356 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



Thus, the Myrmidones of Thessaly had the ant (myrmes) 

 as their totem, the Arcadians the bear (arctos), the 

 Pelasgi, who preceded the other tribes in Greece — the 

 stork (pelargos). It is now suggested that the Hellenes, 

 who succeeded the Pelasgi, and gave their name to 

 Greece (Hellas) and to all its people, were so called 

 from their having the fish (ellos, the mute or silent one, 

 a common term applied to fish) as their " totem," and 

 that they were, in fact, from the first worshippers of the 

 fish-god Orpheus, Di-orphos, Dagon or Adonis ! Other 

 " cults " grew up among them. The whole Olympian 

 company of gods and goddesses were fitted out by poets 

 and priests with man-like forms, and with the speech, 

 habits, and passions of humanity. But the old deep- 

 rooted worship of the primeval fisherman who was 

 typified by and identified with " the great fish " — much 

 elaborated by its hymns and mystic ritual, its lore, and 

 its legend — flourished and developed wonderfully in 

 secret, wherever Greeks were found. Its priests were 

 missionaries like the mendicant friars of later days, and 

 it W as — - in pre-Christian times — the most popular 

 cult not only in Greece and Asia Minor, but also in 

 Southern Italy. Hence it is easy to understand that 

 Christianity, by adopting the fish — the IX©T2 — as its 

 emblem, readily received sympathy and converts from the 

 Orpheists, and that the solemn rite of eating the fish on 

 appointed days was established. Hence it seems to have 

 come about that the early Christian Church permitted 

 the eating of fish on most (but not on all) fast days. 



Some of my readers have seen the Greek word 

 for "a fish" stamped upon Prayer Books, or possibly 

 a fish embroidered on the hangings of the church where 

 they go to celebrate the birth and the passion of 

 Christ, as their ancestors have done for a thousand years. 

 And now they will understand the origin of the associa- 



