But to return to the Homeric warriors; it seems extremely[539] probable, notwithstanding the opinions of several writers of great authority, both ancient and modern, that the demi-gods, and heroes before Troy, admitted that effeminate dainty called _fish_ to their warlike tables. At all events the common people understood the value of this kind of food,[540] and it may safely be inferred that their betters, never slow in appropriating delicacies to their own use, soon perceived that fish is no bad eating. Hunger would at least reconcile them to the flavour of broiled salmon, as we find by the example of Odysseus’s companions, who devoured both fish and fowl.[541] This is acknowledged by Athenæus;[542] but Plutarch contends, that they could have been driven to it only by extreme necessity. At all other times he imagines they temperately abstained from food of so exciting a kind,[543] though Homer describes the Hellespont as abounding in fish,[544] and more than once alludes to the practice of drawing it thence with hook and line.[545] Thus we find that angling can trace back its pedigree to the heroic ages; and the disciple of the rod as he trudges with Izaak in his pocket through bog and mire in search of a good bite, may solace his imagination with reminiscences of Troy and the Hellespont. But the good people of those days did not wholly rely for a supply of fish on this very tedious and inefficient process; they had discovered the use of nets, which Homer describes the fisherman casting on the sea shore.[546] Though the poet, however, had omitted all allusion to this kind of food, its use might, nevertheless, have been confidently inferred, as may that of milk, common to all nations, though Homer mentions it only, I believe, in the case of the Hippomolgians,[547] and the cannibal Polyphemus, who understood also the luxury of cheese.[548] Circe, too, who being a goddess may be supposed to have been a connoisseur in dainties, presents her paramour Odysseus with a curious mixture, consisting of cheese, honey, flour, and wine,[549] very savoury, no doubt, and by old Nestor considered of salutary nature, since Hecamedè, at his order, prepares a plentiful supply of it for the wounded Machaon. Along with this posset, garlic was eaten as a relish.[550] ----- Footnote 539: Plato, among others, remarks that, in the military messes of his heroes, Homer introduces neither fish nor boiled meat. De Rep. iii. t. vi. p. 141. Footnote 540: Odyss. τ. 113. Footnote 541: Odyss. μ. 330. sqq. Footnote 542: Deipnosoph. i. 47. Footnote 543: Plut. Sympos. viii. 8. Footnote 544: Il. ι. 360. Footnote 545: Il. π. 407. Footnote 546: Od. χ. 364, sqq. Eustathius, however, on this passage observes, that though nets are spoken of in the Iliad, (ε. 487,) this is the only place where the poet distinctly mentions their being used in taking fish. Footnote 547: Il. ο. 6. Footnote 548: Od. ι. 236, 246. Theoc. Eidyll. xi. 35.