INTRODUCTION 



postremo greges adducit innumeros, iam vetustissimis 

 quibusque adsuetis piscatorem agnoscere et e nianu 

 cibum rapere. Turn ille paulum ultra digitos in esca 

 iaculatus hamum singulos involat verius quam capit, 

 ab umbra navis brevi conatu rapiens ita ne ceteri 

 sentiant, alio intus excipiente centonibus raptum, ne 

 palpitatio ulla aut sonus ceteros abigat. Conciliatorem 

 nosse ad hoc prodest ne capiatur, fugituro in reliquum 

 grege. This is evidently the method described in 

 Oppian, H. iii. 205 fF. and is identical with that which 

 was used for the Aulopias in. the Tyrrhenian islands 

 {i.e. the Aeoliae insulae between Italy and Sicily) 

 according to AeL xiii. 17: '"Having selected in 

 advance places where they suppose the Aulopias to 

 congregate and thereafter having caught in their 

 scoop-nets (vTro-x^ai) many Crow-fish {KopaKLi'ovs), they 

 anchor their boat and keeping up a continuous din 

 they project the Crow-fish attached to lines (afifxaa-i). 

 The Aulopias, hearing the din and beholding the 

 bait, swim up from all directions and congregate and 

 circle about the boat. And under the influence 

 of the din and the abundance of food they become 

 so tame that even when the fishermen stretch out 

 their hands they remain and suffer the touch of 

 man, enslaved, as I should judge, by the food but, as 

 the experts say, already confident in their valour. 

 And there are among them tame ones whom the 

 fishermen recognize as their benefactors and comrades 

 and towards these they maintain a truce. These 

 leaders are followed by stranger fishes which, as 

 aliens, so to say, the fishermen hunt and kill. But 

 with regard to the tame fishes, the position of which 

 is like that of decoy pigeons, they refrain from 

 hunting them and observe a truce, nor would any 



Iv 



