Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

CHAPTER VIIITHE TWO PLINYS—MARTIAL—WAS THE RODJOINTED ?After Theocritus we reach the period which chronologically^might perhaps be termed that of the Roman writers, althoughour two greatest authorities on Fish Lure and Lore wrote inGreek, some three to four centuries after Plautus (c. 254-184 B.C.) had produced his Rudens.This, the first Latin play, I believe, introducing fishermenon the stage, re-echoes the Greek note of poverty and misery.In Act II., Sc. 2, Trachalio asks, " Shellfish-gatherers, and hookfishers,hungry race of men, how fare ye ? " and receives theanswer, " Just as befits fishermen ; with hunger, thirst, andexpectation." The wretchedness of their calling is madefurther manifest in Act II., Sc. i.Descriptions of fishermen are found in Latin adaptationsof Greek plays. The Latin mimes, as did the Greek, oftendisplay fishermen as characters. The Latin references toactual fishing not only far outnumber the Greek, but also,unlike the Greek, which are almost solely concerned with seafishing, frequently treat of river and lake fishing. Plautus,Cicero, Horace, Ovid,i Juvenal, Tibullus, Pliny the Elder andthe Younger, Martial, and Ausonius, by no means conclude thelist of our Roman authors.It may be fairly asked, why Iomit any special notice of sovaluable and voluminous work as the Natural History ofPliny the Elder.^ Ovid has, I believe, more piscatory passages than any other poet,except professional writers, such as Oppian. His ten years* banishment toTomi at the mouth of the Danube and on the shores of the fishful Euxine nodoubt added to his love and his mention of Fishing.141