Note 189 — Chapter III · THE CONTEST BETWEEN HOMER AND HESIOD—HOMER’S DEATH

It suggests itself to me that in the answer to the riddle there is just possibly a play within a play, or a double latent meaning, for the word φθεὶρ denotes not only a louse, but also a fish of the Remora kind. Perhaps this humour is too subtle even for a class so noted for “calliditas,” or shrewd wit, as Greek fishermen are reputed to have been.