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CHAP. LXXVI.
Of Fishing.
TO these we may joyn Fishing and Hunting. The Art of Fishing was so highly esteemed and set by among the Romans, that they were wont to stock the Italian-Sea, and as it were to sow it as men do Grain, with strange Fish, and unknown to those Coasts, brought thither in Ships from far distant parts of the Ocean; besides that they were at great Expences, and vast Costs to make Fish-ponds, and Store-ponds for all the choice sorts of Fish; from whence many Ro∣man Princes have deriv'd their Sur-names, as the Li∣cinii, Murenae, Serii, Oratae; which made Cicero to call Lucius, Philip, and Hortensius Fish mongers, from the great delight they took in Fishponds. We read, that Octavianus Augustus was wont to Angle with a Rod: and Suetonius writes, That Nero Fish'd with a Net wrought with Purple and Scarlet Silk. Ways of Fish∣ing there are but few: for what Fish there are, are ta∣ken either with a Hook, Nets, Weels, Nooses, Jack∣spears, and Darts. But Fishing deserves the less praise, for that Fish are of hard and bad Digestion, neither grateful to the Stomach, nor were they ever accepted in Sacrifices.