Fishing Near Scylla
It is not Homer's manner to indulge in mere mythological
stories founded on no substratum of truth. For
there is no surer way of giving an air of verisimilitude to fiction than to mix with it some particles of truth. And
this is the case with the tale of the wanderings of Odysseus. . . .
For instance, Aeolus, who taught the way of getting through
the straits, where there are currents setting both ways, and the
passage is rendered difficult by the indraught of the sea, came
to be called and regarded as the dispenser and king of the winds;
just as Danaus, again, who discovered the storages of water in
Argos, and Atreus, who discovered the fact of the sun's revolution
being in the opposite direction to that of the heaven, were
called seers and priest-kings. So the priests of the Egyptians,
the Chaldeans, and the Magi, being superior to the rest of the
world in wisdom, obtained rule and honour in former generations. And on this principle, too, each one of the gods is
honoured as the inventor of something useful to man. I do
not allow therefore that Aeolus is wholly mythical, nor the
wanderings of Odysseus generally. Some mythical elements
have been undoubtedly added, as they have in the War or
Ilium; but the general account of Sicily given by the poet
agrees with that of other historians who have given topographical details of Italy and Sicily. I cannot agree therefore
with the remark of Eratosthenes that "we shall discover
where Odysseus wandered, when we find the cobbler who
sewed up the leather bag of the winds." See for instance how
Homer's description of Scylla agrees with what really happens
at the Scyllaean rock, and the taking of the sword fish:
1
“"And there she fishes, roaming round the rock,
For dog-fish and for dolphins, or what else
Of huger she may take that swims the sea."
”
For the fact is that tunnies swimming in great shoals along the
Italian coast, if they are drifted from their course and are prevented from reaching Sicily, fall a prey to the larger fish, such
as dolphins, dog-fish, or other marine monsters; and from
hunting these the sword-fish (called also xiphiae, or sometimes
sea-dogs) are fattened. The same thing happens at a rise of
the Nile, and other rivers, as in the case of a fire or a burning
forest; the animals crowd together, and, in their effort to escape
the fire or the water, fall a prey to stronger animals.
