“Ædis nobis area est, auceps sum ego, Esca est meretrix, lectus illex est, amatores aves.” [343] Cf. Petronius, _Sat._, 40, 6, and Bion, _Id._, 4, 5. [344] A. Rich, _Dict. of Rom. and Gk. Antiquities_, London, 1874, _s.v._ ‘Arundo.’ I have been unable to trace this lamp in either Birch or Passeri. Daremberg and Saglio, _op. cit._, seem to collect most of the information on the subject, _s.v._ ‘Venatio,’ V. p. 694. The above and other methods of _aucupium_, “bird-catching,” prevail to a devastating extent in Italy at the present day. [345] The best reeds for fowling purposes (_harundo aucupatoria_) came from Panormus, those for fishing (_harundo piscatoria_) from Abaris in Lower Egypt. Pliny, XVI. 66. For a legal decision as to the selling, etc., of reeds, see _Digesta Justiniani_, VII. 1, 9, 5. [346] Possibly in the time of Aristophanes, πᾶς τις ἐφ’ ὑμῖν ὀρνιθευτὴς ἵστησι βρόχους, παγίδας, ῥάβδους, κ.τ.λ. _Aves_, 526 f. In the seventh century B.C. the Chinese mention the _Ch’ih Kan_ or the “glutinous line for catching birds.” _Cf._ Apuleius, _Met._, XI. 8. [347] The epitaph in _Corpus Inscript. Lat._, ii. 2335, is of interest: d. {M.} Quintus Marius Optatus heu iuvenis tumulo qualis iacet a[bditus isto,] qui pisces iaculo capiebat missile dextra, aucupium calamo præter studiosus agebat ... Cf. _Carm. Lat. Epig._, no. 412. CHAPTER IX THE FIRST MENTION OF A FLY The first mention of fishing with a fly occurs apparently in Martial’s lines, “Namque quis nescit, | Avidum vorata decipi scarum _musca_?” which have been translated:— “Who has not seen the scarus rise, Decoyed, and killed by fraudful flies?”[348] These lines are of surpassing interest. In them we may possess the very first mention of a fishing fly, whether natural or artificial, in all the records written or depicted of the whole world. If the reference be to an artificial fly, it certainly antedates by some two centuries the passage of Ælian (XV. 1), which has hitherto been universally acclaimed the first mention of such a fly. If on the other hand the reference be to a natural fly, it antedates by the same period of time the first mention of the natural fly, or rather winged insect (κώνωψ), to be found also in Ælian (XIV. 22). And here, pray, observe the cold calm of the classical commentator! This passage, which, as I have said, may be the very first historical document testifying to the use of the fly, the very first tiny beginning of the immense literature consecrated to the fly, the very first starting point in the fly fisher’s journey of sore travail to farther knowledge, this passage so pregnant of possibilities and so provocative of comment, has never, I believe, been suggested by any editor as possibly the _locus classicus_ of fly fishing, far prior to the generally adopted passage of Ælian.