De sollertia animalium

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.):

1. Like lead she[*](Iris going to visit Thetis.) sank into the great sea depths,
2. Like lead infixed in hora of rustic ox
3. 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.