CHAPTER VIII 



THE TWO PLINYS — MARTIAL — WAS THE ROD 

 JOINTED ? 



After Theocritus we reach the period which chronologically 

 might perhaps be termed that of the Roman writers, although 

 our two greatest authorities on Fish Lure and Lore wrote in 

 Greek, some three to four centuries after Plautus (c. 254- 

 184 B.C.) had produced his Rudens. 



This, the first Latin play, I believe, introducing fishermen 

 on the stage, re-echoes the Greek note of poverty and misery. 

 In Act IL, Sc. 2, Trachalio asks, " Shellfish-gatherers, and hook- 

 fishers, hungry race of men, how fare ye ? " and receives the 

 answer, " Just as befits fishermen ; with hunger, thirst, and 

 expectation." The wretchedness of their calling is made 

 further manifest in Act IL, Sc. i. 



Descriptions of fishermen are found in Latin adaptations 

 of Greek plays. The Latin mimes, as did the Greek, often 

 display fishermen as characters. The Latin references to 

 actual fishing not only far outnumber the Greek, but also, 

 unlike the Greek, which are almost solely concerned with sea 

 fishing, frequently treat of river and lake fishing. Plautus, 

 Cicero, Horace, Ovid,i Juvenal, Tibullus, Pliny the Elder and 

 the Younger, Martial, and Ausonius, by no means conclude the 

 list of our Roman authors. 



It may be fairly asked, why I omit any special notice of so 

 valuable and voluminous work as the Natural History of 

 Pliny the Elder. 



^ Ovid has, I believe, more piscatory passages than any other poet, 

 except professional writers, such as Oppian. His ten years' banishment to 

 Tomi at the mouth of the Danube and on the shores of the fishful Euxine no 

 doubt added to his love and his mention of Fishing. 



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