SALMO CYNICUS—DAPHNIS AND CHLOE = 139 
The Fisherman, by the same author, bears no relationship 
to the Mimes, or Idylls. It takes its title from a scene in which 
the author sits on a parapet of the Acropolis equipped with the 
rod of a Pirean fisherman. His bait of gold and figs attracts 
a swarm of brilliantly coloured fish, Salmo Cynicus,! Flat Sole 
Plateship, and other philosophers clad in scales. 
The Romances, the last prose at times instinct with the 
genius of ancient Greece, bequeath us many fisherfolk. The 
famous pastoral Daphnis and Chloe, by Longus, introduces a 
pretty picture and illustrates the old contrast between the 
idyllic life of shepherds and the sordid lot of their fishing 
neighbours. 
Daphnis sits with Chloe on a hill near the sea; “‘ while at 
their meal, which, however, consisted more of kisses than of 
food, a fisher boat is seen proceeding along the coast.’’ The 
crew, carrying freshly caught fish to a rich man in the city, 
“ dip their oars, doing what sailors usually do to beguile their 
toil—the boatswain sings a sea-song, and the rest join in chorus 
at stated intervals.” 
As the boat reaches some hollow or crescent-shaped bay, 
the echo of their song floats up. This only incites Daphnis, 
who understands the echo, “‘ to store up some of the strains in 
his memory that he may play them on his pipes, but Chloe, 
who wots not that such things can be, turns in pretty bewilder- 
ment to the boat, to the sea, and to the woods.” 
The Aethiopica, by Heliodorus of Emesa, has been termed, 
perhaps with exaggeration, the most elaborate picture of a 
piscatory kind in ancient Greek. The influence of Theocritus 
is strongly suggested by the imagery incidental to the descrip- 
tion of the cabin, the tackle, and the boat, as well as by the 
delineation of the character of Tyrrhenus, aged, sea-worn, 
wretchedly poor, yet content with his lot and hospitable to 
the stranger.2 
e Such in Fowler’s Translation, V. 48, is the rendering of kéwy, which is 
quite wrong for two reasons. First, xiwy is almost certainly our dogfish or 
its cousin. Cf. Aristotle N. H., VI. 118. Second, the salmon is not found in 
Greek waters, and so could not be fished for from the Acropolis. Cf. infra, 
Chapter XIII. 
® Heliod., Aethiop., 5,18. Cf. Hall, op. cit., 1914. 
