[407] “De quibus Oppianus Cilix est, poeta doctissimus, 153 esse genera piscium, quæ omnia capta sunt ab Apostolis, et nihil remansit incaptum, dum et nobiles et ignobiles, divites et pauperes, et omne genus hominum de mari hujus sæculi extrahitur ad salutem.” _Comment. in Ezechiel._ Cf. Ritter, _op. cit._, p. 376. [408] _N. H._, XXXII. 53. [409] The great objection to this translation, owing probably to the difficulty of expressing—certainly of compressing—the “intractable” subject matter in the rhymed verse adopted by the translators, is its weary verbiage: for instance, one passage of three lines in the translation needs twelve, and another of nine needs thirty! Diaper was the author of _Nereides, or Sea-Eclogues_. [410] N. C. Apostolides, _La Pêche en Grèce_ (Athènes, 1907), p. 31. The selection of Aristotle as the prototype of philosophical inveighers against Tobacco by Thomas Corneille (Act I., Sc. 1, of _Le Festin de Pierre_), “Quoi qu’en dise Aristote, et sa digne cabale, Le tabac est divin, il n’est rien qui l’égale,” is hardly happy, for, as the weed nicotine only reached Europe some nineteen centuries after the philosopher’s death, his “_dise_” equals _rien_! [411] With δόναξ and κύρτος, cf. the πλεκτὸν ὕφασμα in Archestratus (_frag._ xv. 6). See pp. 147 and 176 ff. of Paulus Brandt’s _Parodorum epicorum Græcorum et Archestrati Reliquiæ_, Leipzig, 1888. Brandt argues that the expression describes a _nassa, qua retis loco piscatores utebantur_, and on the analogy of the Dalmatian fishermen (cf. Brehm, _Thierleben_, IV., vol. II. p. 533) who, when the sea is not quite calm, drop from the bow of the boat pebbles dipped in oil to make smooth the surface, and so more easily detect the fish, explains δονεῖν ψήφους in _Frag._ XV. line 8. Although Archestratus’s statement that the fish are not to be seen (oὐd’ ἐσιδεῖν ὄσσοισιν), except by those who resort to the πλεκτὸν ὕφασμα, and εἰώθασι δονεῖν ψήφους, gives some colour to Brandt’s ingenious identification, the lack of any mention of the essential factor in such a calming operation, the oil, seems to rule it out. [412] IV. 640. Cf. Oppian, _cyneg._, 4, 140 ff. for a similar description. [413] This method, originating from the curiosity of fish and their desire (in Shelley’s words) “to worship the delusive flame,” is especially successful in rivers at the spawning season. In the Rhodian Laws—a code for the government of mariners and fishermen originally promulgated by Tiberius—occurs a special proviso, _re_ fishing by means of torches, forbidding fishermen to display lights at sea, lest thereby they should deceive other vessels. It has been suggested, prettily, but I fear not practically, that leistering was learnt from the hunting habit and natural endowments of the Halcyon or Kingfisher; just as to the brilliancy of its colours and splendour of its flash the fish are attracted, so to the brightness of the torches and the shimmer of their rays come the salmon, etc.