236 TACKLE—CURIOUS METHODS—SILURUS—EELS 
Confirmation comes from Alciphron’s! statement that scarce 
a fathom of the harbour of Ephesus but held a Net: on one 
occasion the sole haul, after much moiling and toiling, was the 
putrid carcase of a camel ! 2 
What and whence the Rod? It was certainly short: 
only from 6 to 8 feet (#lian, XV. 1)—a length which is in 
the main confirmed, if assuming the height of some of the 
fishermen represented on vases, etc., in the Greek and Roman 
rooms of the British Museum to be as high as six feet, you then 
measure the rod. On the other hand, the sitting youth in the 
Agathemeros relief (Brit. Mus. Cat. Sculpture, I. 317, No. 648) 
measures 24 cm., the Rod 8 cm., the line 15 cm.3 
As we do not possess any relic of the Homeric rod, the length 
of the only one mentioned in either the Iliad or the Odyssey 
must be a matter of conjecture, especially as this is styled 
mepyunkne, or ‘‘ very long ”’ one. 
The ordinary Rods were made of cane, hence Harundo and 
Calamus, which was imported usually from Abaris in Lower 
Egypt, or of some light elastic wood. For large and powerful 
fish, where something stronger was required, A®lian tells us 
that Tuncus Marinus and Ferula were preferred. 
If the Rod were tapered, it was tapered probably by Nature 
not by art, at least so the Agathemeros relief, all the pictures 
of Venus and Cupid angling, and of many Amorint from Hercu- 
laneum would suggest. The question whether the Rods were 
jointed has been discussed in my chapter on the crescens 
harundo of Martial. 
The line, épua, or Linea, made from the strong bristly 
N.H., VIII. 19) “ just about sunrise and sunset. Fishermen speak of these as 
‘nick-of-time’ (épato:) hauls. The fact is that at these times fishes are 
particularly weak-sighted’’ (D’Arcy Thompson, Tys.). Pliny, IX. 23, 
practically copies Aristotle. 
1 Alciphr., Epist., 1. 17. 
2 A terra-cotta relief of the type known as “ Median,” c. 460 B.c., in Brit. 
Mus. Cat. of Terra-cottas, No. B. 372, Pl. 20, shows a fisherman holding two fishes, 
or a fish and a purse, and as if in the act of pulling ina net. This a very early 
exemplar of Greek Netting. 
3 Cf, the rod of Heracles on a black-figured vase published by C. Lenormant 
and J. de Witte, Zlite des Monuments Cévamographiques, Vol. III., Plate 14. 
The Rod is 8 cm. and the Line is 6 cm. 
4 Od., 12, 251. Cf. the same phrase in Od., 10, 293, for Circe’s magic 
wand, 
