Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

RETIS. R{ETIS. 98!
Ne learn firoo the paintings in their tombs, caught
birds in clap-nets. (Wilkinson, Man2. and Cust. vol.
iii. pp. 35-38, 45.)
11. In hunting it was usual to extend nets in a
curved line of considerable length, so as in part to /
surround a space into which the beasts of chace,
such as the har-e, the boar, the deer, the lion, and
the bear, were driven through the opening left oni
one side. (Aelian, ifi. A. xii. 46; Tibullus, iv. 3.
12; Pliu.:. 1V. xix. 2. ~ 2.) This range of ssets
was flallked by cords, to which feathers dyed
scarlet and of other bright colours were tied, so as
to flare and flutter in the wind. The hunters then hunting. All the three are mentioned together by
sallied forth with their dogs, dislodged the animals Xenophon (&icT'va, ivdoMa, pKeues, ii. 4), and by
from their coverts, and by shouts and barking Nemesianus (Cyney. 299, 300).
drove them first within the fbrmlido, as the appa- The two additional kinds were placed at interratus of string and feathers was called, and then, vals in the same circuit with the large hunting-net
as they were scared with this appearance, within or lhaye. The road-net (plaga, id3l&o) was much
the circuit of the nets. Splendid descriptions of less than the others, and was placed across roads
this scene are given in some of the following pas- anld narrow openings between bushes. The pursesages, all of which allude to the spacious enclosure or tunnel-net (cassis, apKvs) was made with a bag
of net-work. (Virg. Georg. iii. 411-413, Aen. iv. (KEspp<aAsos, Xen. de Venat. vi. 7), intended to
121, 151-159, x. 707-715; Ovid. Epist. iv. 41, receive the animal when chased towards the extre42, v. 19, 20; Oppian, Cyn. iv. 120 —123; Eurip. mity of the inclosure. Within this bag, if we may
Baccae, 821. —832.) The accompany-iino woodcuts so call it, were placed branches of trees, to keep it
are taken from two bas-reliefs in the collection of expanded and to decoy the animals by making it
ancient marbles at Ince-Bluldell in Lancashire. invisible. The words apu,,s or cassis are used meIn the uppermost figure three servants with staves taphorically to denote some certain method of decarry on their shoulders a large net, which is in- struction, and are more particularly applied, as
well as auspifAexsrjrpoV, which will be explained./~,v-~~-;-~ immediately, to the large shawl in which Clytemn-, >. " ~: ~ ~ nestra enveloped her hiisband in order to murder
him. (Aeschyl. Again. 1085, 1346, 1353, Choeph.
III. Fishing-nets (aXLteunK& aO lyva, Diod. Sic.
xv\ii. 43, p. 193, Wess.) were of six different kinds,
wvhich are enumerated by Oppian (Hal. iii. 80-82)
tended to be set up as already described. (Tibullus, fellows
i. 4. 49, 50; Sen. Hippol. i. 1. 44; Propert. iv. 2.
32.) The foremost servant holds by a leash a dog, TsY' Ta ti'v a /tAxi'e-o-rpan, oe' y7p? oi uaXE'ovTat,
which is eager to pursue the game. In the nmiddle rtdyyeaua T',' 7SroXal 7repitlyEES, /If oayjvatI
figure the net is set up. At each end of it stands "AActa E KKh.cxKOvo-t tKa cIViiaT-a.
a watchman holding a staff. (Oppian, Cyneg. iv.
Of these by far the most common were the',upi.-qyX povp, or casting-net (funda, jaculiss,
- retinaculusm) and the aanyvne, i. e. the drag-net, or
///g1 1/ aAO>(AOt/tptaS6V@>g~rt| R1 \! Soli (tragu7n, Isid. Hisp. Orig. XiX. 5; tracgula,
< verriculumn). Consequently these two are the only
- kinds mentioned by Virgil in Georg. i. 141, 142.
and by Ovid, in Ar. Anmat. i. 763, 764. Of the
124.) Being intended to take such large quadru- cKaNAu.a we find nowhere any further mention.
peds as boars and deer (which are seen within it), We are also ignorant of the exact form and use of
the mseshes are very wide (retia sarsa Virg. Aen. the?'p7qos, althouglh its comparative utility may
iv. 131; Her. Epod. ii. 33). The net is supported be inferred from the mention of it in conjunction
by three stakes (TdAclKESj Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 67, xrwith the sean and casting-net by Artemidorus (ii.
&c.; Pollux, v. 31; ancones, Gratius, Cyneg. 87; 14) and Plutarch (wrepl eUOu,u. vol. v. p. 838, ed.
cari, Lucanj iv. 439). To dispose the nlets in this Steph.). W5e know no more of the ydyyaysuov.
mamner was called retia, pone-re (Virg. Geogy. i. (Hesych. s. v.; Aeschyl. Aygosi. 352.) The voroX7'
307), or setia tendere (Ovidi rt, AAnat. i. 45). was a landing-net, made with a hoop (KSCcAos)
Comparing it with the stature of the attendants, fastened to a pole, and perhaps provided also with
we perceive the net to be between five and six feet the mecans of closing the circular aperture at the
high. The upper border of the net consists of a top. (Oppian, I/al. iv. 251.) The metaphorical
strong rope5 which was called -tapuStv. (Xen. de use of the terlm &a'Ai~sA-'rpov has been already
VIenat. vi. 9.) The figures in the follovilng woodcut smentioned. That it denoted a casting-net may be
represent two men carrying the ilet home after concluded both from its etymology and fiomi the
the chace; the stakes for supportinlg it, two of circumstances in which it is mentioned by various
which they hold inl their hands, are forked at the authors. (Hesiod, Scut. Herec. 213-215; IHerod.
top, as is expressed by the terms for them already i. 141; Ps. cxli. 10; Is. xix. 8; Hab. i. 15 —17
quoted, ancones and vari. (LXX. alid Vulgate versions); St. Matt. iv. 13;
Besides the nets used to inclose woods and co- St. Mark, i. 1 6.) 5More especially the castings-net,
verts or other large tracts of country two additional beiing alsvays pear-shaped or conical, was suited to
kinds are mentioned by those authors who treat on the use mentioned under the article ComorPEUi.