FISHERMEN ALWAYS OLD AND POOR 131 



Whatever be the reason, Greek fishermen, whether we read 

 of them in the Epigrams or in the fragments of lost works, all 

 come down as old, patient, half-starved through dint of toil 

 by day and night, sea-worn. Their horny hands grasp better 



THE HAPPY FISHERMAN, ATTRIBUTED TO THE ARTIST CHACHRYLION. 



From p. Hartwig's Die griechischen Meisterschalen, p. 57, pi. 5. 



a trident than hold the delicate pastoral reeds. They play no 

 tunes, they dance no dances, they sing no songs save some 

 rowing chant, as they tug at the oars when homeward bound. 



bottom of drinking cups, etc. ! In P. Hartwig's {Die griechischen Meister- 

 schalen {Stuttgart-Berlin, 1893), p. 37 ff.) collection of red-figured Greek 

 vases representing fishermen at work, there is an Attic kylix (fifth cent, b.c.) 

 with such a fisherman, who (the idea ran) was only in his element, when the 

 cup was filled with wine. Cf. Theocritus, I. 39 ff., for another old fisherman 

 in the bottom of a herdsman's cup. 



