FISHING AS A FINE AET. 103 



shipped them among his "appliances for saving life at 

 sea"! 



But though lacking the beautifully made rods of our 

 time and winches, the ancients practised most of the kinds 

 of fishing now in vogue. They were bottom fishers, 

 using floats, and baiting with worms and gentles as we 

 do, and also pastes flavoured with various chemicals. 

 Humble bottom fishers were Antony and Cleopatra ; and 

 I mention them here not only to illustrate my discourse, 

 but to show that I am acquainted with the story of the 

 tawny queen, who in revenge for her lover's mean device 

 of having live fish attached to his hook by divers, in order 

 to win the " angling sweepstakes " they indulged in, 

 caused her own diver to fix to Antony's hook a dried fish 

 which he pulled up to his confusion — a story without 

 which I suppose no book on angling would be considered 

 complete. The ancients, too, were "trollers" and "live- 

 baiters," at least for sea fish, as may be gathered from 

 Oppian, who suggests the use of alive lab rax if possible, 

 and thus describes trolling with a dead one on something 

 like our modern " gorge " hook, raising and sinking it 

 alternately. 



" He holds the labrax, and beneath his head 

 Adjusts with care an oblong shape of lead, 

 Named from its form a dolphin ; plumb'd with this, 

 The bait shoots headlong through the blue abyss. 

 The bright decoy a living creature seems, 

 As now on this side, now on that it gleams, 

 Till some dark form across its passage flit, 

 Touches the lure, and finds the biter bit ! " 



But this is not all. The ancient Romans practised fly- 

 fishing. Martial asks, 



