[109] Cf. Turrell, _op. cit._, 4. In “and with angle hookys” in Piers, Mr. Marston, _op. cit._, 2, sees “probably the earliest known reference to angling in English.” [110] Cf. M. G. Watkins, _Introduction to the Treatyse, etc._ (London, 1880), p. xi. [111] It enumerates 3158 distinct editions of 2148 different fishing works published before 1883. The _Supplement_ issued by Mr. R. B. Marston in 1901 gives 1200 more. Mr. Eric Parker’s delightsome and pocket-companionable _An Angler’s Garland_, London, 1920, gives many happy extracts from the fifteen hundred, and present-day writers. [112] In Bede, “Et divina se innante gratia.” [113] 76, 12. τῶν γὰρ ἰχθύων, ἀπείρων και ἁπλέτων ὒντων, οὐ γεύονται. [114] James Logan, _The Scottish Gael_ (Inverness, 1876), vol. ii. p. 130 f. [115] Alexander Carmichael, _Carmina Gælica_ (Edinburgh, 1900), vol. i. p. 325. [116] S. Bochart, _Hierozoicon_ (Leipzig, 1796), p. 868, telling of a fish whose right ear bore the words, _There is no God, but God_, and left, _Apostle of God_, and neck, _Mahomet_, concludes with a parody of Virgil, _Buc._, iii. 104. “Die quibus in terris inscripti nomina Divum Nascantur pisces, et eris mihi magnus Apollo!” A _magnus Apollo_ to graduate the claims of the different potentates would indeed be a boon. The capture of a fish some two years ago near Zanzibar with Arabic inscriptions—legible only by the faithful—caused immense excitement, as possibly foretelling the speedy end of the world. [117] _Angler’s Note-Book_, ii. p. 116. [118] _Angler’s Note-Book_, i. 44. [119] Dougal Graham, _Ancient and Modern Hist. of Buckhaven_ (Glasgow, 1883), vol. ii. p. 235. [120] John F. Mann, “Notes on the Aborigines of Australia,” _Proc. Geograph. Soc. of Australia_, i. p. 204. [121] J. G. Frazer, _op. cit._, iii. 206-7. GREEK AND ROMAN FISHING “_Noster in arte labor positus, spes omnis in illa._” [Illustration: FISHERMEN ON THE VASE OF PHYLAKOPI. Probably the earliest Greek representation connected with fishing, _c._ 1500 B.C. See n. 2, p. 63] GREEK AND ROMAN FISHING.[122] CHAPTER I HOMER—THE POSITION OF FISHERMEN It is difficult to define accurately or trace separately the Lure or the Lore of these two nations, for their methods of fishing were practically the same or dove-tailed one into the other. Since our authors in both languages frequently synchronise, or as in the case of Pliny and Ælian the younger tongue antedates the elder by a century or more, and since this book is based on no zoological system, I shall deal with them for the most part in chronological order.