Reté
and
Retis; dim.
Reticŭlum (
δίκτυον), a net. Nets were made most commonly of flax or hemp, whence
they are sometimes called lina (
λίνα). The meshes (
maculae,
βρόχοι, dim.
βροχίδες) were great or small according to the purposes intended. By far the most
important application of network was to the three kindred arts of fowling, hunting, and
fishing. In fowling the use of nets was comparatively limited. 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 chase, such as the hare, the boar, the deer, the lion, and the bear, were
driven through the opening left on one side. This range of nets was flanked by cords, to which
feathers dyed scarlet and of other bright colors were tied, so as to flare and flutter in the
wind. The hunters then sallied forth with their dogs, dislodged the animals from their
coverts, and by shouts and barking drove them first within the
formido,
as the apparatus of string and feathers was called, and then, as they were scared with
this appearance, within the circuit of the nets. In the drawing below three servants with
staves carry on their shoulders a large
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Hunting-nets. (Ince-Blundell Marbles.)
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net, which is intended to be set up as already described. In the lower figure the
net is set up. At each end of it stands a watchman holding a staff. Being intended to take
such large quadrupeds as boars and deer (which are seen within it), the meshes are very wide
(
retia rara). The net is supported by three stakes (
στάλικες,
ancones, vari). To dispose the nets in
this manner was called
retia ponere, or
retia
tendere. The upper border of the net consists of a strong rope, which was called
σαρδών. Fishing-nets (
ἁλιευτικὰ
δίκτυα) were of different kinds. Of these the most common were the
ἀμφίβληστρον, or casting-net (
funda, iaculum,
retinaculum) and the
σαγήνη—i. e. the
drag-net, or seine (
tragum, tragula, verriculum).
