we infer from frequent passages in his other poems, among the rest Art of Love, i., 47, 48, ii., 393, but especially Remedy of Love, one of which Tate (who was himself a genuine angler) renders with artistical feeling, thus: "Or else for fish your bearded angle bait, And for your art's success with patience wait, The graceful and elaborate Oppian wrote his Halieutica in the time of Severus. These and other works on fishing (of which we are about to take more notice) make it certain that the Romans under the Cæsars had no small notion of the sport, though they knew of nothing better than seafishing; nor may we doubt that the shores of the lakes and of the sea near their favorite resort, the Bay of Naples, often rang with the mirth and music of the luxurious magnates after a successful chase of the finny game. Not a few works, as we have already hinted, were written by the later ancients on Halieutics, or subjects of piscatory interest; but it is greatly to be lamented that most of them are known to us only by their titles, or, in some cases, a few extracts, cited by other authors. Among these lost books are An epic poem, De Re Piscatoria, by CECILIUS (or Cicilius as Suidas writes it). He was, probably, the physician whose commentaries Pliny cites in several places (xxviii., xxix.), a Greek, who wrote some books in Latin, and some in his own tongue, whence Athenæus (i., 22) calls him Archivus. An epic poem 'AMEUTIKà, by PANCRATES the Arcadian, probably the same work quoted several times by Athenæus as Oaldociú "Epya. If, as Brunck supposes (though his opinion *Suetonius says that Augustus was an angler: animi laxandi causa modo piscabatur hamo. (Octavius, 83.) Nero, on the other hand, " fished with a golden net." (Nero, 30.) Sir Humphrey Davy claims Trajan as an angler. has been strongly questioned), he is the poet of that name alluded to in an epigram of Meleager, three epigrams, and the fragments in Athenæus, are all that have reached us of his writings. An elegiac poem, 'AMEUTIKòs, by NUMENIUS of Heraclea, a disciple of Dieuchis the physician. An epic poem, 'Aluevrixà, by POSIDONIUS, a Corinthian. An epic poem, 'Aeraλievrikà, in four books, by SELEUCUS of Emesa. An epic poem, Ales, by ALEXANDER the Etolian, a tragic writer, who, according to Suidas, was one of the tragic Pleiad. A book in prose, 'AMEUTIK, by SELEUCUS of Tarsus. Another, 'Avrikos, by LEONIDAS of Byzantium, possibly the grammarian who wrote at Rome about A.D. 90: and several works on Fishes, in which, as we may conjecture, were some notices of fishing; among the rest, that of EPENETUS, and another of DORION, an obscure writer, much quoted by Athenæus, who earned the name of Fishglutton, from his luxurious indulgence. Halieutica, a Latin poem in hexameter verse, by NEMESIANUS of Carthage, a poet of no small reputation in his time (A.D. 285), who also wrote Cynegetica, Nautica, and De Aucupio. The Cynegetica (at least 325 verses of it, for it is undeniably incomplete), two fragments of the De Aucupio, and some small poems, are all that we have of him. His style is far from being bad, and the skill which he displays in treating of Hunting, affords good reason for regretting the loss of his Halieutica. Among the works on the subject, or illustrating it, that remain (not to speak of Aristotle, Pliny, et cet.), is the fragment we have already named as attributed to Ovid, to which is usually prefixed, by the editors, a brief fragment, called Ponticon (supposed by some to be the remains of Nemesian's work on Fishing), and added another fragment, of such little value that it is not worth while to trouble the reader with the much vexed question of its authorship. The Halieuticon contains enough to make us deeply regret that the whole work has not reached us. Here, for the first time, we find the comparison, so often since repeated, between hunting, fowling, and fishing; the author preferring his own sport, because of its freedom from the dangers which attend the chase. He sets out to describe his art with genuine enthusiasm: Noster in arte labor positus, spes omnis in illa (1. 82). He then advises his disciples not to put far out into the sea, but to pursue the sport on the shore, or not far from it, describing the ground which should be chosen; and promises a description of the proper tackling, upon which, and the skilful use of it, so much depends. He also gives a brief but spirited description of the various play of fish after they are hooked; how this one hangs resolutely on until he is drawn, elato calamo, fairly up, when he spits from his mouth the "hook naked;" how another shakes violently the line, and runs off with it broken; and another thrashes about until the hook tears away from the extended wound; how the murana bites himself clear, and the anthias cuts himself loose by chafing the bottom line against his armed back. There is such a spirit in these passages, that we lament again and again the absence of those which are lost to us. The next work in order of time, which demands notice, is the dialogue in PLUTARCH'S Moralia, On the comparative cunning of land and water animals. Two disputants are introduced, one of whom, Aristotimus, takes the side of the land animals, while the other, Phodimus, maintains the honor of the fish. A great number of curious facts in Natural History are adduced, making it on that account a very interesting treatise; but, very naturally, the question diverges every now and then upon fishing, as compared with other sports. This work seems to have been read and studied by Walton, as he cites from it; and, though there were works in dialogue about his time, that may have contributed to the plan of his book, it has more marks of having been taken from Plutarch's than from any other; but of this we shall have occasion to speak again. Unquestionably the greatest work of antiquity on our subject is the 'AXETIKà of OPPIAN, who flourished in the time of Severus (A.D. 198). The occasion of his turning author shows the excellence of his disposition, and is a strong proof, among many others, of that amiable and kind temper which belongs to the true lover of the angle. His father Agesilaus, a noble and rich citizen of Anazarbus, but of secluded, studious habits, failed, as Severus thought, of paying proper respect when that Emperor made his tour in state through Cilicia, and he banished the philosopher to Malta. The pious Oppian accompanied his afflicted father in exile; and, anxious to obtain a remission of so cruel a sentence, he determined to produce a work of such merit as would propitiate the Emperor, and gain for him his desire. For this purpose, he wrote three poems in hexameter verse-one on Hawking, which is lost, another, in four books, on Hunting, Cynegetica, and our work, Halieutica, in five. It is pleasant to add, that his noble purpose, so nobly pursued, was achieved. On presenting the poems to Caracalla, that Emperor was so much pleased with their merit that he not only remitted the banishment of Agesilaus, but presented the poet with a gold piece for every line, amounting in all to nearly twelve thousand dollars. The happy son survived his success but a short time, and died at the early age of thirty; thus being fatally prevented from executing a purpose he had long and fondly cherished, of celebrating his own country in an epic, for which he had abundant genius. The Halieutica is the best of his works, showing a riper judgment and a more severe taste. His style, though not entirely free from Latinisms, is elegant and graceful. The grammarian Tzetzes, who paraphrased our poem, calls him "an ocean of graces." Scaliger (the elder) abounds in commendations of him as a divine and incomparable poet, skilled in all philosophy, and the writer among the Greeks who attained the elegance of Virgil. Barthius styles him "the most flowery (in a good sense) of all the poets." Kennett says of him: "The dryness of his subject, though it offends some modern French critics" (he means Rapin, Reflex. sur la Poétique), "yet has not hindered him from being esteemed, by more knowing judges, as an author little inferior in fancy, art, and language, to the most celebrated masters in the Grecian strain and art." Jones (prefacing an English translation in verse, begun by Diaper and finished by himself) declares, not without truth, that "he could not find that Natural Affection, which the Greeks call σropyn, so well exprest in any Poet as him. His Similitudes and Allusions have almost all a reference to this. His Images are all made up of Piety, Friendship, Gratitude, and Innocence. No one ever better mixt the Gentleman and Philosopher than this author has done." Oppian's skill as a naturalist is quite as admirable as his poetic genius. That he had studied Aristotle and other writers on the subject is evident, but he hesitates not to judge for himself, makes new observations, and gives many new facts. Sir Thomas Brown, in that slashing chapter (Vulgar Errors, i., 8), where he shows no mercy to credulous authors, calls him "the famous Cilician poet, who, describing beasts of venery and fishes, he has indeed but sparingly inserted the vulgar conceptions thereof; so that, abating some exceptions" (which he names) "he may be read with great delight and profit." Both Buffon (Histoire des Quadrupedes) and Lacépède (Hist. Nat. des Poissons) quote from him with great respect. Indeed, if we would gain the best information, on the subjects of which |