SALMO CYA^7CC/5— DAPHNIS AND CHLOE 139 



The Fisherman, by the same author, bears no relationship 

 to the Mimes, or Idylls. It takes its title from a scene in which 

 the author sits on a parapet of the Acropolis equipped with the 

 rod of a Pirsean fisherman. His bait of gold and figs attracts 

 a swarm of brilliantly coloured fish, Salmo Cynicus,^ Flat Sole 

 Plateship, and other philosophers clad in scales. 



The Romances, the last prose at times instinct with the 

 genius of ancient Greece, bequeath us many fisherfolk. The 

 famous pastoral Daphnis and Chloe, by Longus, introduces a 

 pretty picture and illustrates the old contrast between the 

 idyllic life of shepherds and the sordid lot of their fishing 

 neighbours. 



Daphnis sits with Chloe on a hill near the sea ; " while at 

 their meal, which, however, consisted more of kisses than of 

 food, a fisher boat is seen proceeding along the coast." The 

 crew, carrying freshly caught fish to a rich man in the city, 

 " dip their oars, doing what sailors usually do to beguile their 

 toil — the boatswain sings a sea-song, and the rest join in chorus 

 at stated intervals." 



As the boat reaches some hollow or crescent-shaped bay, 

 the echo of their song i^oats up. This only incites Daphnis, 

 who understands the echo, " to store up some of the strains in 

 his memory that he may play them on his pipes, but Chloe, 

 who wots not that such things can be, turns in pretty bewilder- 

 ment to the boat, to the sea, and to the woods." 



The Aethiopica, by Heliodorus of Emesa, has been termed, 

 perhaps with exaggeration, the most elaborate picture of a 

 piscatory kind in ancient Greek. The influence of Theocritus 

 is strongly suggested by the imagery incidental to the descrip- 

 tion of the cabin, the tackle, and the boat, as well as by the 

 delineation of the character of Tyrrhenus, aged, sea-worn, 

 wretchedly poor, yet content with his lot and hospitable to 

 the stranger. 2 



1 Such in Fowler's Translation, V. 48, is the rendering of kvwv, which is 

 quite wrong for two reasons. First, Kvi^v is almost certainly our dogfish or 

 its cousin. Cf. Aristotle N. H., VI. 118. Second, the salmon is not found in 

 Greek waters, and so could not be fished for from the Acropolis. Cf. infra, 

 Chapter XIII. 



a Heliod., Aethiop., 5, 18. Cf. Hall, op. cit., 1914. 



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