The hepsetus, or boiled fish, is a name given to several small fish. Aristophanes, in his Anagyrus, says—
There is not one dish of hepseti.[p. 472] And Archippus says in his Fishes—
An hepsetus fell in with an anchovyAnd Eupolis, in his Goats, says—
And quick devour'd him.
Ye graces who do love the hepseti.And Eubulus, in his Prosusia or Cycnus, says—
Contented if just once in each twelve daysAnd Alexis, in his Apeglaucomenos, says—
He sees an hepsetus well boil'd in beet.
There were some hepseti besides served upand presently afterwards he continues—
In a dædalean manner. For they call
All clever works by the name of Dædalus;
Will you not now then try the coracini?But this word is always used in the plural, ἑψητοὶ, because they are only served up in numbers. Aristophanes, in his Dramata or Niobus, says—
Nor trichides, nor any hepseti?
I will say nothing of a dish of hepseti.And Menander, in his Perinthian Woman, says—
The boy came in bringing some hepseti.But Nicostratus uses the word in the singular number, in his Hesiod—
A bembras, an anchovy, and a hepsetus.And Posidippus, in his Woman shut up, says—
She's gone to buy a hepsetus.But in my country Naucratis, what they call hepseti are little fish left in the drains or ditches, when the Nile ceases its overflowing.