64 THE UNAPPRECIATED FISHER FOLK. 
as tolerably exact copies, if not in costume, at least in 
manners, customs and language, of their classic prototypes. 
Juvenal of course satirises the fish dealers of ancient Rome, 
taking for illustration a tender point of their character— 
namely the freshness of their wares. He depicts a dealer in 
fish as praying that he may be fed :— 
“On the loved features of his infant’s head 
Soused in Egyptian vinegar, if aught 
Against his fishes’ freshness can be brought.” 
A fondness for fétes and demonstrations has ever been a 
marked characteristic of foreign fishers. When Pope Leo 
the Tenth was summoned to the Papal throne in 1513 the 
Roman fisherwives held a féte ; going in a body in order 
to offer his Holiness their congratulations, and flatter him 
by a declaration of their loyalty. In a graceful speech the 
Pope returned his best compliments and thanks, telling 
them that, as the successor of an ancient fisherman of the 
sea of Galilee, he took a particular interest in their calling, 
which, had for its object the providing of many chief 
necessaries of daily life as well as a large portion of the 
luxuries of the table. The Venetian fishwives used also 
to hold grand Carnival every year during the season of 
Lent. Their merrymaking lasted for three days, and, whilst 
it continued the women dressed themselves in their richest 
apparel, displaying at the same time as great an array of 
costly jewellery as they possibly could. The Venetian fish- 
wives were likewise noted for their uncivil tongues and 
their tendency to get into “rows” of all kinds, as well as 
for their constant and exceedingly voluble vituperation of 
the authorities. 
Scattered allusions to the Italian fisheries may be found 
occasionally in the pages of the classic writers of the fif- 
teenth century ; they are all of the same tenor, and harp on 
