103 



wTto was a keen fisher, was told by Cleopatra to " leave fishing to us 

 petty princes oj Pharos and Canoptis." Leave it, is the sentiment oftoo 

 manry of our countrymen, to " the ignorant, the superstitious, and the 

 improvident;" and a single remark more may not, therefore, be ill- 

 timed. 



'Bradford and Winslow, both of whom were governors, with Alden, 

 StancUsh, Brewster, Allerton, and Howland, as associates, were not 

 only lessees of fisheries j but of the whole commerce of the colony for a 

 term of years. 



These were all Mayflower Pilgrims, and all signers of the compact 

 at Cape Cod, before tlie landing, in which the great principle that the 

 ^' majority shall govern" is recognised. Of Allerton, indeed, we may 

 speak as of a regular dealer in fish and furs, since we find that he owned 

 vessels, conducted a fishery at Marblehead, made voyages to different 

 parts of Maine, established a tradiug-house far within territory claimed 

 as Acadia, and in Connecticut received products of the sea for sale oh 

 a share of the profits. In fine, he was one of the most active and en- 

 terprising men of his day, and, though devoted to trade, was eriiployed 

 in arranging the most difficult concerns of the colony both at home and 

 in England. To cross the ocean tv/o centuries ago was a matter of 

 vast moment, but Allerton visited the country of his birth no less than 

 five times in the brief space of four years. 



Such, in conclusion, were some of the men who -devoted time and 

 talents to a business fit only for "the ignorant, the superstitious, and 

 die improvident." 



a vomi* before sapping with Cicero, the better to make an enormous meal. When one of the 

 Stoics saw the works of Lucullus on the seacoast — the immense cellars and vaults, fish-ponda 

 and reservoirs, which he had constructed-^he called him " Xerxes in a gown." And Cato, the 

 censor, in complaining of hie countrymen, said, " It was a haid matter to save Rome from ruin, 

 when a fish was sold for more than an ox." The Roman emperor Elagabalus, according to 

 Gibbon, " would Eever eat sea/-fish except a* a, gi'eat distance from the sea. He then would 

 distribute vast quantities of the rarest sorts, brought at an immense expense, to the peasants 

 of the inland country." Marc Antony is said to have g^eu the house of a Roman citizen to a 

 6ook who prepared for him a good supper.' 



Some of the most eminent warriors and statesmen wore extravagantly fond of fishing. An- 

 tony was one of these. The remark quoted in the text is to be found in Plutarch, who relates 

 the following story : " He was fishing one day with Cleopatra, and had Ul success ; which, in the 

 presence of his nuetress, he looked upon as a disgrace?. He therefore ordered One of his assist- 

 ants to dive, and put on his hook such as had been taken before. This schenie he put in prac- 

 tice three or four times, and Cleopatra perceived it. She affected, however, to be surprised 

 at his success, expressing her wonder to the people about her ; and, the day following, invited 

 ihem to «ee fresh proofs of it. When the day following came, the vessel was crowded with 

 people; and as soon as Antony had let down his line, she ordered one of her divers immedi- 

 iltely to put a salt-fish on his hook. When Antony found he had caught his fish, he drew -up 

 hJB line ; and this, as may be supposed, occasioned no small mirth among the spectators. ' Go, 

 General,' said Cleopatra, 'leave fishing to us petty princes of Pharos and Canopus: your 

 game is cities, kingdoms, and provinces.'" 



Travellers in. modem times find the ruins of Roman fish-ponds. At Agrigentum is seen an 

 artificial lake, about a quarter of a league in circumference, dug out of solid rock by the Car- 

 thagenian captives, and to which water was conveyed from the hiUs. It was thirty feet deep ; 

 and great quantities of fish were kept in it fpr the public feasts. The fish-ponds of Nero we!ie 

 numerous ; and the Coliseum is said to lave been erected on the site of one of them. Fishing 

 nets, some of them quite-entire, have been found in great numbers in Herculaneum, as wellas 

 tn PompeiL 



