CRESCENS HARUNDO—WHAT ? 147 



piscatorial, but also in the probability that in them we meet 

 with the first recorded mention of (a) a Jointed Rod, and 

 (b) Fishing with a Fly. The former claim turns on the couplet, 



" Aut crescente levis traheretur harundine praeda, 

 Pinguis et implicitas virga teneret aves." 



Ep., IX., 54. 3- 



For levis there are two other, though less well supported, 

 readings, viz. vadis and velis. Is harundo (literally a ' reed,' then 

 a ' rod,' but used impartially to describe both the weapon of 

 the fowler and of the fisher) in these lines a fowler's reed, or 

 a fisher's rod ? The answer, if indeed any be possible, depends 

 on the precise meaning to be attached to crescente, having 

 regard to the context and the whole epigram. 



Crescente, which some dictionaries, ignoring its use in a 

 similar connection in Silius Italicus, VII. 674-77, " sublimem 

 calamo sequitur crescente volucrem," render jointed, can only 

 here, I suggest, be properly translated by lengthening, or 

 increasing. But whether this process of increasing was effected 

 by real joints cannot be clearly ascertained. 



In his solitary note on crescente Valpy (Delphin edition, 

 1823) vouchsafes the bald and not informative comment : 

 " Vero mihi videtur intelligenda esse virga quae crescat in 

 locis palustribus." 



The following explanation is interesting, but to my mind 

 indecisive, even though it claims the authority of " the old 

 commentators." 1 Crescente — " L'oiseleur cache sous un arbre 

 rappelait les oiseaux en imitant leur chant : puis, quand les 

 oiseaux etaient sur I'arbre, il allongeait le roseau enduit de glu, 

 qu'il tenait a la main et les oiseaux venaient s'y prendre. 

 Le poete dit que le roseau croissait, parcequ'a mesure que 

 l'oiseleur se hissait sur ses pieds, la baguette engluee semblait 

 croitre en effet. Telle est la maniere dont les commentateurs 

 anciens interpretent ce distique." 



Much again depends on whether we read vadis (shallows) 

 or levis (swift) ; vadis would incline the balance heavily, but 

 not absolutely, to the rod, not to the reed. We get no help 



^ Nisard edition of Martial, Paris, 1865. 



