HALIEUTICA, IV. 466-488 



Eels, swollen by the breath of the youth, are drawn 

 toward the mouth of the crafty blower. 



There is a certain timid and strengthless company 

 of fishes, the thronging race of the feeble Fry " which 

 are called Anchovies.* They are a goodly food for 

 all manner of fishes and flight is evermore the burn- 

 ing thought of their minds. They are afraid of all 

 things and they remain huddled with one another in 

 heaps " and cling in crowds together, as if they were 

 under the stress of a compelhng chain. And thou 

 couldst not contrive to separate the broad swarm of 

 them or loose them each from each : in such sort 

 do they chng to one another. Many a time even 

 ships ** run aground on them as upon a reef and many 

 a time the rowers on the benches entangle their oars 

 in them and the hasting blade is stayed as if it struck 

 a stony rock. And haply someone lifts straight a 

 heavy-bladed axe and smites the Anchovies, yet does 

 not cleave with the iron the whole mass in twain but 

 cuts off only a tiny portion of the shoal. And the 

 hatchet cuts off the head ^ of one and maims another 

 of its tail and another it cleaves in the midst of the 

 body and yet another it utterly destroys. Pitiful it 

 is to behold their bodies like AVTCtched corpses. Yet 

 not even so do they forget themselves, and they do 

 not relax the chain that binds them : so fast a rivet 

 holds them together. Encountering those fishes a 



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