70 HOMER—POSITION OF FISHERMEN 
Second, if he lived before such transition—a supposition, 
which scarcely consists with the presence in Paleolithic débris 
of copious remains of fish—passages such as Od., XIX. 109-114, 
which ranks “‘ a sea-given store of fish ’’ a constituent of a well- 
ordered realm, and J/., XVI. 746, where ‘‘ This man would 
satisfy many by searching (or diving) for oysters,’’ are inter- 
polations by later writers. 
It is difficult otherwise to reconcile or explain conflicting 
passages. How, for instance, can the dictum, that “ Fish as a 
food was in the Poems only used by the very poor or starving,”’ 
be made to harmonise with J/., XVI. 746, just quoted?! If 
it be confined solely to the Odyssey, a more plausible case may 
possibly be presented. 
Another suggestion, not quite similar, yet not repugnant, 
is Seymour’s. ‘The Poet represented the life which was familiar 
to himself and his hearers. Each action, each event might be 
given by tradition, or might be the product of the poet’s 
imagination, but the details which show the customs of the 
age, and which furnish the colours of the picture, are taken 
from the life of the poet’s time. His interest is centred in the 
action of the story, and the introduction of unusual manners 
and standard of life would only distract the attention of his 
hearers.”’ 
Mackail, perhaps, concludes the whole matter. ‘‘ The 
Homeric world is a world imagined by Homer : it is placed in 
a time, evidently thought of as far distant, though there are 
Avesta nor the Rig-Veda is there any mention of fishing, nor in the Aryan 
period were there any common names for fish, and that throughout the 
Homeric age, which generally knows fishing as an existent occupation, there 
still seems to be a recollection of a time when the Greek hero ate fish just as 
little as he rode, wrote, or cooked soup ! 
1 It is but fair, however, to add that the Scholiast notes this passage as 
the only one in the Jad where fish is mentioned as a food, while Monro makes 
the ingenious comment that these oysters, or shell fish, are to be regarded not 
as luxuries, but as a way of satisfying the hunger of a crew at sea. Of oysters 
this is the only mention in the Homeric Poems. As oyster shells and 
even unopened oyster shells were found by Dr. Schliemann at Mycene, the 
liking for oysters is not likely to have been lost between the Mycenzan 
and the Homeric times. The remains of the Homeric (sixth) city at Troy 
yielded very many cockle shells, but of cockles there seems no mention in the 
oems. 
" Numerous representations of fishes are found on Mycenzan and Cretan 
works of art. 
