HALIEUTICA, IV. 648-662 



fishermen who use poison : " who devise baleful 

 poison for fishes and bring to the finny race swift 

 doom. First with many missiles and sweep of poles 

 and assault of oars the fishermen drive the \\Tetched 

 ranks of the finny creatures into one place, some bay 

 broken with many hiding-places. There the fishes 

 creep below the hollow rocks and the fishermen set 

 goodly nets of flax around, encircling them all about, 

 even as if thcA* threw threatening double walls of stone 

 around the foemen. Then a man takes rich white clay 

 together with the root which mediciners call cyclamen * 

 and mixes them in his hands and kneads two cakes. "^ 

 And he leaps over the nets into the sea and about 

 the very caves and chambers of the fishes he smears 



estimee par les Grecs. C'est un gros hame^n porte par 

 une tres longue hampe. Aux detritus de crabes, aiuc 

 coquilles vides, le pecheur reconnait le nid [daXifu] du 

 cephalopode. II cherche, en faisant penetrer son appareil, 

 a decrocher I'animal, qui, fort souvent, sentant le danger, 

 se fixe, par ses ventouses, tres solideraent contra les parois 

 de son nid. Pour le faire lacher prise, on attache alors a 

 une harape un morceau d'etoffe blanche ou des feuilles de 

 tabac ou de kow^o, que Ton approche du trou. L'animai 

 sort aussitot et cherche a s'echapper, mais le pecheiur le 

 saisit avec son crochet. " 



* C. hederaefolium or C. neapolitantim. Sowbread: Plin. 

 XXV. 116 Mihi et tertia cyclaminos demonstrata est cognomine 

 chamaecissos, uno omnino folio, radiae ramosa, qua pisces 

 necantur. The root is still used in preparing a paste which 

 the Neapolitan fishermen call lateragna, and which is 

 either thrown in lumps from a boat or enclosed in a bag 

 and then thmst by means of a long pole among the rocks. 

 The fish — particularly Grey Mullets and other low swimming 

 fish — becoming intoxicated come to the surface and are 

 easily taken. Badham, p. -21 ; RadclifFe, p. 239. 



* Cf. A. 591 a 18 6 fie Kf<t>a.\oi koL 6 Kearptus SXws novoi ov 

 ffapKO(pa-yov(iiV <XTjfj.eiov Si, ovre yap iv ttj KoCKiq. ■kwicot lxovTt% 

 fi\ri,uftivoi (Iffl ToioiTov oi'Siv, o(jTf 5e\€aTi \pQ:vTa.i irpAs avTov% 

 ^wwy (rap^if dXXA fid^r). 



453 



