[222] Very different was the behaviour of the first generation of
Man (who according to Philo’s _Translation of Sanchuniathon_, quoted
by Eusebius, _præp. ev._, I. 9, 5), “consecrated the plants shooting
out of the earth, judged them gods, worshipped them, but yet lived
upon them” (Cf. de Brosses, _Culte des Dieux Fétiches_). In Plutarch,
_Symp._, VIII. 8. 4, Nestor states that “the priests of Poseidon never
eat fish, for Poseidon is called the Generator; and the race of Hellen
sacrificed to him as the first father, imagining, as likewise did the
Syrians, that Man rose from a liquid substance, and therefore they
worship a fish as of the same production and breeding as themselves,
being in this matter more happy in their philosophy than Anaximander:
for he says that fish and men were not produced in the same substance,
but that men were first produced in fishes and, when they were grown
up and able to fend for themselves, were thrown out and so lived on
the land. Therefore, as fire devours its parents, that is the matter
out of which it was first kindled, so Anaximander, asserting that fish
were our common parents, condemneth our feeding upon them.” The belief
in the descent of man from fish exists in the present day among the
Ponapians of the Caroline Islands, and elsewhere (J. G. Frazer, _Folk
Lore in the Old Testament_ (London, 1918), i. 40). As regards the
changes in our development which make the whole world kin, Empedocles,
(Καθαρμοί, _frag._ 117, Diels) sings,
ἤδη γάρ ποτ’ ἐγὼ γενόμην κοῦρός τε κόρη τε
θάμνος τ’ οἰωνός τε καὶ ἔξαλος ἔλλοπος ἰχθύς.
[223] _Symposium_, VIII. 8, 3: γέγονεν ἁγνείας μἐρος ἀποχὴ ἰχθύων.
Elsewhere we read of more prosaic and practical reasons why the great
majority of the Greeks abstained from certain kinds of fish, e.g.
the fear in the case of the loach, of which the Syrian goddess was
protectress, lest she gnaw their legs, cover their bodies with sores,
and devour their livers.
[224] Herodotus, I. 62.
[225] Paulus Rhode, _Thynnorum Captura_ (Lipsiæ, 1890). Had his
exhaustive monograph come to hand earlier, this notice would have been
worthier, and much time spent on Aristotle, Oppian, etc., have been
saved.
[226] The real derivation of πηλαμύς, which was probably a pre-Hellenic
word, seems unknown: see É. Boisacq, _Dictionnaire Étymologique de la
langue grecque_ (Paris, 1913), p. 779.
[227] Their method was to let down by a rope from the boats blocks of
wood (heavily weighted with lead) to which were attached great spikes
and hooks, which on reaching the bottom were drawn to and fro, with
the result that “here gasping Heads confess the killing Smart, | There
bleeds a Tail, which quivers round the Dart.” Cf. a fragment from
Menander’s _The Fisherman_, _frag._ 12 in the _Frag. comicor. Graec._,
IV. 77, Meineke, “The muddy sea which nourishes the great Tunny.”
Sophron’s _Tunnyfisher_ seems the earliest mime, where this fish
figures.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account