Note 144 — Chapter I · HOMER—THE POSITION OF FISHERMEN

The explanation of Athenæus (Bk. I. 16, 22 and 46) is ingenious. Homer never represents fish or birds, or vegetables, or fruit “as being put on the table to eat, lest to mention them would seem like praising gluttony, thinking besides there would be a want of decorum in dwelling on the preparation of such things, which he considered beneath the dignity of Gods and Heroes.” The latest explanation—by Professor J. A. Scott, Class. Journ.; Chicago, 1916-17, p. 329—that “Homer looked upon fish with great disfavour, because as a native of Asia Minor he had been trained to regard fish as an unhealthful and distasteful food to be eaten only as a last resort,” would attain nearer “what seems the solution of this vexed question” (Scott’s words), if he produced (1) data establishing Homer’s country of birth, and (2) evidence far stronger than “Tips to Archæological Travellers” (even though these be written by Sir Wm. Ramsay) as regards the general “unhealthfulness” of the fish of Asia Minor.