236 TACKLE— CURIOUS METHODS— S/Lf/i^ [75— EELS 



Confirmation comes from Alcipliron's ^ statement that scarce 

 a fathom of the harbour of Ephesus but held a Net : on one 

 occasion the sole haul, after much moiling and toiling, was the 

 putrid carcase of a camel ! 2 



What and whence the Rod ? It was certainly short : 

 only from 6 to 8 feet (^lian, XV, i) — a length which is in 

 the main confirmed, if assuming the height of some of the 

 fishermen represented on vases, etc., in the Greek and Roman 

 rooms of the British Museum to be as high as six feet, you then 

 measure the rod. On the other hand, the sitting youth in the 

 Agathemeros relief {Brit. Mus. Cat. Sculpture, I. 317, No. 648) 

 measures 24 cm., the Rod 8 cm., the line 15 cm.^ 



As we do not possess any relic of the Homeric rod, the length 

 of the only one mentioned in either the Iliad or the Odyssey 

 must be a matter of conjecture, especially as this is styled 

 ■mpifii]Kr]Q, or " very long " one.* 



The ordinary Rods were made of cane, hence Harundo and 

 Calamus, which was imported usually from Abaris in Lower 

 Egypt, or of some light elastic wood. For large and powerful 

 fish, where something stronger was required, ^Elian tells us 

 that Tuncus Marinus and Ferula were preferred. 



If the Rod were tapered, it was tapered probably by Nature 

 not by art, at least so the Agathemeros relief, all the pictures 

 of Venus and Cupid angling, and of many Amorini from Hercu- 

 laneum would suggest. The question whether the Rods were 

 jointed has been discussed in my chapter on the crescens 

 harundo of Martial. 



The line, opixia, or Linea, made from the strong bristly 



N. H., VIII. 19) " just about sunrise and sunset. Fishermen speak of these as 

 ' nick-of-time ' (ipaToi) hauls. The fact is that at these times fishes are 

 particularly weak-sighted" (D'Arcy Thompson, Trs.). Pliny, IX, 23, 

 practically copies Aristotle. 



1 Alciphr., Epist., i. 17. 



2 A terra-cotta relief of the type known as " Median," c. 460 b.c, in Brit. 

 Mus. Cat. ofTerra-coitas, No. B. 372, PI. 20, shows a fisherman holding two fishes, 

 or a fish and a purse, and as if in the act of pulUng in a net. This a very early 

 exemplar of Greek Netting. 



8 Cf. the rod of Heracles on a black-figured vase published by C. Lenormant 

 and J. de Witte, £lite des Monuments Ciramographiques, Vol. III., Plate 14. 

 The Rod is 8 cm. and the Line is 6 cm. 



* Od., 12, 251. Cf. the same phrase in Od., 10, 293, for Circe's magic 

 wand. 



I 



