CHAPTER XVII 
TACKLE—CURIOUS METHODS OF FISHING FOR THE 
SARGUS BY DRESSING IN A SHE-GOAT’S SKIN—FOR 
THE SKATE BY DANCING AND MUSIC—FOR THE 
SILURUS BY A YOKE OF OXEN--FOR THE EEL 
WITH THE GUTS OF A SHEEP. WHAT WAS THE 
SILURUS ? WILD THEORIES AS TO THE PROPAGA- 
TION OF EELS 
«* Unseen, Eurotas, southward steal, 
Unknown, Alpheus, westward glide, 
You never heard the ringing Reel, 
The music of the waterside.” 
(A. LANG.) 
TuHE tackle, implements, and some curious modes of fishing 
apparently peculiar to, or handed down to us only from, Greek 
and Roman sources call for consideration and comment. 
Nets, we have seen, were of all sorts and kinds in shape, 
make, and size. Their number and nature as disclosed by 
Julius Pollux, Plutarch, and lian indicate that the art of 
netting was well nigh perfected. Oppian, after enumerating 
many varieties and telling how the enormous 
“ Nets, like a city, to the floods descend 
And bulwarks, gates, and noble streets extend,” 
excuses himself from further amplification : 
“ A thousand names a fisher might rehearse 
Of nets, intractable in smoother verse.” 1 
1 Tyans., by Diaper and Jones (London, 1722—see supra, p. 177), which 
I usually employ. Cf. III. 84: jupla 8 aida rota Soroppapéwy Alva KéAmwv. 
Fishing nets from Pompeii, even now almost entire, are to be found in Italian 
Museums. The best times for hauling up the nets were (according to Arist., 
235 R 
