INTEODUCTION. 



As Oppian is often referred to in the following 

 pages, it may be proper to give some account of him, 

 more particularly as he was the first who ever wrote 

 upon Fishes, and Fishing. 



He was the last of the Greek poets, and flourished 

 about 1 652 years ago, in the reign of Severus Septi- 

 mus, Emperor of Rome, who succeeded to the throne 

 about A.D. 192. Oppian's father, Agesilaus, was a 

 man of wealth and distinction, at Anazarbus, in 

 Cilicia, where Oppian was born, a.b. 183. Agesilaus 

 being of a studious and philosophical disposition, 

 avoided the fatigue and hurry of public meetings ; 

 and when the emperor, in his progress through Cilicia, 

 entered Anazarbus, the old gentleman hoped his stu- 

 dious habits would excuse his attendance on Severus. 

 But the emperor being of a very tyrannical dispo- 

 sition,* considered the non-attendance of Agesilaus as 



* Of all the Eoman emperors whose busts are in the British 

 Museum, his is the most handsome. 



