BUT PROBABLY USED FAR EARLIER 191 



Further requirements are " corks, and wood, and iron, 

 and of things they need, are reeds well-grown, and nets, and 

 soaked rushes, a shaved wand, and a dog-wood Rod, and the 

 horns and hide of a she-goat." The equipment is as ample 

 as amazing. What use, in the name of every fishing Deity, 

 unless the author is referring to Oppian's method, did the 

 Angler make of the " horns and hide of a she-goat " ? 



^lian concludes with uXXog St aXXio tovtwv Ix^vq aipurai, 



which antedates the tale of the millionaire, who, reproached 

 with having brought a thousand times too many flies, ejaculated, 

 " with some of these, if I can't get a salmon, maybe I'll strike 

 a sucker " ! 



In XV. 10, which deals with the capture of pelamyde or 

 young tunny fish, one of the crew sitting at the stern lets 

 down on either side of the ship lines with hooks. On each 

 hook he ties a bait (perhaps not a bait in our modern technical 

 sense, but rather a lure) wrapped in wool of Laconian red, 

 and to each hook attaches the feather of a seamew.i 



Let us set aside, because of ^Elian's haphazard method of 

 arrangement, any argument which might otherwise fairly be 

 adduced from the following facts. (A) He expressly sets 

 forth in XII. 43 (three books before he mentions the Macedonian 

 device) red and other wools and feathers as part of the ordinary 

 tackle of an Angler — most probably in river or lake, for here, 

 unlike XV. 10, where the prey is a sea-fish, we have no mention 

 of a ship, oars, etc. (B) When he does mention the Macedonian 

 device, he does not announce it in any way as a new invention 

 or a striking departure from the old methods of fishing, but 

 quite simply, in the words : " I have heard of the Macedonian 

 way of fishing, and it is this." 



Setting aside, I repeat, any arguments thus to be deduced, 

 we are face to face with the hard and curious fact, that in all 

 three passages the materials, out of which the lures are con- 

 structed, are the same ; they are wools of various colours, and 

 feathers taken from birds, in XV. i, from a cock, in XV. 10, 

 from a seamew. 



Any assertion or suggestion that these wools and feathers 



^ Kcu KTephv Xapov tKaarif ay k'i err fiw -KpoaiipTriTai. 



