But let these examples suffice to show that sea animals are not entirely unrelated to us or cut off from human fellowship. Of their uncontaminated and native intelligence their caution is strong evidence. For nothing that swims and does not merely stick or cling to rocks is easily taken or captured without trouble by man as are asses by wolves, bees by bee-eaters, A bird: Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 13 (615 b 25); Aelian, De Natura Animal. v. 11; Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 99. cicadas by swallows, and snakes by deer, which easily attract them. Aelian, De Natura Animal. viii. 6; v. 48. This, in fact, is why deer are called elaphoi , not from their swiftness, Elaphrotes . but from their power of attracting snakes. Helxis opheos , a fantastic etymology. Neither derivation is correct, elaphos being related to the Lithuanian elnis , deer. For the references see Mair on Oppian, Cyn. ii. 234. So too the ram draws the wolf by stamping and they say that very many creatures, and particularly apes, are attracted to the panther by their pleasure in its scent. See Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 6 (612 a 13); add Aelian, De Natura Animal. viii. 6; v. 40. But in practically all sea-creatures any sensation is suspect and evokes an intelligently inspired defensive reaction against attack, so that fishing has been rendered no simple or trivial task, but needs all manner of implements and clever and deceitful tricks to use against the fish. This is perfectly clear from ready examples: no one wants to have an angler s rod too thick, though it needs elasticity to withstand the thrashing of such fish as are caught; men select, rather, a slender rod so that it may not cast a broad shadow and arouse suspicion. Cf. Gow on Theocritus, xxi. 10. In the next place, they do not thicken the line with many plies when they attach the loop and do not make it rough; for this, too, betrays the lure to the fish. They also contrive that the hairs which form the leader shall be as white as possible; for in this way they are less conspicuous in the sea because of the similarity of colour. The remark of the Poet Homer, Iliad , xxiv. 80-82. : Like lead she Iris going to visit Thetis. sank into the great sea depths, Like lead infixed in hora of rustic ox Which brings destruction to the ravenous fish - some misunderstand this and imagine that the ancients used ox-hair for their lines, alleging that keras It means, of course, horn as above in Homer, Iliad , xxiv. 81. means hair and for this reason keirasthai means to have one’s hair cut and koura is a haircut Or lock of hair. and the keroplastes Horn-fashioner, so called from the horn-like bunching together of the hair: see the scholia on Iliad , xxiv. 81. in Archilochus Edmonds, Elegy and Iambus , ii, p. 126, frag. 57; Diehl, Anth. Lyrica , i, p. 228, frag. 59. See the note on 967 f supra . is one who is fond of trimming and beautifying the hair. But this is not so: they use horse-hair which they take from males, for mares by wetting the hair with their urine make it weak. Cf. Mor . 915 f - 916 a. Aristarchus Not Aristotle, as the mss. read. See Platt, Class. Quart. v. 255. declares that there is nothing erudite or subtle in these lines; the fact is that a small piece of horn was attached to the line in front of the hook, since the fish, when they are confronted by anything else, chew the line in two. The section of horn was put around the line. It was therefore a tube. It was in front of the hook as one held it in his hand and attached it to the line. It was therefore at the hook end of the leader. Its hardness prevented the line from being severed. Its neutral coloration prevented the fish from being frightened off. Note that Oppian ( Hal. iii. 147) comments on the use of a hook with an abnormally long shank for the same purpose (Andrews). They use rounded hooks A prototype of the Sobey hook. to catch mullets and bonitos, whose mouths are small See Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 37 (621 a 19); Mair on Oppian, Hal. iii. 144. ; for they are wary of a broader hook. Often, indeed, the mullet suspects even a rounded hook and swims around it, flipping the bait with its tail and snatching up bits it has dislodged; or if it cannot do this, it closes its mouth and purses it up and with the tips of its lips nibbles away at the bait. Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 145; Oppian, Hal. iii. 524 ff. The sea-bass is braver than your elephant Cf. 974 d supra . : it is not from another, but from himself without assistance, that he extracts the barb when he is caught by the hook; he swings his head from side to side to widen the wound, enduring the pain of tearing his flesh until he can throw off the hook. Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. i. 40, of the tunny; Ovid, Hal. 39 f. and Oppian, Hal. iii. 128 ff., of the bass. The fox-shark Plutarch seems here to have confused this fish with the so-called scolopendra (of which he writes correctly in Mor. 567 b; see also Mair on Oppian, Hal. ii. 424). Cf. Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 37 (621 a 11); Aelian, De Natura Animal. ix. 12; Varia Hist. i. 5; Mair on Oppian, Hal. iii. 144; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 145. There are fish (but not sharks) which can disgorge their stomachs and swallow them again. Note that hasty reading of Aristotle l.c. could easily cause this misstatement (Andrews). does not often approach the hook and shuns the lure; but if he is caught, he immediately turns himself inside out, for by reason of the elasticity and flexibility of his body he can naturally shift and twist it about, so that when he is inside out, the hook falls away. Now the examples I have given indicate intelligence and an ingenious, subtle use of it for opportune profit; but there are others that display, in combination with understanding, a social sense and mutual affection, as is the case with the barbier The anthias of the above passage is probably the Mediterranean barbier, Serranus anthias C.V., although elsewhere it is sometimes obviously a much larger fish of uncertain identity. On the identification Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. vi. 17 (570 b 19); Glossary of Greek Fishes, s.v. ; Mair, introd. to his ed. of Oppian, pp. liii-lxi; Marx, RE , i. 2375-2377; ii. 2415; Schmid, Philologus , Suppb. xi, 1907-1910, p. 273; Brands, Grieksche Diernamen , pp. 147 f.; Cotte, Possions et animaux aquatiques au temps de Pline , pp. 69-73; Saint-Denis, Le Vocabulaire des animaux marins en latin classique , pp. 5-7. Cf. also 981 e infra . and the parrot-fish. For if one parrot-fish swallows the hook, the others present swarm upon the line and nibble it away; and the same fish, when any of their kind have fallen into the net, give them their tails from outside; when they eagerly fix their teeth in these, the others pull on them and bring them through in tow. On this story cf. also Aelian, De Natura Animal. i. 4; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxii. 11; Ovid, Hal. 9 ff.; Oppian, Hal. iv. 40 ff. Note also Aelian, De Natura Animal. v. 22, on mice. And barbiers are even more strenuous in rescuing their fellows: getting under the line with their backs, they erect their sharp spines and try to saw the line through and cut if off with the rough edge. Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 182; xxxii. 13; Ovid, Hal. 45 ff.; Oppian, Hal. iii. 321 ff. Yet we know of no land animal that has the courage to assist another in danger - not bear or boar or lioness or panther. True it is that in the arena those of the same kind draw close together and huddle in a circle; yet they have neither knowledge nor desire to help each other. Instead, each one flees to get as far as possible from a wounded or dying fellow. That tale of the elephants Cf. 972 b supra ; Jacoby, Frag. der griech. Hist. iii, p. 146, frag. 51 b. On the community spirit of elephants see also Aelian, De Natura Animal. v. 49; vi. 61; vii. 15; al. carrying brushwood to the pits and giving their fallen comrade a ramp to mount is monstrous and far-fetched and dictates, as it were, that we are to believe it on a king’s prescription - that is, on the writs of Juba. Juba was king of Mauretania (25 b.c. - c. a.d. 23). Suppose it to be true: it merely proves that many sea creatures are in no way inferior in community spirit and intelligence to the wisest of the land animals. As for their sociability, I shall soon make a special plea on that topic. Now fishermen, observing that most fish evade the striking of the hook by such countermoves as wrestlers use, resorted, like the Persians, Cf. Herodotus, vi. 31; iii. 149; Plato, Laws 698 d; Fraenkel on Aesch. Agam. 358. On kinds of nets see Mair, L.C.L. Oppian , pp. xl ff. to force and used the dragnet, since for those caught in it there could be no escape with the help of reason or cleverness. For mullet and rainbow-wrasse Coris iulis Gth. Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 3 (610 b 7); A Glossary of Greek Fishes , p. 91; Schmid, op. cit. p. 292; Brands, op. cit. p. 157; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 59-60; Saint-Denis, op. cit. p. 52. are caught by casting-nets and round nets, as are also the bream In particular, probably Pagellus mormyrus C.V. On the identification cf. Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. vi. 7 (570 b 20); Glossary , p. 161; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 105-107; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 65-66. and the sargue In particular, probably Sargus culgaris Geoff. On the identification Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. v. 9 (543 a 7); Glossary , pp. 227-228; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 105-107; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 99, 107-108; Keller, Die antike Tierwelt , ii, p. 370; Gossen-Steier, RE , Second Series, ii. 365. and the goby A term mostly for the black goby, Gobius niger L., the most common Mediterranean species. On the identification Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. viii. 14 (598 a 12); Glossary , pp. 137-139; Gossen, RE , Second Series, ii. 794-796. and the sea-bass. The so-called net fish, that is surmullet The red or plain surmullet, Mullus barbatus L., and the striped or common surmullet, Mullus surmuletus L. On this fish cf. Cotte, op. cit. pp. 98-101; Keller, op. cit. ii, pp. 364 f.; Prechac, Revue d. Et. Lat. xiv (1936), pp. 102-105; xvii (1939), p. 279; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 68 f.; Schmid, op. cit. pp. 310-312; Steier, RE , xvi. 496-503; Thompson, Glossary , pp. 264-268; Andrews, Class. Weekly , xlii (1949), pp. 186-188. and gilthead Chrysophrys aurata C.V., called gilthead from the golden band that runs from eye to eye. On this fish cf. Wellmann, RE , iii. 2517-2518; Keller, op. cit. ii, pp. 369 ff.; RE , vii. 1578; Schmid, op. cit. pp. 297-298; Thompson, Glossary , pp. 292-294; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 73-74; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 80-81. and sculpin, Scorpaena scrofa , L. and S. porcus L. On this fish Cf. Cotte, op. cit. pp. 111-113; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 103-104; Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. v. 9 (543 a 7); Glossary , pp. 245 f. are caught in seines by trawling: accordingly it was quite correct for Homer Iliad , v. 487; Cf. Platt, Class. Quart. v, p. 255; Fraenkel, Aesch. Agam. ii, p. 190. to call this kind of net a catch-all. Codfish, Principally the hake and rockling, Phycis sp. and Motella sp. Not to be confused with γαλεός , a general term for sharks and dogfishes. Cf. Andrews, Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences , xxxix (1949), pp. 1-16. like bass, Cf. Oppian, Hal. iii. 121 ff. have devices even against these. For when the bass perceives that the trawl is approaching, it forces the mud apart and hammers a hollow in the bottom. When it has made room enough to allow the net to overrun it, it thrusts itself in and waits until the danger is past. Now when the dolphin is caught and perceives itself to be trapped in the net, it bides its time, not at all disturbed but well pleased, for it feasts without stint on the fish that have been gathered with no trouble to itself. But as soon as it comes near the shore, it bites its way through the net and makes its escape. Yet if it should not get away in time, on the first occasion it suffers no harm: the fishermen merely sew rushes to its crest and let it go. But if it is taken a second time, they recognize it from the seam and punish it with a beating. This, however, rarely occurs: most dolphins are grateful for their pardon in the first instance and take care to do no harm in the future. On the alliance of dolphins and fisherman see Aelian, De Natura Animal. ii. 8; xi. 12; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 29 ff. Further, among the many examples of wariness, precaution, or evasion, we must not pass over that of the cuttlefish Cf. Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 37 (621 b 28); Athenaeus, 323 d-e; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 84; Horace, Sat. i. 4. 100; Aelian, De Natura Animal. i. 34; Mair on Oppian, Hal. iii. 156. : it has the so-called mytis Aristotle, Historia Animal. iv. 1 (524 b 15); De Part. Animal. iv. 5 (679 a 1). beside the neck Under the mouth, says Aristotle. full of black liquid, which they call ink. Tholos , mud, turbidity. When it is come upon, it discharges the liquid to the purpose that the sea shall be inked out and create darkness around it while it slips through and eludes the fisherman’s gaze. In this it imitates Homer’s For example, Iliad , v. 345. gods who often in a dark cloud snatch up and smuggle away those whom they are pleased to save. But enough of this.