[733]De Legibus, lib. iii. prope finem.[734]Lib. vii. p. 304. ed. Commelini.
[733]De Legibus, lib. iii. prope finem.
[733]De Legibus, lib. iii. prope finem.
[734]Lib. vii. p. 304. ed. Commelini.
[734]Lib. vii. p. 304. ed. Commelini.
In addition to the passages of Isaiah and Habakkuk which mention the drag in opposition to the casting-net; we find three references to the use of it in the prophecies of Ezekiel, viz. in Ezek. xxvi. 5. 14; xlvii. 10. The prophet, foretelling the destruction of Tyre, says it would becomea place to dry seans upon, ψυγμὸς σαγηνῶν; “siccatio sagenarum,”Vulgate Version; “a place for the spreading of nets,”Common English Version. The Hebrew term for a drag or sean is here חרם.
The only passage of the New Testament which makes express mention of the sean, is Matt. xiii. 47, 48: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net (σαγήνη) that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” The casting-net, which can only inclose part of a very small shoal, would not have been adapted to the object of this parable. But we perceive the allusion intended by it to the great quantity and variety of fishes of every kind which are brought to the shore of the bay (αἰγιαλὸν) by the use of the drag. The Vulgate here retains the Greek word, translatingsagenaas in the above-cited passages of Habakkuk and Ezekiel. In John xxi. 6. 8. 11, the use of the sean is evidently intended to be described, although it is called four times by the common term δίκτυον, which denoted either a sean, or a net of any other kind. It is in this passage translatedretein the Latin Vulgate.
The Greek σαγήνη having been adopted under the formsagenain the Latin Vulgate, this was changed into rezne by the Anglo-Saxons[735], and their descendants, have still further abridged it intosean. In the south of England this word is also pronounced and speltseine, as it is in French. We find in Bede’sEcclesiastical History[736]a curious passage on the introduction of this kind of net into England. He says, “the people had as yet only learnt to catch eels with nets. Wilfrid caused them to collect together all their eel-nets, and to use them as a sean for catching fishes of all kinds.”
[735]See Caedmon, p. 75. ed. Junii.[736]Page 294, ed. Wilkins.
[735]See Caedmon, p. 75. ed. Junii.
[735]See Caedmon, p. 75. ed. Junii.
[736]Page 294, ed. Wilkins.
[736]Page 294, ed. Wilkins.
In the ancient Glossaries we find Γύργαθος translatedReticulusandReticulum: it meant, therefore,a small net. It was not a name for nets in general, nor did it denote any kind of hunting-net or fishing-net, although the net indicated by this term might be used occasionally for catching animals as well as for other purposes. It was used, for example, in an island on the coast of India to catch tortoises, being set at the mouths of the caverns, which were the resort of those creatures[737]. But the same term is applied to the nets which were used to carry pebbles and stones intended to be thrown from military engines[738]; and a similar contrivance was in common use for carrying loaves of bread[739]. Hence it is manifest that the γύργαθος was often much like the nets in which the Jewish boys in our streets carry lemons, being inclosed at the mouth by a running string or noose. We may therefore translate γύργαθος, “a bag-net,” as it was made in the form of a bag. “To blow into a bag-net,” εἰς γύργαθον φυσᾷν, became a proverb, meaning to labor in vain. But this bag was often of much smaller dimensions, and of much finer materials, than in the instances already mentioned. From a passage of Æneas Tacticus (p. 54. ed. Orell.) we mayinfer that it was sometimes not larger than a purse for the pocket. Hence Aristotle[740]properly applies the term γύργαθος to the small spherical or oval bag in which spiders deposit their eggs. Among the luxurious habits of the Sicilian prætor Verres, it is recorded, that he had a small and very fine linen net, filled with rose-leaves, “which ever and anon he gave his nose[741].” This net was, no doubt, called γύργαθος in Greek.
[737]Ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ καὶ γύργαθοις αὐτὰς ἰδίως λινεύουσιν, ἀντὶ δικτύων καθίεντες αὐτοὺς περὶ τὰ στόματα τῶν προράχων.[738]Athenæus, lib. v. § 43. p. 208, ed. Casaub.[739]Γύργαθον· σκεῦος πλεκτὸν, ἐν ᾧ βάλλουσι τὸν ἄρτον οἱ ἀρτοκόποι.—Hesych.Reticulum panis.—Hor.Sat.i. l. 47.[740]Anim. Hist.v. 27. Compare Apollodorus,Frag.xi. p. 454, ed. Heyne.[741]Reticulum ad nares sibi admovebat, tenuissimo lino, minutis maculis, plenum rosæ.—Cic.in Verr.ii. 5. 11. —Arrian, Per. Maris Eryth.p. 151. ed. Blancardi.
[737]Ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ καὶ γύργαθοις αὐτὰς ἰδίως λινεύουσιν, ἀντὶ δικτύων καθίεντες αὐτοὺς περὶ τὰ στόματα τῶν προράχων.
[737]Ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ καὶ γύργαθοις αὐτὰς ἰδίως λινεύουσιν, ἀντὶ δικτύων καθίεντες αὐτοὺς περὶ τὰ στόματα τῶν προράχων.
[738]Athenæus, lib. v. § 43. p. 208, ed. Casaub.
[738]Athenæus, lib. v. § 43. p. 208, ed. Casaub.
[739]Γύργαθον· σκεῦος πλεκτὸν, ἐν ᾧ βάλλουσι τὸν ἄρτον οἱ ἀρτοκόποι.—Hesych.Reticulum panis.—Hor.Sat.i. l. 47.
[739]Γύργαθον· σκεῦος πλεκτὸν, ἐν ᾧ βάλλουσι τὸν ἄρτον οἱ ἀρτοκόποι.—Hesych.
Reticulum panis.—Hor.Sat.i. l. 47.
Reticulum panis.—Hor.Sat.i. l. 47.
[740]Anim. Hist.v. 27. Compare Apollodorus,Frag.xi. p. 454, ed. Heyne.
[740]Anim. Hist.v. 27. Compare Apollodorus,Frag.xi. p. 454, ed. Heyne.
[741]Reticulum ad nares sibi admovebat, tenuissimo lino, minutis maculis, plenum rosæ.—Cic.in Verr.ii. 5. 11. —Arrian, Per. Maris Eryth.p. 151. ed. Blancardi.
[741]Reticulum ad nares sibi admovebat, tenuissimo lino, minutis maculis, plenum rosæ.—Cic.in Verr.ii. 5. 11. —Arrian, Per. Maris Eryth.p. 151. ed. Blancardi.
THE END.
Plate X.
Plate X.
Plate X.