OF ALL COUNTRIES. 21 



tliat in the night fishing the fishermen propelled the boat 

 down the stream with poles, and had ropes for mooring on 

 land, machines for drawing the boat, connected with towing, 

 the boats being drawn up trenches ; skins used to protect 

 their hulls from injuries ; and props, or perforated stones, to 

 which they attached the mooring-ropes. Eels were caught 

 by letting down into their haunts from the top of a high 

 bank some cubits' length of sheep's intestines, the lower 

 end of which was seized by the eel. Thereupon the angler 

 placed the other end, to which was attached a small wooden 

 tube, in his mouth, and by means ^of inflation caused the 

 eel to swell until it was hopeless to attempt escape. At 

 Marseilles boats used to be shaped like swordfish, and then 

 circled round to drive home the catch. Pilots possessed a 

 large measure of influence, for to them was entrusted the 

 important duty of determining the omens. 



It is to filial piety that we are indebted for the most 

 perfect and poetic description of this subject, whether of 

 ancient or of modern times. A learned citizen of Anabar- 

 sus, being aged and infirm, failed to present himself before 

 Severus when the emperor paid a visit to that town. For 

 this omission the old .man was banished to the island of 

 Malta, and his son Oppian went with him into voluntary 

 exile. To win his father's freedom was the object of this 

 excellent youth ; and the mode he took was as brilliant as it 

 was original. He wrote a poem descriptive of the whole 

 range of fish and fishing ; and when Severus visited Malta 

 recited it before him in the theatre. The emperor, struck 

 with the beauty of the verses and the novelty of the idea, 

 offered him what would now be considered a very respectable 

 sum for a well-known writer in a first-class magazine, and 

 upon his declining the money, promised to grant the author 

 whatever boon he asked ;^whereupon Oppian interceded for 



