taken all the Eretrians captive as in a sean. The reader is
referred to the Notes of Wesseling and Valckenaer on Herod.
iii. 149 for some passages, in which subsequent Greek authors
have quoted Herodotus and Plato. We find (
Greek characters)(Transliteration from Greek: sagêneuthênai), "to be
dragged," used in the same manner by Heliodorus[1].
In addition to the passages of Isaiah and Habakkuk which
mention the drag in opposition to the casting-net; we find three
references to the use of it in the prophecies of Ezekiel, viz. in
Ezek. xxvi. 5. 14; xlvii. 10. The prophet, foretelling the
destruction of Tyre, says it would become a place to dry seans upon, (Greek characters)(Transliteration from Greek: psygmos sagênôn); "siccatio sagenarum," Vulgate Version;
"a place for the spreading of nets," Common English Version.
The Hebrew term for a drag or sean is here (Hebrew characters)
The only passage of the New Testament which makes
express mention of the sean, is Matt. xiii. 47, 48: "The kingdom
of heaven is like unto a net ((Greek characters)(Transliteration from Greek: sagênê)) that was cast into the
sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they
drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away." The casting-net, which can only
inclose part of a very small shoal, would not have been adapted
to the object of this parable. But we perceive the allusion
intended by it to the great quantity and variety of fishes of
every kind which are brought to the shore of the bay ((Greek characters)(Transliteration from Greek: aigialon))
by the use of the drag. The Vulgate here retains the Greek
word, translating sagena as in the above-cited passages of
Habakkuk and Ezekiel. In John xxi. 6. 8. 11, the use of the
sean is evidently intended to be described, although it is called
four times by the common term (Greek characters)(Transliteration from Greek: diktyon), which denoted either a
sean, or a net of any other kind. It is in this passage translated
rete in the Latin Vulgate.
The Greek (Greek characters)(Transliteration from Greek: sagênê) having been adopted under the form sagena
in the Latin Vulgate, this was changed into rezne by the Anglo-Saxons[2],
and their descendants, have still further abridged it
into sean. In the south of England this word is also pronounced
and spelt seine, as it is in French. We find in Bede's
