misplaced affection; but there
is no accounting for tastes. It was but the other day that we read in
the "_Times_" of a wealthy _living_ English hermit, who delights in the
companionship of rats!
The modern Romans are merged in the general name of Italians,
who, with the exception of macaroni, have no specially
characteristic article of food.