THE ANCIENTS. 13 



others. The twenty-first idyl is the poem in which 

 Theocritus represents the life of Greek fishermen. 9 It 

 refers more particularly to a discussion of two anglers 

 upon a dream. The piece is in the form of a dialogue. 

 One of the fishermen says : 



" Last evening, weary with the toils of day, 

 Lull'd in the lap of rest secure I lay j 

 Full late we supp'd, and sparingly we eat j 

 No danger of a surfeit from our meat. 

 Methought I sat upon a shelfy steep, 

 And watch' d the fish that gambol' d in the deep ; 

 Suspended by rod, I gently shove 

 The bait fallacious, which a huge one took 

 (Sleeping we image what awake we wish ; 

 Dogs dream of bones, and fishermen offish). 

 Bent was my rod, and from his gills the blood, 

 With crimson stream, distain'd the silver flood. 

 I strecht my arm out lest the hook should break ; 

 The fish so vigorous, and my hook so weak ! 

 Anxious I gaz'd ; he struggled to be gone : 

 * You 're wounded I '11 be with you, friend, anon 

 Still do you teaze me?' for he plagu'd me sore ; 

 At last, quite spent, I drew him safe on shore, 

 Then graspt him with my hand, for surer hold, 

 A noble prize, a fish of solid gold ! 

 But fears suspicious in my bosom throng' d, 

 Lest to the god of ocean he belonged j 

 Or, haply wandering in the azure main, 

 Some favourite fish of Amphitrite's train. 



9 Hoffman's Lexicon Bibliographicum. 



