CHAPTER IV 
THE DOLPHIN—HERODOTUS—THE ICHTHYOPHAGI— 
THE TUNNY 
THE Shield of Heracles, now rarely attributed to Hesiod the 
poet nearest in time to Homer, gives us pictures, similar if 
more ornate in style to those in Homer’s “ The Shield of 
Achilles.” 
The Shield of Heracles would probably not have been 
written had not Homer’s “ Shield of Achilles’’ existed. It 
differs from the older poem in the presentation of mythological 
scenes and a scene of fishing, but is perhaps the most complete 
illustration from fisher life extant before Theocritus. 
“there appeared 
A sheltering haven from the untamed rage 
Of ocean. It was wrought of tin refined 
And rounded by the chisel ; and it seemed 
Like to the dashing wave ; and in the midst 
Full many dolphins chased the fry, and show’d 
As though they swam the waters, to and fro 
Darting tumultuous. Two of silver scale 
Panting above the wave, the fishes mute 
Gorged, that beneath them shook their quivering fins 
In brass. But on the crag a fisher sate 
Observant : in his grasp he held a net 
Like one that, poising, rises to the throw.” } 
The painting of the harbour, of the cliffs, of the fishes tossing 
in tumultuous heaps, and of the chase and capture by dolphins 
of their prey, all seem to Mr. Hall but a careful elaboration of a 
1 Translated by C. A. Elton. In the last two lines occurs the solitary 
mention by Hesiod of fishing. : 
go 
