Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

CHAPTER IVTHE DOLPHIN—HERODOTUS—THE ICHTHYOPHAGITHE TUNNYThe Shield of Heracles, now rarely attributed to Hesiod thepoet nearest in time to Homer, gives us pictures, similar ifmore ornate in style to those in Homer's " The Shield ofAchilles."The Shield of Heracles would probably not have beenwritten had not Homer's " Shield of Achilles " existed. Itdiffers from the older poem in the presentation ofmythologicalscenes and a scene of fishing, but is perhaps the most completeillustration from fisher life extant before Theocritus." there appearedA sheltering haven from the untamed rageOf ocean. It was wrought of tin refinedAnd rounded by the chisel ; and it seemedLike to the dashing wave ; and in the midstFull many dolphins chased the fry, and show'dAs though they swam the waters, to and froDarting tumultuous. Two of silver scalePanting above the wave, the fishes muteGorged, that beneath them shook their quivering finsIn brass. But on the crag a fisher sateObservant : in his grasp he held a netLike one that, poising, rises to the throw." ^The painting of the harbour, of the cliffs, of the fishes tossingin tumultuous heaps, and of the chase and capture by dolphinsof their prey, all seem to Mr. Hall but a careful elaboration of a» Translated by C. A. Elton. In the last two lines occurs the solitarymention by Hesiod of fishing.90