Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

:198 AUSONIUS—SALMO—FIRST MENTION OF PIKEAttempts have been made to explain the absence of thisfish previous to Ausonius by identifying Esox lucius with(A) the Oxyrhyjichus, and (B) the Lupus. These seem to meunsuccessful.!Petrus Bellonius among the early writers upholds the firstidentification. In his Observations de Plusieurs Singularitez,Book II. ch. 32 (published 1553), " Le fleuve du Nil nourritplusieurs autres poissons, lesquelz toutes fois ie ne veul specifieren ce lieu, sinon entat que le Brochet y est frequent, et quenous avons difficult^ de luy trouver une appellation antique, ieveul m6strer qu'il fut ancienement appelle Oxyrynchus."His effort breaks down for three reasons. First, ^Elian saysthat the Oxyrhynchtis,—a fish supposed to have sprung fromthe blood of the dead Osiris, or to be the impiscation (if theword may be coined) of Osiris—although caught in the Nile(X. 46, I, 12.), dwells mainly, or according to Plutarch, deIside et Osiride, 7, altogether in the sea, whereas our Esox cannotendure sea-water. Second, the sharp pointed form of beak(whence the name) cannot possibly represent the broad gooselikemouthpiece of our Pike.Third, the size of the Oxyrhynchus,often 8 cubits or 12 feet in length, 2 proscribes the Pike.Against the identification suggested by Franciscus Philadelphusof Esox lucius with Lupus two reasons lean heavily :(A) the etymological impossibiUty of Xvkoq (because of thewolflike nature of the Pike 3) changing into Lucius, and (B) theLupus is always in Greek called Xa/3|oa^, never Au/coc.^For the attempt to identify the Esox with the Huso made by a French^writer, apud Vincentium, XVII. 53, and with the Salmon by other writers, seeJ. G. Schneider, op. cit., pp. 24 and 126.2 yElian, N. H., XVII, 32.* The epigram on Pope Lucius III. (1181 to 1185 a.d.), who was banishedfrom Rome for his tyranny and exactions, is, both as a comparison and a contrast,apt." Lucius est piscis rex atque tyrannus aquarum :A quo discordat Lucius iste parum.Devorat ille homines, his piscibus insidiatur :Esurit hie semper, ille aliquando satur.Amborum vitam si laus aequata notaret.Plus rationis habet qui ratione caret."* Athen., VII. 86 ;" The \a.$pa^ has his name from his voracity, \afip6Tris"(cf. Opp., II. 130). It is said also in shrewdness he is superior to other fish,being very ingenious in devising means to save himself, wherefore Aristophanesthe comedian writes" Labrax, the wisest of all fish that be."