Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

SALMO CYA^/CC/S—DAPHNIS AND CHLOE 139The Fisherman, by the same author, bears no relationshipto the Mimes, or Idylls,It takes its title from a scene in whichthe author sits on a parapet of the Acropolis equipped with therod of a Piraean fisherman. His bait of gold and figs attractsa swarm of brilliantly coloured fish, Salmo Cynicus} Flat SolePlateship, and other philosophers clad in scales.The Romances, the last prose at times instinct with thegenius of ancient Greece, bequeath us many fisherfolk. Thefamous pastoral Daphnis and Chloe, by Longus, introduces apretty picture and illustrates the old contrast between theidyllic life of shepherds and the sordid lot of their fishingneighbours.Daphnis sits with Chloe on a hill near the sea ;" while attheir meal, which, however, consisted more of kisses than offood, a fisher boat is seen proceeding along the coast." Thecrew, carrying freshly caught fish to a rich man in the city," dip their oars, doing what sailors usually do to beguile theirtoil—the boatswain sings a sea-song, and the rest join in chorusat stated intervals."As the boat reaches some hollow or crescent-shaped bay,the echo of their song floats up. This only incites Daphnis,who understands the echo, " to store up some of the strains inbut Chloe,his memory that he may play them on his pipes,who wots not that such things can be, turns in pretty bewildermentto the boat, to the sea, and to the woods."The Aethiopica, by Heliodorus of Emesa, has been termed,perhaps with exaggeration, the most elaborate picture of apiscatory kind in ancient Greek.The influence of Theocritusis strongly suggested by the imagery incidental to the descriptionof the cabin, the tackle, and the boat, as well as by thedelineation of the character of Tjnrrhenus, aged, sea-worn,wretchedly poor, yet content with his lot and hospitable tothe stranger. 2^ Such in Fowler's Translation, V. 48, is the rendering of kvwv, which isquite wrong for two reasons. First, kvuv is almost certainly our dogfish orits cousin. Cf. Aristotle N. H., VI. 118. Second, the salmon is not found inGreek waters, and so could not be fished for from the Acropolis. Cf. infra.Chapter XIII.» Heliod., Aethiop., 5, 18. Cf, Hajl, op. cit., 1914.L