[Illustration: Retia, Nets (From a Bas-Relief at Ince-Blundell.)]
RĒTIS and RĒTE; _dim._ RĒTĬCŬLUM (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 net-work 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 chace, 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 colours 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
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_. Comparing it with the stature of
the attendants, we perceive the net to be between five and six feet
high. 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_, _jaculum_, _retinaculum_) and the σαγήνη, _i.e._ the
drag-net, or sean (_tragum_, _tragula_, _verriculum_).
[Illustration: Retia, Nets. (From the same.)]