Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

"THE FISHERMAN'S DREAM" 135" So with both hands I strained, and had a sore tussle forthe monster. How was I ever to land so big a fish with hooksall too slim ? Then, just to remind him he was hooked, Igently pricked him, pricked, and slackened ; and as he did notrun, I took in line.^" My toil was ended with the sight of my prize. I drew upa golden fish, lo, you ! a fish all plated thick with gold. Thenfear took hold of me lest he might be some fish beloved ofPoseidon, or perchance some jewel of the sea-grey Amphitrite.Gently I unhooked him, lest even the hooks should retainsome of the gold of his mouth. Then I dragged him ashore withthe ropes, 2 and swore that never again would I set foot on sea,but abide on land and lord it over the gold." This was what awakened me, but for the rest set thymind to it, my friend, for I am in dismay about the oath Iswore."The Friend :" Nay, never fear, thou art no more sworn^ This is but one instance of anachronistic translation, or the use of terms,which, if true of our modern line, are inapplicable to ancient anghng, for if,as I have shown in the Introduction, all ancient anghng was with a tight Une,the operation translated as " I took in line " should rather be rendered " Itightened on him." The alternation of easing and tightening is a well-knowndevice. It is a question of the degree of strain involved. If you want to keepa big fish quiet in a confined space or in difficult circumstances, you can generallydo so by keeping a very Ught strain on him, so that, though the fine isnever absolutely slack, he hardly knows that he is hooked and is often landedwithout the angler having to yield a foot of his hne. Thus the roach-fisherwithout a reel sometimes lands a 4 lb. chub or bream with a foot link of singlehair, entirely by this method of suaviter in modo. There seems no particularreason why Asphalion should not have been cognisant of these secrets, whichthree lines in James Thomson's The Seasons, although the fight is, I admit,with a running line, fairly disclose." With yielding handThat feels him still, yet to his furious courseGives way, you, now retiring, following nowAcross the stream, exhaust his idle rage."^ To a practical angler this passage is not clear. How is it possible, afteryou have taken out the hook (the only apparent method ofholding the bigfish), to fasten round him ropes and drag him ashore, unless he were beachedhigh and dry ? Of this we have no evidence beyond avfi\Kv(Ta, if used here inits nautical sense " to haul up high and dry." The readings suggested byWordsworth and others are numerous, but none seem quite satisfactory, eventhose preferred by J. M. Edmonds. The Greek Bucolic Poets, London, 191 2,and R. J. Cholmeley, op. cit. Perhaps the least improbable text is that givenby E. Hiller (Leipzig, 1881), koI rhf fx.ev TriaTfva-a KaKws ex^" V't^^^P'^"''"''', "andI really beUeved that I had him fairly landed." This has the positivemerit of sticking close to the manuscript reading, and the negative merit ofrefusing to admit the absurd 'ropes.'