PEECID^ OR PERCHES. 125 



proving- a troublesome customer, and well skilled in art- 

 fill devices to perplex and elude alike tlie man of boat 

 and meshes and him of rod and line. When enclosed 

 in a net, he has two alternatives for escape — either to 

 dig a hole for his body in the sand, and there lie perdu 

 till the meshes have passed harmlessly over his back ; 

 or else, like an expert prison-breaker, to make an under- 

 ground passage, and emerge on the other side of the 

 hempen walls : 



Clausus rete Lupus . . . immanis et aoer 

 Dimotis Cauda latitat submissus arenis.* 



When hooked by the angler, he will shake his head, 

 tussle a little at the line, and after enlarging the wound, 

 slip away, leaving the disappointed fisherman to readjust 

 his tackle. This proceeding is also recorded by the same 

 Latin poet in the following words : — 



Lupus acri conoitus ira 

 Discursu fertur vario, fluotusque ferentes 

 Prosequitur, quassatque caput, dum vulnere ssevus 

 Quassato cadat hamus, et ora patentia liiiquat. 



It is not therefore imadvisedly that Aristophanes calls 

 this perch the wisest of fish, lydvav <TO(f)a)TaTo<;, since he 

 thus cleverly escapes from imminent dangers by fore- 

 thought and address ; but every one has a weak point 

 to lead him astray : the lupus's foible is an inordinate 

 greediness, which, when choice food can be obtained, 

 renders all this promptitude and cunning of no avail ; 

 and his death is often brought about by means of a very 

 insignificant enemy. Enjoying a dish of prawns exceed- 

 ingly, and not caring to anticipate consequences, the lu- 

 pus, on meeting with a shoal, opens his mouth, and at 

 a gulp fills it with hundreds of these nimble and prickly 

 crustaceans, who no sooner find themselves on the wrong 



* Ovid. 



