Chapter 54

Nec est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta conterreat, et ad insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido.—Seneca,de Ira, ii. 11.

Feras lineis et pinna conclusas contine: easdem a tergo eques telis incessat: tentabunt fugam per ipsa quæ fugerant, proculcabuntque formidinem.—Seneca,de Clementia, i. 12.

Picta rubenti lineo pinnaVano claudat terrore feras.Seneca Frag.Hippol.i. 1.

Picta rubenti lineo pinnaVano claudat terrore feras.

Picta rubenti lineo pinna

Vano claudat terrore feras.

Seneca Frag.Hippol.i. 1.

Fishing-nets[702]were of six different kinds, which are enumerated by Oppian as follows:

Τῶν τὰ μὲν ἀμφίβληστρα, τὰ δὲ γρῖφοι καλέονται,Γάγγαμα τ’, ἠδ’ ὑποχαὶ περιηγέες, ἠδὲ σαγῆναι,Ἄλλα δὲ κικλήσκουσι καλύμματα.—Hal.iii. 80-82.

Τῶν τὰ μὲν ἀμφίβληστρα, τὰ δὲ γρῖφοι καλέονται,

Γάγγαμα τ’, ἠδ’ ὑποχαὶ περιηγέες, ἠδὲ σαγῆναι,

Ἄλλα δὲ κικλήσκουσι καλύμματα.—Hal.iii. 80-82.

[702]Ἁλιευτικὰ δίκτυα. Diod. Sic. xvii. 43. p. 193, Wessel.

Of these by far the most common were the ἀμφίβληστρον, orcasting-net, and the σαγήνη,i. e.thedragorsean. Consequently these two are the only kinds mentioned by Virgil and Ovid in the following passages:

Atque alius latum funda jam verberat amnem,Alta petens; pelagoque alius trahit humida lina.Virg.Georg.i. 141, 142.

Atque alius latum funda jam verberat amnem,Alta petens; pelagoque alius trahit humida lina.

Atque alius latum funda jam verberat amnem,

Alta petens; pelagoque alius trahit humida lina.

Virg.Georg.i. 141, 142.

Hi jaculo pisces, illi capiuntur ab hamis;Hos cava contento retia fune trahunt.Ovid,Art. Amat.i. 763, 464.

Hi jaculo pisces, illi capiuntur ab hamis;Hos cava contento retia fune trahunt.

Hi jaculo pisces, illi capiuntur ab hamis;

Hos cava contento retia fune trahunt.

Ovid,Art. Amat.i. 763, 464.

By Virgil the casting-net is calledfunda, which is the common term for a sling. In illustration of this it is to be observed, that the casting-net is thrown over the fisherman’s shoulder, and then whirled in the air much like a sling. By this action he causes it to fly open at the bottom so as to form a circle,which is loaded at intervals with stones or pieces of lead, and this circle “strikes the broad river[703]:” for the casting-net is used either in pools of moderate depth, or in rivers which have, like pools, a broad smooth surface; whereas the sean is employed for fishing in the deep (pelago)[704].

[703]The Arabs now employ the casting-net on the shores of the Arabian Gulf. “Its form is round, and loaded at the lower part with small pieces of lead; and, when the fisherman approaches a shoal of fish, his art consists in throwing the net so that it may expand itself in a circular form before it reaches the surface of the water.”—Wellsted’sTravels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 148.[704]For a technical account of nets, including the casting-net as now made, the reader is referred to the Hon. and Rev. Charles Bathurst’sNotes on Nets; or the Quincunx practically considered, London, 1837, 12mo. Duhamel wrote on the same subject in French.

[704]For a technical account of nets, including the casting-net as now made, the reader is referred to the Hon. and Rev. Charles Bathurst’sNotes on Nets; or the Quincunx practically considered, London, 1837, 12mo. Duhamel wrote on the same subject in French.

Isidore of Seville, in his account of the different kinds of nets (Orig.xix. 5), thus speaks: “Fundagenus est piscatorii retis, dicta ab eo, quod in fundum mittatur. Eadem etiam a jactandojaculumdicitur. Plautus:

Probus quidem antea jaculator eras[705].”

[705]Jaculatorcorresponds to the Greek ἀμφιβολεὺς.Ausonius, in the following lines, which refer to the methods of fishing in the vicinity of the Garonne, appears to distinguish between thejaculumand thefunda.Piscandi traheris studio? nam tota supellexDumnotoni tales solita est ostendere gazas:Nodosas vestes animantum Nerinorum,Et jacula, et fundas, et nomina villica lini,Colaque, et indutos terrenis vermibus hamos.Epist.iv. 51-55.

[705]Jaculatorcorresponds to the Greek ἀμφιβολεὺς.

Ausonius, in the following lines, which refer to the methods of fishing in the vicinity of the Garonne, appears to distinguish between thejaculumand thefunda.

Piscandi traheris studio? nam tota supellexDumnotoni tales solita est ostendere gazas:Nodosas vestes animantum Nerinorum,Et jacula, et fundas, et nomina villica lini,Colaque, et indutos terrenis vermibus hamos.Epist.iv. 51-55.

Piscandi traheris studio? nam tota supellex

Dumnotoni tales solita est ostendere gazas:

Nodosas vestes animantum Nerinorum,

Et jacula, et fundas, et nomina villica lini,

Colaque, et indutos terrenis vermibus hamos.

Epist.iv. 51-55.

Besides the passage of Plautus, here quoted by Isidore, there are two others, in which the casting-net is mentioned under the name ofrete jaculum, viz.Asinar. l. i. 87, andTruc.l. i. 14. Pareus, as we find from hisLexicon Plautinum, clearly understood the meaning of the term, and the distinction between the casting-net and the sean. Of theRete jaculumhe says, “Sic dicitur ad differentiamverriculi, quod non jacitur, sed trahitur et verritur.” He adds, that Herodotus calls it ἀμφίβληστρον, and the GermansWurffgarn.

The word occurs twice in Herodotus, and both places throw light upon its meaning. In Book i. c. 141. he says: “TheLydians had no sooner been brought into subjection by the Persians than the Ionians and Æolians sent ambassadors to Cyrus at Sardis, entreating him to receive them under his dominion on the same conditions on which they had been under Crœsus. To this proposal he replied in the following fable. A piper, having seen some fishes in the sea,played for a while on his pipe, thinking that this would make them come to him on the land. Perceiving the fallacy of this expectation, he took a casting-net, and, having thrown it around a great number of the fishes, he drew them out of the water. He then said to the fishes, as they were jumping about,As you did not choose to dance out of the water, when I played to you on my pipe, you may put a stop to your dancing now.” The other passage (ii. 95) has been illustrated in a very successful manner by William Spence, Esq., F. R. S., in a paper in the Transactions of the Entomological Society for the year 1834. In connection with the curious fact, that the common house-fly will not in general pass through the meshes of a net, Mr. Spence produces this passage, in which Herodotus states, that the fishermen who lived about the marshes of Egypt, being each in possession of a casting-net, and using it in the day-time to catch fishes, employed these nets in the night to keep off the gnats, by which that country is infested. The casting-net was fixed so as to encircle the bed, on which the fisherman slept; and, as this kind of net is always pear-shaped, or of a conical form, it is evident that nothing could be better adapted to the purpose, as it would be suspended like a tent over the body of its owner. In this passage Herodotus twice uses the term ἀμφίβληστρον, and once he calls the same thing δίκτυον, because, as we have seen, this was a common term applicable to nets of every description[706].

[706]None of the commentators appear to have understood these passages.In particular we find that Schweighäuser in hisLexicon Herodoteumexplains Ἀμφίβληστρον thus: “Verriculum, Rete quod circumjicitur.”Rete, however, corresponds to δίκτυον, which meant a net of any kind; andVerriculumis the Latin for Σαγήνη, which, as will be shown hereafter, was a sean, or drag-net.

The antiquity of the casting-net among the Greeks appearsfrom a passage in theShield of Hercules, attributed to Hesiod (l. 213-215). The poet says, that the shield represented the sea with fishes seen in the water, “and on the rocks sat a fisherman watching, and he held in his hands a casting-net (ἀμφίβληστρον) for fishes, and seemed to be throwing it from him.” We apprehend that, the position ofsittingwas not so suitable to the use of the casting-net as standing, because it requires the free use of the arms, which a man cannot well have when he sits. In other respects this description exactly agrees with the use of the casting-net: for it is thrown by a single person, who remains on land at the edge of the water, observes the fishes in it, and throws the net from him into the water so as suddenly to inclose them.

In two of the tragedies of Æschylus we find the term ἀμφίβληστρον appliedfigurativelyby Clytemnestra to theshawl, in which she enveloped her husband in order to murder him.

Ἄπειρον ἀμφίβληστρον, ὥσπερ ἰχθύων,περιστίχιζω, πλοῦτον εἵματος κακόν.—Agamem.1353, 1354.

Ἄπειρον ἀμφίβληστρον, ὥσπερ ἰχθύων,

περιστίχιζω, πλοῦτον εἵματος κακόν.—Agamem.1353, 1354.

Μέμνησο δ’, ἀμφίβληστρον ὡς ἐκαίνισαν.—Choëph.485.

Lycophron (l. 1101) calls this garment by the same name, when he refers to the same event in the fabulous history of Greece. We have seen, that in other passages the shawl so used is with equal aptitude called a purse-net (ἄρκυς).

One of the comedies of Menander was entitled Ἁλιεῖς, “the Fisherman.” The expression, Ἀμφιβλήστρῳ περιβάλλεται, is quoted from it by Julius Pollus (x. 132)[707].

[707]Menandri et Phil.Reliquæ, a Meineke, p. 16.

Athenæus (lib. x. 72. p. 450 c. Casaub.) quotes from Antiphanes the following line, which describes a man “throwing a casting-net on many fishes”:

Ἰχθύσιν ἀμφίβληστρον ἀνὴρ πολλοῖς ἐπιβάλλων.

In an epigram of Leonidas Tarentinus we find the casting-net called ἀμφίβολον instead of ἀμφίβληστρον[708].

[708]Brunck,Anal.i. 223, No. xii. Jacobs,Anthol.i. 2. p. 74.

The ἀμφίβληστρον is mentioned together with two other kinds of nets by Artemidorus, and which will be quoted presently.

The following curious passage of Meletiusde Natura Hominis, in which that author, probably following Galen, describes the expansion of the optic nerves, mentions the casting-net as “an instrument used by fishermen”:

Διασχίζονται δὲ τὰ νεῦρα εἰς τοὺς θαλάμους, ὥσπερ ἤν τις λαβὼν πάπυρον, ταύτην εἰς λεπτὰ διατεμὼν καὶ διασχίζων ἀναπλέκηται πάλιν, καὶ ποιῇ χιτῶνα λεγόμενον ἀμφιβληστροειδῆ, ὅμοιον ἀμφιβλήρτρῳ. ὄργανον δὲ τοῦτο θηρευταῖς ἰχθύων χρήσιμον.—Salmasius,in Tertull. de Pallio, p. 213.

The χιτὼν ἀμφιβληστροειδὴς, ortunica retina, was so called on account of its resemblance in form to the casting-net.

As we learn from Herodotus that the casting-net was universally employed by the fishermen of Egypt, we shall not be surprised to find it mentioned in the Alexandrine, or, as it is commonly called, the Septuagint version of the Psalms and Prophets:—

Πεσοῦνται ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτωλοὶ,i. e.“Sinners shall fall inhiscasting-net.”—Psalmcxli. 10.Cadent in retiaculo ejus peccatores.—Vulgate Version.“Let the wicked fall in their own nets.”—Common English Version.

Πεσοῦνται ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτωλοὶ,

i. e.“Sinners shall fall inhiscasting-net.”—Psalmcxli. 10.

Cadent in retiaculo ejus peccatores.—Vulgate Version.

“Let the wicked fall in their own nets.”—Common English Version.

The word in the original Hebrew is מכמור, which Gesenius translates “Rete,”a net. This word must have been more general in its meaning than the Greek ἀμφίβληστρον, and included the purse-net, or ἄρκυς. The Chaldee and Syriac versions use in this passage a word, which denotessnaresin general. SeeIsaiahli. 20, where the same word is used in the Hebrew, but applied to the catching of a quadruped, and where consequently the purse-net must have been intended.

Καὶ οἱ βάλλοντες σαγήνας, καὶ οἱ ἀμφιβολεῖς πενθήσουσι.i. e.“And they who throw seans, and they who fish with the casting-net, shall mourn.”—Isa.xix. 8.Et expandentes rete super faciem aquarum emarcescent.—Vulgate Version.“And they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.”—Common English Version.

Καὶ οἱ βάλλοντες σαγήνας, καὶ οἱ ἀμφιβολεῖς πενθήσουσι.

i. e.“And they who throw seans, and they who fish with the casting-net, shall mourn.”—Isa.xix. 8.

Et expandentes rete super faciem aquarum emarcescent.—Vulgate Version.

“And they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.”—Common English Version.

It is to be observed, that this prophecy relates to Egypt. The Hebrew verb פרש, here translated “expandentes,” “they that spread,” is exactly applicable to the remarkable expansion of the casting-net just as it reaches the surface of the water. Inthe Alexandrine version we may also observe the clear distinction between the two principal kinds of nets, the sean and the casting-net, and that the man who fishes with the latter is called ἀμφιβολεὺς, as in Latin he was designated by the single termjaculator.

Εἵλκυσεν αὐτὸν ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ, καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἐν ταῖς σαγήναις αὐτοῦ· ἕνεκεν τοὺτου εὐφρανθήσεται καὶ χαρήσεται ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ. Ἕνεκεν τούτου θύσει τῇ σαγήνῃ αὐτοῦ, καὶ θυμιάσει τῷ ἀμφιβλήστρῳ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐλίπανε μερίδα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ βρώματα αὐτοῦ ἐκλεκτά. Διὰ τοῦτο ἀμφιβαλεῖ τὸ ἀμφίβληστρον αὐτοῦ, καὶ διαπαντὸς ἀποκτένειν ἔθνη οὐ φείσεται.i. e.“He (the Chaldean) hath drawn him in a casting-net and gathered him in his seans: therefore his heart shall rejoice and be glad. Therefore he shall sacrifice to his sean and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he hath fattened his portion and his chosen dainties. Therefore he shall throw his casting-net, and not spare utterly to slay nations.”—Habakkuk, i. 15-17.“They catch them in their net and gather them in their drag; therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net and burn incense unto their drag: because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?”—Common English Version.

i. e.“He (the Chaldean) hath drawn him in a casting-net and gathered him in his seans: therefore his heart shall rejoice and be glad. Therefore he shall sacrifice to his sean and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he hath fattened his portion and his chosen dainties. Therefore he shall throw his casting-net, and not spare utterly to slay nations.”—Habakkuk, i. 15-17.

“They catch them in their net and gather them in their drag; therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net and burn incense unto their drag: because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?”—Common English Version.

The Latin Vulgate in this passage uses without discrimination the termsreteandsagena, which latter is the Greek word in a Latin form.

Ἀμφίβληστρον occurs twice in the New Testament. Matthew iv. 18: “Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon and Andrew,casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers”: in the original, βάλλοντας ἀμφίβληστρον εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν; in the Vulgate version, “mittentes rete.” It appears no sufficient objection to the sense which has been assigned to ἀμφίβληστρον, that here two persons are mentioned as using it at the same time. Being partners and engaged in the same employment, one perhaps collecting the fishes which the other caught, they might be described together as “throwing the casting-net,” although only one at a time held it in his hands. In other respects this explanation is particularly suitable to the circumstances. Jesus was walking on the shore and accosted the two brothers. This suits the supposition that they were on the shore likewise, and not fishing out of a boat, as they did with the sean at other times. In verse 20 the Evangelist uses the term δίκτυα (nets), saying “they left their nets,” and meaningboth their casting-net and those of other kinds. In verse 21 he mentions that James and John were in their boat, mending their nets (δίκτυα).

The same things are to be observed in Mark i. 16, which is the parallel passage.

Pursuing the order adopted by Oppian in his list of fishing nets above quoted, we come to the Γρῖφος. What kind of net this was we have been unable to discover. It must, however, have been one of the most useful and important kinds, because Plutarch mentions γρίφοι καὶ σαγήναι as the common implements of the fisherman[709], and Artemidorus speaks of this together with the casting-net and the sean in similar terms[710].

[709]Περὶ ἐνθυμίας, vol. v. p. 838, ed. Steph.[710]L. ii. c. 14.

[709]Περὶ ἐνθυμίας, vol. v. p. 838, ed. Steph.

[710]L. ii. c. 14.

It may be observed, that Γριπεὺς is used for a fisherman[711], apparently equivalent to ἁλιεὺς[712]. We also find the expression Γριπηΐδι τέχνῃ, meaning, “By the fisherman’s art[713]”.

[711]Jacobs,Anthol.vol. i. p. 186, Nos. 4 and 5.[712]Theocrit. i. 39; iii. 26.[713]Brunck,Anal.ii. 9, No. 14.

[711]Jacobs,Anthol.vol. i. p. 186, Nos. 4 and 5.

[712]Theocrit. i. 39; iii. 26.

[713]Brunck,Anal.ii. 9, No. 14.

The third fishing-net in Oppian’s enumeration is Γάγγαμον. We find it once mentioned metaphorically, viz. by Æschylus, who calls an inextricable calamity, Γάγγαμον ἄτης[714]. In Schneider’s edition of Oppian we find this note, “Rete ostreis capiendis esse annotavit Hesychius.” Passow also in his Lexicon explains it as “a small round net for catching oysters.” The reference to Hesychius is incorrect. If it was a net for catching oysters, which appears very doubtful, it may have been the net used by the Indians in the pearl-fishery[715].

[714]Agam.352.[715]Λέγει Μεγασθένης θηρεύεσθαι τὴν κόγχην αὐτοῦ δικτύοισι. Arrian,Indica, vol. i p. 525, ed. Blancardi.

[714]Agam.352.

[715]Λέγει Μεγασθένης θηρεύεσθαι τὴν κόγχην αὐτοῦ δικτύοισι. Arrian,Indica, vol. i p. 525, ed. Blancardi.

The ὑποχὴ, which is the fourth in Oppian’s enumeration, was the landing-net, used merely to take fishes out of the water when they rose to the surface, or in similar circumstances to which it was adapted. It was made with a hoop (κύκλος) fastened to a pole, and was perhaps also provided with the means of closing the round aperture at the top[716].

Of the Κάλυμμα we find nowhere any further mention.

[716]See Oppian,Hal.iv. 251.

These were the Greek and Latin names for thesean. Before producing the passages in which they occur, we will present to the reader an account of this kind of net as now used by the fishermen on the coast of Cornwall (England) for catching pilchards, and as described by Dr. Paris in his elegant and pleasantGuide to Mount’s Bay and Land’s End[717].

“At the proper season men are stationed on the cliffs to observe by the color of the water where the shoals of pilchards are to be found. The sean is carried out in a boat, and thrown into the sea by two men with such dexterity, that in less than four minutes the fish are inclosed. It is then either moored, or, where the shore is sandy and shelving, it is drawn into more shallow water. After this the fish are bailed into boats and carried to shore. Aseanis frequentlythree hundred fathoms long, and seventeen deep. The bottom of the net is kept to the ground by leaden weights, whilst the corks keep the top of it floating on the surface. A sean has been known to inclose at one time as many astwelve hundred hogsheads, amounting to aboutthree millions of fish.”

[717]Penzance, 1816, p. 91

Let this passage be compared with the following, which gives an account of the use of the same kind of net among the Arabs. It will then appear how extensively it is employed, since we find it used in exactly the same way both by our own countrymen and by tribes which we consider as ranking very low in the scale of civilization; and on making this comparison, the inference will seem not unreasonable, that the ancient Greeks and Romans, who in several of their colonies in the Euxine Sea, on the coasts of Ionia, and of Spain, and in other places, carried on the catching and curing of fish with the greatest possible activity and to a wonderful extent, used nets of as great a compass as those which are here described.

“The fishery is here (i. e.at Burka, on the eastern coast of Arabia) conducted on a grand scale, by means of nets many hundred fathoms in length, which are carried out by boats. The upper part is supported by small blocks of wood, formed from the light and buoyant branches of thedate-palm, while the lower part is loaded with lead. To either extremity of this a rope is attached, by which, when the whole of the net is laid out, about thirty or forty men drag it towards the shore. The quantity thus secured is enormous; and what they do not require for their own consumption is salted and carried into the interior. When, as is very generally the case, the netsare the common property of the whole village, they divide the produce into equal shares[718].”

[718]Lieutenant Wellsted’sTravels in Arabia, vol. i. (Ornam), pp. 186, 187.

That this method of fishing was practised by the Egyptians from a remote antiquity appears from the remaining monuments. The paintings on the tombs show persons engaged in drawing the sean, which has floats along its upper margin and leads along the lower border[719]. An ancient Egyptian net, obtained by M. Passalacqua, is preserved in the Museum at Berlin.Some of its leads and floats remain, as well as a gourd, which assisted the floats[720].

[719]See Wilkinson’sManners and Customs of Ancient Egypt, vol. ii. p. 20, 21; see also vol. iii. p. 37. One of these paintings, copied from Wilkinson, is introduced inPlate X.fig. 3. of this work. The fishermen are seen on the shore drawing the net to land full of fishes. There are eight floats along the top, and four leads at the bottom on each side. The water is drawn as is usual in Egyptian paintings.[720]Un filet de pêche à petites mailles, et fait avec du fil de lin. Cet objet, qui est garni de ses plombs, conserve encore les morceaux de bois qui garnissaient sa partie supérieure, ainsi qu’une courge qui l’aidait à surnager.—Thèbes, Passalacqua,Catalogue des Antiquitiés découvertes en Egypte, No. 445. p. 22.

[720]Un filet de pêche à petites mailles, et fait avec du fil de lin. Cet objet, qui est garni de ses plombs, conserve encore les morceaux de bois qui garnissaient sa partie supérieure, ainsi qu’une courge qui l’aidait à surnager.—Thèbes, Passalacqua,Catalogue des Antiquitiés découvertes en Egypte, No. 445. p. 22.

Besides the verses of Oppian, which are above quoted, we find another passage of the same poem (Hal.iii. 82, 83), which mentions the following appendages to the σαγήνη, viz. the πέζαι, the σφαιρῶνες, and the σκολιὸς πάναγρος. As the πόδες, orfeetof a sail were the ropes fastened to its lower corners, we may conclude that the πέζαι were the ropes attached to the corners of the sean, and used in a similar manner to fasten it to the shore and to draw it in to the land, as is described by Ovid in the line already quoted,—

Hos cavacontentoretiafunetrahunt.

The σφαιρῶνες, as the name implies, were spherical, and must therefore have been either the floats of wood or cork at the top, or the weights, consisting either of round stones or pieces of lead, at the bottom. The σκολιὸς πάναγρος must have been a kind of bag formed in the sean to receive the fishes, and thus corresponding to the purse or conical bag in the ἄρκυς. The term is illustrated by the application of the equivalent epithet ἀγκύλα or “angular,” to hunting-nets in a passage from Brunck’sAnalecta, which was formerly explained, and by the epithet “cava” in the line just quoted from Ovid[721].

[721]Observe also the use of the word μυχὸς in the passage of Lucian’sTimon, quoted below.

In the following passage Ovid mentions the use both of the corks and of the leads[722]. This passage also shows that several nets were fastened together in order to form a long sean:

Aspicis, ut summa cortex levis innatat unda,Cum grave nexa simul retia mergat onus?Trist.iii. 4. 1, 12.

Aspicis, ut summa cortex levis innatat unda,Cum grave nexa simul retia mergat onus?

Aspicis, ut summa cortex levis innatat unda,

Cum grave nexa simul retia mergat onus?

Trist.iii. 4. 1, 12.

[722]Μολύβδαιναι, J. Pollux, x. 30. § 132.

This use of cork and lead in fishing is also mentioned by Ælian,Hist. Anim.xii. 43; and that of cork by Pausanias,viii. 12. § 1; and by Pliny, H. N. xvi. 8. s. 13, where, in reciting the various uses of cork, he says it was employed “piscantium tragulis.” Sidonius Apollinaris, describing his own villa, says:—

Hinc jam spectabis, ut promoveat alnum piscator in pelagus, ut stataria retia suberinis corticibus extendat.—Epist.ii. 2.“Hence you will see how the fisherman moves forward his boat into the deep water, that he may extend his stationary nets by means of corks.”

Hinc jam spectabis, ut promoveat alnum piscator in pelagus, ut stataria retia suberinis corticibus extendat.—Epist.ii. 2.

“Hence you will see how the fisherman moves forward his boat into the deep water, that he may extend his stationary nets by means of corks.”

Alciphron, in his account of a fishing excursion near the Promontory of Phalerum, says, “The draught of fishes was so great as almost to submerge the corks[723].” The earnest desire of a posterity, founded on the wish for posthumous remembrance, which was a very strong and prevailing sentiment among the ancients, is illustrated by the language of Electra in the Choëphorœ of Æschylus, where she entreats her father upon this consideration to attend to her prayer, and likens his memory to a net, which his children, like corks, would save from disappearing:—“Do not extinguish the race of the Pelopidæ. For thus you will live after you are dead. For a man’s children are the preservers of his fame when dead, and, like corks in dragging the net, they save the flaxen string from the abyss.” The use of the corks is mentioned in several of the epigrams of the Greek Anthology, already referred to, and in the following passage of Plutarch:—

Ὥσπερ τοὺς τὰ δίκτυα διασημαίνοντας ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ φελλοὺς ὁρῶμεν ἐπιφερομένους.—De Genio Socratis, p. 1050, ed. Steph.

[723]Μικρὸν καὶ τοὺς φελλοὺς ἐδέησε κατασύραι ὕφαλον τὸ δίκτυον ἐξογκούμενον. —Epist.i. 1.

Passages have been already produced from Plutarch, Artemidorus, and the Alexandrine version of Isaiah and Habakkuk, in which the sean is mentioned by its Greek name σαγήνη, in contradistinction to other kinds of nets. Also the passage above cited from Virgil’s Georgics (“pelagoque alius trahit humida lina”), indicates the use of the sean in deep water, and the practice of dragging it out of the water by means of ropes, which gave origin both to its English name,the Drag-net, and to its Latin appellations,tragula, used by Pliny (l. c.),andtragum, which is found in the ancient Glossaries and in Isidore of Seville[724].

[724]Tragum genus retis, ab eo quod trahatur nuncupatum: ipsum est et verriculum. Verrere enim trahere est.—Orig.xix. 5.The Latin nameverriculumoccurs in a passage of Valerius Maximus, which is also remarkable for a reference to the Ionian fisheries, and for the use of the wordjactus, literally,a throw, corresponding to that which the Cornish men denominate,a hawl of fish.A piscatoribus in Milesia regione verriculum trahentibus quidam jactum emerat.—Memor.lib. iv. cap. 1.We introduce here an expression of Philo, in which we may remark that βόλος ἰχθύων corresponds exactly tojactusin Latin, and that the drawing of the net into a circle is clearly indicated: βόλον ἰχθύων πάντας ἐν κύκλῳ σαγηνεύσας.—Vita Mosis, tom. ii. p. 95. ed. Mangey.

[724]Tragum genus retis, ab eo quod trahatur nuncupatum: ipsum est et verriculum. Verrere enim trahere est.—Orig.xix. 5.

The Latin nameverriculumoccurs in a passage of Valerius Maximus, which is also remarkable for a reference to the Ionian fisheries, and for the use of the wordjactus, literally,a throw, corresponding to that which the Cornish men denominate,a hawl of fish.

A piscatoribus in Milesia regione verriculum trahentibus quidam jactum emerat.—Memor.lib. iv. cap. 1.

We introduce here an expression of Philo, in which we may remark that βόλος ἰχθύων corresponds exactly tojactusin Latin, and that the drawing of the net into a circle is clearly indicated: βόλον ἰχθύων πάντας ἐν κύκλῳ σαγηνεύσας.—Vita Mosis, tom. ii. p. 95. ed. Mangey.

We find mention of the sean more especially for the capture of the tunny and of the pelamys, which were the two principal kinds of fish caught in the Mediterranean. Lucian speaks of the tunny-sean[725], which was probably the largest net of the kind, and he relates the circumstance of a tunny escaping from its bag or bosom[726]. The sean is thrice mentioned in the Epistles of Alciphron (l. c.and lib. i. epp. 17, 18.), and in the two latter passages, as used for catching tunnies and pelamides. We read also of a dolphin (δελφὶς) approaching the sean[727]; but this might be by accident. It was not, we apprehend, employed to catch dolphins.

[725]Σαγήνη θυννευτική.—Epist. Saturn.tom. iii. p. 406. ed. Reitz.[726]Ὁ θύννος ἐκ μυχοῦ τῆς σαγήνης διέφυγεν.—Timon, § 22. tom. i. p. 136.[727]Οὐκ ἔτι πλησιάζει τῇ σαγήνῃ.—Ælian, H. A. xi. c. 12. In this chapter the same net is twice called by the common name, δίκτυον.

[725]Σαγήνη θυννευτική.—Epist. Saturn.tom. iii. p. 406. ed. Reitz.

[726]Ὁ θύννος ἐκ μυχοῦ τῆς σαγήνης διέφυγεν.—Timon, § 22. tom. i. p. 136.

[727]Οὐκ ἔτι πλησιάζει τῇ σαγήνῃ.—Ælian, H. A. xi. c. 12. In this chapter the same net is twice called by the common name, δίκτυον.

In the following passage of the Odyssey (xxii. 384-387) we have a description of the use of a sean in a small bay, having a sandy shore at its extremity, and consequently most suitable for the employment of this kind of net:

Ὥστ’ ἰχθύας, οὕσθ’ ἁλιήεςΚοῖλον ἐς αἰγιαλὸν πολιῆς ἔκτοσθε θαλάσσηςΔικτύῳ ἐξέρυσαν πολυωπῷ· οἱ δέ τε πάντεςΚύμαθ’ ἁλὸς ποθέοντες ἐπὶ ψαμάθοισι κέχυνται.

Ὥστ’ ἰχθύας, οὕσθ’ ἁλιήες

Κοῖλον ἐς αἰγιαλὸν πολιῆς ἔκτοσθε θαλάσσης

Δικτύῳ ἐξέρυσαν πολυωπῷ· οἱ δέ τε πάντες

Κύμαθ’ ἁλὸς ποθέοντες ἐπὶ ψαμάθοισι κέχυνται.

The poet here compares Penelope’s suitors, who lie slain upon the ground, to fishes, “which the fishermen by means of a netfull of holes have drawn out of the hoary sea to a hollow bay, and all of which, deprived of the waves of the sea, are poured upon the sands.” Although the general term δίκτυον is here used, it is evident that the net intended was the sean, or dragnet.

In one of the passages of Alciphron already referred to, mention is made of the use of the sean in a similar situation. Some persons, who are fishing in a bay for tunnies and pelamides, inclose nearly the whole bay with their sean, expecting to catch a very large quantity[728]. This circumstance proves, that the sean was used with the ancient Greeks, as it is with us, to encompass a great extent of water.

[728]Τῇ σαγῆνῃ μονονουχί τὸν κόλπον ὅλον περιελάβομεν.—Epist.i. 17.A few miscellaneous passages, which refer to the use of the sean, may be conveniently introduced here:Diogenes, seeing a great number of fishes in the deep, says there is need of a sean to catch them; σαγήνης δέησις.—Lucian,Piscata, § 51. tom. i. p. 618, ed. Reitz.The sean is called, from its material, σαγηναίον λίνον, in an epigram of Archias.—Brunck,Anal.ii. 94. No. 10.Plutarch, describing thespider’s web, says, that itsweavingis like the laborof women at the loom, its hunting like that of fishermen with the sean.—De Solertia Animalium, tom. x. p. 29, ed. Reiske. He here uses the term σαγηνευτὴς fora fisher with the sean. This verbal noun is regularly formed from σαγηνεύειν, which meansto inclose or catch with the sean: e. g. ἐν δίκτυοις σεσαγηνευμένοι.—Herodian, iv. 9, 12.Lucian uses the same verb in reference to the story of Vulcan inclosing Mars and Venus in a net; σαγηνεύει τοῖς δεσμοῖς.—Dialogi Deor.tom. i. p. 243.Somnium, tom. ii. p. 707, ed. Reitz.Leonidas of Tarentum, in an epigram enumerating the ornaments of a lady’s toilet (Brunck,Anal.i. p. 221), mentions ὁ πλατὺς τριχῶν σαγηνευτήρ. Jacobs (Annot. in Anthol.i. 2. p. 63) supposes this to mean the lady’s comb; but, judging from the known meaning of σαγήνη and its derivatives, we may conclude that it was the κεκρύφαλος, or net, which inclosed and encircled the hair, like a sean.The following verse of Manilius (lib. v. ver. 678.) is remarkable as a rare instance of the adoption of the Greek wordsagenaby a Latin poet:—Excipitur vasta circumvallata sagena.

[728]Τῇ σαγῆνῃ μονονουχί τὸν κόλπον ὅλον περιελάβομεν.—Epist.i. 17.

A few miscellaneous passages, which refer to the use of the sean, may be conveniently introduced here:

Diogenes, seeing a great number of fishes in the deep, says there is need of a sean to catch them; σαγήνης δέησις.—Lucian,Piscata, § 51. tom. i. p. 618, ed. Reitz.

The sean is called, from its material, σαγηναίον λίνον, in an epigram of Archias.—Brunck,Anal.ii. 94. No. 10.

Plutarch, describing thespider’s web, says, that itsweavingis like the laborof women at the loom, its hunting like that of fishermen with the sean.—De Solertia Animalium, tom. x. p. 29, ed. Reiske. He here uses the term σαγηνευτὴς fora fisher with the sean. This verbal noun is regularly formed from σαγηνεύειν, which meansto inclose or catch with the sean: e. g. ἐν δίκτυοις σεσαγηνευμένοι.—Herodian, iv. 9, 12.

Lucian uses the same verb in reference to the story of Vulcan inclosing Mars and Venus in a net; σαγηνεύει τοῖς δεσμοῖς.—Dialogi Deor.tom. i. p. 243.Somnium, tom. ii. p. 707, ed. Reitz.

Leonidas of Tarentum, in an epigram enumerating the ornaments of a lady’s toilet (Brunck,Anal.i. p. 221), mentions ὁ πλατὺς τριχῶν σαγηνευτήρ

The following verse of Manilius (lib. v. ver. 678.) is remarkable as a rare instance of the adoption of the Greek wordsagenaby a Latin poet:—

Excipitur vasta circumvallata sagena.

We have seen that the sean supplied figures of speech no less than the purse-net (ἄρκυς), and the casting-net (ἀμφίβληστρον). It is applied thus in the case of persons who are ensnared by thewicked[729], who are captivated by the charms of love[730]or of eloquence[731], or who are held in bondage by superstition[732]. But by far the most distinct, expressive and important of its metaphorical applications, was to the mode of besieging a city by encircling it with one uninterrupted line of soldiers, or sweeping away the entire population of a certain district by marching in similar order across it. Of this the first example occurs in Herodotus iii. 145:—

Τὴν δὲ Σάμον σαγηνεύσαντες οἱ Πέρσαι παρέδοσαν Σολυσῶντι, ἐρῆμον ἐοῦσαν ἀνδρῶν.“The Persians, having dragged Samos, delivered it, being now destitute of men, to Solyson.”

Τὴν δὲ Σάμον σαγηνεύσαντες οἱ Πέρσαι παρέδοσαν Σολυσῶντι, ἐρῆμον ἐοῦσαν ἀνδρῶν.

“The Persians, having dragged Samos, delivered it, being now destitute of men, to Solyson.”

[729]Σαγηνεύομαι πρὸς αὐτῶν.—Lucian,Timon, § 25. tom. i. p. 138, ed. Reitz.[730]Brunck,Anal.iii. 157. No. 32. Here the sean is called by the general term δίκτυον, but the particular kind of net is indicated by the participle σαγηνευθείς.[731]Τῶνδὲ μαθητὴν,Οἳ κόσμον γλυκερῇσι Θεοῦ δήσαντο σαγήναις,i. e.“A disciple of those who bound the world in the sweet seans of God.”—Greg. Nazianz.ad Nemesium, tom. ii. p. 141, ed. Paris, 1630. (See Chap. III, p. 53.)[732]Plutarch, evidently referring to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, says, “The Jews on the Sabbath sitting down on coarse blankets (ἐν ἀγνάμπτοις, literally, in ἱμάτια, or blankets, which had not been fulled, or cleansed by the γναφεύς), even when the enemy were setting the ladders to scale the walls, did not rise up, but remained, as if inclosed in one sean, namely, superstition, (ὥσπερ ἐν σαγήνῃ μιᾷ, τῇ δεισιδαιμονίᾳ, συνδεδεμένοι).”—Opp.tom. vi.De Superstit.p. 647, ed. Reiske.

[729]Σαγηνεύομαι πρὸς αὐτῶν.—Lucian,Timon, § 25. tom. i. p. 138, ed. Reitz.

[730]Brunck,Anal.iii. 157. No. 32. Here the sean is called by the general term δίκτυον, but the particular kind of net is indicated by the participle σαγηνευθείς.

[731]Τῶνδὲ μαθητὴν,Οἳ κόσμον γλυκερῇσι Θεοῦ δήσαντο σαγήναις,i. e.“A disciple of those who bound the world in the sweet seans of God.”—Greg. Nazianz.ad Nemesium, tom. ii. p. 141, ed. Paris, 1630. (See Chap. III, p. 53.)

[731]

Τῶνδὲ μαθητὴν,Οἳ κόσμον γλυκερῇσι Θεοῦ δήσαντο σαγήναις,

Τῶνδὲ μαθητὴν,

Οἳ κόσμον γλυκερῇσι Θεοῦ δήσαντο σαγήναις,

i. e.“A disciple of those who bound the world in the sweet seans of God.”—Greg. Nazianz.ad Nemesium, tom. ii. p. 141, ed. Paris, 1630. (See Chap. III, p. 53.)

[732]Plutarch, evidently referring to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, says, “The Jews on the Sabbath sitting down on coarse blankets (ἐν ἀγνάμπτοις, literally, in ἱμάτια, or blankets, which had not been fulled, or cleansed by the γναφεύς), even when the enemy were setting the ladders to scale the walls, did not rise up, but remained, as if inclosed in one sean, namely, superstition, (ὥσπερ ἐν σαγήνῃ μιᾷ, τῇ δεισιδαιμονίᾳ, συνδεδεμένοι).”—Opp.tom. vi.De Superstit.p. 647, ed. Reiske.

As we speak ofdragginga pit, so the Greeks would have spoken, in this metaphorical sense, ofdraggingan island. In the sixth book (ch. xxxi.) Herodotus particularly describes this method of capturing the enemy. According to this account the Persians landed on the northern side of the island. They then took hold of one another’s hands so as to form a long line, and thus linked together they walked across the island to the south side, so as to hunt out all the inhabitants. The historian here particularly mentions, that Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos were reduced to captivity in this manner. It is recorded by Plato[733], that Datis, in order to alarm the Athenians, against whom he was advancing at the head of the Persian army, spread a report that his soldiers, joining hand to hand, hadtaken all the Eretrians captive as in a sean. The reader is referred to the Notes of Wesseling and Valckenaer on Herod. iii. 149 for some passages, in which subsequent Greek authors have quoted Herodotus and Plato. We find σαγηνευθῆναι, “to be dragged,” used in the same manner by Heliodorus[734].

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