How to Fish

A vivid new translation of an ancient epic about the art—and thrill—of fishing that seems to channel Homer and Melville as it tells the story of a sea adventure for the ages

Fishing in the age of Marcus Aurelius could be a heroic endeavor—and not only if you were hunting a whale. How to Fish presents the first English verse translation since the eighteenth century of selections from On Sea Fishing, a little-known Greco-Roman epic poem addressed to an avid fisherman and Stoic philosopher who also happened to be the Emperor of Rome.

The author, Oppian, dramatizes the contest between anglers and their prey in lines that borrow—half-ironically and half-heroically—from the language of warfare found in Homer’s Iliad. Oppian describes many fish species and tells how to catch them. But the longest episode of his poem, a whale hunt—included here in full—displays his epic and tragic techniques at their finest. Unjustly neglected for centuries, this epic fish tale deserves to take its place on the same shelf as other fishing classics such as Walton’s Compleat Angler.

James Romm, a classicist by profession and saltwater fisherman by obsession, provides a lively new translation and an introduction in which he recalls his first encounter with Oppian’s On Sea Fishing as a graduate student and weekend fishing warrior. In addition to the original Greek on facing pages, the volume features illustrations of the poem by acclaimed artist and angler James Prosek, the author of many popular fishing books, including Trout: An Illustrated History.

Recreating the thrill of angling, How to Fish is sure to hook seekers of good fishing and ancient wisdom alike.