APPENDIX D.ON NETTING.

APPENDIX D.ON NETTING.MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Nets were made of Flax, Hemp, and Broom—General terms for nets—Nets used for catching birds—Mode of snaring—Hunting-nets—Method of hunting—Hunting-nets supported by forked stakes—Manner of fixing them—Purse-net or tunnel-net—Homer’s testimony—Nets used by the Persians in lion-hunting—Hunting with nets practised by the ancient Egyptians—Method of hunting—Depth of nets for this purpose—Description of the purse-net—Road-net—Hallier—Dyed feathers used to scare the prey—Casting-net—Manner of throwing by the Arabs—Cyrus king of Persia—His fable of the piper and the fishes—Fishing-nets—Casting-net used by the Apostles—Landing-net (Scap-net)—The Sean—Its length and depth—Modern use of the Sean—Method of fishing with the Sean practised by the Arabians and ancient Egyptians—Corks and leads—Figurative application of the Sean—Curious method of capturing an enemy practised by the Persians—Nets used in India to catch tortoises—Bag-nets and small purse-nets—Novel scent-bag of Verres the Sicilian prætor.

The raw materials, of which the ancients made nets, were flax, hemp[658], and broom[659]. Flax was most commonly used; so that Jerome, when he is prescribing employment for monks, says, “Texantur etlinacapiendis piscibus[660].” The operation of netting, as well as that of platting, was expressed by the verb πλέκειν[661]. The meshes were called in Latinmaculæ[662], in Greek βρόχοι,dim.βροχίδες[663].

[658]Rete cannabina. Varro,De Re Rust.iii. 5. p. 216, ed. Bipont.[659]Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2; xxiv. 9. s. 40.[660]Hieron.Epist.l. ii. p. 173, ed. Par. 1613, 12mo. Hunting-nets are called “lina nodosa” by Ovid,Met.iii. 153, and vii. 807. Compare Virg.Georg, i. 142; Homer,Il.v. 487; Brunck,Anal.ii. 94, 494, 495; Artimedorus, ii. 14. See also Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2.[661]Πλεξάμενος ἄρκυς, Aristoph.Lysist.790. Τῶν πεπλεγμένων δίκτυων, BokkeriAnecdota, vol. i. p. 354.[662]Varro,De Re Rust.iii. 11; Ovid,Epist.v. 19; Nemesiani Cyneg. 302.[663]Heliodor. l. v. p. 231, ed. Commelini.

[658]Rete cannabina. Varro,De Re Rust.iii. 5. p. 216, ed. Bipont.

[659]Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2; xxiv. 9. s. 40.

[660]Hieron.Epist.l. ii. p. 173, ed. Par. 1613, 12mo. Hunting-nets are called “lina nodosa” by Ovid,Met.iii. 153, and vii. 807. Compare Virg.Georg, i. 142; Homer,Il.v. 487; Brunck,Anal.ii. 94, 494, 495; Artimedorus, ii. 14. See also Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2.

[661]Πλεξάμενος ἄρκυς, Aristoph.Lysist.790. Τῶν πεπλεγμένων δίκτυων, BokkeriAnecdota, vol. i. p. 354.

[662]Varro,De Re Rust.iii. 11; Ovid,Epist.v. 19; Nemesiani Cyneg. 302.

[663]Heliodor. l. v. p. 231, ed. Commelini.

The use of all the Latin and Greek terms for nets will now be explained, and in connection with this explanation of terms, will be produced all the facts which can be ascertained upon the subject.

[664]From δικεῖν,to throw. See Eurip.Bacc.600, and the Lexicons of Schneider and Passow.

RetisorRetein Latin, and δίκτυον in Greek, were used to denote nets in general. Thus in an epigram of Leonidas Tarentinus[665], three brothers, one of whom was a hunter, another a fowler, and the third a fisherman, dedicate their nets to Pan. Several imitations of this epigram remain by Alexander Ætolus[666], Antipater Sidonius[667], Archias[668], and others[669]. In one of these epigrams (Ἰουλιάνου Αἰγυπτίου) we find λίνα adopted as a general term for nets instead of δίκτυα, no doubt for the reason above stated. In another epigram[670]a hare is said to have been caught in a net (δίκτυον). Aristophanes mentions nets by the same denomination among the contrivances employed by the fowler[671]. Fishing-nets are called δίκτυα in the following passages of the New Testament: Matt. iv. 20, 21; Mark i. 18, 19; Luke v. 2, 4-6; John xxi. 6, 8, 11: also by Theocritus,ap. Athen.vii. 20. p. 284, Cas.; and by Plato,Sophista, 220,b.p. 134, ed. Bekker.

[665]Brunck,Anal.i. 225.[666]Brunck,Anal.i. 418. Alexandri ÆtoliFragmenta, a Capelmann, p. 50.[667]Ibid.ii. 9, Nos. 15, 16.[668]Ibid.ii. 94, No. 9.[669]Ibid.ii. 494, 495. Jacobs,Anthol.vol. i. p. 188, 189.[670]Brunck,Anal.iii. 239, No 417.[671]Aves, 526-528.

[665]Brunck,Anal.i. 225.

[666]Brunck,Anal.i. 418. Alexandri ÆtoliFragmenta, a Capelmann, p. 50.

[667]Ibid.ii. 9, Nos. 15, 16.

[668]Ibid.ii. 94, No. 9.

[669]Ibid.ii. 494, 495. Jacobs,Anthol.vol. i. p. 188, 189.

[670]Brunck,Anal.iii. 239, No 417.

[671]Aves, 526-528.

Netting was applied in various ways in the construction ofhen-coopsand aviaries; and such net-work is calledrete[672]. It was used to make pens for sheep by night. At the amphitheatres it was sometimes placed over the podium. At a gladiatorial show given by Nero, the net, thus used as a fence againstthe wild beasts, was knottedwith amber[673]. The way in which the net was used by theRetiariiis well known. The head-dress called κεκρύφαλος, was a small net of fine flax, silk, or gold thread, and was also calledreticulum[674]. But by far the most important application of net-work was to the kindred arts of hunting and fishing: and besides the general terms used alike in reference to both these employments, there are special terms to be explained under each head.

[672]Varro,De Re Rust.iii. 5.[673]Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 3. s. 11.[674]Nonius Marcellus, p. 542, ed. Merceri. See also the articleCalantica, in Smith’sDict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

[672]Varro,De Re Rust.iii. 5.

[673]Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 3. s. 11.

[674]Nonius Marcellus, p. 542, ed. Merceri. See also the articleCalantica, in Smith’sDict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

The use of nets for catching birds was very limited, on which account we find no appropriate name for fowlers’ nets[675]. Nevertheless thrushes were caught in them[676], and doves or pigeons, with their limbs tied up, or fastened to the ground, or with their eyes covered or put out, were confined in a net in order that their cries might allure others into the snare[677]. An account of the nets used by the Egyptians to catch birds is given by Sir Gardner Wilkinson[678], being derived from the paintings found in the catacombs. The net commonly employed for the purpose was the clap-net. Bird-traps were also made by stretching a net over two semicircular frames, which, being joined and laid open, approached to the form of a circle. The trap was baited, and when a bird flew to it and seized the bait, it was instantly caught by the sudden rising of the two sides or flaps.

[675]See Aristophanes,l. c.[676]Hor.Epod.ii. 33, 34.[677]Aristoph.Aves, 1083.[678]Man. and Customs, vol. iii. p. 35-38, 45.

[675]See Aristophanes,l. c.

[676]Hor.Epod.ii. 33, 34.

[677]Aristoph.Aves, 1083.

[678]Man. and Customs, vol. iii. p. 35-38, 45.

In hunting it was usual to extend nets in a curved line of considerable length[679], so as in part to surround a space, intowhich the beasts of chase, such as the boar, the wild goat, the deer, the hare, the lion, and the bear might be driven through the opening left on one side. Tibullus (iv. 3. 12) speaks of inclosing woody hills for this purpose:—

... densos indagine collesClaudentem.

... densos indagine colles

Claudentem.

[679]Τὰ δίκτυα περιβάλλουσι. Ælian, H. A. xii. 46. Uno portante multitudinem, qua saltus cingerentur. Plin. H. N. xix. l. s. 2. Oppian (Cyneg.iv. 120-123) says, that in an Asiatic lion-hunt the nets (ἄρκυες) were placed in the form of the new moon.

The following lines of Virgil show, that the animals were driven into the toils from a distance by the barking of dogs and the shouts of men:

Thy hound the wild-ass in the sylvan chase,Or hare, or hart, with faithful speed will trace;Assail the muddy cave with eager cries,Where the rough boar in secret ambush lies;Press the tall stag with clamors echoing shrillTo secret toils, along the aërial hill.Georg. iii. 411-413.—Warton’s Translation.

Thy hound the wild-ass in the sylvan chase,

Or hare, or hart, with faithful speed will trace;

Assail the muddy cave with eager cries,

Where the rough boar in secret ambush lies;

Press the tall stag with clamors echoing shrill

To secret toils, along the aërial hill.

Georg. iii. 411-413.—Warton’s Translation.

In another splendid passage the boar is described as coming into the midst of the nets after he has been driven to them from a mountain or a marsh at a great distance:

And as a savage boar on mountains bred,With forest mast and fattening marshes fed;When once he sees himself in toils inclosed,By huntsmen and their eager hounds opposed;He whets his tusks, and turns and dares the war:The invaders dart their javelins from afar:All keep aloof and safely shout around,But none presumes to give a nearer wound.He frets and froths, erects his bristled hide,And shakes a grove of lances from his side.Æn.x. 707-715.—Dryden’s Translation.

And as a savage boar on mountains bred,

With forest mast and fattening marshes fed;

When once he sees himself in toils inclosed,

By huntsmen and their eager hounds opposed;

He whets his tusks, and turns and dares the war:

The invaders dart their javelins from afar:

All keep aloof and safely shout around,

But none presumes to give a nearer wound.

He frets and froths, erects his bristled hide,

And shakes a grove of lances from his side.

Æn.x. 707-715.—Dryden’s Translation.

Even in a case where the same poet introduces an equivalent expression to that of Tibullus, already quoted, viz. “saltus indagine cingunt” (Æn.iv. 121), he represents the hunting-party as going over a large extent of country to collect the animals out of it:

Postquam altos ventum in montes atque invia lustra,Ecce feræ saxi dejectæ vertice capræDecurrere jugis; alia de parte patentesTransmittunt cursu campos, atque agmina cerviPulverulenta fuga glomerant, montesque relinquunt.At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acriGaudet equo, jamque hos cursu, jam præterit illos,Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votisOptat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem.Æn.iv. 151-159.

Postquam altos ventum in montes atque invia lustra,

Ecce feræ saxi dejectæ vertice capræ

Decurrere jugis; alia de parte patentes

Transmittunt cursu campos, atque agmina cervi

Pulverulenta fuga glomerant, montesque relinquunt.

At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri

Gaudet equo, jamque hos cursu, jam præterit illos,

Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis

Optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem.

Æn.iv. 151-159.

So Ovid (Epist.iv. 41, 42):

In nemus ire libet, pressisque in retia cervis,Hortari celeres per juga summa canes;

In nemus ire libet, pressisque in retia cervis,

Hortari celeres per juga summa canes;

and (Epist.v. 19, 20):

Retia sæpe comes maculis distincta tetendi,Sæpe citos egi per juga longa canes.

Retia sæpe comes maculis distincta tetendi,

Sæpe citos egi per juga longa canes.

TheyoungerPliny describes himself on one occasion sitting beside the nets, while the hunters were pursuing the boars and driving them into the snare (Epist.i. 6). In Euripides (Bacc.821-832) we find the following beautiful description of a fawn, which has been driven into the space inclosed by the nets, but has leaped over them and escaped:—

ὡς νεβρὸς χλοεραῖςἐμπαίζουσα λείμακος ἡ-δοναῖς, ἡνίκ’ ἂν φοβερὸν φύγῃθήραμ’ ἔξω φυλακᾶςεὐπλέκτων ὑπὲρ ἀρκύων, &c.

ὡς νεβρὸς χλοεραῖς

ἐμπαίζουσα λείμακος ἡ-

δοναῖς, ἡνίκ’ ἂν φοβερὸν φύγῃ

θήραμ’ ἔξω φυλακᾶς

εὐπλέκτων ὑπὲρ ἀρκύων, &c.

Here a Bacchanal, tossing her head into the air with gambols and dancing, is said to be “like a fawn sporting in the green delights of a meadow, when she has escaped the fearful chase by leaping over the well-platted nets so as to be out of the inclosure, whilst the shouting hunter has been urging his dogs to run still more swiftly: by great efforts and with the rapidity of the winds she bounds over a plain beside a river, pleased with solitudes remote from man, and hides herself in the thickets of an umbrageous forest.”

If hollows or valleys were inclosed[680], the nets were no doubtextended only in those openings, through which it was possible for the animals to escape. Also a river was of itself a sufficient boundary:

Inclusum flumine cervum.—Virg.Æn.xii. 749.

[680]Nec, velit insidiis altassi claudere valles,Dum placeas, humeri retia ferre negent.—Tibullus, i. 4. 49, 50.It was the duty of the attendants (J. Pollux, v. 4. 27-31) in most cases to carry the nets on their shoulders, agreeably to the representation in thePlate X. Pliny,l. c.Cassibus impositos venor.—Propert. iv. 2. 32.... alius rarasCervice gravi portare plagas.—Sen.Hippol.i. l. 44.

[680]

Nec, velit insidiis altassi claudere valles,Dum placeas, humeri retia ferre negent.—Tibullus, i. 4. 49, 50.

Nec, velit insidiis altassi claudere valles,

Dum placeas, humeri retia ferre negent.—Tibullus, i. 4. 49, 50.

It was the duty of the attendants (J. Pollux, v. 4. 27-31) in most cases to carry the nets on their shoulders, agreeably to the representation in thePlate X. Pliny,l. c.

Cassibus impositos venor.—Propert. iv. 2. 32.

... alius rarasCervice gravi portare plagas.—Sen.Hippol.i. l. 44.

... alius raras

Cervice gravi portare plagas.—Sen.Hippol.i. l. 44.

The proper Latin term for the hunting-net, but more especially for the purse-net, which will be hereafter described, wasCassis. “Cassis, genus venatorii retis.” Isidori HispalensisOrig.xix. 5. “Arctos rodere casses” is applied by Persius (v. 170) to a quadruped with incisor teeth caught in such a net and striving to escape. See also Propertius as just quoted, and theAgamemnonof Seneca and Virgil’sGeorgicsas quoted below.Cassisseems to be derived from the root ofcapereandcatch. ButPlagawas also applied to hunting-nets, so that Horace describes the hunting of the boar in the following terms:

Aut trudit acres hinc et hinc multa caneApros in obstantes plagas.—Epod.ii. 31, 32.

Aut trudit acres hinc et hinc multa cane

Apros in obstantes plagas.—Epod.ii. 31, 32.

Lucretius (lib. v. 1251, 1252) aptly compares the setting up of theplagæto the planting of a hedge around the forest:

Nam fovea atque igni prius est venarier ortum,Quam sæpire plagis saltum, canibusque ciere.

Nam fovea atque igni prius est venarier ortum,

Quam sæpire plagis saltum, canibusque ciere.

In the same mannerplagæis used in theHippolytusof Seneca, as above quoted, and in Pliny[681].

[681]H. N. xix. 1. s. 2.

To dispose the nets in the manner which has been described, was called “retia ponere” (Virg.Georg.i. 307) or “retia tendere” (Ovid,Art. Amat.i. 45).

In Homer a hunting-net is called λίνον πάναγρον, literally, “the flax that catches everything[682].” But the proper Greek term for the hunting-net, corresponding to the Latincassis, was ἄρκυς, which is accordingly employed in the passages of Oppian and Euripides cited above. Also the epigram of Antipater Sidonius, to which a reference has already been made, specifies the hunting-net by the same appellation:

Δᾶμις μὲν θηρῶν ἄρκυν ὀρειονόμων.

The word is used in the same sense by Cratinus[683]; also by Arrian,where he remarks that the Celts dispensed with the use of nets in hunting, because they trusted to the swiftness of their greyhounds[684]. In Euripides[685]it is used metaphorically: the children cry out, when their mother is pursuing them,

Ὡς ἐγγὺς ἤδη γ’ ἐσμέν ἀρκύων ζίφους,i. e.“Now how near we are being caught with the sword.”

Ὡς ἐγγὺς ἤδη γ’ ἐσμέν ἀρκύων ζίφους,

i. e.“Now how near we are being caught with the sword.”

[682]Il.v. 487.[683]CratiniFragmenta, a Runkel, p. 28.[684]Καί εἰσὶν αἱ κύνες αὗται, ὅ τι περ αἱ ἄρκυς Ξενοφῶντι ἐκείνῳ,i. e.“And here greyhounds answered the same purpose as Xenophon’s hunting-nets.”De Venat.ii. 21. See Dansey’s translation, pp. 72, 121.[685]Medea, 1268.

[682]Il.v. 487.

[683]CratiniFragmenta, a Runkel, p. 28.

[684]Καί εἰσὶν αἱ κύνες αὗται, ὅ τι περ αἱ ἄρκυς Ξενοφῶντι ἐκείνῳ,i. e.“And here greyhounds answered the same purpose as Xenophon’s hunting-nets.”De Venat.ii. 21. See Dansey’s translation, pp. 72, 121.

[685]Medea, 1268.

Also in theAgamemnonof Æschylus (l. 1085):

Ἡ δίκτυον τί γ’ Αἴδου;ἀλλ’ ἄρκυς ἡ ζύνευνος, ἡ ζυναιτίαφόνου.

Ἡ δίκτυον τί γ’ Αἴδου;

ἀλλ’ ἄρκυς ἡ ζύνευνος, ἡ ζυναιτία

φόνου.

In this passage reference is made to the large shawl in which Clytemnestra wrapt the body of Agamemnon, as in a net, in order to destroy him. On account of the use made of it, the same fatal garment is afterwards (l. 1353) compared to a casting-net, which in its form bore a considerable resemblance to thecassis. In l. 1346, ἀρκύστατα[686]denotes this net as set up for hunting. The same form occurs again in theEumenides(l. 112); and in thePersæ(102-104) escape from danger is in nearly the same terms expressed by the notion of overleaping the net. In Euripides[687]this contrivance is called ἀρκύστατος μηχανὴ; and in theAgamemnonof Seneca[688]the same allusion is introduced:

At ille, ut altis hispidus silvis aper;Cum, casse vinctus, tentat egressus tamen,Arctatque motu vincla, et incassum furit,Cupit, fluentes undique et cæcos sinusDisjicere, et hostem quærit implicitus suum.

At ille, ut altis hispidus silvis aper;

Cum, casse vinctus, tentat egressus tamen,

Arctatque motu vincla, et incassum furit,

Cupit, fluentes undique et cæcos sinus

Disjicere, et hostem quærit implicitus suum.

[686]Or, ἀρκύστατον, ed. Schütz. l. 1376.[687]Orestes, 1405, s. 1421.[688]L. 886-890.

[686]Or, ἀρκύστατον, ed. Schütz. l. 1376.

[687]Orestes, 1405, s. 1421.

[688]L. 886-890.

Part of the apparatus of a huntsman consisted in the stakes which he drove into the ground to support his nets, and which Antipater Sidonius thus describes:

Καὶ πυρὶ θηγαλέους ὀξυπαγεῖς στάλικας;i. e.“The sharp stakes hardened in the fire[689].”

Καὶ πυρὶ θηγαλέους ὀξυπαγεῖς στάλικας;

i. e.“The sharp stakes hardened in the fire[689].”

The term which Xenophon uses of the stakes is, according to some manuscripts of his work, σχαλίδες. He says, they should be fixed so as to lean backwards, and thus more effectually to resist the impulse of the animals rushing against them[690]. The Latin term answering to στάλικες wasVari. We find it thus used by Lucan:

Aut, cum dispositis adtollat retia varisVenator, tenet ora levis clamosa Molossi.Pharsalia, iv. 439, 440.i. e.“The hunter holds the noisy mouth of the light Molossian dog, when he lifts up the nets to the stakes arranged in order.”

Aut, cum dispositis adtollat retia varisVenator, tenet ora levis clamosa Molossi.Pharsalia, iv. 439, 440.

Aut, cum dispositis adtollat retia varis

Venator, tenet ora levis clamosa Molossi.

Pharsalia, iv. 439, 440.

i. e.“The hunter holds the noisy mouth of the light Molossian dog, when he lifts up the nets to the stakes arranged in order.”

[689]Brunck,Anal.ii. 10. We find στάλικες in Oppian,Cyneg.iv. 67, 71, 121, 380; Pollux,Onom.v. 31.[690]De Venat.vi. 7.

[689]Brunck,Anal.ii. 10. We find στάλικες in Oppian,Cyneg.iv. 67, 71, 121, 380; Pollux,Onom.v. 31.

[690]De Venat.vi. 7.

Gratius Faliscus, adopting a Greek term, calls themancones, on account of the “elbow” or fork at the top:

Hic magis in cervos valuit metus: ast ubi lentæInterdum Libyco fucantur sandyce pinnæ,Lineaque extructis lucent anconibus arma,Rarum, si qua metus eludat bellua falsos.—Cyneg.85-88.

Hic magis in cervos valuit metus: ast ubi lentæ

Interdum Libyco fucantur sandyce pinnæ,

Lineaque extructis lucent anconibus arma,

Rarum, si qua metus eludat bellua falsos.—Cyneg.85-88.

It was the business of one of the attendants to watch the nets:

Ego retia servo.—Virg.Buc.iii. 75.

Sometimes there was a watchman at each extremity and one in the middle, as in the Persian lion-hunt[691]. The prevalence of this method of hunting in Persia might be inferred from the circumstance, that one of the chief employments of the inhabitants consisted in making these nets (ἄρκυς, Strabo, xv. 3. § 18). To watch the nets was called ἀρκυωρεῖν (Ælian, H. A. i. 2), and the man who discharged this office ἀρκυωρὸς (Xen.,De Ven.ii. 3; vi. 1.).

[691]Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 124, &c.

The paintings discovered in the catacombs of Egypt show, that the ancient inhabitants of that country used nets for hunting in the same manner which has now been shown to have been the practice of the Persians, Greeks and Romans[692].

[692]Wilkinson’sManners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 3-5.

Hunting-nets had much larger meshes than fishing or fowlers’-nets, because in general a fish or a fowl could escape through a much smaller opening than a quadruped. In hunting, the important circumstance was to make the nets so strongthat the beasts could not break through them. The large size of the meshes is denoted by the phrases “retia rara[693]” and “raras plagas[694];” and it is exhibited in a bas-relief in the collection of ancient marbles at Ince-Blundell in Lancashire. SeePlate X.fig. 1. This sculpture presents the following circumstances, which are worthy of notice as illustrative of the passages above collected from ancient authors. Three servants with staves carry a large net on their shoulders. The foremost of them holds by a leash a dog, which is eager to engage in the chase[695]. Then follows another scene in the hunt. A net with very large meshes and five feet high is set up, being supported by three stakes. Two boars and two deer are caught. A watchman, holding a staff, stands at each end of the net. Fig. 2,Plate X.is taken from a bas-relief in the same collection, representing a party returning from the chase, with the quadrupeds which they have caught. Two men carry the net, holding in their hands the stakes with forks at the top. These bas-reliefs have been taken from sarcophagi erected in commemoration of hunters, and they are engraved in theAncient statues, &c. at Ince-Blundell, vol. ii. pl. 89 and 126. An excellent representation of these forked staves is given in a sepulchral bas-relief in Bartoli,Admiranda, tab. 70, which Mr. Dansey has copied at p. 307 of his translation of Arrianon Coursing, and which represents a party of hunters returning from the chase. Another example of thevarus, or forked staff, is seen in a sepulchral stone lately found at York (England), and engraved in Mr. Wellbeloved’sEburacum, pl. 14. fig. 2. The man, who holds the varus in his right hand, and who appears to be a huntsman and a native of the north of England, though partly clothed after the Roman fashion, wears an inner and outer tunic, and over them a fringed sagum. In theSepolcri de’ Nasoni, published by Bartoli, there is a representation of a lion-hunt, and of another in which deer are caught by means of nets set up so as to inclose a large space. In Montfaucon’sSupplement, tome iii., is an engraving from a bas-relief, in which a net is represented: but none of these are so instructive as the two bas-reliefs at Ince-Blundell.

[693]Virg.Æn.iv. 131; Hor.Epod.ii. 33.[694]Seneca,Hippol.l. c.[695]See Lucan, as quoted in the last page.

[693]Virg.Æn.iv. 131; Hor.Epod.ii. 33.

[694]Seneca,Hippol.l. c.

[695]See Lucan, as quoted in the last page.

Gratius Faliscus recommends that a net should be forty paces long, and full ten knots high:

Et bis vicenos spatium prætendere passusRete velim, plenisque decem consurgere nodis.—Cyneg.31, 32.

Et bis vicenos spatium prætendere passus

Rete velim, plenisque decem consurgere nodis.—Cyneg.31, 32.

The necessity of making the nets so high that the animals could not leap over them, is alluded to in the expression Ὕψος κρεῖσσον ἐκπηδήματος,i. e.“a height too great for the animalsto leap out[696].”

[696]ÆschyliAgamemnon, 1347.

Xenophon, in his treatiseon Hunting, gives various directions respecting the making and setting of nets; and Schneider has added to that treatise a dissertation concerning the ἄρκυς. It is evident that this kind of net was made with a bag (κεκρύφαλος, vi. 7), being the same which is now called thepurse-net, or thetunnel-net, and that the aim of the hunter was to drive the animal into the bag; that the watchman (ἀρκυωρὸς) waited to see it caught there; that branches of trees were placed in the bag to keep it expanded, to render it invisible, and thus to decoy quadrupeds into it; that a rope ran round the mouth of the bag (περίδρομος, vi. 9), and was drawn tight by the impulse of the animal rushing in so as to prevent its escape[697]. To this rope was attached another, called ἐπίδρομος, which was used as follows. In fig. 1. ofPlate X.we observe, that the upper border of thenet consists of a very strong rope. Xenophon calls this σαρδὼν (vi. 9). In the purse-net it was furnished with rings. The ἀρκυωρὸς, or watchman, lay in ambush, holding one end of the ἐπίδρομος, which ran through the rings, and was fastened at the other end to the περίδρομος, so that by pulling it he drew the mouth of the bag still more firm and close. He then went to the bag and despatched the quadruped which it inclosed, or carried it off alive, informing his companions of the capture byshouting[698].

[697]This effect of the περίδρομος is well expressed by Seneca, “Arctatque motu vincla:” also the circumstance of the branches used to distend the bag and to make it invisible; “Fluentes undique et cæcos sinus.”Homer (Il.v. 487) seems to allude to the same contrivance, and to apply the term ἀχῖδες to the rope which encircled the entrance of the bag, with the others attached to it.We find in Brunck’sAnalecta(ii. 10. No. xx.) the phrase ἀγκύλα δίκτυα applied to hunting-nets. It was probably meant to designate the ἄρκυς, which might be called ἀγκύλα,i. e.angular, because they were made like bags ending in a point. The term νεφέλη, which occurs in Aristophanes (Aves, 195), and denoted some contrivance for catching birds, is said by the Scholiast on the passage to have meant a kind of hunting-net. But this explanation is evidently good for nothing.[698]Oppian,Cyneg.iv. 409. Pliny mentions theseepidromi, orrunning ropes: H. N. xix. 1. s. 2.

Homer (Il.v. 487) seems to allude to the same contrivance, and to apply the term ἀχῖδες to the rope which encircled the entrance of the bag, with the others attached to it.

We find in Brunck’sAnalecta(ii. 10. No. xx.) the phrase ἀγκύλα δίκτυα applied to hunting-nets. It was probably meant to designate the ἄρκυς, which might be called ἀγκύλα,i. e.angular, because they were made like bags ending in a point. The term νεφέλη, which occurs in Aristophanes (Aves, 195), and denoted some contrivance for catching birds, is said by the Scholiast on the passage to have meant a kind of hunting-net. But this explanation is evidently good for nothing.

[698]Oppian,Cyneg.iv. 409. Pliny mentions theseepidromi, orrunning ropes: H. N. xix. 1. s. 2.

In this treatise Xenophon distinguishes the nets used in hunting by three different appellations; ἄρκυς, ἐνόδιον, and δίκτυον. Oppian also distinguishes the δίκτυον used in hunting from the ἄρκυς[699]. The ἄρκυς orcassis,i. e.“the purse-or tunnel-net,” was by much the most complicated in its formation. The ἐνόδιον, or “road-net,” was comparatively small: it was placed across any road, or path, to prevent the animals from pursuing that path: it must have been used to stop the narrow openings between bushes. The δίκτυον was a large net, simply intended to inclose the ground: it therefore resembled in some measure the sean used in fishing. The term, thus specially applied, may be translateda hay, ora hallier[700]. These three kinds of nets appear to be mentioned together by Nemesianus under the names ofretia(i. e. δίκτυα),casses(i. e. ἄρκυς), andplagæ(i. e. ἐνόδια.):

Necnon et casses idem venatibus aptos,Atque plagas, longoque meantia retia tractuAddiscunt raris semper contexere nodis,Et servare modum maculis, linoque tenaci.Cyneg.299-302.

Necnon et casses idem venatibus aptos,Atque plagas, longoque meantia retia tractuAddiscunt raris semper contexere nodis,Et servare modum maculis, linoque tenaci.

Necnon et casses idem venatibus aptos,

Atque plagas, longoque meantia retia tractu

Addiscunt raris semper contexere nodis,

Et servare modum maculis, linoque tenaci.

Cyneg.299-302.

[699]Ibid.iv. 381.[700]See Arrianon Coursing: the Cynegeticus of the youngerXenophon,translated from the Greek, &c. &c.by a graduate of Medicine(William C. Dansey, M. B.). London, 1831, pp. 68, 188.

[699]Ibid.iv. 381.

[700]See Arrianon Coursing: the Cynegeticus of the youngerXenophon,translated from the Greek, &c. &c.by a graduate of Medicine(William C. Dansey, M. B.). London, 1831, pp. 68, 188.

Xenophon, in his treatise on Hunting, further informs us, that the cord used for making the ἄρκυς, or purse-net, consisted of three strands, and that three lines twisted together commonly made a strand (ii. 4); but that, when the net was intended to catchthe wild boar, nine lines went to a strand instead of three (x. 2).

It remains to be noticed, that, when the long range of nets, set up in the manner which has been now represented, was designed to catch the stag (cervus), it was flanked by cords, to which, as well as to the nets themselves, feathersdyed scarlet, and of other bright colors intermixed with their native white, and sometimes probably birds’ wings, were tied so as to flare and flutter in the wind[701]. This appendage to the nets was called themetusorformido(Virg.Æn.xii. 750), because it frightened these timid quadrupeds so as to urge them onwards into the toils. Hence Virgil, speaking of the method of taking stags in Scythia, says,

Nor toils their flight impede, nor hounds o’ertake,Nor plumesof purple dyetheir fears awake.Georg.iii. 371, 372.—Sotheby’s Translation.

Nor toils their flight impede, nor hounds o’ertake,Nor plumesof purple dyetheir fears awake.

Nor toils their flight impede, nor hounds o’ertake,

Nor plumesof purple dyetheir fears awake.

Georg.iii. 371, 372.—Sotheby’s Translation.

[701]Dum trepidant alæ.—Virg.Æn.iv. 121.

The following passages likewise allude to the use of this contrivance in the stag-hunt:

Nec formidatis cervos includite pennis.—Ovid.Met.xv. 475.

Vagos dumeta per avia cervosCircumdat maculis et multa indagine pinnæ.Auson.Epist.iv. 27.

Vagos dumeta per avia cervosCircumdat maculis et multa indagine pinnæ.

Vagos dumeta per avia cervos

Circumdat maculis et multa indagine pinnæ.

Auson.Epist.iv. 27.

Nemesianus, in the following passage, asserts that the cord (linea) carrying feathers of this description had the effect of terrifying not the stag only, but the bear, the boar, the fox and the wolf:

Linea quinetiam, magnos circumdare saltusQuæ possit, volucresque metu concludere prædas,Digerat innexas non una ex alite pinnas.Namque ursos, magnosque sues, cervosque fugacesEt vulpes, acresque lupos, ceu fulgura cœliTerrificant, linique vetant transcendere septum.Has igitur vario semper fucare venenoCura tibi, neveisque alios miscere colores,Alternosque metus subtemine tendere longo.Cyneg.303-311.

Linea quinetiam, magnos circumdare saltus

Quæ possit, volucresque metu concludere prædas,

Digerat innexas non una ex alite pinnas.

Namque ursos, magnosque sues, cervosque fugaces

Et vulpes, acresque lupos, ceu fulgura cœli

Terrificant, linique vetant transcendere septum.

Has igitur vario semper fucare veneno

Cura tibi, neveisque alios miscere colores,

Alternosque metus subtemine tendere longo.

Cyneg.303-311.

The same fact is asserted in a striking passage, which hasbeen above quoted from Gratius Faliscus. To the same effect are the following passages:

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