7S HOMER— METHODS OF FISHING 



Four differing explanations are possible : — 



1. That " little " is an ornamental or redundant adjective. 



2. That pa\icoq, which is usually translated rod, i.e. 

 fishing-rod, is (according to Hayman and others) not a fishing- 

 rod, but merely a staff, or spear, shod with horn, and that 

 " Httle " signifies only fish suitable for food, not large fish, 

 such as dolphins, etc. 



3. That the fishermen of Homer (anticipating our profes- 

 sional deep-sea fishermen in Kent and the Channel Islands, 

 who for quickness and certainty, especially in the case of 

 heavy fish, prefer hand-Unes to rods), limited the use of the 

 Rod to " little," i.e. not large, fish.i 



4. That " Uttle " is partly ornamental, partly intentional, 

 because fish caught close inshore are normally smaller than 

 those caught farther out. 



From the adjectives in passages D. and E. can we infer the 

 use of the Rod ? Of the adjective in E., Butcher and Lang 

 write : " It is difficult to determine whether hp6g in Homer 

 does not sometimes retain its primitive meaning of " strong " (see 

 Curtius, Etym., No. 614) ; in certain phrases, this may perhaps 

 be accepted, as an archaism. ... On the whole we have not 

 felt so sure of the archaic use as to adopt it in our translation." 



Paley, " Itpoq means huge, as if a favourite of or dedicated 

 to some sea-god." Was it from this shade of meaning that 

 Theocritus in his Fisherman' s Dream 2 drew his conception 

 that certain fish might be K£ifn}\iov 'AfxcpirpiTag, a pet of the 

 sea-goddess ? Faesi seems to incline to Paley's view, but for 

 a more general reason : hpoQ equalling avsTog earmarks " all 

 herds and shoals of fish, especially those in the Sea, as consecrate 

 to the Gods." 



Granting this, why should one fish be singled out by the 

 epithet when the whole " herd or shoal " is equally hp6g ? 

 The infrequent coupHng of the adjective with IxOi/g suggests 

 some less general meaning, if it mean anything. 



1 There are of course limitations to the " pulley-hauley " of a hand-line ; 

 with a 700 lb. Tuna a Rod may be a very present help, a windlass even more 

 so. The practice in vogue among the Spanish Tunny lishers is to throw aside 

 the Rod at the moment of hooking and man-handle the fish with the Line. 



a Idyll. XXI. 55. 



