Halieutica The Halieutica consists of five books, which can be divided into two parts: books 1-2 describe the behaviour of fish and other marine animals, books 3-5 contain various fishing techniques. The content of the Halieutica is not sufficient to serve as a practical guide for fishing. Instead, the humans and animals described in the work often seem to provide examples of good and bad behaviour. The fish in the Halieutica are depicted in an anthropomorphic fashion, as their behaviour is generally motivated by emotions such as hate, love, greed, jealousy and friendship. The fish are also very frequently the subject of Homeric similes. In many cases, Oppian reverses the Homeric technique: where Homer compares epic heroes with animals, the actions of animals in the Halieutica are often compared to all types of human behaviour. The content of the Halieutica is as follows: Book 1: after the introduction and dedication of the work to Marcus Aurelius, the first half of the work contains a catalogue of marine animal species, sorted by their habitat (Hal. 1.80-445). The second half describes their reproductive behaviour (Hal. 1.446-797). Book 2: this book describes the 'battles' of fish, how predators catch their prey and techniques that fish use to avoid capture by other fish. Book 3: the book starts with a description of the preparations for fishing (Hal. 3.29-91). It then describes how fish escape fishermen (Hal. 3.92-168). The main portion of the book contains various techniques to capture fish through their gluttony (Hal. 3.169-528), followed by a list of fish that can be caught due to their aggression and ends with tuna fishing (Hal. 3.529-648). Book 4: the main theme of this book is fishing through manipulating the love and lust of fish (Hal. 4.1-449). The remainder of the book describes, among other things, frightening fish (Hal. 4.502-634) and fishing with poison (Hal. 4.647-693). Book 5: in many ways grand finale of the Halieutica, as it teaches you how to catch the largest animals of the sea, including whales, sharks, and dolphins. The work is concluded by a section on the fatal outcome of sponge diving. (Hal. 5.612-680) Editions , with Latin translation by Laurentius Lippius, Aldine edition, Venice, 1517; , , 1549; , ; , 1597; , 1606; (1776); F. S. Lehrs (1846); U. C. Bussemaker (Scholia, 1849). Fajen, F. 'Oppianus. Halieutica (Berlin, 1999) Translations Diaper and Jones (1722, Oxford) A. W. Mair