HALIEUTICA, V. 215-237 



Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas the dividing waters of 

 the Strait ° roll raging under the violent panting of 

 Typhaon '' and dread straining sv^irls curve the swift 

 wave and dark Chary bdis circles round, drawn by 

 her eddying tides : even so by the panting blasts 

 of the Whale the space of the sea around is lashed 

 and whirled about. Then should one of the whalers 

 row his hollow skiff and come to land and make fast 

 the line to a rock upon the shore and straightway 

 return — even as a man makes fast a ship by cables 

 from the stem." Now when the deadly beast is 

 tired vvith his struggles and drunk v\-ith pain and 

 his fierce heart is bent with weariness and the balance 

 of hateful doom* inclines, then first of all a skin 

 comes to the surface, announcing the issue of victory 

 and greatly uplifts the hearts of the fishers. Even 

 as, when a herald ^ returns from dolorous war in 

 white * raiment and with cheerful face, his friends 

 exulting follow him, expecting straightway to hear 

 fav^ourable tidings, so do the fishers exult when they 

 behold the hide, the messenger of good news, rising 

 from below. And immediately other skins rise up 



* By means of the stern-cables {irpvixvfiffLa) attached to a 

 rock on shore. Hence the Homeric formulae (1) when a 

 ship comes to land : e/c o tvuks (anchors) i^a\ov, Kara. 5* 

 Trpvfwi^ai ihyjaav (Horn. II. i. 436); (2) when a ship puts to 

 sea: -ireiafw. (cable) 5' IXvcrav axo Tp-tjToio XLdoio (Horn. Od. 

 xiii. T7); cf. Poll. x. 134. 



"* Aesch. Aff. 638 ff. contrasts the messenger of bad news 

 (oral' 5' d-revKTO. irriy.a.T dLyy€\o<: xoXet \ aTv^^vi^ irpoffdiTijJ irTot- 

 ffi/xov (TTpaTov (p^pv) with the bringer of glad tidings {cTWT-npiojy 

 Se xpayfiaTwv ei'^dy-yeXoi' | riKOvra irpbi x°-^P°^'<^°-^ tv€<TTol iroKip). 



• The Greeks, like ourselves, associated white with glad- 

 ness, black with mourning. Hence the boast of Pericles 

 upon his death-bed: " Oi^Seis 7ap," ?07j, " 5i' ifU tQiv 6vtuw 

 ^Adrjifaiiov aAav ifidriov xep<e|3<iXeTo " (Plut. P&r. xxxviii.). 



477 



