CHAPTER XXII
THE RING OF HELEN
In the countries dealt with in this book I give instances where Fish and Fishing have, according to myth or tradition, played a prominent part in human affairs, and have been the cause, direct or indirect, of important events.
Thus in Greece and Rome, to fish is assigned the responsibility for—
(A) The death of Homer, from his inability to solve the riddle of the lads.[742]
(B) The death of Theodoric, who recognised in the head of a pike which he was eating the head of his murdered victim, Symmachus.[743]
(C) No less an event than the Trojan War, which, according to the windbag Ptolemy Hephæstion, happened on this wise.
In the belly of a huge fish named Pan (from its resemblance to that god) was found a gem (asterites), which when exposed to the sun shot forth flames and became a powerful love philtre. Helen, on acquiring this, had it engraved with a figure of the Pan fish, and when desirous of making a special impression wore it as a signet ring.
Thus, when Paris visited Sparta the charm blazed from her finger with the result of the immediate conquest of Paris, the flight from Menelaus, and the Ten Years’ War!