[429] Perizonius has proved that Ælian transferred large portions of the Deipnosophistæ of Athenæus to his Varia Historia, a robbery which must have been committed almost in the lifetime of the pillaged author: that Ælian extended such transference to his Natural History also, his story of the Pinna, and others would seemingly demonstrate. Sir J. E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, ed. 2 (Cambridge, 1906), i. 336, goes so far as to say: “He is the author of seventeen books On Animals, mainly borrowed from Alexander of Myndos (first century a.d.).”
[430] Dr. W. J. Turrell, op. cit., XI., states that a Latin poem written by Richard de Fournival, about the thirteenth century, alludes incidentally to fishing, and from this it appears that the fly and the worm were among the lures then used by anglers, but does not state expressly whether Fournival’s fly was natural or artificial.
[431] Cf. H. Mayer, Sport with Rod and Line, Barnet and Phillips, New York.
[432] Jacobs adopts κηρῷ, instead of Gesner’s χρυσῷ, chiefly because it is written thus quite clearly in the Codex Augustanus. It also seems to fit the context better.
[433] Die römischen Privataltertümer (Munich, 1911), pp. 529-30.
[434] Καὶ πτεροῖς, μάλιστα μὲν λευκοῖς καὶ μέλασιν καὶ ποικίλοις. Χρῶνταί γε μὴν oἱ ἁλιεῖς καὶ φοινικοῖς ἐρίοις καὶ ἁλουργέσι, κ.τ.λ.
[435] καὶ πτερὸν λάρου ἑκάστῳ ἀγκίστρῳ προσήρτηται.
[436] If Sandys (antea, 185, note 4) be right about Ælian’s work being “mainly borrowed from Alexander of Myndos,” first century a.d., the artificial fly was probably well known in Martial’s time.
[437] πονηρῷ μὲν ζῴῳ καὶ μεθ’ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ ἀνθρώποις ἐχθρῷ καὶ δακεῖν καὶ βοῆσαι.
[438] For size of hooks, see antea, p. 157 and note 1.