HALIEUTICA, IV. 571-599 



rest, thinking it to be a shelter : fooHsh fishes which, 

 frightened by a noise, enter the gates of doom. Then 

 the fishers on either side hasten with the ropes to 

 draw the net ashore. And. when they see the mo\ing 

 rope, the fish, in vain terror, huddle and cower 

 together and are coiled in a mass. Then would the 

 fisher offer many prayers to the gods of hunting that 

 nothing may leap out of the net nor anything make 

 a move and show the way ; for if the Pelamyds see 

 such a thing, speedily they all bound over the light 

 net into the deep and leave the fishing fruitless. 

 But if none of the sea-roaming gods be angry with 

 the fishermen, then often even when the fishes are 

 haled out of the sea upon the solid shore they will 

 not leave the net but cling to it, afraid even of the 

 eddying rope itself. Even so in the woods the 

 hunters of the hill take the timorous deer by happy 

 hunting-craft. Encircling all the wood with a rope, 

 they bind about it the swift wings " of buoyant birds ; 

 and the deer, when they behold it, shrink in vain and 

 empty terror and, idly affrighted by the wings, they 

 will not approach, until the hunters rush upon them 

 and make them their prey. 



Moreover, a diver, skilled in the works of the sea, 

 without any snare attacks and captures some fishes 

 with his hands alone, traversing the path of the sea 

 as if it were dry land : to wit, the Sargue '' which 

 trembles with terror and the craven Sciaena.'' The 

 Sargues in their fear cower and crowd together in 

 the depths of the sea and they lie in piles athwart 

 one another, while their backs bristle with spines 



» C. ii. +33 n. 



* Probably Umbrlna cirrhosa, M.G. (XKioi : Apost. p. 13 ; 

 Ov. Hal. Ill corporis umbrae | Liventis ; Hesycli. s. aKiaSevs. 



447 



