Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica

This file contains translations of the following works: Hesiod: _Works

and Days_, _The Theogony_, fragments of _The Catalogues of Women and

the Eoiae_, _The Shield of Heracles_ (attributed to Hesiod), and

fragments of various works attributed to Hesiod.

Homer: _The Homeric Hymns_, _The Epigrams of Homer_ (both attributed

to Homer).

Various: Fragments of the Epic Cycle (parts of which are sometimes

attributed to Homer), fragments of other epic poems attributed to

Homer, _The Battle of Frogs and Mice_, and _The Contest of Homer and

Hesiod_.

This file contains only that portion of the book in English; Greek

texts are excluded. Where Greek characters appear in the original

English text, transcription in CAPITALS is substituted.

Editor’s Note: 262 footnotes notes previously

scattered through the text have been moved to the end of the file and

each given an unique number. There are links to and from each footnote.

PREPARER’S NOTE

In order to make this file more accessible to the average computer

user, the preparer has found it necessary to re-arrange some of the

material. The preparer takes full responsibility for his choice of

arrangement.

A few endnotes have been added by the preparer, and some additions have

been supplied to the original endnotes of Mr. Evelyn-White’s. Where

this occurs I have noted the addition with my initials “DBK”. Some

endnotes, particularly those concerning textual variations in the

ancient Greek text, are here omitted.

PREFACE

This volume contains practically all that remains of the post-Homeric

and pre-academic epic poetry.

I have for the most part formed my own text. In the case of Hesiod I

have been able to use independent collations of several MSS. by Dr.

W.H.D. Rouse; otherwise I have depended on the _apparatus criticus_ of

the several editions, especially that of Rzach (1902). The arrangement

adopted in this edition, by which the complete and fragmentary poems

are restored to the order in which they would probably have appeared

had the Hesiodic corpus survived intact, is unusual, but should not

need apology; the true place for the _Catalogues_ (for example),

fragmentary as they are, is certainly after the _Theogony_.

In preparing the text of the _Homeric Hymns_ my chief debt—and it is a

heavy one—is to the edition of Allen and Sikes (1904) and to the series

of articles in the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_ (vols. xv. _sqq_.) by

T.W. Allen. To the same scholar and to the Delegates of the Clarendon

Press I am greatly indebted for permission to use the restorations of

the _Hymn to Demeter_, lines 387-401 and 462-470, printed in the Oxford

Text of 1912.

Of the fragments of the Epic Cycle I have given only such as seemed to

possess distinct importance or interest, and in doing so have relied

mostly upon Kinkel’s collection and on the fifth volume of the Oxford

Homer (1912).

The texts of the _Batrachomyomachia_ and of the _Contest of Homer and

Hesiod_ are those of Baumeister and Flach respectively: where I have

diverged from these, the fact has been noted.

Owing to the circumstances of the present time I have been prevented

from giving to the _Introduction_ that full revision which I should

have desired.

Hugh G. Evelyn-White,

Rampton, NR. Cambridge.

_Sept_. 9_th_, 1914.

INTRODUCTION

General

The early Greek epic—that is, poetry as a natural and popular, and not

(as it became later) an artificial and academic literary form—passed

through the usual three phases, of development, of maturity, and of

decline.

No fragments which can be identified as belonging to the first period

survive to give us even a general idea of the history of the earliest

epic, and we are therefore thrown back upon the evidence of analogy

from other forms of literature and of inference from the two great

epics which have come down to us. So reconstructed, the earliest period

appears to us as a time of slow development in which the characteristic

epic metre, diction, and structure grew up slowly from crude elements

and were improved until the verge of maturity was reached.

The second period, which produced the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, needs

no description here: but it is very important to observe the effect of

these poems on the course of post-Homeric epic. As the supreme

perfection and universality of the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ cast into

oblivion whatever pre-Homeric poets had essayed, so these same

qualities exercised a paralysing influence over the successors of

Homer. If they continued to sing like their great predecessor of

romantic themes, they were drawn as by a kind of magnetic attraction

into the Homeric style and manner of treatment, and became mere echoes

of the Homeric voice: in a word, Homer had so completely exhausted the

epic _genre_, that after him further efforts were doomed to be merely

conventional. Only the rare and exceptional genius of Vergil and Milton

could use the Homeric medium without loss of individuality: and this

quality none of the later epic poets seem to have possessed. Freedom

from the domination of the great tradition could only be found by

seeking new subjects, and such freedom was really only illusionary,

since romantic subjects alone are suitable for epic treatment.

In its third period, therefore, epic poetry shows two divergent

tendencies. In Ionia and the islands the epic poets followed the

Homeric tradition, singing of romantic subjects in the now stereotyped

heroic style, and showing originality only in their choice of legends

hitherto neglected or summarily and imperfectly treated. In continental

Greece 1101, on the other hand, but especially in Boeotia, a new form

of epic sprang up, which for the romance and PATHOS of the Ionian

School substituted the practical and matter-of-fact. It dealt in moral

and practical maxims, in information on technical subjects which are of

service in daily life—agriculture, astronomy, augury, and the

calendar—in matters of religion and in tracing the genealogies of men.

Its attitude is summed up in the words of the Muses to the writer of

the _Theogony_: ‘We can tell many a feigned tale to look like truth,

but we can, when we will, utter the truth’ (_Theogony_ 26-27). Such a

poetry could not be permanently successful, because the subjects of

which it treats—if susceptible of poetic treatment at all—were

certainly not suited for epic treatment, where unity of action which

will sustain interest, and to which each part should contribute, is

absolutely necessary. While, therefore, an epic like the _Odyssey_ is

an organism and dramatic in structure, a work such as the _Theogony_ is

a merely artificial collocation of facts, and, at best, a pageant. It

is not surprising, therefore, to find that from the first the Boeotian

school is forced to season its matter with romantic episodes, and that

later it tends more and more to revert (as in the _Shield of Heracles_)

to the Homeric tradition.

The Boeotian School

How did the continental school of epic poetry arise? There is little

definite material for an answer to this question, but the probability

is that there were at least three contributory causes. First, it is

likely that before the rise of the Ionian epos there existed in Boeotia

a purely popular and indigenous poetry of a crude form: it comprised,

we may suppose, versified proverbs and precepts relating to life in

general, agricultural maxims, weather-lore, and the like. In this sense

the Boeotian poetry may be taken to have its germ in maxims similar to

our English

“Till May be out, ne’er cast a clout,”

or

“A rainbow in the morning

Is the Shepherd’s warning.”

Secondly and thirdly we may ascribe the rise of the new epic to the

nature of the Boeotian people and, as already remarked, to a spirit of

revolt against the old epic. The Boeotians, people of the class of

which Hesiod represents himself to be the type, were essentially

unromantic; their daily needs marked the general limit of their ideals,

and, as a class, they cared little for works of fancy, for pathos, or

for fine thought as such. To a people of this nature the Homeric epos

would be inacceptable, and the post-Homeric epic, with its conventional

atmosphere, its trite and hackneyed diction, and its insincere

sentiment, would be anathema. We can imagine, therefore, that among

such folk a settler, of Aeolic origin like Hesiod, who clearly was well

acquainted with the Ionian epos, would naturally see that the only

outlet for his gifts lay in applying epic poetry to new themes

acceptable to his hearers.

Though the poems of the Boeotian school 1102 were unanimously assigned

to Hesiod down to the age of Alexandrian criticism, they were clearly

neither the work of one man nor even of one period: some, doubtless,

were fraudulently fathered on him in order to gain currency; but it is

probable that most came to be regarded as his partly because of their

general character, and partly because the names of their real authors

were lost. One fact in this attribution is remarkable—the veneration

paid to Hesiod.

Life of Hesiod

Our information respecting Hesiod is derived in the main from notices

and allusions in the works attributed to him, and to these must be

added traditions concerning his death and burial gathered from later

writers.

Hesiod’s father (whose name, by a perversion of _Works and Days_, 299

PERSE DION GENOS to PERSE, DION GENOS, was thought to have been Dius)

was a native of Cyme in Aeolis, where he was a seafaring trader and,

perhaps, also a farmer. He was forced by poverty to leave his native

place, and returned to continental Greece, where he settled at Ascra

near Thespiae in Boeotia (_Works and Days_, 636 ff.). Either in Cyme or

Ascra, two sons, Hesiod and Perses, were born to the settler, and

these, after his death, divided the farm between them. Perses, however,

who is represented as an idler and spendthrift, obtained and kept the

larger share by bribing the corrupt “lords” who ruled from Thespiae

(_Works and Days_, 37-39). While his brother wasted his patrimony and

ultimately came to want (_Works and Days_, 34 ff.), Hesiod lived a

farmer’s life until, according to the very early tradition preserved by

the author of the _Theogony_ (22-23), the Muses met him as he was

tending sheep on Mt. Helicon and “taught him a glorious song”—doubtless

the _Works and Days_. The only other personal reference is to his

victory in a poetical contest at the funeral games of Amphidamas at

Chalcis in Euboea, where he won the prize, a tripod, which he dedicated

to the Muses of Helicon (_Works and Days_, 651-9).

Before we go on to the story of Hesiod’s death, it will be well to

inquire how far the “autobiographical” notices can be treated as

historical, especially as many critics treat some, or all of them, as

spurious. In the first place attempts have been made to show that

“Hesiod” is a significant name and therefore fictitious: it is only

necessary to mention Goettling’s derivation from IEMI to ODOS (which

would make ‘Hesiod’ mean the ‘guide’ in virtues and technical arts),

and to refer to the pitiful attempts in the _Etymologicum Magnu_

(_s.v._ {H}ESIODUS), to show how prejudiced and lacking even in

plausibility such efforts are. It seems certain that “Hesiod” stands as

a proper name in the fullest sense. Secondly, Hesiod claims that his

father—if not he himself—came from Aeolis and settled in Boeotia. There

is fairly definite evidence to warrant our acceptance of this: the

dialect of the _Works and Days_ is shown by Rzach 1103 to contain

distinct Aeolisms apart from those which formed part of the general

stock of epic poetry. And that this Aeolic speaking poet was a Boeotian

of Ascra seems even more certain, since the tradition is never once

disputed, insignificant though the place was, even before its

destruction by the Thespians.

Again, Hesiod’s story of his relations with his brother Perses have

been treated with scepticism (_see_ Murray, _Anc. Gk. Literature_, pp.

53-54): Perses, it is urged, is clearly a mere dummy, set up to be the

target for the poet’s exhortations. On such a matter precise evidence

is naturally not forthcoming; but all probability is against the

sceptical view. For 1) if the quarrel between the brothers were a

fiction, we should expect it to be detailed at length and not noticed

allusively and rather obscurely—as we find it; 2) as MM. Croiset

remark, if the poet needed a lay-figure the ordinary practice was to

introduce some mythological person—as, in fact, is done in the

_Precepts of Chiron_. In a word, there is no more solid ground for

treating Perses and his quarrel with Hesiod as fictitious than there

would be for treating Cyrnus, the friend of Theognis, as mythical.

Thirdly, there is the passage in the _Theogony_ relating to Hesiod and

the Muses. It is surely an error to suppose that lines 22-35 all refer

to Hesiod: rather, the author of the _Theogony_ tells the story of his

own inspiration by the same Muses who _once_ taught Hesiod glorious

song. The lines 22-3 are therefore a very early piece of tradition

about Hesiod, and though the appearance of Muses must be treated as a

graceful fiction, we find that a writer, later than the _Works and

Days_ by perhaps no more than three-quarters of a century, believed in

the actuality of Hesiod and in his life as a farmer or shepherd.

Lastly, there is the famous story of the contest in song at Chalcis. In

later times the modest version in the _Works and Days_ was elaborated,

first by making Homer the opponent whom Hesiod conquered, while a later

period exercised its ingenuity in working up the story of the contest

into the elaborate form in which it still survives. Finally the

contest, in which the two poets contended with hymns to Apollo 1104,

was transferred to Delos. These developments certainly need no

consideration: are we to say the same of the passage in the _Works and

Days?_ Critics from Plutarch downwards have almost unanimously rejected

the lines 654-662, on the ground that Hesiod’s Amphidamas is the hero

of the Lelantine Wars between Chalcis and Eretria, whose death may be

placed _circa_ 705 B.C.—a date which is obviously too low for the

genuine Hesiod. Nevertheless, there is much to be said in defence of

the passage. Hesiod’s claim in the _Works and Days_ is modest, since he

neither pretends to have met Homer, nor to have sung in any but an

impromptu, local festival, so that the supposed interpolation lacks a

sufficient motive. And there is nothing in the context to show that

Hesiod’s Amphidamas is to be identified with that Amphidamas whom

Plutarch alone connects with the Lelantine War: the name may have been

borne by an earlier Chalcidian, an ancestor, perhaps, of the person to

whom Plutarch refers.

The story of the end of Hesiod may be told in outline. After the

contest at Chalcis, Hesiod went to Delphi and there was warned that the

‘issue of death should overtake him in the fair grove of Nemean Zeus.’

Avoiding therefore Nemea on the Isthmus of Corinth, to which he

supposed the oracle to refer, Hesiod retired to Oenoe in Locris where

he was entertained by Amphiphanes and Ganyetor, sons of a certain

Phegeus. This place, however, was also sacred to Nemean Zeus, and the

poet, suspected by his hosts of having seduced their sister 1105, was

murdered there. His body, cast into the sea, was brought to shore by

dolphins and buried at Oenoe (or, according to Plutarch, at Ascra): at

a later time his bones were removed to Orchomenus. The whole story is

full of miraculous elements, and the various authorities disagree on

numerous points of detail. The tradition seems, however, to be constant

in declaring that Hesiod was murdered and buried at Oenoe, and in this

respect it is at least as old as the time of Thucydides. In conclusion

it may be worth while to add the graceful epigram of Alcaeus of Messene

(_Palatine Anthology_, vii 55).

“When in the shady Locrian grove Hesiod lay dead, the Nymphs washed his

body with water from their own springs, and heaped high his grave; and

thereon the goat-herds sprinkled offerings of milk mingled with

yellow-honey: such was the utterance of the nine Muses that he breathed

forth, that old man who had tasted of their pure springs.”

The Hesiodic Poems

The Hesiodic poems fall into two groups according as they are didactic

(technical or gnomic) or genealogical: the first group centres round

the _Works and Days_, the second round the _Theogony_.

I. “The Works and Days”

The poem consists of four main sections. (_a_) After the prelude, which

Pausanias failed to find in the ancient copy engraved on lead seen by

him on Mt. Helicon, comes a general exhortation to industry. It begins

with the allegory of the two Strifes, who stand for wholesome Emulation

and Quarrelsomeness respectively. Then by means of the Myth of Pandora

the poet shows how evil and the need for work first arose, and goes on

to describe the Five Ages of the World, tracing the gradual increase in

evil, and emphasizing the present miserable condition of the world, a

condition in which struggle is inevitable. Next, after the Fable of the

Hawk and Nightingale, which serves as a condemnation of violence and

injustice, the poet passes on to contrast the blessing which

Righteousness brings to a nation, and the punishment which Heaven sends

down upon the violent, and the section concludes with a series of

precepts on industry and prudent conduct generally. (_b_) The second

section shows how a man may escape want and misery by industry and care

both in agriculture and in trading by sea. Neither subject, it should

be carefully noted, is treated in any way comprehensively. (_c_) The

third part is occupied with miscellaneous precepts relating mostly to

actions of domestic and everyday life and conduct which have little or

no connection with one another. (_d_) The final section is taken up

with a series of notices on the days of the month which are favourable

or unfavourable for agricultural and other operations.

It is from the second and fourth sections that the poem takes its name.

At first sight such a work seems to be a miscellany of myths, technical

advice, moral precepts, and folklore maxims without any unifying

principle; and critics have readily taken the view that the whole is a

canto of fragments or short poems worked up by a redactor. Very

probably Hesiod used much material of a far older date, just as

Shakespeare used the _Gesta Romanorum_, old chronicles, and old plays;

but close inspection will show that the _Works and Days_ has a real

unity and that the picturesque title is somewhat misleading. The poem

has properly no technical object at all, but is moral: its real aim is

to show men how best to live in a difficult world. So viewed the four

seemingly independent sections will be found to be linked together in a

real bond of unity. Such a connection between the first and second

sections is easily seen, but the links between these and the third and

fourth are no less real: to make life go tolerably smoothly it is most

important to be just and to know how to win a livelihood; but happiness

also largely depends on prudence and care both in social and home life

as well, and not least on avoidance of actions which offend

supernatural powers and bring ill-luck. And finally, if your industry

is to be fruitful, you must know what days are suitable for various

kinds of work. This moral aim—as opposed to the currently accepted

technical aim of the poem—explains the otherwise puzzling

incompleteness of the instructions on farming and seafaring.

Of the Hesiodic poems similar in character to the _Works and Days_,

only the scantiest fragments survive. One at least of these, the

_Divination by Birds_, was, as we know from Proclus, attached to the

end of the _Works_ until it was rejected by Apollonius Rhodius:

doubtless it continued the same theme of how to live, showing how man

can avoid disasters by attending to the omens to be drawn from birds.

It is possible that the _Astronomy_ or _Astrology_ (as Plutarch calls

it) was in turn appended to the _Divination_. It certainly gave some

account of the principal constellations, their dates of rising and

setting, and the legends connected with them, and probably showed how

these influenced human affairs or might be used as guides. The

_Precepts of Chiron_ was a didactic poem made up of moral and practical

precepts, resembling the gnomic sections of the _Works and Days_,

addressed by the Centaur Chiron to his pupil Achilles. Even less is

known of the poem called the _Great Works_: the title implies that it

was similar in subject to the second section of the _Works and Days_,

but longer. Possible references in Roman writers 1106 indicate that

among the subjects dealt with were the cultivation of the vine and

olive and various herbs. The inclusion of the judgment of Rhadamanthys

(frag. 1): “If a man sow evil, he shall reap evil,” indicates a gnomic

element, and the note by Proclus 1107 on _Works and Days_ 126 makes it

likely that metals also were dealt with. It is therefore possible that

another lost poem, the _Idaean Dactyls_, which dealt with the discovery

of metals and their working, was appended to, or even was a part of the

_Great Works_, just as the _Divination by Birds_ was appended to the

_Works and Days_.

II. The Genealogical Poems

The only complete poem of the genealogical group is the _Theogony_,

which traces from the beginning of things the descent and vicissitudes

of the families of the gods. Like the _Works and Days_ this poem has no

dramatic plot; but its unifying principle is clear and simple. The gods

are classified chronologically: as soon as one generation is

catalogued, the poet goes on to detail the offspring of each member of

that generation. Exceptions are only made in special cases, as the Sons

of Iapetus (ll. 507-616) whose place is accounted for by their

treatment by Zeus. The chief landmarks in the poem are as follows:

after the first 103 lines, which contain at least three distinct

preludes, three primeval beings are introduced, Chaos, Earth, and

Eros—here an indefinite reproductive influence. Of these three, Earth

produces Heaven to whom she bears the Titans, the Cyclopes and the

hundred-handed giants. The Titans, oppressed by their father, revolt at

the instigation of Earth, under the leadership of Cronos, and as a

result Heaven and Earth are separated, and Cronos reigns over the

universe. Cronos knowing that he is destined to be overcome by one of

his children, swallows each one of them as they are born, until Zeus,

saved by Rhea, grows up and overcomes Cronos in some struggle which is

not described. Cronos is forced to vomit up the children he had

swallowed, and these with Zeus divide the universe between them, like a

human estate. Two events mark the early reign of Zeus, the war with the

Titans and the overthrow of Typhoeus, and as Zeus is still reigning the

poet can only go on to give a list of gods born to Zeus by various

goddesses. After this he formally bids farewell to the cosmic and

Olympian deities and enumerates the sons born of goddess to mortals.

The poem closes with an invocation of the Muses to sing of the “tribe

of women”.

This conclusion served to link the _Theogony_ to what must have been a

distinct poem, the _Catalogues of Women_. This work was divided into

four (Suidas says five) books, the last one (or two) of which was known

as the _Eoiae_ and may have been again a distinct poem: the curious

title will be explained presently. The _Catalogues_ proper were a

series of genealogies which traced the Hellenic race (or its more

important peoples and families) from a common ancestor. The reason why

women are so prominent is obvious: since most families and tribes

claimed to be descended from a god, the only safe clue to their origin

was through a mortal woman beloved by that god; and it has also been

pointed out that _mutterrecht_ still left its traces in northern Greece

in historical times.

The following analysis (after Marckscheffel) 1108 will show the

principle of its composition. From Prometheus and Pronoia sprang

Deucalion and Pyrrha, the only survivors of the deluge, who had a son

Hellen (frag. 1), the reputed ancestor of the whole Hellenic race. From

the daughters of Deucalion sprang Magnes and Macedon, ancestors of the

Magnesians and Macedonians, who are thus represented as cousins to the

true Hellenic stock. Hellen had three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus,

parents of the Dorian, Ionic and Aeolian races, and the offspring of

these was then detailed. In one instance a considerable and

characteristic section can be traced from extant fragments and notices:

Salmoneus, son of Aeolus, had a daughter Tyro who bore to Poseidon two

sons, Pelias and Neleus; the latter of these, king of Pylos, refused

Heracles purification for the murder of Iphitus, whereupon Heracles

attacked and sacked Pylos, killing amongst the other sons of Neleus

Periclymenus, who had the power of changing himself into all manner of

shapes. From this slaughter Neleus alone escaped (frags. 13, and

10-12). This summary shows the general principle of arrangement of the

_Catalogues_: each line seems to have been dealt with in turn, and the

monotony was relieved as far as possible by a brief relation of famous

adventures connected with any of the personages—as in the case of

Atalanta and Hippomenes (frag. 14). Similarly the story of the

Argonauts appears from the fragments (37-42) to have been told in some

detail.

This tendency to introduce romantic episodes led to an important

development. Several poems are ascribed to Hesiod, such as the

_Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis_, the _Descent of Theseus into

Hades_, or the _Circuit of the Earth_ (which must have been connected

with the story of Phineus and the Harpies, and so with the

Argonaut-legend), which yet seem to have belonged to the _Catalogues_.

It is highly probable that these poems were interpolations into the

_Catalogues_ expanded by later poets from more summary notices in the

genuine Hesiodic work and subsequently detached from their contexts and

treated as independent. This is definitely known to be true of the

_Shield of Heracles_, the first 53 lines of which belong to the fourth

book of the _Catalogues_, and almost certainly applies to other

episodes, such as the _Suitors of Helen_ 1109, the _Daughters of

Leucippus_, and the _Marriage of Ceyx_, which last Plutarch mentions as

“interpolated in the works of Hesiod.”

To the _Catalogues_, as we have said, was appended another work, the

_Eoiae_. The title seems to have arisen in the following way 1110: the

_Catalogues_ probably ended (ep. _Theogony_ 963 ff.) with some such

passage as this: “But now, ye Muses, sing of the tribes of women with

whom the Sons of Heaven were joined in love, women pre-eminent above

their fellows in beauty, such as was Niobe (?).” Each succeeding

heroine was then introduced by the formula “Or such as was...” (cp.

frags. 88, 92, etc.). A large fragment of the _Eoiae_ is extant at the

beginning of the _Shield of Heracles_, which may be mentioned here. The

“supplement” (ll. 57-480) is nominally Heracles and Cycnus, but the

greater part is taken up with an inferior description of the shield of

Heracles, in imitation of the Homeric shield of Achilles (_Iliad_

xviii. 478 ff.). Nothing shows more clearly the collapse of the

principles of the Hesiodic school than this ultimate servile dependence

upon Homeric models.

At the close of the _Shield_ Heracles goes on to Trachis to the house

of Ceyx, and this warning suggests that the _Marriage of Ceyx_ may have

come immediately after the ‘Or such as was’ of Alcmena in the _Eoiae_:

possibly Halcyone, the wife of Ceyx, was one of the heroines sung in

the poem, and the original section was “developed” into the _Marriage_,

although what form the poem took is unknown.

Next to the _Eoiae_ and the poems which seemed to have been developed

from it, it is natural to place the _Great Eoiae_. This, again, as we

know from fragments, was a list of heroines who bare children to the

gods: from the title we must suppose it to have been much longer that

the simple _Eoiae_, but its extent is unknown. Lehmann, remarking that

the heroines are all Boeotian and Thessalian (while the heroines of the

_Catalogues_ belong to all parts of the Greek world), believes the

author to have been either a Boeotian or Thessalian.

Two other poems are ascribed to Hesiod. Of these the _Aegimius_ (also

ascribed by Athenaeus to Cercops of Miletus), is thought by Valckenaer

to deal with the war of Aegimus against the Lapithae and the aid

furnished to him by Heracles, and with the history of Aegimius and his

sons. Otto Muller suggests that the introduction of Thetis and of

Phrixus (frags. 1-2) is to be connected with notices of the allies of

the Lapithae from Phthiotis and Iolchus, and that the story of Io was

incidental to a narrative of Heracles’ expedition against Euboea. The

remaining poem, the _Melampodia_, was a work in three books, whose plan

it is impossible to recover. Its subject, however, seems to have been

the histories of famous seers like Mopsus, Calchas, and Teiresias, and

it probably took its name from Melampus, the most famous of them all.

Date of the Hesiodic Poems

There is no doubt that the _Works and Days_ is the oldest, as it is the

most original, of the Hesiodic poems. It seems to be distinctly earlier

than the _Theogony_, which refers to it, apparently, as a poem already

renowned. Two considerations help us to fix a relative date for the

_Works_. (1) In diction, dialect and style it is obviously dependent

upon Homer, and is therefore considerably later than the _Iliad_ and

_Odyssey_: moreover, as we have seen, it is in revolt against the

romantic school, already grown decadent, and while the digamma is still

living, it is obviously growing weak, and is by no means uniformly

effective.

(2) On the other hand while tradition steadily puts the Cyclic poets at

various dates from 776 B.C. downwards, it is equally consistent in

regarding Homer and Hesiod as “prehistoric”. Herodotus indeed puts both

poets 400 years before his own time; that is, at about 830-820 B.C.,

and the evidence stated above points to the middle of the ninth century

as the probable date for the _Works and Days_. The _Theogony_ might be

tentatively placed a century later; and the _Catalogues_ and _Eoiae_

are again later, but not greatly later, than the _Theogony_: the

_Shield of Heracles_ may be ascribed to the later half of the seventh

century, but there is not evidence enough to show whether the other

“developed” poems are to be regarded as of a date so low as this.

Literary Value of Homer

Quintillian’s 1111 judgment on Hesiod that ‘he rarely rises to great

heights... and to him is given the palm in the middle-class of speech’

is just, but is liable to give a wrong impression. Hesiod has nothing

that remotely approaches such scenes as that between Priam and

Achilles, or the pathos of Andromache’s preparations for Hector’s

return, even as he was falling before the walls of Troy; but in matters

that come within the range of ordinary experience, he rarely fails to

rise to the appropriate level. Take, for instance, the description of

the Iron Age (_Works and Days_, 182 ff.) with its catalogue of

wrongdoings and violence ever increasing until Aidos and Nemesis are

forced to leave mankind who thenceforward shall have ‘no remedy against

evil’. Such occasions, however, rarely occur and are perhaps not

characteristic of Hesiod’s genius: if we would see Hesiod at his best,

in his most natural vein, we must turn to such a passage as that which

he himself—according to the compiler of the _Contest of Hesiod and

Homer_—selected as best in all his work, ‘When the Pleiades, Atlas’

daughters, begin to rise...’ (_Works and Days_, 383 ff.). The value of

such a passage cannot be analysed: it can only be said that given such

a subject, this alone is the right method of treatment.

Hesiod’s diction is in the main Homeric, but one of his charms is the

use of quaint allusive phrases derived, perhaps, from a pre-Hesiodic

peasant poetry: thus the season when Boreas blows is the time when ‘the

Boneless One gnaws his foot by his fireless hearth in his cheerless

house’; to cut one’s nails is ‘to sever the withered from the quick

upon that which has five branches’; similarly the burglar is the

‘day-sleeper’, and the serpent is the ‘hairless one’. Very similar is

his reference to seasons through what happens or is done in that

season: ‘when the House-carrier, fleeing the Pleiades, climbs up the

plants from the earth’, is the season for harvesting; or ‘when the

artichoke flowers and the clicking grass-hopper, seated in a tree,

pours down his shrill song’, is the time for rest.

Hesiod’s charm lies in his child-like and sincere naivete, in his

unaffected interest in and picturesque view of nature and all that

happens in nature. These qualities, it is true, are those pre-eminently

of the _Works and Days_: the literary values of the _Theogony_ are of a

more technical character, skill in ordering and disposing long lists of

names, sure judgment in seasoning a monotonous subject with marvellous

incidents or episodes, and no mean imagination in depicting the awful,

as is shown in the description of Tartarus (ll. 736-745). Yet it

remains true that Hesiod’s distinctive title to a high place in Greek

literature lies in the very fact of his freedom from classic form, and

his grave, and yet child-like, outlook upon his world.

The Ionic School

The Ionic School of Epic poetry was, as we have seen, dominated by the

Homeric tradition, and while the style and method of treatment are

Homeric, it is natural that the Ionic poets refrained from cultivating

the ground tilled by Homer, and chose for treatment legends which lay

beyond the range of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. Equally natural it is

that they should have particularly selected various phases of the tale

of Troy which preceded or followed the action of the _Iliad_ or

_Odyssey_. In this way, without any preconceived intention, a body of

epic poetry was built up by various writers which covered the whole

Trojan story. But the entire range of heroic legend was open to these

poets, and other clusters of epics grew up dealing particularly with

the famous story of Thebes, while others dealt with the beginnings of

the world and the wars of heaven. In the end there existed a kind of

epic history of the world, as known to the Greeks, down to the death of

Odysseus, when the heroic age ended. In the Alexandrian Age these poems

were arranged in chronological order, apparently by Zenodotus of

Ephesus, at the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. At a later time the

term _Cycle_, “round” or “course”, was given to this collection.

Of all this mass of epic poetry only the scantiest fragments survive;

but happily Photius has preserved to us an abridgment of the synopsis

made of each poem of the “Trojan Cycle” by Proclus, _i.e._ Eutychius

Proclus of Sicca.

The pre-Trojan poems of the Cycle may be noticed first. The

_Titanomachy_, ascribed both to Eumelus of Corinth and to Arctinus of

Miletus, began with a kind of Theogony which told of the union of

Heaven and Earth and of their offspring the Cyclopes and the

Hundred-handed Giants. How the poem proceeded we have no means of

knowing, but we may suppose that in character it was not unlike the

short account of the Titan War found in the Hesiodic _Theogony_ (617

ff.).

What links bound the _Titanomachy_ to the Theben Cycle is not clear.

This latter group was formed of three poems, the _Story of Oedipus_,

the _Thebais_, and the _Epigoni_. Of the _Oedipodea_ practically

nothing is known, though on the assurance of Athenaeus (vii. 277 E)

that Sophocles followed the Epic Cycle closely in the plots of his

plays, we may suppose that in outline the story corresponded closely to

the history of Oedipus as it is found in the _Oedipus Tyrannus_. The

_Thebais_ seems to have begun with the origin of the fatal quarrel

between Eteocles and Polyneices in the curse called down upon them by

their father in his misery. The story was thence carried down to the

end of the expedition under Polyneices, Adrastus and Amphiarus against

Thebes. The _Epigoni_ (ascribed to Antimachus of Teos) recounted the

expedition of the “After-Born” against Thebes, and the sack of the

city.

The Trojan Cycle

Six epics with the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ made up the Trojan

Cycle—The _Cyprian Lays_, the _Iliad_, the _Aethiopis_, the _Little

Iliad_, the _Sack of Troy_, the _Returns_, the _Odyssey_, and the

_Telegony_.

It has been assumed in the foregoing pages that the poems of the Trojan

Cycle are later than the Homeric poems; but, as the opposite view has

been held, the reasons for this assumption must now be given. (1)

Tradition puts Homer and the Homeric poems proper back in the ages

before chronological history began, and at the same time assigns the

purely Cyclic poems to definite authors who are dated from the first

Olympiad (776 B.C.) downwards. This tradition cannot be purely

arbitrary. (2) The Cyclic poets (as we can see from the abstract of

Proclus) were careful not to trespass upon ground already occupied by

Homer. Thus, when we find that in the _Returns_ all the prominent Greek

heroes except Odysseus are accounted for, we are forced to believe that

the author of this poem knew the _Odyssey_ and judged it unnecessary to

deal in full with that hero’s adventures. 1112 In a word, the Cyclic

poems are “written round” the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_. (3) The

general structure of these epics is clearly imitative. As M.M. Croiset

remark, the abusive Thersites in the _Aethiopis_ is clearly copied from

the Thersites of the _Iliad_; in the same poem Antilochus, slain by

Memnon and avenged by Achilles, is obviously modelled on Patroclus. (4)

The geographical knowledge of a poem like the _Returns_ is far wider

and more precise than that of the _Odyssey_. (5) Moreover, in the

Cyclic poems epic is clearly degenerating morally—if the expression may

be used. The chief greatness of the _Iliad_ is in the character of the

heroes Achilles and Hector rather than in the actual events which take

place: in the Cyclic writers facts rather than character are the

objects of interest, and events are so packed together as to leave no

space for any exhibition of the play of moral forces. All these reasons

justify the view that the poems with which we now have to deal were

later than the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, and if we must recognize the

possibility of some conventionality in the received dating, we may feel

confident that it is at least approximately just.

The earliest of the post-Homeric epics of Troy are apparently the

_Aethiopis_ and the _Sack of Ilium_, both ascribed to Arctinus of

Miletus who is said to have flourished in the first Olympiad (776

B.C.). He set himself to finish the tale of Troy, which, so far as

events were concerned, had been left half-told by Homer, by tracing the

course of events after the close of the _Iliad_. The _Aethiopis_ thus

included the coming of the Amazon Penthesilea to help the Trojans after

the fall of Hector and her death, the similar arrival and fall of the

Aethiopian Memnon, the death of Achilles under the arrow of Paris, and

the dispute between Odysseus and Aias for the arms of Achilles. The

_Sack of Ilium_ 1113 as analysed by Proclus was very similar to

Vergil’s version in _Aeneid_ ii, comprising the episodes of the wooden

horse, of Laocoon, of Sinon, the return of the Achaeans from Tenedos,

the actual Sack of Troy, the division of spoils and the burning of the

city.

Lesches or Lescheos (as Pausanias calls him) of Pyrrha or Mitylene is

dated at about 660 B.C. In his _Little Iliad_ he undertook to elaborate

the _Sack_ as related by Arctinus. His work included the adjudgment of

the arms of Achilles to Odysseus, the madness of Aias, the bringing of

Philoctetes from Lemnos and his cure, the coming to the war of

Neoptolemus who slays Eurypylus, son of Telephus, the making of the

wooden horse, the spying of Odysseus and his theft, along with

Diomedes, of the Palladium: the analysis concludes with the admission

of the wooden horse into Troy by the Trojans. It is known, however

(Aristotle, _Poetics_, xxiii; Pausanias, x, 25-27), that the _Little

Iliad_ also contained a description of the _Sack of Troy_. It is

probable that this and other superfluous incidents disappeared after

the Alexandrian arrangement of the poems in the Cycle, either as the

result of some later recension, or merely through disuse. Or Proclus

may have thought it unnecessary to give the accounts by Lesches and

Arctinus of the same incident.

The _Cyprian Lays_, ascribed to Stasinus of Cyprus 1114 (but also to

Hegesinus of Salamis) was designed to do for the events preceding the

action of the _Iliad_ what Arctinus had done for the later phases of

the Trojan War. The _Cypria_ begins with the first causes of the war,

the purpose of Zeus to relieve the overburdened earth, the apple of

discord, the rape of Helen. Then follow the incidents connected with

the gathering of the Achaeans and their ultimate landing in Troy; and

the story of the war is detailed up to the quarrel between Achilles and

Agamemnon with which the _Iliad_ begins.

These four poems rounded off the story of the _Iliad_, and it only

remained to connect this enlarged version with the _Odyssey_. This was

done by means of the _Returns_, a poem in five books ascribed to Agias

or Hegias of Troezen, which begins where the _Sack of Troy_ ends. It

told of the dispute between Agamemnon and Menelaus, the departure from

Troy of Menelaus, the fortunes of the lesser heroes, the return and

tragic death of Agamemnon, and the vengeance of Orestes on Aegisthus.

The story ends with the return home of Menelaus, which brings the

general narrative up to the beginning of the _Odyssey_.

But the _Odyssey_ itself left much untold: what, for example, happened

in Ithaca after the slaying of the suitors, and what was the ultimate

fate of Odysseus? The answer to these questions was supplied by the

_Telegony_, a poem in two books by Eugammon of Cyrene (_fl_. 568 B.C.).

It told of the adventures of Odysseus in Thesprotis after the killing

of the Suitors, of his return to Ithaca, and his death at the hands of

Telegonus, his son by Circe. The epic ended by disposing of the

surviving personages in a double marriage, Telemachus wedding Circe,

and Telegonus Penelope.

The end of the Cycle marks also the end of the Heroic Age.

The Homeric Hymns

The collection of thirty-three Hymns, ascribed to Homer, is the last

considerable work of the Epic School, and seems, on the whole, to be

later than the Cyclic poems. It cannot be definitely assigned either to

the Ionian or Continental schools, for while the romantic element is

very strong, there is a distinct genealogical interest; and in matters

of diction and style the influences of both Hesiod and Homer are

well-marked. The date of the formation of the collection as such is

unknown. Diodorus Siculus (_temp_. Augustus) is the first to mention

such a body of poetry, and it is likely enough that this is, at least

substantially, the one which has come down to us. Thucydides quotes the

Delian _Hymn to Apollo_, and it is possible that the Homeric corpus of

his day also contained other of the more important hymns. Conceivably

the collection was arranged in the Alexandrine period.

Thucydides, in quoting the _Hymn to Apollo_, calls it PROOIMION, which

ordinarily means a “prelude” chanted by a rhapsode before recitation of

a lay from Homer, and such hymns as Nos. vi, xxxi, xxxii, are clearly

preludes in the strict sense; in No. xxxi, for example, after

celebrating Helios, the poet declares he will next sing of the “race of

mortal men, the demi-gods”. But it may fairly be doubted whether such

Hymns as those to _Demeter_ (ii), _Apollo_ (iii), _Hermes_ (iv),

_Aphrodite_ (v), can have been real preludes, in spite of the closing

formula “and now I will pass on to another hymn”. The view taken by

Allen and Sikes, amongst other scholars, is doubtless right, that these

longer hymns are only technically preludes and show to what

disproportionate lengths a simple literacy form can be developed.

The Hymns to _Pan_ (xix), to _Dionysus_ (xxvi), to _Hestia and Hermes_

(xxix), seem to have been designed for use at definite religious

festivals, apart from recitations. With the exception perhaps of the

_Hymn to Ares_ (viii), no item in the collection can be regarded as

either devotional or liturgical.

The Hymn is doubtless a very ancient form; but if no example of extreme

antiquity survive this must be put down to the fact that until the age

of literary consciousness, such things are not preserved.

First, apparently, in the collection stood the _Hymn to Dionysus_, of

which only two fragments now survive. While it appears to have been a

hymn of the longer type 1115, we have no evidence to show either its

scope or date.

The _Hymn to Demeter_, extant only in the MS. discovered by Matthiae at

Moscow, describes the seizure of Persephone by Hades, the grief of

Demeter, her stay at Eleusis, and her vengeance on gods and men by

causing famine. In the end Zeus is forced to bring Persephone back from

the lower world; but the goddess, by the contriving of Hades, still

remains partly a deity of the lower world. In memory of her sorrows

Demeter establishes the Eleusinian mysteries (which, however, were

purely agrarian in origin).

This hymn, as a literary work, is one of the finest in the collection.

It is surely Attic or Eleusinian in origin. Can we in any way fix its

date? Firstly, it is certainly not later than the beginning of the

sixth century, for it makes no mention of Iacchus, and the Dionysiac

element was introduced at Eleusis at about that period. Further, the

insignificance of Triptolemus and Eumolpus point to considerable

antiquity, and the digamma is still active. All these considerations

point to the seventh century as the probable date of the hymn.

The _Hymn to Apollo_ consists of two parts, which beyond any doubt were

originally distinct, a Delian hymn and a Pythian hymn. The Delian hymn

describes how Leto, in travail with Apollo, sought out a place in which

to bear her son, and how Apollo, born in Delos, at once claimed for

himself the lyre, the bow, and prophecy. This part of the existing hymn

ends with an encomium of the Delian festival of Apollo and of the

Delian choirs. The second part celebrates the founding of Pytho

(Delphi) as the oracular seat of Apollo. After various wanderings the

god comes to Telphus, near Haliartus, but is dissuaded by the nymph of

the place from settling there and urged to go on to Pytho where, after

slaying the she-dragon who nursed Typhaon, he builds his temple. After

the punishment of Telphusa for her deceit in giving him no warning of

the dragoness at Pytho, Apollo, in the form of a dolphin, brings

certain Cretan shipmen to Delphi to be his priests; and the hymn ends

with a charge to these men to behave orderly and righteously.

The Delian part is exclusively Ionian and insular both in style and

sympathy; Delos and no other is Apollo’s chosen seat: but the second

part is as definitely continental; Delos is ignored and Delphi alone is

the important centre of Apollo’s worship. From this it is clear that

the two parts need not be of one date—The first, indeed, is ascribed

(Scholiast on Pindar _Nem_. ii, 2) to Cynaethus of Chios (_fl_. 504

B.C.), a date which is obviously far too low; general considerations

point rather to the eighth century. The second part is not later than

600 B.C.; for (1) the chariot-races at Pytho, which commenced in 586

B.C., are unknown to the writer of the hymn, (2) the temple built by

Trophonius and Agamedes for Apollo (ll. 294-299) seems to have been

still standing when the hymn was written, and this temple was burned in

548. We may at least be sure that the first part is a Chian work, and

that the second was composed by a continental poet familiar with

Delphi.

The _Hymn to Hermes_ differs from others in its burlesque, quasi-comic

character, and it is also the best-known of the Hymns to English

readers in consequence of Shelley’s translation.

After a brief narrative of the birth of Hermes, the author goes on to

show how he won a place among the gods. First the new-born child found

a tortoise and from its shell contrived the lyre; next, with much

cunning circumstance, he stole Apollo’s cattle and, when charged with

the theft by Apollo, forced that god to appear in undignified guise

before the tribunal of Zeus. Zeus seeks to reconcile the pair, and

Hermes by the gift of the lyre wins Apollo’s friendship and purchases

various prerogatives, a share in divination, the lordship of herds and

animals, and the office of messenger from the gods to Hades.

The Hymn is hard to date. Hermes’ lyre has seven strings and the

invention of the seven-stringed lyre is ascribed to Terpander (_flor_.

676 B.C.). The hymn must therefore be later than that date, though

Terpander, according to Weir Smyth 1116, may have only modified the

scale of the lyre; yet while the burlesque character precludes an early

date, this feature is far removed, as Allen and Sikes remark, from the

silliness of the _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, so that a date in the

earlier part of the sixth century is most probable.

The _Hymn to Aphrodite_ is not the least remarkable, from a literary

point of view, of the whole collection, exhibiting as it does in a

masterly manner a divine being as the unwilling victim of an

irresistible force. It tells how all creatures, and even the gods

themselves, are subject to the will of Aphrodite, saving only Artemis,

Athena, and Hestia; how Zeus to humble her pride of power caused her to

love a mortal, Anchises; and how the goddess visited the hero upon Mt.

Ida. A comparison of this work with the Lay of Demodocus (_Odyssey_

viii, 266 ff.), which is superficially similar, will show how far

superior is the former in which the goddess is but a victim to forces

stronger than herself. The lines (247-255) in which Aphrodite tells of

her humiliation and grief are specially noteworthy.

There are only general indications of date. The influence of Hesiod is

clear, and the hymn has almost certainly been used by the author of the

_Hymn to Demeter_, so that the date must lie between these two periods,

and the seventh century seems to be the latest date possible.

The _Hymn to Dionysus_ relates how the god was seized by pirates and

how with many manifestations of power he avenged himself on them by

turning them into dolphins. The date is widely disputed, for while

Ludwich believes it to be a work of the fourth or third century, Allen

and Sikes consider a sixth or seventh century date to be possible. The

story is figured in a different form on the reliefs from the choragic

monument of Lysicrates, now in the British Museum 1117.

Very different in character is the _Hymn to Ares_, which is Orphic in

character. The writer, after lauding the god by detailing his

attributes, prays to be delivered from feebleness and weakness of soul,

as also from impulses to wanton and brutal violence.

The only other considerable hymn is that to _Pan_, which describes how

he roams hunting among the mountains and thickets and streams, how he

makes music at dusk while returning from the chase, and how he joins in

dancing with the nymphs who sing the story of his birth. This, beyond

most works of Greek literature, is remarkable for its fresh and

spontaneous love of wild natural scenes.

The remaining hymns are mostly of the briefest compass, merely hailing

the god to be celebrated and mentioning his chief attributes. The Hymns

to _Hermes_ (xviii), to the _Dioscuri_ (xvii), and to _Demeter_ (xiii)

are mere abstracts of the longer hymns iv, xxxiii, and ii.

The Epigrams of Homer

The _Epigrams of Homer_ are derived from the pseudo-Herodotean _Life of

Homer_, but many of them occur in other documents such as the _Contest

of Homer and Hesiod_, or are quoted by various ancient authors. These

poetic fragments clearly antedate the “Life” itself, which seems to

have been so written round them as to supply appropriate occasions for

their composition. Epigram iii on Midas of Larissa was otherwise

attributed to Cleobulus of Lindus, one of the Seven Sages; the address

to Glaucus (xi) is purely Hesiodic; xiii, according to MM. Croiset, is

a fragment from a gnomic poem. Epigram xiv is a curious poem attributed

on no very obvious grounds to Hesiod by Julius Pollox. In it the poet

invokes Athena to protect certain potters and their craft, if they

will, according to promise, give him a reward for his song; if they

prove false, malignant gnomes are invoked to wreck the kiln and hurt

the potters.

The Burlesque Poems

To Homer were popularly ascribed certain burlesque poems in which

Aristotle (_Poetics_ iv) saw the germ of comedy. Most interesting of

these, were it extant, would be the _Margites_. The hero of the epic is

at once sciolist and simpleton, “knowing many things, but knowing them

all badly”. It is unfortunately impossible to trace the plan of the

poem, which presumably detailed the adventures of this unheroic

character: the metre used was a curious mixture of hexametric and

iambic lines. The date of such a work cannot be high: Croiset thinks it

may belong to the period of Archilochus (c. 650 B.C.), but it may well

be somewhat later.

Another poem, of which we know even less, is the _Cercopes_. These

Cercopes (‘Monkey-Men’) were a pair of malignant dwarfs who went about

the world mischief-making. Their punishment by Heracles is represented

on one of the earlier metopes from Selinus. It would be idle to

speculate as to the date of this work.

Finally there is the _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_. Here is told the

story of the quarrel which arose between the two tribes, and how they

fought, until Zeus sent crabs to break up the battle. It is a parody of

the warlike epic, but has little in it that is really comic or of

literary merit, except perhaps the list of quaint arms assumed by the

warriors. The text of the poem is in a chaotic condition, and there are

many interpolations, some of Byzantine date.

Though popularly ascribed to Homer, its real author is said by Suidas

to have been Pigres, a Carian, brother of Artemisia, ‘wife of

Mausolus’, who distinguished herself at the battle of Salamis.

Suidas is confusing the two Artemisias, but he may be right in

attributing the poem to about 480 B.C.

The Contest of Homer and Hesiod

This curious work dates in its present form from the lifetime or

shortly after the death of Hadrian, but seems to be based in part on an

earlier version by the sophist Alcidamas (c. 400 B.C.). Plutarch

(_Conviv. Sept. Sap._, 40) uses an earlier (or at least a shorter)

version than that which we possess 1118. The extant _Contest_, however,

has clearly combined with the original document much other ill-digested

matter on the life and descent of Homer, probably drawing on the same

general sources as does the Herodotean _Life of Homer_. Its scope is as

follows: (1) the descent (as variously reported) and relative dates of

Homer and Hesiod; (2) their poetical contest at Chalcis; (3) the death

of Hesiod; (4) the wanderings and fortunes of Homer, with brief notices

of the circumstances under which his reputed works were composed, down

to the time of his death.

The whole tract is, of course, mere romance; its only values are (1)

the insight it give into ancient speculations about Homer; (2) a

certain amount of definite information about the Cyclic poems; and (3)

the epic fragments included in the stichomythia of the _Contest_

proper, many of which—did we possess the clue—would have to be referred

to poems of the Epic Cycle.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

HESIOD.—The classification and numerations of MSS. here followed is

that of Rzach (1913). It is only necessary to add that on the whole the

recovery of Hesiodic papyri goes to confirm the authority of the

mediaeval MSS. At the same time these fragments have produced much that

is interesting and valuable, such as the new lines, _Works and Days_

169 a-d, and the improved readings _ib_. 278, _Theogony_ 91, 93. Our

chief gains from papyri are the numerous and excellent fragments of the

Catalogues which have been recovered.

_Works and Days:_—

S Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1090.

A Vienna, Rainer Papyri L.P. 21-9 (4th cent.).

B Geneva, Naville Papyri Pap. 94 (6th cent.).

C Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2771 (11th cent.).

D Florence, Laur. xxxi 39 (12th cent.).

E Messina, Univ. Lib. Preexistens 11 (12th-13th cent.).

F Rome, Vatican 38 (14th cent.).

G Venice, Marc. ix 6 (14th cent.).

H Florence, Laur. xxxi 37 (14th cent.).

I Florence, Laur. xxxii 16 (13th cent.).

K Florence, Laur. xxxii 2 (14th cent.).

L Milan, Ambros. G 32 sup. (14th cent.).

M Florence, Bibl. Riccardiana 71 (15th cent.).

N Milan, Ambros. J 15 sup. (15th cent.).

O Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2773 (14th cent.).

P Cambridge, Trinity College (Gale MS.), O.9.27 (13th-14th cent.).

Q Rome, Vatican 1332 (14th cent.).

These MSS. are divided by Rzach into the following families, issuing

from a common original:—

Ωa = C

Ωb = F, G, H

Ψa = D

Ψb = I ,K, L, M

Φa = E

Φb = N, O, P, Q

_Theogony:_—

N Manchester, Rylands GK. Papyri No. 54 (1st cent. B.C.—1st cent.

A.D.).

O Oxyrhynchus Papyri 873 (3rd cent.).

A Paris, Bibl. Nat. Suppl. Graec. (papyrus) 1099 (4th-5th cent.).

B London, British Museam clix (4th cent.).

R Vienna, Rainer Papyri L.P. 21-9 (4th cent.).

C Paris, Bibl. Nat. Suppl. Graec. 663 (12th cent.).

D Florence, Laur. xxxii 16 (13th cent.).

E Florence, Laur., Conv. suppr. 158 (14th cent.).

F Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2833 (15th cent.).

G Rome, Vatican 915 (14th cent.).

H Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2772 (14th cent.).

I Florence, Laur. xxxi 32 (15th cent.).

K Venice, Marc. ix 6 (15th cent.).

L Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2708 (15th cent.).

These MSS. are divided into two families:

Ωa = C,D

Ωb = E, F

Ωc = G, H, I

Ψ = K, L

_Shield of Heracles:_—

P Oxyrhynchus Papyri 689 (2nd cent.).

A Vienna, Rainer Papyri L.P. 21-29 (4th cent.).

Q Berlin Papyri, 9774 (1st cent.).

B Paris, Bibl. Nat., Suppl. Graec. 663 (12th cent.).

C Paris, Bibl. Nat., Suppl. Graec. 663 (12th cent.).

D Milan, Ambros. C 222 (13th cent.).

E Florence, Laur. xxxii 16 (13th cent.).

F Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2773 (14th cent.).

G Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2772 (14th cent.).

H Florence, Laur. xxxi 32 (15th cent.).

I London, British Museam Harleianus (14th cent.).

K Rome, Bibl. Casanat. 356 (14th cent.)

L Florence, Laur. Conv. suppr. 158 (14th cent.).

M Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2833 (15th cent.).

These MSS. belong to two families:

Ωa = B, C, D, F

Ωb = G, H, I

Ψa = E

Ψb = K, L, M

To these must be added two MSS. of mixed family:

N Venice, Marc. ix 6 (14th cent.).

O Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2708 (15th cent.).

_Editions of Hesiod:_—

Demetrius Chalcondyles, Milan (?) 1493 (?) (_editio princeps_,

containing, however, only the _Works and Days_).

Aldus Manutius (Aldine edition), Venice, 1495 (complete works).

Juntine Editions, 1515 and 1540.

Trincavelli, Venice, 1537 (with scholia).

Of modern editions, the following may be noticed:—

Gaisford, Oxford, 1814-1820; Leipzig, 1823 (with scholia: in Poett.

Graec. Minn II).

Goettling, Gotha, 1831 (3rd edition. Leipzig, 1878).

Didot Edition, Paris, 1840.

Schömann, 1869.

Koechly and Kinkel, Leipzig, 1870.

Flach, Leipzig, 1874-8.

Rzach, Leipzig, 1902 (larger edition), 1913 (smaller edition).

On the Hesiodic poems generally the ordinary Histories of Greek

Literature may be consulted, but especially the _Hist. de la

Littérature Grecque_ I pp. 459 ff. of MM. Croiset. The summary account

in Prof. Murray’s _Anc. Gk. Lit._ is written with a strong sceptical

bias. Very valuable is the appendix to Mair’s translation (Oxford,

1908) on _The Farmer’s Year in Hesiod_. Recent work on the Hesiodic

poems is reviewed in full by Rzach in Bursian’s _Jahresberichte_ vols.

100 (1899) and 152 (1911).

For the _Fragments_ of Hesiodic poems the work of Markscheffel,

_Hesiodi Fragmenta_ (Leipzig, 1840), is most valuable: important also

is Kinkel’s _Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta_ I (Leipzig, 1877) and the

editions of Rzach noticed above. For recently discovered papyrus

fragments see Wilamowitz, _Neue Bruchstücke d. Hesiod Katalog_

(Sitzungsb. der k. preuss. Akad. fur Wissenschaft, 1900, pp. 839-851).

A list of papyri belonging to lost Hesiodic works may here be added:

all are the _Catalogues_.

1) Berlin Papyri 7497 1201 (2nd cent.).—Frag. 7.

2) _Oxyrhynchus Papyri_ 421 (2nd cent.).—Frag. 7.

3) _Petrie Papyri_ iii 3.—Frag. 14.

4) _Papiri greci e latine_, No. 130 (2nd-3rd cent.).—Frag. 14.

5) Strassburg Papyri, 55 (2nd cent.).—Frag. 58.

6) Berlin Papyri 9739 (2nd cent.).—Frag. 58.

7) Berlin Papyri 10560 (3rd cent.).—Frag. 58.

8) Berlin Papyri 9777 (4th cent.).—Frag. 98.

9) _Papiri greci e latine_, No. 131 (2nd-3rd cent.).—Frag. 99.

10) Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358-9.

_The Homeric Hymns:_—The text of the Homeric hymns is distinctly bad in

condition, a fact which may be attributed to the general neglect under

which they seem to have laboured at all periods previously to the

Revival of Learning. Very many defects have been corrected by the

various editions of the Hymns, but a considerable number still defy all

efforts; and especially an abnormal number of undoubted lacuna

disfigure the text. Unfortunately no papyrus fragment of the Hymns has

yet emerged, though one such fragment (_Berl. Klassikertexte_ v.1. pp.

7 ff.) contains a paraphrase of a poem very closely parallel to the

_Hymn to Demeter_.

The mediaeval MSS. 1202 are thus enumerated by Dr. T.W. Allen:—

A Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2763.

At Athos, Vatopedi 587.

B Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2765.

C Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2833.

Γ Brussels, Bibl. Royale 11377-11380 (16th cent.).

D Milan, Amrbos. B 98 sup.

E Modena, Estense iii E 11.

G Rome, Vatican, Regina 91 (16th cent.).

H London, British Mus. Harley 1752.

J Modena, Estense, ii B 14.

K Florence, Laur. 31, 32.

L Florence, Laur. 32, 45.

L2 Florence, Laur. 70, 35.

L3 Florence, Laur. 32, 4.

M Leyden (the Moscow MS.) 33 H (14th cent.).

Mon. Munich, Royal Lib. 333 c.

N Leyden, 74 c.

O Milan, Ambros. C 10 inf.

P Rome, Vatican Pal. graec. 179.

Π Paris, Bibl. Nat. Suppl. graec. 1095.

Q Milan, Ambros. S 31 sup.

R1 Florence, Bibl. Riccard. 53 K ii 13.

R2 Florence, Bibl. Riccard. 52 K ii 14.

S Rome, Vatican, Vaticani graec. 1880.

T Madrid, Public Library 24.

V Venice, Marc. 456.

The same scholar has traced all the MSS. back to a common parent from

which three main families are derived (M had a separate descent and is

not included in any family):—

x1 = E, T

x2 = L, Π,(and more remotely) At, D, S, H, J, K.

y = E, L, Π, T (marginal readings).

p = A, B, C, Γ, G, L2, L3, N, O, P, Q, R1, R2, V, Mon.

_Editions of the Homeric Hymns_, &c.

Demetrius Chalcondyles, Florence, 1488 (with the _Epigrams_ and the

_Battle of the Frogs and Mice_ in the _ed. pr._ of Homer).

Aldine Edition, Venice, 1504.

Juntine Edition, 1537.

Stephanus, Paris, 1566 and 1588.

More modern editions or critical works of value are:

Martin (Variarum Lectionum libb. iv), Paris, 1605.

Barnes, Cambridge, 1711.

Ruhnken, Leyden, 1782 (Epist. Crit. and _Hymn to Demeter_).

Ilgen, Halle, 1796 (with _Epigrams_ and the _Battle of the Frogs and

Mice_).

Matthiae, Leipzig, 1806 (with the _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_).

Hermann, Berling, 1806 (with _Epigrams_).

Franke, Leipzig, 1828 (with _Epigrams_ and the _Battle of the Frogs and

Mice_).

Dindorff (Didot edition), Paris, 1837.

Baumeister (_Battle of the Frogs and Mice_), Göttingen, 1852.

Baumeister (_Hymns_), Leipzig, 1860.

Gemoll, Leipzig, 1886.

Goodwin, Oxford, 1893.

Ludwich (_Battle of the Frogs and Mice_), 1896.

Allen and Sikes, London, 1904.

Allen (Homeri Opera v), Oxford, 1912.

Of these editions that of Messrs Allen and Sikes is by far the best:

not only is the text purged of the load of conjectures for which the

frequent obscurities of the Hymns offer a special opening, but the

Introduction and the Notes throughout are of the highest value. For a

full discussion of the MSS. and textual problems, reference must be

made to this edition, as also to Dr. T.W. Allen’s series of articles in

the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_ vols. xv ff. Among translations those

of J. Edgar (Edinburgh), 1891) and of Andrew Lang (London, 1899) may be

mentioned.

_The Epic Cycle_.

The fragments of the Epic Cycle, being drawn from a variety of authors,

no list of MSS. can be given. The following collections and editions

may be mentioned:—

Muller, Leipzig, 1829.

Dindorff (Didot edition of Homer), Paris, 1837-56.

Kinkel (Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta i), Leipzig, 1877.

Allen (Homeri Opera v), Oxford, 1912.

The fullest discussion of the problems and fragments of the epic cycle

is F.G. Welcker’s _der epische Cyclus_ (Bonn, vol. i, 1835: vol. ii,

1849: vol. i, 2nd edition, 1865). The Appendix to Monro’s _Homer’s

Odyssey_ xii-xxiv (pp. 340 ff.) deals with the Cyclic poets in relation

to Homer, and a clear and reasonable discussion of the subject is to be

found in Croiset’s _Hist. de la Littérature Grecque_, vol. i.

On Hesiod, the Hesiodic poems and the problems which these offer see

Rzach’s most important article “Hesiodos” in Pauly-Wissowa,

_Real-Encyclopädie_ xv (1912).

A discussion of the evidence for the date of Hesiod is to be found in

_Journ. Hell. Stud._ xxxv, 85 ff. (T.W. Allen).

Of translations of Hesiod the following may be noticed:—_The Georgicks

of Hesiod_, by George Chapman, London, 1618; _The Works of Hesiod

translated from the Greek_, by Thomas Coocke, London, 1728; _The

Remains of Hesiod translated from the Greek into English Verse_, by

Charles Abraham Elton; _The Works of Hesiod, Callimachus, and

Theognis_, by the Rev. J. Banks, M.A.; “Hesiod”, by Prof. James Mair,

Oxford, 19081203.

HESIOD

HESIOD’S WORKS AND DAYS

(ll. 1-10) Muses of Pieria who give glory through song, come hither,

tell of Zeus your father and chant his praise. Through him mortal men

are famed or un-famed, sung or unsung alike, as great Zeus wills. For

easily he makes strong, and easily he brings the strong man low; easily

he humbles the proud and raises the obscure, and easily he straightens

the crooked and blasts the proud,—Zeus who thunders aloft and has his

dwelling most high.

Attend thou with eye and ear, and make judgements straight with

righteousness. And I, Perses, would tell of true things.

(ll. 11-24) So, after all, there was not one kind of Strife alone, but

all over the earth there are two. As for the one, a man would praise

her when he came to understand her; but the other is blameworthy: and

they are wholly different in nature. For one fosters evil war and

battle, being cruel: her no man loves; but perforce, through the will

of the deathless gods, men pay harsh Strife her honour due. But the

other is the elder daughter of dark Night, and the son of Cronos who

sits above and dwells in the aether, set her in the roots of the earth:

and she is far kinder to men. She stirs up even the shiftless to toil;

for a man grows eager to work when he considers his neighbour, a rich

man who hastens to plough and plant and put his house in good order;

and neighbour vies with his neighbour as he hurries after wealth. This

Strife is wholesome for men. And potter is angry with potter, and

craftsman with craftsman, and beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel

of minstrel.

(ll. 25-41) Perses, lay up these things in your heart, and do not let

that Strife who delights in mischief hold your heart back from work,

while you peep and peer and listen to the wrangles of the court-house.

Little concern has he with quarrels and courts who has not a year’s

victuals laid up betimes, even that which the earth bears, Demeter’s

grain. When you have got plenty of that, you can raise disputes and

strive to get another’s goods. But you shall have no second chance to

deal so again: nay, let us settle our dispute here with true judgement

divided our inheritance, but you seized the greater share and carried

it off, greatly swelling the glory of our bribe-swallowing lords who

love to judge such a cause as this. Fools! They know not how much more

the half is than the whole, nor what great advantage there is in mallow

and asphodel 1301.

(ll. 42-53) For the gods keep hidden from men the means of life. Else

you would easily do work enough in a day to supply you for a full year

even without working; soon would you put away your rudder over the

smoke, and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would run to waste.

But Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the

crafty deceived him; therefore he planned sorrow and mischief against

men. He hid fire; but that the noble son of Iapetus stole again for men

from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who

delights in thunder did not see it. But afterwards Zeus who gathers the

clouds said to him in anger:

(ll. 54-59) ‘Son of Iapetus, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad

that you have outwitted me and stolen fire—a great plague to you

yourself and to men that shall be. But I will give men as the price for

fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they

embrace their own destruction.’

(ll. 60-68) So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And

he bade famous Hephaestus make haste and mix earth with water and to

put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet,

lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene

to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden

Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that

weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus,

to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature.

(ll. 69-82) So he ordered. And they obeyed the lord Zeus the son of

Cronos. Forthwith the famous Lame God moulded clay in the likeness of a

modest maid, as the son of Cronos purposed. And the goddess bright-eyed

Athene girded and clothed her, and the divine Graces and queenly

Persuasion put necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich-haired Hours

crowned her head with spring flowers. And Pallas Athene bedecked her

form with all manners of finery. Also the Guide, the Slayer of Argus,

contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at

the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech

in her. And he called this woman Pandora 1302, because all they who

dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread.

(ll. 83-89) But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the

Father sent glorious Argos-Slayer, the swift messenger of the gods, to

take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what

Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of Olympian

Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something

harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil

thing was already his, he understood.

(ll. 90-105) For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and

free from ills and hard toil and heavy sickness which bring the Fates

upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly. But the woman took off

the great lid of the jar 1303 with her hands and scattered all these

and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Hope remained

there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and

did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped

her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the

rest, countless plagues, wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils

and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases come upon men continually

by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise

Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will

of Zeus.

(ll. 106-108) Or if you will, I will sum you up another tale well and

skilfully—and do you lay it up in your heart,—how the gods and mortal

men sprang from one source.

(ll. 109-120) First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made

a golden race of mortal men who lived in the time of Cronos when he was

reigning in heaven. And they lived like gods without sorrow of heart,

remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them;

but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting

beyond the reach of all evils. When they died, it was as though they

were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the

fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint.

They dwelt in ease and peace upon their lands with many good things,

rich in flocks and loved by the blessed gods.

(ll. 121-139) But after earth had covered this generation—they are

called pure spirits dwelling on the earth, and are kindly, delivering

from harm, and guardians of mortal men; for they roam everywhere over

the earth, clothed in mist and keep watch on judgements and cruel

deeds, givers of wealth; for this royal right also they received;—then

they who dwell on Olympus made a second generation which was of silver

and less noble by far. It was like the golden race neither in body nor

in spirit. A child was brought up at his good mother’s side an hundred

years, an utter simpleton, playing childishly in his own home. But when

they were full grown and were come to the full measure of their prime,

they lived only a little time in sorrow because of their foolishness,

for they could not keep from sinning and from wronging one another, nor

would they serve the immortals, nor sacrifice on the holy altars of the

blessed ones as it is right for men to do wherever they dwell. Then

Zeus the son of Cronos was angry and put them away, because they would

not give honour to the blessed gods who live on Olympus.

(ll. 140-155) But when earth had covered this generation also—they are

called blessed spirits of the underworld by men, and, though they are

of second order, yet honour attends them also—Zeus the Father made a

third generation of mortal men, a brazen race, sprung from ash-trees

1304; and it was in no way equal to the silver age, but was terrible

and strong. They loved the lamentable works of Ares and deeds of

violence; they ate no bread, but were hard of heart like adamant,

fearful men. Great was their strength and unconquerable the arms which

grew from their shoulders on their strong limbs. Their armour was of

bronze, and their houses of bronze, and of bronze were their

implements: there was no black iron. These were destroyed by their own

hands and passed to the dank house of chill Hades, and left no name:

terrible though they were, black Death seized them, and they left the

bright light of the sun.

(ll. 156-169b) But when earth had covered this generation also, Zeus

the son of Cronos made yet another, the fourth, upon the fruitful

earth, which was nobler and more righteous, a god-like race of hero-men

who are called demi-gods, the race before our own, throughout the

boundless earth. Grim war and dread battle destroyed a part of them,

some in the land of Cadmus at seven-gated Thebe when they fought for

the flocks of Oedipus, and some, when it had brought them in ships over

the great sea gulf to Troy for rich-haired Helen’s sake: there death’s

end enshrouded a part of them. But to the others father Zeus the son of

Cronos gave a living and an abode apart from men, and made them dwell

at the ends of earth. And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands

of the blessed along the shore of deep swirling Ocean, happy heroes for

whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice

a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them 1305;

for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds. And these

last equally have honour and glory.

(ll. 169c-169d) And again far-seeing Zeus made yet another generation,

the fifth, of men who are upon the bounteous earth.

(ll. 170-201) Thereafter, would that I were not among the men of the

fifth generation, but either had died before or been born afterwards.

For now truly is a race of iron, and men never rest from labour and

sorrow by day, and from perishing by night; and the gods shall lay sore

trouble upon them. But, notwithstanding, even these shall have some

good mingled with their evils. And Zeus will destroy this race of

mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at

their birth 1306. The father will not agree with his children, nor the

children with their father, nor guest with his host, nor comrade with

comrade; nor will brother be dear to brother as aforetime. Men will

dishonour their parents as they grow quickly old, and will carp at

them, chiding them with bitter words, hard-hearted they, not knowing

the fear of the gods. They will not repay their aged parents the cost

their nurture, for might shall be their right: and one man will sack

another’s city. There will be no favour for the man who keeps his oath

or for the just or for the good; but rather men will praise the

evil-doer and his violent dealing. Strength will be right and reverence

will cease to be; and the wicked will hurt the worthy man, speaking

false words against him, and will swear an oath upon them. Envy,

foul-mouthed, delighting in evil, with scowling face, will go along

with wretched men one and all. And then Aidos and Nemesis 1307, with

their sweet forms wrapped in white robes, will go from the wide-pathed

earth and forsake mankind to join the company of the deathless gods:

and bitter sorrows will be left for mortal men, and there will be no

help against evil.

(ll. 202-211) And now I will tell a fable for princes who themselves

understand. Thus said the hawk to the nightingale with speckled neck,

while he carried her high up among the clouds, gripped fast in his

talons, and she, pierced by his crooked talons, cried pitifully. To her

he spoke disdainfully: ‘Miserable thing, why do you cry out? One far

stronger than you now holds you fast, and you must go wherever I take

you, songstress as you are. And if I please I will make my meal of you,

or let you go. He is a fool who tries to withstand the stronger, for he

does not get the mastery and suffers pain besides his shame.’ So said

the swiftly flying hawk, the long-winged bird.

(ll. 212-224) But you, Perses, listen to right and do not foster

violence; for violence is bad for a poor man. Even the prosperous

cannot easily bear its burden, but is weighed down under it when he has

fallen into delusion. The better path is to go by on the other side

towards justice; for Justice beats Outrage when she comes at length to

the end of the race. But only when he has suffered does the fool learn

this. For Oath keeps pace with wrong judgements. There is a noise when

Justice is being dragged in the way where those who devour bribes and

give sentence with crooked judgements, take her. And she, wrapped in

mist, follows to the city and haunts of the people, weeping, and

bringing mischief to men, even to such as have driven her forth in that

they did not deal straightly with her.

(ll. 225-237) But they who give straight judgements to strangers and to

the men of the land, and go not aside from what is just, their city

flourishes, and the people prosper in it: Peace, the nurse of children,

is abroad in their land, and all-seeing Zeus never decrees cruel war

against them. Neither famine nor disaster ever haunt men who do true

justice; but light-heartedly they tend the fields which are all their

care. The earth bears them victual in plenty, and on the mountains the

oak bears acorns upon the top and bees in the midst. Their woolly sheep

are laden with fleeces; their women bear children like their parents.

They flourish continually with good things, and do not travel on ships,

for the grain-giving earth bears them fruit.

(ll. 238-247) But for those who practise violence and cruel deeds

far-seeing Zeus, the son of Cronos, ordains a punishment. Often even a

whole city suffers for a bad man who sins and devises presumptuous

deeds, and the son of Cronos lays great trouble upon the people, famine

and plague together, so that the men perish away, and their women do

not bear children, and their houses become few, through the contriving

of Olympian Zeus. And again, at another time, the son of Cronos either

destroys their wide army, or their walls, or else makes an end of their

ships on the sea.

(ll. 248-264) You princes, mark well this punishment you also; for the

deathless gods are near among men and mark all those who oppress their

fellows with crooked judgements, and reck not the anger of the gods.

For upon the bounteous earth Zeus has thrice ten thousand spirits,

watchers of mortal men, and these keep watch on judgements and deeds of

wrong as they roam, clothed in mist, all over the earth. And there is

virgin Justice, the daughter of Zeus, who is honoured and reverenced

among the gods who dwell on Olympus, and whenever anyone hurts her with

lying slander, she sits beside her father, Zeus the son of Cronos, and

tells him of men’s wicked heart, until the people pay for the mad folly

of their princes who, evilly minded, pervert judgement and give

sentence crookedly. Keep watch against this, you princes, and make

straight your judgements, you who devour bribes; put crooked judgements

altogether from your thoughts.

(ll. 265-266) He does mischief to himself who does mischief to another,

and evil planned harms the plotter most.

(ll. 267-273) The eye of Zeus, seeing all and understanding all,

beholds these things too, if so he will, and fails not to mark what

sort of justice is this that the city keeps within it. Now, therefore,

may neither I myself be righteous among men, nor my son—for then it is

a bad thing to be righteous—if indeed the unrighteous shall have the

greater right. But I think that all-wise Zeus will not yet bring that

to pass.

(ll. 274-285) But you, Perses, lay up these things within your heart

and listen now to right, ceasing altogether to think of violence. For

the son of Cronos has ordained this law for men, that fishes and beasts

and winged fowls should devour one another, for right is not in them;

but to mankind he gave right which proves far the best. For whoever

knows the right and is ready to speak it, far-seeing Zeus gives him

prosperity; but whoever deliberately lies in his witness and forswears

himself, and so hurts Justice and sins beyond repair, that man’s

generation is left obscure thereafter. But the generation of the man

who swears truly is better thenceforward.

(ll. 286-292) To you, foolish Perses, I will speak good sense. Badness

can be got easily and in shoals: the road to her is smooth, and she

lives very near us. But between us and Goodness the gods have placed

the sweat of our brows: long and steep is the path that leads to her,

and it is rough at the first; but when a man has reached the top, then

is she easy to reach, though before that she was hard.

(ll. 293-319) That man is altogether best who considers all things

himself and marks what will be better afterwards and at the end; and

he, again, is good who listens to a good adviser; but whoever neither

thinks for himself nor keeps in mind what another tells him, he is an

unprofitable man. But do you at any rate, always remembering my charge,

work, high-born Perses, that Hunger may hate you, and venerable Demeter

richly crowned may love you and fill your barn with food; for Hunger is

altogether a meet comrade for the sluggard. Both gods and men are angry

with a man who lives idle, for in nature he is like the stingless

drones who waste the labour of the bees, eating without working; but

let it be your care to order your work properly, that in the right

season your barns may be full of victual. Through work men grow rich in

flocks and substance, and working they are much better loved by the

immortals 1308. Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a

disgrace. But if you work, the idle will soon envy you as you grow

rich, for fame and renown attend on wealth. And whatever be your lot,

work is best for you, if you turn your misguided mind away from other

men’s property to your work and attend to your livelihood as I bid you.

An evil shame is the needy man’s companion, shame which both greatly

harms and prospers men: shame is with poverty, but confidence with

wealth.

(ll. 320-341) Wealth should not be seized: god-given wealth is much

better; for if a man take great wealth violently and perforce, or if he

steal it through his tongue, as often happens when gain deceives men’s

sense and dishonour tramples down honour, the gods soon blot him out

and make that man’s house low, and wealth attends him only for a little

time. Alike with him who does wrong to a suppliant or a guest, or who

goes up to his brother’s bed and commits unnatural sin in lying with

his wife, or who infatuately offends against fatherless children, or

who abuses his old father at the cheerless threshold of old age and

attacks him with harsh words, truly Zeus himself is angry, and at the

last lays on him a heavy requittal for his evil doing. But do you turn

your foolish heart altogether away from these things, and, as far as

you are able, sacrifice to the deathless gods purely and cleanly, and

burn rich meats also, and at other times propitiate them with libations

and incense, both when you go to bed and when the holy light has come

back, that they may be gracious to you in heart and spirit, and so you

may buy another’s holding and not another yours.

(ll. 342-351) Call your friend to a feast; but leave your enemy alone;

and especially call him who lives near you: for if any mischief happen

in the place, neighbours come ungirt, but kinsmen stay to gird

themselves 1309. A bad neighbour is as great a plague as a good one is

a great blessing; he who enjoys a good neighbour has a precious

possession. Not even an ox would die but for a bad neighbour. Take fair

measure from your neighbour and pay him back fairly with the same

measure, or better, if you can; so that if you are in need afterwards,

you may find him sure.

(ll. 352-369) Do not get base gain: base gain is as bad as ruin. Be

friends with the friendly, and visit him who visits you. Give to one

who gives, but do not give to one who does not give. A man gives to the

free-handed, but no one gives to the close-fisted. Give is a good girl,

but Take is bad and she brings death. For the man who gives willingly,

even though he gives a great thing, rejoices in his gift and is glad in

heart; but whoever gives way to shamelessness and takes something

himself, even though it be a small thing, it freezes his heart. He who

adds to what he has, will keep off bright-eyed hunger; for if you add

only a little to a little and do this often, soon that little will

become great. What a man has by him at home does not trouble him: it is

better to have your stuff at home, for whatever is abroad may mean

loss. It is a good thing to draw on what you have; but it grieves your

heart to need something and not to have it, and I bid you mark this.

Take your fill when the cask is first opened and when it is nearly

spent, but midways be sparing: it is poor saving when you come to the

lees.

(ll. 370-372) Let the wage promised to a friend be fixed; even with

your brother smile—and get a witness; for trust and mistrust, alike

ruin men.

(ll. 373-375) Do not let a flaunting woman coax and cozen and deceive

you: she is after your barn. The man who trusts womankind trusts

deceivers.

(ll. 376-380) There should be an only son, to feed his father’s house,

for so wealth will increase in the home; but if you leave a second son

you should die old. Yet Zeus can easily give great wealth to a greater

number. More hands mean more work and more increase.

(ll. 381-382) If your heart within you desires wealth, do these things

and work with work upon work.

(ll. 383-404) When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, are rising 1310,

begin your harvest, and your ploughing when they are going to set 1311.

Forty nights and days they are hidden and appear again as the year

moves round, when first you sharpen your sickle. This is the law of the

plains, and of those who live near the sea, and who inhabit rich

country, the glens and dingles far from the tossing sea,—strip to sow

and strip to plough and strip to reap, if you wish to get in all

Demeter’s fruits in due season, and that each kind may grow in its

season. Else, afterwards, you may chance to be in want, and go begging

to other men’s houses, but without avail; as you have already come to

me. But I will give you no more nor give you further measure. Foolish

Perses! Work the work which the gods ordained for men, lest in bitter

anguish of spirit you with your wife and children seek your livelihood

amongst your neighbours, and they do not heed you. Two or three times,

may be, you will succeed, but if you trouble them further, it will not

avail you, and all your talk will be in vain, and your word-play

unprofitable. Nay, I bid you find a way to pay your debts and avoid

hunger.

(ll. 405-413) First of all, get a house, and a woman and an ox for the

plough—a slave woman and not a wife, to follow the oxen as well—and

make everything ready at home, so that you may not have to ask of

another, and he refuses you, and so, because you are in lack, the

season pass by and your work come to nothing. Do not put your work off

till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill

his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well,

but a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin.

(ll. 414-447) When the piercing power and sultry heat of the sun abate,

and almighty Zeus sends the autumn rains 1312, and men’s flesh comes to

feel far easier,—for then the star Sirius passes over the heads of men,

who are born to misery, only a little while by day and takes greater

share of night,—then, when it showers its leaves to the ground and

stops sprouting, the wood you cut with your axe is least liable to

worm. Then remember to hew your timber: it is the season for that work.

Cut a mortar 1313 three feet wide and a pestle three cubits long, and

an axle of seven feet, for it will do very well so; but if you make it

eight feet long, you can cut a beetle 1314 from it as well. Cut a

felloe three spans across for a waggon of ten palms’ width. Hew also

many bent timbers, and bring home a plough-tree when you have found it,

and look out on the mountain or in the field for one of holm-oak; for

this is the strongest for oxen to plough with when one of Athena’s

handmen has fixed in the share-beam and fastened it to the pole with

dowels. Get two ploughs ready work on them at home, one all of a piece,

and the other jointed. It is far better to do this, for if you should

break one of them, you can put the oxen to the other. Poles of laurel

or elm are most free from worms, and a share-beam of oak and a

plough-tree of holm-oak. Get two oxen, bulls of nine years; for their

strength is unspent and they are in the prime of their age: they are

best for work. They will not fight in the furrow and break the plough

and then leave the work undone. Let a brisk fellow of forty years

follow them, with a loaf of four quarters 1315 and eight slices 1316

for his dinner, one who will attend to his work and drive a straight

furrow and is past the age for gaping after his fellows, but will keep

his mind on his work. No younger man will be better than he at

scattering the seed and avoiding double-sowing; for a man less staid

gets disturbed, hankering after his fellows.

(ll. 448-457) Mark, when you hear the voice of the crane 1317 who cries

year by year from the clouds above, for she give the signal for

ploughing and shows the season of rainy winter; but she vexes the heart

of the man who has no oxen. Then is the time to feed up your horned

oxen in the byre; for it is easy to say: ‘Give me a yoke of oxen and a

waggon,’ and it is easy to refuse: ‘I have work for my oxen.’ The man

who is rich in fancy thinks his waggon as good as built already—the

fool! He does not know that there are a hundred timbers to a waggon.

Take care to lay these up beforehand at home.

(ll. 458-464) So soon as the time for ploughing is proclaimed to men,

then make haste, you and your slaves alike, in wet and in dry, to

plough in the season for ploughing, and bestir yourself early in the

morning so that your fields may be full. Plough in the spring; but

fallow broken up in the summer will not belie your hopes. Sow fallow

land when the soil is still getting light: fallow land is a defender

from harm and a soother of children.

(ll. 465-478) Pray to Zeus of the Earth and to pure Demeter to make

Demeter’s holy grain sound and heavy, when first you begin ploughing,

when you hold in your hand the end of the plough-tail and bring down

your stick on the backs of the oxen as they draw on the pole-bar by the

yoke-straps. Let a slave follow a little behind with a mattock and make

trouble for the birds by hiding the seed; for good management is the

best for mortal men as bad management is the worst. In this way your

corn-ears will bow to the ground with fullness if the Olympian himself

gives a good result at the last, and you will sweep the cobwebs from

your bins and you will be glad, I ween, as you take of your garnered

substance. And so you will have plenty till you come to grey 1318

springtime, and will not look wistfully to others, but another shall be

in need of your help.

(ll. 479-492) But if you plough the good ground at the solstice 1319,

you will reap sitting, grasping a thin crop in your hand, binding the

sheaves awry, dust-covered, not glad at all; so you will bring all home

in a basket and not many will admire you. Yet the will of Zeus who

holds the aegis is different at different times; and it is hard for

mortal men to tell it; for if you should plough late, you may find this

remedy—when the cuckoo first calls 1320 in the leaves of the oak and

makes men glad all over the boundless earth, if Zeus should send rain

on the third day and not cease until it rises neither above an ox’s

hoof nor falls short of it, then the late-plougher will vie with the

early. Keep all this well in mind, and fail not to mark grey spring as

it comes and the season of rain.

(ll 493-501) Pass by the smithy and its crowded lounge in winter time

when the cold keeps men from field work,—for then an industrious man

can greatly prosper his house—lest bitter winter catch you helpless and

poor and you chafe a swollen foot with a shrunk hand. The idle man who

waits on empty hope, lacking a livelihood, lays to heart

mischief-making; it is not an wholesome hope that accompanies a need

man who lolls at ease while he has no sure livelihood.

(ll. 502-503) While it is yet midsummer command your slaves: ‘It will

not always be summer, build barns.’

(ll. 504-535) Avoid the month Lenaeon 1321, wretched days, all of them

fit to skin an ox, and the frosts which are cruel when Boreas blows

over the earth. He blows across horse-breeding Thrace upon the wide sea

and stirs it up, while earth and the forest howl. On many a high-leafed

oak and thick pine he falls and brings them to the bounteous earth in

mountain glens: then all the immense wood roars and the beasts shudder

and put their tails between their legs, even those whose hide is

covered with fur; for with his bitter blast he blows even through them

although they are shaggy-breasted. He goes even through an ox’s hide;

it does not stop him. Also he blows through the goat’s fine hair. But

through the fleeces of sheep, because their wool is abundant, the keen

wind Boreas pierces not at all; but it makes the old man curved as a

wheel. And it does not blow through the tender maiden who stays indoors

with her dear mother, unlearned as yet in the works of golden

Aphrodite, and who washes her soft body and anoints herself with oil

and lies down in an inner room within the house, on a winter’s day when

the Boneless One 1322 gnaws his foot in his fireless house and wretched

home; for the sun shows him no pastures to make for, but goes to and

fro over the land and city of dusky men 1323, and shines more

sluggishly upon the whole race of the Hellenes. Then the horned and

unhorned denizens of the wood, with teeth chattering pitifully, flee

through the copses and glades, and all, as they seek shelter, have this

one care, to gain thick coverts or some hollow rock. Then, like the

Three-legged One 1324 whose back is broken and whose head looks down

upon the ground, like him, I say, they wander to escape the white snow.

(ll. 536-563) Then put on, as I bid you, a soft coat and a tunic to the

feet to shield your body,—and you should weave thick woof on thin warp.

In this clothe yourself so that your hair may keep still and not

bristle and stand upon end all over your body.

Lace on your feet close-fitting boots of the hide of a slaughtered ox,

thickly lined with felt inside. And when the season of frost comes on,

stitch together skins of firstling kids with ox-sinew, to put over your

back and to keep off the rain. On your head above wear a shaped cap of

felt to keep your ears from getting wet, for the dawn is chill when

Boreas has once made his onslaught, and at dawn a fruitful mist is

spread over the earth from starry heaven upon the fields of blessed

men: it is drawn from the ever flowing rivers and is raised high above

the earth by windstorm, and sometimes it turns to rain towards evening,

and sometimes to wind when Thracian Boreas huddles the thick clouds.

Finish your work and return home ahead of him, and do not let the dark

cloud from heaven wrap round you and make your body clammy and soak

your clothes. Avoid it; for this is the hardest month, wintry, hard for

sheep and hard for men. In this season let your oxen have half their

usual food, but let your man have more; for the helpful nights are

long. Observe all this until the year is ended and you have nights and

days of equal length, and Earth, the mother of all, bears again her

various fruit.

(ll. 564-570) When Zeus has finished sixty wintry days after the

solstice, then the star Arcturus 1325 leaves the holy stream of Ocean

and first rises brilliant at dusk. After him the shrilly wailing

daughter of Pandion, the swallow, appears to men when spring is just

beginning. Before she comes, prune the vines, for it is best so.

(ll. 571-581) But when the House-carrier 1326 climbs up the plants from

the earth to escape the Pleiades, then it is no longer the season for

digging vineyards, but to whet your sickles and rouse up your slaves.

Avoid shady seats and sleeping until dawn in the harvest season, when

the sun scorches the body. Then be busy, and bring home your fruits,

getting up early to make your livelihood sure. For dawn takes away a

third part of your work, dawn advances a man on his journey and

advances him in his work,—dawn which appears and sets many men on their

road, and puts yokes on many oxen.

(ll. 582-596) But when the artichoke flowers 1327, and the chirping

grass-hopper sits in a tree and pours down his shrill song continually

from under his wings in the season of wearisome heat, then goats are

plumpest and wine sweetest; women are most wanton, but men are

feeblest, because Sirius parches head and knees and the skin is dry

through heat. But at that time let me have a shady rock and wine of

Biblis, a clot of curds and milk of drained goats with the flesh of an

heifer fed in the woods, that has never calved, and of firstling kids;

then also let me drink bright wine, sitting in the shade, when my heart

is satisfied with food, and so, turning my head to face the fresh

Zephyr, from the everflowing spring which pours down unfouled thrice

pour an offering of water, but make a fourth libation of wine.

(ll. 597-608) Set your slaves to winnow Demeter’s holy grain, when

strong Orion 1328 first appears, on a smooth threshing-floor in an airy

place. Then measure it and store it in jars. And so soon as you have

safely stored all your stuff indoors, I bid you put your bondman out of

doors and look out for a servant-girl with no children;—for a servant

with a child to nurse is troublesome. And look after the dog with

jagged teeth; do not grudge him his food, or some time the Day-sleeper

1329 may take your stuff. Bring in fodder and litter so as to have

enough for your oxen and mules. After that, let your men rest their

poor knees and unyoke your pair of oxen.

(ll. 609-617) But when Orion and Sirius are come into mid-heaven, and

rosy-fingered Dawn sees Arcturus 1330, then cut off all the

grape-clusters, Perses, and bring them home. Show them to the sun ten

days and ten nights: then cover them over for five, and on the sixth

day draw off into vessels the gifts of joyful Dionysus. But when the

Pleiades and Hyades and strong Orion begin to set 1331, then remember

to plough in season: and so the completed year 1332 will fitly pass

beneath the earth.

(ll. 618-640) But if desire for uncomfortable sea-faring seize you;

when the Pleiades plunge into the misty sea 1333 to escape Orion’s rude

strength, then truly gales of all kinds rage. Then keep ships no longer

on the sparkling sea, but bethink you to till the land as I bid you.

Haul up your ship upon the land and pack it closely with stones all

round to keep off the power of the winds which blow damply, and draw

out the bilge-plug so that the rain of heaven may not rot it. Put away

all the tackle and fittings in your house, and stow the wings of the

sea-going ship neatly, and hang up the well-shaped rudder over the

smoke. You yourself wait until the season for sailing is come, and then

haul your swift ship down to the sea and stow a convenient cargo in it,

so that you may bring home profit, even as your father and mine,

foolish Perses, used to sail on shipboard because he lacked sufficient

livelihood. And one day he came to this very place crossing over a

great stretch of sea; he left Aeolian Cyme and fled, not from riches

and substance, but from wretched poverty which Zeus lays upon men, and

he settled near Helicon in a miserable hamlet, Ascra, which is bad in

winter, sultry in summer, and good at no time.

(ll. 641-645) But you, Perses, remember all works in their season but

sailing especially. Admire a small ship, but put your freight in a

large one; for the greater the lading, the greater will be your piled

gain, if only the winds will keep back their harmful gales.

(ll. 646-662) If ever you turn your misguided heart to trading and with

to escape from debt and joyless hunger, I will show you the measures of

the loud-roaring sea, though I have no skill in sea-faring nor in

ships; for never yet have I sailed by ship over the wide sea, but only

to Euboea from Aulis where the Achaeans once stayed through much storm

when they had gathered a great host from divine Hellas for Troy, the

land of fair women. Then I crossed over to Chalcis, to the games of

wise Amphidamas where the sons of the great-hearted hero proclaimed and

appointed prizes. And there I boast that I gained the victory with a

song and carried off an handled tripod which I dedicated to the Muses

of Helicon, in the place where they first set me in the way of clear

song. Such is all my experience of many-pegged ships; nevertheless I

will tell you the will of Zeus who holds the aegis; for the Muses have

taught me to sing in marvellous song.

(ll. 663-677) Fifty days after the solstice 1334, when the season of

wearisome heat is come to an end, is the right time for me to go

sailing. Then you will not wreck your ship, nor will the sea destroy

the sailors, unless Poseidon the Earth-Shaker be set upon it, or Zeus,

the king of the deathless gods, wish to slay them; for the issues of

good and evil alike are with them. At that time the winds are steady,

and the sea is harmless. Then trust in the winds without care, and haul

your swift ship down to the sea and put all the freight on board; but

make all haste you can to return home again and do not wait till the

time of the new wine and autumn rain and oncoming storms with the

fierce gales of Notus who accompanies the heavy autumn rain of Zeus and

stirs up the sea and makes the deep dangerous.

(ll. 678-694) Another time for men to go sailing is in spring when a

man first sees leaves on the topmost shoot of a fig-tree as large as

the foot-print that a cow makes; then the sea is passable, and this is

the spring sailing time. For my part I do not praise it, for my heart

does not like it. Such a sailing is snatched, and you will hardly avoid

mischief. Yet in their ignorance men do even this, for wealth means

life to poor mortals; but it is fearful to die among the waves. But I

bid you consider all these things in your heart as I say. Do not put

all your goods in hallow ships; leave the greater part behind, and put

the lesser part on board; for it is a bad business to meet with

disaster among the waves of the sea, as it is bad if you put too great

a load on your waggon and break the axle, and your goods are spoiled.

Observe due measure: and proportion is best in all things.

(ll. 695-705) Bring home a wife to your house when you are of the right

age, while you are not far short of thirty years nor much above; this

is the right age for marriage. Let your wife have been grown up four

years, and marry her in the fifth. Marry a maiden, so that you can

teach her careful ways, and especially marry one who lives near you,

but look well about you and see that your marriage will not be a joke

to your neighbours. For a man wins nothing better than a good wife,

and, again, nothing worse than a bad one, a greedy soul who roasts her

man without fire, strong though he may be, and brings him to a raw 1335

old age.

(ll. 706-714) Be careful to avoid the anger of the deathless gods. Do

not make a friend equal to a brother; but if you do, do not wrong him

first, and do not lie to please the tongue. But if he wrongs you first,

offending either in word or in deed, remember to repay him double; but

if he ask you to be his friend again and be ready to give you

satisfaction, welcome him. He is a worthless man who makes now one and

now another his friend; but as for you, do not let your face put your

heart to shame 1336.

(ll. 715-716) Do not get a name either as lavish or as churlish; as a

friend of rogues or as a slanderer of good men.

(ll. 717-721) Never dare to taunt a man with deadly poverty which eats

out the heart; it is sent by the deathless gods. The best treasure a

man can have is a sparing tongue, and the greatest pleasure, one that

moves orderly; for if you speak evil, you yourself will soon be worse

spoken of.

(ll. 722-723) Do not be boorish at a common feast where there are many

guests; the pleasure is greatest and the expense is least 1337.

(ll. 724-726) Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after

dawn with unwashen hands, nor to others of the deathless gods; else

they do not hear your prayers but spit them back.

(ll. 727-732) Do not stand upright facing the sun when you make water,

but remember to do this when he has set towards his rising. And do not

make water as you go, whether on the road or off the road, and do not

uncover yourself: the nights belong to the blessed gods. A scrupulous

man who has a wise heart sits down or goes to the wall of an enclosed

court.

(ll. 733-736) Do not expose yourself befouled by the fireside in your

house, but avoid this. Do not beget children when you are come back

from ill-omened burial, but after a festival of the gods.

(ll. 737-741) Never cross the sweet-flowing water of ever-rolling

rivers afoot until you have prayed, gazing into the soft flood, and

washed your hands in the clear, lovely water. Whoever crosses a river

with hands unwashed of wickedness, the gods are angry with him and

bring trouble upon him afterwards.

(ll. 742-743) At a cheerful festival of the gods do not cut the

withered from the quick upon that which has five branches 1338 with

bright steel.

(ll. 744-745) Never put the ladle upon the mixing-bowl at a wine party,

for malignant ill-luck is attached to that.

(ll. 746-747) When you are building a house, do not leave it

rough-hewn, or a cawing crow may settle on it and croak.

(ll. 748-749) Take nothing to eat or to wash with from uncharmed pots,

for in them there is mischief.

(ll. 750-759) Do not let a boy of twelve years sit on things which may

not be moved 1339, for that is bad, and makes a man unmanly; nor yet a

child of twelve months, for that has the same effect. A man should not

clean his body with water in which a woman has washed, for there is

bitter mischief in that also for a time. When you come upon a burning

sacrifice, do not make a mock of mysteries, for Heaven is angry at this

also. Never make water in the mouths of rivers which flow to the sea,

nor yet in springs; but be careful to avoid this. And do not ease

yourself in them: it is not well to do this.

(ll. 760-763) So do: and avoid the talk of men. For Talk is

mischievous, light, and easily raised, but hard to bear and difficult

to be rid of. Talk never wholly dies away when many people voice her:

even Talk is in some ways divine.

(ll. 765-767) Mark the days which come from Zeus, duly telling your

slaves of them, and that the thirtieth day of the month is best for one

to look over the work and to deal out supplies.

(ll. 769-768) 1340 For these are days which come from Zeus the

all-wise, when men discern aright.

(ll. 770-779) To begin with, the first, the fourth, and the seventh—on

which Leto bare Apollo with the blade of gold—each is a holy day. The

eighth and the ninth, two days at least of the waxing month 1341, are

specially good for the works of man. Also the eleventh and twelfth are

both excellent, alike for shearing sheep and for reaping the kindly

fruits; but the twelfth is much better than the eleventh, for on it the

airy-swinging spider spins its web in full day, and then the Wise One

1342, gathers her pile. On that day woman should set up her loom and

get forward with her work.

(ll. 780-781) Avoid the thirteenth of the waxing month for beginning to

sow: yet it is the best day for setting plants.

(ll. 782-789) The sixth of the mid-month is very unfavourable for

plants, but is good for the birth of males, though unfavourable for a

girl either to be born at all or to be married. Nor is the first sixth

a fit day for a girl to be born, but a kindly for gelding kids and

sheep and for fencing in a sheep-cote. It is favourable for the birth

of a boy, but such will be fond of sharp speech, lies, and cunning

words, and stealthy converse.

(ll. 790-791) On the eighth of the month geld the boar and

loud-bellowing bull, but hard-working mules on the twelfth.

(ll. 792-799) On the great twentieth, in full day, a wise man should be

born. Such an one is very sound-witted. The tenth is favourable for a

male to be born; but, for a girl, the fourth day of the mid-month. On

that day tame sheep and shambling, horned oxen, and the sharp-fanged

dog and hardy mules to the touch of the hand. But take care to avoid

troubles which eat out the heart on the fourth of the beginning and

ending of the month; it is a day very fraught with fate.

(ll. 800-801) On the fourth of the month bring home your bride, but

choose the omens which are best for this business.

(ll. 802-804) Avoid fifth days: they are unkindly and terrible. On a

fifth day, they say, the Erinyes assisted at the birth of Horcus (Oath)

whom Eris (Strife) bare to trouble the forsworn. {[0-9]} (ll. 805-809)

Look about you very carefully and throw out Demeter’s holy grain upon

the well-rolled 1343 threshing floor on the seventh of the mid-month.

Let the woodman cut beams for house building and plenty of ships’

timbers, such as are suitable for ships. On the fourth day begin to

build narrow ships.

(ll. 810-813) The ninth of the mid-month improves towards evening; but

the first ninth of all is quite harmless for men. It is a good day on

which to beget or to be born both for a male and a female: it is never

an wholly evil day.

(ll. 814-818) Again, few know that the twenty-seventh of the month is

best for opening a wine-jar, and putting yokes on the necks of oxen and

mules and swift-footed horses, and for hauling a swift ship of many

thwarts down to the sparkling sea; few call it by its right name.

(ll. 819-821) On the fourth day open a jar. The fourth of the mid-month

is a day holy above all. And again, few men know that the fourth day

after the twentieth is best while it is morning: towards evening it is

less good.

(ll. 822-828) These days are a great blessing to men on earth; but the

rest are changeable, luckless, and bring nothing. Everyone praises a

different day but few know their nature. Sometimes a day is a

stepmother, sometimes a mother. That man is happy and lucky in them who

knows all these things and does his work without offending the

deathless gods, who discerns the omens of birds and avoids

transgressions.

THE DIVINATION BY BIRDS

Proclus on Works and Days, 828: Some make the _Divination by Birds_,

which Apollonius of Rhodes rejects as spurious, follow this verse

(_Works and Days_, 828).

THE ASTRONOMY

Fragment #1—Athenaeus xi, p. 491 d: And the author of “The Astronomy”,

which is attributed forsooth to Hesiod, always calls them (the

Pleiades) Peleiades: ‘but mortals call them Peleiades’; and again, ‘the

stormy Peleiades go down’; and again, ‘then the Peleiades hide

away....’

Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. ii. 16: The Pleiades.... whose stars are

these:—‘Lovely Teygata, and dark-faced Electra, and Alcyone, and bright

Asterope, and Celaeno, and Maia, and Merope, whom glorious Atlas

begot....’ ((LACUNA)) ‘In the mountains of Cyllene she (Maia) bare

Hermes, the herald of the gods.’

Fragment #2—Scholiast on Aratus 254: But Zeus made them (the sisters of

Hyas) into the stars which are called Hyades. Hesiod in his Book about

Stars tells us their names as follows: ‘Nymphs like the Graces 1401,

Phaesyle and Coronis and rich-crowned Cleeia and lovely Phaco and

long-robed Eudora, whom the tribes of men upon the earth call Hyades.’

Fragment #3—Pseudo-Eratosthenes Catast. frag. 1: 1402 The Great

Bear.]—Hesiod says she (Callisto) was the daughter of Lycaon and lived

in Arcadia. She chose to occupy herself with wild-beasts in the

mountains together with Artemis, and, when she was seduced by Zeus,

continued some time undetected by the goddess, but afterwards, when she

was already with child, was seen by her bathing and so discovered. Upon

this, the goddess was enraged and changed her into a beast. Thus she

became a bear and gave birth to a son called Arcas. But while she was

in the mountains, she was hunted by some goat-herds and given up with

her babe to Lycaon. Some while after, she thought fit to go into the

forbidden precinct of Zeus, not knowing the law, and being pursued by

her own son and the Arcadians, was about to be killed because of the

said law; but Zeus delivered her because of her connection with him and

put her among the stars, giving her the name Bear because of the

misfortune which had befallen her.

Comm. Supplem. on Aratus, p. 547 M. 8: Of Bootes, also called the

Bear-warden. The story goes that he is Arcas the son of Callisto and

Zeus, and he lived in the country about Lycaeum. After Zeus had seduced

Callisto, Lycaon, pretending not to know of the matter, entertained

Zeus, as Hesiod says, and set before him on the table the babe which he

had cut up.

Fragment #4—Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catast. fr. xxxii: Orion.]—Hesiod says

that he was the son of Euryale, the daughter of Minos, and of Poseidon,

and that there was given him as a gift the power of walking upon the

waves as though upon land. When he was come to Chios, he outraged

Merope, the daughter of Oenopion, being drunken; but Oenopion when he

learned of it was greatly vexed at the outrage and blinded him and cast

him out of the country. Then he came to Lemnos as a beggar and there

met Hephaestus who took pity on him and gave him Cedalion his own

servant to guide him. So Orion took Cedalion upon his shoulders and

used to carry him about while he pointed out the roads. Then he came to

the east and appears to have met Helius (the Sun) and to have been

healed, and so returned back again to Oenopion to punish him; but

Oenopion was hidden away by his people underground. Being disappointed,

then, in his search for the king, Orion went away to Crete and spent

his time hunting in company with Artemis and Leto. It seems that he

threatened to kill every beast there was on earth; whereupon, in her

anger, Earth sent up against him a scorpion of very great size by which

he was stung and so perished. After this Zeus, at one prayer of Artemis

and Leto, put him among the stars, because of his manliness, and the

scorpion also as a memorial of him and of what had occurred.

Fragment #5—Diodorus iv. 85: Some say that great earthquakes occurred,

which broke through the neck of land and formed the straits 1403, the

sea parting the mainland from the island. But Hesiod, the poet, says

just the opposite: that the sea was open, but Orion piled up the

promontory by Peloris, and founded the close of Poseidon which is

especially esteemed by the people thereabouts. When he had finished

this, he went away to Euboea and settled there, and because of his

renown was taken into the number of the stars in heaven, and won

undying remembrance.

THE PRECEPTS OF CHIRON

Fragment #1—Scholiast on Pindar, Pyth. vi. 19: ‘And now, pray, mark all

these things well in a wise heart. First, whenever you come to your

house, offer good sacrifices to the eternal gods.’

Fragment #2—Plutarch Mor. 1034 E: ‘Decide no suit until you have heard

both sides speak.’

Fragment #3—Plutarch de Orac. defectu ii. 415 C: ‘A chattering crow

lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag’s life is four times

a crow’s, and a raven’s life makes three stags old, while the phoenix

outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich-haired Nymphs, daughters of Zeus

the aegis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes.’

Fragment #4—Quintilian, i. 15: Some consider that children under the

age of seven should not receive a literary education... That Hesiod was

of this opinion very many writers affirm who were earlier than the

critic Aristophanes; for he was the first to reject the _Precepts_, in

which book this maxim occurs, as a work of that poet.

THE GREAT WORKS

Fragment #1—Comm. on Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. v. 8: The verse,

however (the slaying of Rhadamanthys), is in Hesiod in the _Great

Works_ and is as follows: ‘If a man sow evil, he shall reap evil

increase; if men do to him as he has done, it will be true justice.’

Fragment #2—Proclus on Hesiod, Works and Days, 126: Some believe that

the Silver Race (is to be attributed to) the earth, declaring that in

the _Great Works_ Hesiod makes silver to be of the family of Earth.

THE IDAEAN DACTYLS

Fragment #1—Pliny, Natural History vii. 56, 197: Hesiod says that those

who are called the Idaean Dactyls taught the smelting and tempering of

iron in Crete.

Fragment #2—Clement, Stromateis i. 16. 75: Celmis, again, and

Damnameneus, the first of the Idaean Dactyls, discovered iron in

Cyprus; but bronze smelting was discovered by Delas, another Idaean,

though Hesiod calls him Scythes 1501.

THE THEOGONY

(ll. 1-25) From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing, who hold the

great and holy mount of Helicon, and dance on soft feet about the

deep-blue spring and the altar of the almighty son of Cronos, and, when

they have washed their tender bodies in Permessus or in the Horse’s

Spring or Olmeius, make their fair, lovely dances upon highest Helicon

and move with vigorous feet. Thence they arise and go abroad by night,

veiled in thick mist, and utter their song with lovely voice, praising

Zeus the aegis-holder and queenly Hera of Argos who walks on golden

sandals and the daughter of Zeus the aegis-holder bright-eyed Athene,

and Phoebus Apollo, and Artemis who delights in arrows, and Poseidon

the earth-holder who shakes the earth, and reverend Themis and

quick-glancing 1601 Aphrodite, and Hebe with the crown of gold, and

fair Dione, Leto, Iapetus, and Cronos the crafty counsellor, Eos and

great Helius and bright Selene, Earth too, and great Oceanus, and dark

Night, and the holy race of all the other deathless ones that are for

ever. And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was

shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, and this word first the

goddesses said to me—the Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds

the aegis:

(ll. 26-28) ‘Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame,

mere bellies, we know how to speak many false things as though they

were true; but we know, when we will, to utter true things.’

(ll. 29-35) So said the ready-voiced daughters of great Zeus, and they

plucked and gave me a rod, a shoot of sturdy laurel, a marvellous

thing, and breathed into me a divine voice to celebrate things that

shall be and things there were aforetime; and they bade me sing of the

race of the blessed gods that are eternally, but ever to sing of

themselves both first and last. But why all this about oak or stone?

1602

(ll. 36-52) Come thou, let us begin with the Muses who gladden the

great spirit of their father Zeus in Olympus with their songs, telling

of things that are and that shall be and that were aforetime with

consenting voice. Unwearying flows the sweet sound from their lips, and

the house of their father Zeus the loud-thunderer is glad at the

lily-like voice of the goddesses as it spread abroad, and the peaks of

snowy Olympus resound, and the homes of the immortals. And they

uttering their immortal voice, celebrate in song first of all the

reverend race of the gods from the beginning, those whom Earth and wide

Heaven begot, and the gods sprung of these, givers of good things.

Then, next, the goddesses sing of Zeus, the father of gods and men, as

they begin and end their strain, how much he is the most excellent

among the gods and supreme in power. And again, they chant the race of

men and strong giants, and gladden the heart of Zeus within

Olympus,—the Olympian Muses, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder.

(ll. 53-74) Them in Pieria did Mnemosyne (Memory), who reigns over the

hills of Eleuther, bear of union with the father, the son of Cronos, a

forgetting of ills and a rest from sorrow. For nine nights did wise

Zeus lie with her, entering her holy bed remote from the immortals. And

when a year was passed and the seasons came round as the months waned,

and many days were accomplished, she bare nine daughters, all of one

mind, whose hearts are set upon song and their spirit free from care, a

little way from the topmost peak of snowy Olympus. There are their

bright dancing-places and beautiful homes, and beside them the Graces

and Himerus (Desire) live in delight. And they, uttering through their

lips a lovely voice, sing the laws of all and the goodly ways of the

immortals, uttering their lovely voice. Then went they to Olympus,

delighting in their sweet voice, with heavenly song, and the dark earth

resounded about them as they chanted, and a lovely sound rose up

beneath their feet as they went to their father. And he was reigning in

heaven, himself holding the lightning and glowing thunderbolt, when he

had overcome by might his father Cronos; and he distributed fairly to

the immortals their portions and declared their privileges.

(ll. 75-103) These things, then, the Muses sang who dwell on Olympus,

nine daughters begotten by great Zeus, Cleio and Euterpe, Thaleia,

Melpomene and Terpsichore, and Erato and Polyhymnia and Urania and

Calliope 1603, who is the chiefest of them all, for she attends on

worshipful princes: whomsoever of heaven-nourished princes the

daughters of great Zeus honour, and behold him at his birth, they pour

sweet dew upon his tongue, and from his lips flow gracious words. All

the people look towards him while he settles causes with true

judgements: and he, speaking surely, would soon make wise end even of a

great quarrel; for therefore are there princes wise in heart, because

when the people are being misguided in their assembly, they set right

the matter again with ease, persuading them with gentle words. And when

he passes through a gathering, they greet him as a god with gentle

reverence, and he is conspicuous amongst the assembled: such is the

holy gift of the Muses to men. For it is through the Muses and

far-shooting Apollo that there are singers and harpers upon the earth;

but princes are of Zeus, and happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet

flows speech from his mouth. For though a man have sorrow and grief in

his newly-troubled soul and live in dread because his heart is

distressed, yet, when a singer, the servant of the Muses, chants the

glorious deeds of men of old and the blessed gods who inhabit Olympus,

at once he forgets his heaviness and remembers not his sorrows at all;

but the gifts of the goddesses soon turn him away from these.

(ll. 104-115) Hail, children of Zeus! Grant lovely song and celebrate

the holy race of the deathless gods who are for ever, those that were

born of Earth and starry Heaven and gloomy Night and them that briny

Sea did rear. Tell how at the first gods and earth came to be, and

rivers, and the boundless sea with its raging swell, and the gleaming

stars, and the wide heaven above, and the gods who were born of them,

givers of good things, and how they divided their wealth, and how they

shared their honours amongst them, and also how at the first they took

many-folded Olympus. These things declare to me from the beginning, ye

Muses who dwell in the house of Olympus, and tell me which of them

first came to be.

(ll. 116-138) Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next

wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all 1604 the deathless

ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth

of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless

gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels

of all gods and all men within them. From Chaos came forth Erebus and

black Night; but of Night were born Aether 1605 and Day, whom she

conceived and bare from union in love with Erebus. And Earth first bare

starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be

an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. And she brought forth

long Hills, graceful haunts of the goddess-Nymphs who dwell amongst the

glens of the hills. She bare also the fruitless deep with his raging

swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love. But afterwards she lay with

Heaven and bare deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and

Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe

and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and

most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire.

(ll. 139-146) And again, she bare the Cyclopes, overbearing in spirit,

Brontes, and Steropes and stubborn-hearted Arges 1606, who gave Zeus

the thunder and made the thunderbolt: in all else they were like the

gods, but one eye only was set in the midst of their fore-heads. And

they were surnamed Cyclopes (Orb-eyed) because one orbed eye was set in

their foreheads. Strength and might and craft were in their works.

(ll. 147-163) And again, three other sons were born of Earth and

Heaven, great and doughty beyond telling, Cottus and Briareos and Gyes,

presumptuous children. From their shoulders sprang an hundred arms, not

to be approached, and each had fifty heads upon his shoulders on their

strong limbs, and irresistible was the stubborn strength that was in

their great forms. For of all the children that were born of Earth and

Heaven, these were the most terrible, and they were hated by their own

father from the first.

And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Earth so soon as

each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and

Heaven rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Earth groaned within, being

straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great

sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons. And she spoke, cheering

them, while she was vexed in her dear heart:

(ll. 164-166) ‘My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you will obey

me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first

thought of doing shameful things.’

(ll. 167-169) So she said; but fear seized them all, and none of them

uttered a word. But great Cronos the wily took courage and answered his

dear mother:

(ll. 170-172) ‘Mother, I will undertake to do this deed, for I

reverence not our father of evil name, for he first thought of doing

shameful things.’

(ll. 173-175) So he said: and vast Earth rejoiced greatly in spirit,

and set and hid him in an ambush, and put in his hands a jagged sickle,

and revealed to him the whole plot.

(ll. 176-206) And Heaven came, bringing on night and longing for love,

and he lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her 1607.

Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his

right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped

off his own father’s members and cast them away to fall behind him. And

not vainly did they fall from his hand; for all the bloody drops that

gushed forth Earth received, and as the seasons moved round she bare

the strong Erinyes and the great Giants with gleaming armour, holding

long spears in their hands and the Nymphs whom they call Meliae 1608

all over the boundless earth. And so soon as he had cut off the members

with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were

swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around

them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden. First she

drew near holy Cythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to

sea-girt Cyprus, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass

grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call

Aphrodite, and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because

she grew amid the foam, and Cytherea because she reached Cythera, and

Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy Cyprus, and Philommedes 1609

because sprang from the members. And with her went Eros, and comely

Desire followed her at her birth at the first and as she went into the

assembly of the gods. This honour she has from the beginning, and this

is the portion allotted to her amongst men and undying gods,—the

whisperings of maidens and smiles and deceits with sweet delight and

love and graciousness.

(ll. 207-210) But these sons whom he begot himself great Heaven used to

call Titans (Strainers) in reproach, for he said that they strained and

did presumptuously a fearful deed, and that vengeance for it would come

afterwards.

(ll. 211-225) And Night bare hateful Doom and black Fate and Death, and

she bare Sleep and the tribe of Dreams. And again the goddess murky

Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame and painful Woe, and the

Hesperides who guard the rich, golden apples and the trees bearing

fruit beyond glorious Ocean. Also she bare the Destinies and ruthless

avenging Fates, Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos 1610, who give men at

their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the

transgressions of men and of gods: and these goddesses never cease from

their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty.

Also deadly Night bare Nemesis (Indignation) to afflict mortal men, and

after her, Deceit and Friendship and hateful Age and hard-hearted

Strife.

(ll. 226-232) But abhorred Strife bare painful Toil and Forgetfulness

and Famine and tearful Sorrows, Fightings also, Battles, Murders,

Manslaughters, Quarrels, Lying Words, Disputes, Lawlessness and Ruin,

all of one nature, and Oath who most troubles men upon earth when

anyone wilfully swears a false oath.

(ll. 233-239) And Sea begat Nereus, the eldest of his children, who is

true and lies not: and men call him the Old Man because he is trusty

and gentle and does not forget the laws of righteousness, but thinks

just and kindly thoughts. And yet again he got great Thaumas and proud

Phorcys, being mated with Earth, and fair-cheeked Ceto and Eurybia who

has a heart of flint within her.

(ll. 240-264) And of Nereus and rich-haired Doris, daughter of Ocean

the perfect river, were born children 1611, passing lovely amongst

goddesses, Ploto, Eucrante, Sao, and Amphitrite, and Eudora, and

Thetis, Galene and Glauce, Cymothoe, Speo, Thoe and lovely Halie, and

Pasithea, and Erato, and rosy-armed Eunice, and gracious Melite, and

Eulimene, and Agaue, Doto, Proto, Pherusa, and Dynamene, and Nisaea,

and Actaea, and Protomedea, Doris, Panopea, and comely Galatea, and

lovely Hippothoe, and rosy-armed Hipponoe, and Cymodoce who with

Cymatolege 1612 and Amphitrite easily calms the waves upon the misty

sea and the blasts of raging winds, and Cymo, and Eione, and

rich-crowned Alimede, and Glauconome, fond of laughter, and Pontoporea,

Leagore, Euagore, and Laomedea, and Polynoe, and Autonoe, and

Lysianassa, and Euarne, lovely of shape and without blemish of form,

and Psamathe of charming figure and divine Menippe, Neso, Eupompe,

Themisto, Pronoe, and Nemertes 1613 who has the nature of her deathless

father. These fifty daughters sprang from blameless Nereus, skilled in

excellent crafts.

(ll. 265-269) And Thaumas wedded Electra the daughter of deep-flowing

Ocean, and she bare him swift Iris and the long-haired Harpies, Aello

(Storm-swift) and Ocypetes (Swift-flier) who on their swift wings keep

pace with the blasts of the winds and the birds; for quick as time they

dart along.

(ll 270-294) And again, Ceto bare to Phorcys the fair-cheeked Graiae,

sisters grey from their birth: and both deathless gods and men who walk

on earth call them Graiae, Pemphredo well-clad, and saffron-robed Enyo,

and the Gorgons who dwell beyond glorious Ocean in the frontier land

towards Night where are the clear-voiced Hesperides, Sthenno, and

Euryale, and Medusa who suffered a woeful fate: she was mortal, but the

two were undying and grew not old. With her lay the Dark-haired One

1614 in a soft meadow amid spring flowers. And when Perseus cut off her

head, there sprang forth great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus who is so

called because he was born near the springs (_pegae_) of Ocean; and

that other, because he held a golden blade (_aor_) in his hands. Now

Pegasus flew away and left the earth, the mother of flocks, and came to

the deathless gods: and he dwells in the house of Zeus and brings to

wise Zeus the thunder and lightning. But Chrysaor was joined in love to

Callirrhoe, the daughter of glorious Ocean, and begot three-headed

Geryones. Him mighty Heracles slew in sea-girt Erythea by his shambling

oxen on that day when he drove the wide-browed oxen to holy Tiryns, and

had crossed the ford of Ocean and killed Orthus and Eurytion the

herdsman in the dim stead out beyond glorious Ocean.

(ll. 295-305) And in a hollow cave she bare another monster,

irresistible, in no wise like either to mortal men or to the undying

gods, even the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing

eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful,

with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the

holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far

from the deathless gods and mortal men. There, then, did the gods

appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima

beneath the earth, grim Echidna, a nymph who dies not nor grows old all

her days.

(ll. 306-332) Men say that Typhaon the terrible, outrageous and

lawless, was joined in love to her, the maid with glancing eyes. So she

conceived and brought forth fierce offspring; first she bare Orthus the

hound of Geryones, and then again she bare a second, a monster not to

be overcome and that may not be described, Cerberus who eats raw flesh,

the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-headed, relentless and strong.

And again she bore a third, the evil-minded Hydra of Lerna, whom the

goddess, white-armed Hera nourished, being angry beyond measure with

the mighty Heracles. And her Heracles, the son of Zeus, of the house of

Amphitryon, together with warlike Iolaus, destroyed with the unpitying

sword through the plans of Athene the spoil-driver. She was the mother

of Chimaera who breathed raging fire, a creature fearful, great,

swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion;

in her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth

a fearful blast of blazing fire. Her did Pegasus and noble Bellerophon

slay; but Echidna was subject in love to Orthus and brought forth the

deadly Sphinx which destroyed the Cadmeans, and the Nemean lion, which

Hera, the good wife of Zeus, brought up and made to haunt the hills of

Nemea, a plague to men. There he preyed upon the tribes of her own

people and had power over Tretus of Nemea and Apesas: yet the strength

of stout Heracles overcame him.

(ll. 333-336) And Ceto was joined in love to Phorcys and bare her

youngest, the awful snake who guards the apples all of gold in the

secret places of the dark earth at its great bounds. This is the

offspring of Ceto and Phorcys.

(ll. 334-345) And Tethys bare to Ocean eddying rivers, Nilus, and

Alpheus, and deep-swirling Eridanus, Strymon, and Meander, and the fair

stream of Ister, and Phasis, and Rhesus, and the silver eddies of

Achelous, Nessus, and Rhodius, Haliacmon, and Heptaporus, Granicus, and

Aesepus, and holy Simois, and Peneus, and Hermus, and Caicus fair

stream, and great Sangarius, Ladon, Parthenius, Euenus, Ardescus, and

divine Scamander.

(ll. 346-370) Also she brought forth a holy company of daughters 1615

who with the lord Apollo and the Rivers have youths in their keeping—to

this charge Zeus appointed them—Peitho, and Admete, and Ianthe, and

Electra, and Doris, and Prymno, and Urania divine in form, Hippo,

Clymene, Rhodea, and Callirrhoe, Zeuxo and Clytie, and Idyia, and

Pasithoe, Plexaura, and Galaxaura, and lovely Dione, Melobosis and Thoe

and handsome Polydora, Cerceis lovely of form, and soft eyed Pluto,

Perseis, Ianeira, Acaste, Xanthe, Petraea the fair, Menestho, and

Europa, Metis, and Eurynome, and Telesto saffron-clad, Chryseis and

Asia and charming Calypso, Eudora, and Tyche, Amphirho, and Ocyrrhoe,

and Styx who is the chiefest of them all. These are the eldest

daughters that sprang from Ocean and Tethys; but there are many

besides. For there are three thousand neat-ankled daughters of Ocean

who are dispersed far and wide, and in every place alike serve the

earth and the deep waters, children who are glorious among goddesses.

And as many other rivers are there, babbling as they flow, sons of

Ocean, whom queenly Tethys bare, but their names it is hard for a

mortal man to tell, but people know those by which they severally

dwell.

(ll. 371-374) And Theia was subject in love to Hyperion and bare great

Helius (Sun) and clear Selene (Moon) and Eos (Dawn) who shines upon all

that are on earth and upon the deathless Gods who live in the wide

heaven.

(ll. 375-377) And Eurybia, bright goddess, was joined in love to Crius

and bare great Astraeus, and Pallas, and Perses who also was eminent

among all men in wisdom.

(ll. 378-382) And Eos bare to Astraeus the strong-hearted winds,

brightening Zephyrus, and Boreas, headlong in his course, and Notus,—a

goddess mating in love with a god. And after these Erigenia 1616 bare

the star Eosphorus (Dawn-bringer), and the gleaming stars with which

heaven is crowned.

(ll. 383-403) And Styx the daughter of Ocean was joined to Pallas and

bare Zelus (Emulation) and trim-ankled Nike (Victory) in the house.

Also she brought forth Cratos (Strength) and Bia (Force), wonderful

children. These have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor

path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with

Zeus the loud-thunderer. For so did Styx the deathless daughter of

Ocean plan on that day when the Olympian Lightener called all the

deathless gods to great Olympus, and said that whosoever of the gods

would fight with him against the Titans, he would not cast him out from

his rights, but each should have the office which he had before amongst

the deathless gods. And he declared that he who was without office and

rights under Cronos, should be raised to both office and rights as is

just. So deathless Styx came first to Olympus with her children through

the wit of her dear father. And Zeus honoured her, and gave her very

great gifts, for her he appointed to be the great oath of the gods, and

her children to live with him always. And as he promised, so he

performed fully unto them all. But he himself mightily reigns and

rules.

(ll. 404-452) Again, Phoebe came to the desired embrace of Coeus.

Then the goddess through the love of the god conceived and brought

forth dark-gowned Leto, always mild, kind to men and to the deathless

gods, mild from the beginning, gentlest in all Olympus. Also she bare

Asteria of happy name, whom Perses once led to his great house to be

called his dear wife. And she conceived and bare Hecate whom Zeus the

son of Cronos honoured above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a

share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honour also in

starry heaven, and is honoured exceedingly by the deathless gods. For

to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices

and prays for favour according to custom, he calls upon Hecate. Great

honour comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives

favourably, and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is

with her. For as many as were born of Earth and Ocean amongst all these

she has her due portion. The son of Cronos did her no wrong nor took

anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods:

but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning,

privilege both in earth, and in heaven, and in sea. Also, because she

is an only child, the goddess receives not less honour, but much more

still, for Zeus honours her. Whom she will she greatly aids and

advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the

assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And when men

arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at

hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is

she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is

with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the

victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his

parents. And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: and to

those whose business is in the grey discomfortable sea, and who pray to

Hecate and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, easily the glorious goddess

gives great catch, and easily she takes it away as soon as seen, if so

she will. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock.

The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep,

if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less. So,

then. albeit her mother’s only child 1617, she is honoured amongst all

the deathless gods. And the son of Cronos made her a nurse of the young

who after that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Dawn. So

from the beginning she is a nurse of the young, and these are her

honours.

(ll. 453-491) But Rhea was subject in love to Cronos and bare splendid

children, Hestia 1618, Demeter, and gold-shod Hera and strong Hades,

pitiless in heart, who dwells under the earth, and the loud-crashing

Earth-Shaker, and wise Zeus, father of gods and men, by whose thunder

the wide earth is shaken. These great Cronos swallowed as each came

forth from the womb to his mother’s knees with this intent, that no

other of the proud sons of Heaven should hold the kingly office amongst

the deathless gods. For he learned from Earth and starry Heaven that he

was destined to be overcome by his own son, strong though he was,

through the contriving of great Zeus 1619. Therefore he kept no blind

outlook, but watched and swallowed down his children: and unceasing

grief seized Rhea. But when she was about to bear Zeus, the father of

gods and men, then she besought her own dear parents, Earth and starry

Heaven, to devise some plan with her that the birth of her dear child

might be concealed, and that retribution might overtake great, crafty

Cronos for his own father and also for the children whom he had

swallowed down. And they readily heard and obeyed their dear daughter,

and told her all that was destined to happen touching Cronos the king

and his stout-hearted son. So they sent her to Lyetus, to the rich land

of Crete, when she was ready to bear great Zeus, the youngest of her

children. Him did vast Earth receive from Rhea in wide Crete to nourish

and to bring up. Thither came Earth carrying him swiftly through the

black night to Lyctus first, and took him in her arms and hid him in a

remote cave beneath the secret places of the holy earth on thick-wooded

Mount Aegeum; but to the mightily ruling son of Heaven, the earlier

king of the gods, she gave a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Then he took it in his hands and thrust it down into his belly: wretch!

he knew not in his heart that in place of the stone his son was left

behind, unconquered and untroubled, and that he was soon to overcome

him by force and might and drive him from his honours, himself to reign

over the deathless gods.

(ll. 492-506) After that, the strength and glorious limbs of the prince

increased quickly, and as the years rolled on, great Cronos the wily

was beguiled by the deep suggestions of Earth, and brought up again his

offspring, vanquished by the arts and might of his own son, and he

vomited up first the stone which he had swallowed last. And Zeus set it

fast in the wide-pathed earth at goodly Pytho under the glens of

Parnassus, to be a sign thenceforth and a marvel to mortal men 1620.

And he set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father,

sons of Heaven whom his father in his foolishness had bound. And they

remembered to be grateful to him for his kindness, and gave him thunder

and the glowing thunderbolt and lightening: for before that, huge Earth

had hidden these. In them he trusts and rules over mortals and

immortals.

(ll. 507-543) Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled mad Clymene,

daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him

a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and

clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained

Epimetheus who from the first was a mischief to men who eat bread; for

it was he who first took of Zeus the woman, the maiden whom he had

formed. But Menoetius was outrageous, and far-seeing Zeus struck him

with a lurid thunderbolt and sent him down to Erebus because of his mad

presumption and exceeding pride. And Atlas through hard constraint

upholds the wide heaven with unwearying head and arms, standing at the

borders of the earth before the clear-voiced Hesperides; for this lot

wise Zeus assigned to him. And ready-witted Prometheus he bound with

inextricable bonds, cruel chains, and drove a shaft through his middle,

and set on him a long-winged eagle, which used to eat his immortal

liver; but by night the liver grew as much again everyway as the

long-winged bird devoured in the whole day. That bird Heracles, the

valiant son of shapely-ankled Alcmene, slew; and delivered the son of

Iapetus from the cruel plague, and released him from his affliction—not

without the will of Olympian Zeus who reigns on high, that the glory of

Heracles the Theban-born might be yet greater than it was before over

the plenteous earth. This, then, he regarded, and honoured his famous

son; though he was angry, he ceased from the wrath which he had before

because Prometheus matched himself in wit with the almighty son of

Cronos. For when the gods and mortal men had a dispute at Mecone, even

then Prometheus was forward to cut up a great ox and set portions

before them, trying to befool the mind of Zeus. Before the rest he set

flesh and inner parts thick with fat upon the hide, covering them with

an ox paunch; but for Zeus he put the white bones dressed up with

cunning art and covered with shining fat. Then the father of men and of

gods said to him:

(ll. 543-544) ‘Son of Iapetus, most glorious of all lords, good sir,

how unfairly you have divided the portions!’

(ll. 545-547) So said Zeus whose wisdom is everlasting, rebuking him.

But wily Prometheus answered him, smiling softly and not forgetting his

cunning trick:

(ll. 548-558) ‘Zeus, most glorious and greatest of the eternal gods,

take which ever of these portions your heart within you bids.’ So he

said, thinking trickery. But Zeus, whose wisdom is everlasting, saw and

failed not to perceive the trick, and in his heart he thought mischief

against mortal men which also was to be fulfilled. With both hands he

took up the white fat and was angry at heart, and wrath came to his

spirit when he saw the white ox-bones craftily tricked out: and because

of this the tribes of men upon earth burn white bones to the deathless

gods upon fragrant altars. But Zeus who drives the clouds was greatly

vexed and said to him:

(ll. 559-560) ‘Son of Iapetus, clever above all! So, sir, you have not

yet forgotten your cunning arts!’

(ll. 561-584) So spake Zeus in anger, whose wisdom is everlasting; and

from that time he was always mindful of the trick, and would not give

the power of unwearying fire to the Melian 1621 race of mortal men who

live on the earth. But the noble son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole

the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk. And

Zeus who thunders on high was stung in spirit, and his dear heart was

angered when he saw amongst men the far-seen ray of fire. Forthwith he

made an evil thing for men as the price of fire; for the very famous

Limping God formed of earth the likeness of a shy maiden as the son of

Cronos willed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene girded and clothed

her with silvery raiment, and down from her head she spread with her

hands a broidered veil, a wonder to see; and she, Pallas Athene, put

about her head lovely garlands, flowers of new-grown herbs. Also she

put upon her head a crown of gold which the very famous Limping God

made himself and worked with his own hands as a favour to Zeus his

father. On it was much curious work, wonderful to see; for of the many

creatures which the land and sea rear up, he put most upon it,

wonderful things, like living beings with voices: and great beauty

shone out from it.

(ll. 585-589) But when he had made the beautiful evil to be the price

for the blessing, he brought her out, delighting in the finery which

the bright-eyed daughter of a mighty father had given her, to the place

where the other gods and men were. And wonder took hold of the

deathless gods and mortal men when they saw that which was sheer guile,

not to be withstood by men.

(ll. 590-612) For from her is the race of women and female kind: of her

is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to

their great trouble, no helpmeets in hateful poverty, but only in

wealth. And as in thatched hives bees feed the drones whose nature is

to do mischief—by day and throughout the day until the sun goes down

the bees are busy and lay the white combs, while the drones stay at

home in the covered skeps and reap the toil of others into their own

bellies—even so Zeus who thunders on high made women to be an evil to

mortal men, with a nature to do evil. And he gave them a second evil to

be the price for the good they had: whoever avoids marriage and the

sorrows that women cause, and will not wed, reaches deadly old age

without anyone to tend his years, and though he at least has no lack of

livelihood while he lives, yet, when he is dead, his kinsfolk divide

his possessions amongst them. And as for the man who chooses the lot of

marriage and takes a good wife suited to his mind, evil continually

contends with good; for whoever happens to have mischievous children,

lives always with unceasing grief in his spirit and heart within him;

and this evil cannot be healed.

(ll. 613-616) So it is not possible to deceive or go beyond the will of

Zeus; for not even the son of Iapetus, kindly Prometheus, escaped his

heavy anger, but of necessity strong bands confined him, although he

knew many a wile.

(ll. 617-643) But when first their father was vexed in his heart with

Obriareus and Cottus and Gyes, he bound them in cruel bonds, because he

was jealous of their exceeding manhood and comeliness and great size:

and he made them live beneath the wide-pathed earth, where they were

afflicted, being set to dwell under the ground, at the end of the

earth, at its great borders, in bitter anguish for a long time and with

great grief at heart. But the son of Cronos and the other deathless

gods whom rich-haired Rhea bare from union with Cronos, brought them up

again to the light at Earth’s advising. For she herself recounted all

things to the gods fully, how that with these they would gain victory

and a glorious cause to vaunt themselves. For the Titan gods and as

many as sprang from Cronos had long been fighting together in stubborn

war with heart-grieving toil, the lordly Titans from high Othyrs, but

the gods, givers of good, whom rich-haired Rhea bare in union with

Cronos, from Olympus. So they, with bitter wrath, were fighting

continually with one another at that time for ten full years, and the

hard strife had no close or end for either side, and the issue of the

war hung evenly balanced. But when he had provided those three with all

things fitting, nectar and ambrosia which the gods themselves eat, and

when their proud spirit revived within them all after they had fed on

nectar and delicious ambrosia, then it was that the father of men and

gods spoke amongst them:

(ll. 644-653) ‘Hear me, bright children of Earth and Heaven, that I may

say what my heart within me bids. A long while now have we, who are

sprung from Cronos and the Titan gods, fought with each other every day

to get victory and to prevail. But do you show your great might and

unconquerable strength, and face the Titans in bitter strife; for

remember our friendly kindness, and from what sufferings you are come

back to the light from your cruel bondage under misty gloom through our

counsels.’

(ll. 654-663) So he said. And blameless Cottus answered him again:

‘Divine one, you speak that which we know well: nay, even of ourselves

we know that your wisdom and understanding is exceeding, and that you

became a defender of the deathless ones from chill doom. And through

your devising we are come back again from the murky gloom and from our

merciless bonds, enjoying what we looked not for, O lord, son of

Cronos. And so now with fixed purpose and deliberate counsel we will

aid your power in dreadful strife and will fight against the Titans in

hard battle.’

(ll. 664-686) So he said: and the gods, givers of good things,

applauded when they heard his word, and their spirit longed for war

even more than before, and they all, both male and female, stirred up

hated battle that day, the Titan gods, and all that were born of Cronos

together with those dread, mighty ones of overwhelming strength whom

Zeus brought up to the light from Erebus beneath the earth. An hundred

arms sprang from the shoulders of all alike, and each had fifty heads

growing upon his shoulders upon stout limbs. These, then, stood against

the Titans in grim strife, holding huge rocks in their strong hands.

And on the other part the Titans eagerly strengthened their ranks, and

both sides at one time showed the work of their hands and their might.

The boundless sea rang terribly around, and the earth crashed loudly:

wide Heaven was shaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its

foundation under the charge of the undying gods, and a heavy quaking

reached dim Tartarus and the deep sound of their feet in the fearful

onset and of their hard missiles. So, then, they launched their

grievous shafts upon one another, and the cry of both armies as they

shouted reached to starry heaven; and they met together with a great

battle-cry.

(ll. 687-712) Then Zeus no longer held back his might; but straight his

heart was filled with fury and he showed forth all his strength. From

Heaven and from Olympus he came forthwith, hurling his lightning: the

bolts flew thick and fast from his strong hand together with thunder

and lightning, whirling an awesome flame. The life-giving earth crashed

around in burning, and the vast wood crackled loud with fire all about.

All the land seethed, and Ocean’s streams and the unfruitful sea. The

hot vapour lapped round the earthborn Titans: flame unspeakable rose to

the bright upper air: the flashing glare of the thunder-stone and

lightning blinded their eyes for all that there were strong. Astounding

heat seized Chaos: and to see with eyes and to hear the sound with ears

it seemed even as if Earth and wide Heaven above came together; for

such a mighty crash would have arisen if Earth were being hurled to

ruin, and Heaven from on high were hurling her down; so great a crash

was there while the gods were meeting together in strife. Also the

winds brought rumbling earthquake and duststorm, thunder and lightning

and the lurid thunderbolt, which are the shafts of great Zeus, and

carried the clangour and the warcry into the midst of the two hosts. An

horrible uproar of terrible strife arose: mighty deeds were shown and

the battle inclined. But until then, they kept at one another and

fought continually in cruel war.

(ll. 713-735) And amongst the foremost Cottus and Briareos and Gyes

insatiate for war raised fierce fighting: three hundred rocks, one upon

another, they launched from their strong hands and overshadowed the

Titans with their missiles, and buried them beneath the wide-pathed

earth, and bound them in bitter chains when they had conquered them by

their strength for all their great spirit, as far beneath the earth to

Tartarus. For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and

days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil

falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the

tenth. Round it runs a fence of bronze, and night spreads in triple

line all about it like a neck-circlet, while above grow the roots of

the earth and unfruitful sea. There by the counsel of Zeus who drives

the clouds the Titan gods are hidden under misty gloom, in a dank place

where are the ends of the huge earth. And they may not go out; for

Poseidon fixed gates of bronze upon it, and a wall runs all round it on

every side. There Gyes and Cottus and great-souled Obriareus live,

trusty warders of Zeus who holds the aegis.

(ll. 736-744) And there, all in their order, are the sources and ends

of gloomy earth and misty Tartarus and the unfruitful sea and starry

heaven, loathsome and dank, which even the gods abhor.

It is a great gulf, and if once a man were within the gates, he would

not reach the floor until a whole year had reached its end, but cruel

blast upon blast would carry him this way and that. And this marvel is

awful even to the deathless gods.

(ll. 744-757) There stands the awful home of murky Night wrapped in

dark clouds. In front of it the son of Iapetus 1622 stands immovably

upholding the wide heaven upon his head and unwearying hands, where

Night and Day draw near and greet one another as they pass the great

threshold of bronze: and while the one is about to go down into the

house, the other comes out at the door.

And the house never holds them both within; but always one is without

the house passing over the earth, while the other stays at home and

waits until the time for her journeying come; and the one holds

all-seeing light for them on earth, but the other holds in her arms

Sleep the brother of Death, even evil Night, wrapped in a vaporous

cloud.

(ll. 758-766) And there the children of dark Night have their

dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks

upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he

comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over

the earth and the sea’s broad back and is kindly to men; but the other

has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze:

whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful

even to the deathless gods.

(ll. 767-774) There, in front, stand the echoing halls of the god of

the lower-world, strong Hades, and of awful Persephone. A fearful hound

guards the house in front, pitiless, and he has a cruel trick. On those

who go in he fawns with his tail and both his ears, but suffers them

not to go out back again, but keeps watch and devours whomsoever he

catches going out of the gates of strong Hades and awful Persephone.

(ll. 775-806) And there dwells the goddess loathed by the deathless

gods, terrible Styx, eldest daughter of back-flowing 1623 Ocean. She

lives apart from the gods in her glorious house vaulted over with great

rocks and propped up to heaven all round with silver pillars. Rarely

does the daughter of Thaumas, swift-footed Iris, come to her with a

message over the sea’s wide back.

But when strife and quarrel arise among the deathless gods, and when

any of them who live in the house of Olympus lies, then Zeus sends Iris

to bring in a golden jug the great oath of the gods from far away, the

famous cold water which trickles down from a high and beetling rock.

Far under the wide-pathed earth a branch of Oceanus flows through the

dark night out of the holy stream, and a tenth part of his water is

allotted to her. With nine silver-swirling streams he winds about the

earth and the sea’s wide back, and then falls into the main 1624; but

the tenth flows out from a rock, a sore trouble to the gods. For

whoever of the deathless gods that hold the peaks of snowy Olympus

pours a libation of her water is forsworn, lies breathless until a full

year is completed, and never comes near to taste ambrosia and nectar,

but lies spiritless and voiceless on a strewn bed: and a heavy trance

overshadows him. But when he has spent a long year in his sickness,

another penance and an harder follows after the first. For nine years

he is cut off from the eternal gods and never joins their councils of

their feasts, nine full years. But in the tenth year he comes again to

join the assemblies of the deathless gods who live in the house of

Olympus. Such an oath, then, did the gods appoint the eternal and

primaeval water of Styx to be: and it spouts through a rugged place.

(ll. 807-819) And there, all in their order, are the sources and ends

of the dark earth and misty Tartarus and the unfruitful sea and starry

heaven, loathsome and dank, which even the gods abhor.

And there are shining gates and an immoveable threshold of bronze

having unending roots and it is grown of itself 1625. And beyond, away

from all the gods, live the Titans, beyond gloomy Chaos. But the

glorious allies of loud-crashing Zeus have their dwelling upon Ocean’s

foundations, even Cottus and Gyes; but Briareos, being goodly, the

deep-roaring Earth-Shaker made his son-in-law, giving him Cymopolea his

daughter to wed.

(ll. 820-868) But when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge

Earth bare her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the

aid of golden Aphrodite. Strength was with his hands in all that he did

and the feet of the strong god were untiring. From his shoulders grew

an hundred heads of a snake, a fearful dragon, with dark, flickering

tongues, and from under the brows of his eyes in his marvellous heads

flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there

were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound

unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods

understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in

proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion,

relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps, wonderful to

hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains

re-echoed. And truly a thing past help would have happened on that day,

and he would have come to reign over mortals and immortals, had not the

father of men and gods been quick to perceive it. But he thundered hard

and mightily: and the earth around resounded terribly and the wide

heaven above, and the sea and Ocean’s streams and the nether parts of

the earth. Great Olympus reeled beneath the divine feet of the king as

he arose and earth groaned thereat. And through the two of them heat

took hold on the dark-blue sea, through the thunder and lightning, and

through the fire from the monster, and the scorching winds and blazing

thunderbolt. The whole earth seethed, and sky and sea: and the long

waves raged along the beaches round and about, at the rush of the

deathless gods: and there arose an endless shaking. Hades trembled

where he rules over the dead below, and the Titans under Tartarus who

live with Cronos, because of the unending clamour and the fearful

strife. So when Zeus had raised up his might and seized his arms,

thunder and lightning and lurid thunderbolt, he leaped from Olympus and

struck him, and burned all the marvellous heads of the monster about

him. But when Zeus had conquered him and lashed him with strokes,

Typhoeus was hurled down, a maimed wreck, so that the huge earth

groaned. And flame shot forth from the thunder-stricken lord in the dim

rugged glens of the mount 1626, when he was smitten. A great part of

huge earth was scorched by the terrible vapour and melted as tin melts

when heated by men’s art in channelled 1627 crucibles; or as iron,

which is hardest of all things, is softened by glowing fire in mountain

glens and melts in the divine earth through the strength of Hephaestus

1628. Even so, then, the earth melted in the glow of the blazing fire.

And in the bitterness of his anger Zeus cast him into wide Tartarus.

(ll. 869-880) And from Typhoeus come boisterous winds which blow

damply, except Notus and Boreas and clear Zephyr. These are a god-sent

kind, and a great blessing to men; but the others blow fitfully upon

the seas. Some rush upon the misty sea and work great havoc among men

with their evil, raging blasts; for varying with the season they blow,

scattering ships and destroying sailors. And men who meet these upon

the sea have no help against the mischief. Others again over the

boundless, flowering earth spoil the fair fields of men who dwell

below, filling them with dust and cruel uproar.

(ll. 881-885) But when the blessed gods had finished their toil, and

settled by force their struggle for honours with the Titans, they

pressed far-seeing Olympian Zeus to reign and to rule over them, by

Earth’s prompting. So he divided their dignities amongst them.

(ll. 886-900) Now Zeus, king of the gods, made Metis his wife first,

and she was wisest among gods and mortal men. But when she was about to

bring forth the goddess bright-eyed Athene, Zeus craftily deceived her

with cunning words and put her in his own belly, as Earth and starry

Heaven advised. For they advised him so, to the end that no other

should hold royal sway over the eternal gods in place of Zeus; for very

wise children were destined to be born of her, first the maiden

bright-eyed Tritogeneia, equal to her father in strength and in wise

understanding; but afterwards she was to bear a son of overbearing

spirit, king of gods and men. But Zeus put her into his own belly

first, that the goddess might devise for him both good and evil.

(ll. 901-906) Next he married bright Themis who bare the Horae (Hours),

and Eunomia (Order), Dike (Justice), and blooming Eirene (Peace), who

mind the works of mortal men, and the Moerae (Fates) to whom wise Zeus

gave the greatest honour, Clotho, and Lachesis, and Atropos who give

mortal men evil and good to have.

(ll. 907-911) And Eurynome, the daughter of Ocean, beautiful in form,

bare him three fair-cheeked Charites (Graces), Aglaea, and Euphrosyne,

and lovely Thaleia, from whose eyes as they glanced flowed love that

unnerves the limbs: and beautiful is their glance beneath their brows.

(ll. 912-914) Also he came to the bed of all-nourishing Demeter, and

she bare white-armed Persephone whom Aidoneus carried off from her

mother; but wise Zeus gave her to him.

(ll. 915-917) And again, he loved Mnemosyne with the beautiful hair:

and of her the nine gold-crowned Muses were born who delight in feasts

and the pleasures of song.

(ll. 918-920) And Leto was joined in love with Zeus who holds the

aegis, and bare Apollo and Artemis delighting in arrows, children

lovely above all the sons of Heaven.

(ll. 921-923) Lastly, he made Hera his blooming wife: and she was

joined in love with the king of gods and men, and brought forth Hebe

and Ares and Eileithyia.

(ll. 924-929) But Zeus himself gave birth from his own head to

bright-eyed Tritogeneia 1629, the awful, the strife-stirring, the

host-leader, the unwearying, the queen, who delights in tumults and

wars and battles. But Hera without union with Zeus—for she was very

angry and quarrelled with her mate—bare famous Hephaestus, who is

skilled in crafts more than all the sons of Heaven.

(ll. 929a-929t) 1630 But Hera was very angry and quarrelled with her

mate. And because of this strife she bare without union with Zeus who

holds the aegis a glorious son, Hephaestus, who excelled all the sons

of Heaven in crafts. But Zeus lay with the fair-cheeked daughter of

Ocean and Tethys apart from Hera.... ((LACUNA)) ....deceiving Metis

(Thought) although she was full wise. But he seized her with his hands

and put her in his belly, for fear that she might bring forth something

stronger than his thunderbolt: therefore did Zeus, who sits on high and

dwells in the aether, swallow her down suddenly. But she straightway

conceived Pallas Athene: and the father of men and gods gave her birth

by way of his head on the banks of the river Trito. And she remained

hidden beneath the inward parts of Zeus, even Metis, Athena’s mother,

worker of righteousness, who was wiser than gods and mortal men. There

the goddess (Athena) received that 1631 whereby she excelled in

strength all the deathless ones who dwell in Olympus, she who made the

host-scaring weapon of Athena. And with it (Zeus) gave her birth,

arrayed in arms of war.

(ll. 930-933) And of Amphitrite and the loud-roaring Earth-Shaker was

born great, wide-ruling Triton, and he owns the depths of the sea,

living with his dear mother and the lord his father in their golden

house, an awful god.

(ll. 933-937) Also Cytherea bare to Ares the shield-piercer Panic and

Fear, terrible gods who drive in disorder the close ranks of men in

numbing war, with the help of Ares, sacker of towns: and Harmonia whom

high-spirited Cadmus made his wife.

(ll. 938-939) And Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bare to Zeus glorious

Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods, for she went up into his holy

bed.

(ll. 940-942) And Semele, daughter of Cadmus was joined with him in

love and bare him a splendid son, joyous Dionysus,—a mortal woman an

immortal son. And now they both are gods.

(ll. 943-944) And Alcmena was joined in love with Zeus who drives the

clouds and bare mighty Heracles.

(ll. 945-946) And Hephaestus, the famous Lame One, made Aglaea,

youngest of the Graces, his buxom wife.

(ll. 947-949) And golden-haired Dionysus made brown-haired Ariadne, the

daughter of Minos, his buxom wife: and the son of Cronos made her

deathless and unageing for him.

(ll. 950-955) And mighty Heracles, the valiant son of neat-ankled

Alcmena, when he had finished his grievous toils, made Hebe the child

of great Zeus and gold-shod Hera his shy wife in snowy Olympus. Happy

he! For he has finished his great works and lives amongst the undying

gods, untroubled and unageing all his days.

(ll. 956-962) And Perseis, the daughter of Ocean, bare to unwearying

Helios Circe and Aeetes the king. And Aeetes, the son of Helios who

shows light to men, took to wife fair-cheeked Idyia, daughter of Ocean

the perfect stream, by the will of the gods: and she was subject to him

in love through golden Aphrodite and bare him neat-ankled Medea.

(ll. 963-968) And now farewell, you dwellers on Olympus and you islands

and continents and thou briny sea within. Now sing the company of

goddesses, sweet-voiced Muses of Olympus, daughter of Zeus who holds

the aegis,—even those deathless one who lay with mortal men and bare

children like unto gods.

(ll. 969-974) Demeter, bright goddess, was joined in sweet love with

the hero Iasion in a thrice-ploughed fallow in the rich land of Crete,

and bare Plutus, a kindly god who goes everywhere over land and the

sea’s wide back, and him who finds him and into whose hands he comes he

makes rich, bestowing great wealth upon him.

(ll. 975-978) And Harmonia, the daughter of golden Aphrodite, bare to

Cadmus Ino and Semele and fair-cheeked Agave and Autonoe whom long

haired Aristaeus wedded, and Polydorus also in rich-crowned Thebe.

(ll. 979-983) And the daughter of Ocean, Callirrhoe was joined in the

love of rich Aphrodite with stout hearted Chrysaor and bare a son who

was the strongest of all men, Geryones, whom mighty Heracles killed in

sea-girt Erythea for the sake of his shambling oxen.

(ll. 984-991) And Eos bare to Tithonus brazen-crested Memnon, king of

the Ethiopians, and the Lord Emathion. And to Cephalus she bare a

splendid son, strong Phaethon, a man like the gods, whom, when he was a

young boy in the tender flower of glorious youth with childish

thoughts, laughter-loving Aphrodite seized and caught up and made a

keeper of her shrine by night, a divine spirit.

(ll. 993-1002) And the son of Aeson by the will of the gods led away

from Aeetes the daughter of Aeetes the heaven-nurtured king, when he

had finished the many grievous labours which the great king, over

bearing Pelias, that outrageous and presumptuous doer of violence, put

upon him. But when the son of Aeson had finished them, he came to

Iolcus after long toil bringing the coy-eyed girl with him on his swift

ship, and made her his buxom wife. And she was subject to Iason,

shepherd of the people, and bare a son Medeus whom Cheiron the son of

Philyra brought up in the mountains. And the will of great Zeus was

fulfilled.

(ll. 1003-1007) But of the daughters of Nereus, the Old man of the Sea,

Psamathe the fair goddess, was loved by Aeacus through golden Aphrodite

and bare Phocus. And the silver-shod goddess Thetis was subject to

Peleus and brought forth lion-hearted Achilles, the destroyer of men.

(ll. 1008-1010) And Cytherea with the beautiful crown was joined in

sweet love with the hero Anchises and bare Aeneas on the peaks of Ida

with its many wooded glens.

(ll. 1011-1016) And Circe the daughter of Helius, Hyperion’s son, loved

steadfast Odysseus and bare Agrius and Latinus who was faultless and

strong: also she brought forth Telegonus by the will of golden

Aphrodite. And they ruled over the famous Tyrenians, very far off in a

recess of the holy islands.

(ll. 1017-1018) And the bright goddess Calypso was joined to Odysseus

in sweet love, and bare him Nausithous and Nausinous.

(ll. 1019-1020) These are the immortal goddesses who lay with mortal

men and bare them children like unto gods.

(ll. 1021-1022) But now, sweet-voiced Muses of Olympus, daughters of

Zeus who holds the aegis, sing of the company of women.

THE CATALOGUES OF WOMEN AND EOIAE1701

Fragment #1—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iii. 1086: That

Deucalion was the son of Prometheus and Pronoea, Hesiod states in the

first _Catalogue_, as also that Hellen was the son of Deucalion and

Pyrrha.

Fragment #2—Ioannes Lydus 1702, de Mens. i. 13: They came to call those

who followed local manners Latins, but those who followed Hellenic

customs Greeks, after the brothers Latinus and Graecus; as Hesiod says:

‘And in the palace Pandora the daughter of noble Deucalion was joined

in love with father Zeus, leader of all the gods, and bare Graecus,

staunch in battle.’

Fragment #3—Constantinus Porphyrogenitus 1703, de Them. 2 p. 48B: The

district Macedonia took its name from Macedon the son of Zeus and

Thyia, Deucalion’s daughter, as Hesiod says: ‘And she conceived and

bare to Zeus who delights in the thunderbolt two sons, Magnes and

Macedon, rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and

Olympus.... ((LACUNA)) ....And Magnes again (begot) Dictys and godlike

Polydectes.’

Fragment #4—Plutarch, Mor. p. 747; Schol. on Pindar Pyth. iv. 263: ‘And

from Hellen the war-loving king sprang Dorus and Xuthus and Aeolus

delighting in horses. And the sons of Aeolus, kings dealing justice,

were Cretheus, and Athamas, and clever Sisyphus, and wicked Salmoneus

and overbold Perieres.’

Fragment #5—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 266: Those who

were descended from Deucalion used to rule over Thessaly as Hecataeus

and Hesiod say.

Fragment #6—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 482: Aloiadae.

Hesiod said that they were sons of Aloeus,—called so after him,—and of

Iphimedea, but in reality sons of Poseidon and Iphimedea, and that Alus

a city of Aetolia was founded by their father.

Fragment #7—Berlin Papyri, No. 7497; Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 421 1704: (ll.

1-24) ‘....Eurynome the daughter of Nisus, Pandion’s son, to whom

Pallas Athene taught all her art, both wit and wisdom too; for she was

as wise as the gods. A marvellous scent rose from her silvern raiment

as she moved, and beauty was wafted from her eyes. Her, then, Glaucus

sought to win by Athena’s advising, and he drove oxen 1705 for her. But

he knew not at all the intent of Zeus who holds the aegis. So Glaucus

came seeking her to wife with gifts; but cloud-driving Zeus, king of

the deathless gods, bent his head in oath that the.... son of Sisyphus

should never have children born of one father 1706. So she lay in the

arms of Poseidon and bare in the house of Glaucus blameless

Bellerophon, surpassing all men in.... over the boundless sea. And when

he began to roam, his father gave him Pegasus who would bear him most

swiftly on his wings, and flew unwearying everywhere over the earth,

for like the gales he would course along. With him Bellerophon caught

and slew the fire-breathing Chimera. And he wedded the dear child of

the great-hearted Iobates, the worshipful king.... lord (of).... and

she bare....’

Fragment #8—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodes, Arg. iv. 57: Hesiod says

that Endymion was the son of Aethlius the son of Zeus and Calyee, and

received the gift from Zeus: ‘(To be) keeper of death for his own self

when he was ready to die.’

Fragment #9—Scholiast Ven. on Homer, Il. xi. 750: The two sons of Actor

and Molione... Hesiod has given their descent by calling them after

Actor and Molione; but their father was Poseidon.

Porphyrius 1707, Quaest. Hom. ad Iliad. pert., 265: But Aristarchus is

informed that they were twins, not.... such as were the Dioscuri, but,

on Hesiod’s testimony, double in form and with two bodies and joined to

one another.

Fragment #10—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 156: But Hesiod

says that he changed himself in one of his wonted shapes and perched on

the yoke-boss of Heracles’ horses, meaning to fight with the hero; but

that Heracles, secretly instructed by Athena, wounded him mortally with

an arrow. And he says as follows: ‘...and lordly Periclymenus. Happy

he! For earth-shaking Poseidon gave him all manner of gifts. At one

time he would appear among birds, an eagle; and again at another he

would be an ant, a marvel to see; and then a shining swarm of bees; and

again at another time a dread relentless snake. And he possessed all

manner of gifts which cannot be told, and these then ensnared him

through the devising of Athene.’

Fragment #11—Stephanus of Byzantium 1708, s.v.: ‘(Heracles) slew the

noble sons of steadfast Neleus, eleven of them; but the twelfth, the

horsemen Gerenian Nestor chanced to be staying with the horse-taming

Gerenians. ((LACUNA)) Nestor alone escaped in flowery Gerenon.’

Fragment #12—Eustathius 1709, Hom. 1796.39: ‘So well-girded Polycaste,

the youngest daughter of Nestor, Neleus’ son, was joined in love with

Telemachus through golden Aphrodite and bare Persepolis.’

Fragment #13—Scholiast on Homer, Od. xii. 69: Tyro the daughter of

Salmoneus, having two sons by Poseidon, Neleus and Pelias, married

Cretheus, and had by him three sons, Aeson, Pheres and Amythaon. And of

Aeson and Polymede, according to Hesiod, Iason was born: ‘Aeson, who

begot a son Iason, shepherd of the people, whom Chiron brought up in

woody Pelion.’

Fragment #14—Petrie Papyri (ed. Mahaffy), Pl. III. 3: ‘....of the

glorious lord ....fair Atalanta, swift of foot, the daughter of

Schoeneus, who had the beaming eyes of the Graces, though she was ripe

for wedlock rejected the company of her equals and sought to avoid

marriage with men who eat bread.’

Scholiast on Homer, Iliad xxiii. 683: Hesiod is therefore later in date

than Homer since he represents Hippomenes as stripped when contending

with Atalanta 1710.

Papiri greci e latini, ii. No. 130 (2nd-3rd century) 1711: (ll. 1-7)

‘Then straightway there rose up against him the trim-ankled maiden

(Atalanta), peerless in beauty: a great throng stood round about her as

she gazed fiercely, and wonder held all men as they looked upon her. As

she moved, the breath of the west wind stirred the shining garment

about her tender bosom; but Hippomenes stood where he was: and much

people was gathered together. All these kept silence; but Schoeneus

cried and said:

(ll. 8-20) ‘“Hear me all, both young and old, while I speak as my

spirit within my breast bids me. Hippomenes seeks my coy-eyed daughter

to wife; but let him now hear my wholesome speech. He shall not win her

without contest; yet, if he be victorious and escape death, and if the

deathless gods who dwell on Olympus grant him to win renown, verily he

shall return to his dear native land, and I will give him my dear child

and strong, swift-footed horses besides which he shall lead home to be

cherished possessions; and may he rejoice in heart possessing these,

and ever remember with gladness the painful contest. May the father of

men and of gods (grant that splendid children may be born to him)’ 1712

((LACUNA))

(ll. 21-27) ‘on the right.... and he, rushing upon her,.... drawing

back slightly towards the left. And on them was laid an unenviable

struggle: for she, even fair, swift-footed Atalanta, ran scorning the

gifts of golden Aphrodite; but with him the race was for his life,

either to find his doom, or to escape it. Therefore with thoughts of

guile he said to her:

(ll. 28-29) ‘“O daughter of Schoeneus, pitiless in heart, receive these

glorious gifts of the goddess, golden Aphrodite...’

((LACUNA))

(ll. 30-36) ‘But he, following lightly on his feet, cast the first

apple 1713: and, swiftly as a Harpy, she turned back and snatched it.

Then he cast the second to the ground with his hand. And now fair,

swift-footed Atalanta had two apples and was near the goal; but

Hippomenes cast the third apple to the ground, and therewith escaped

death and black fate. And he stood panting and...’

Fragment #15—Strabo 1714, i. p. 42: ‘And the daughter of Arabus, whom

worthy Hermaon begat with Thronia, daughter of the lord Belus.’

Fragment #16—Eustathius, Hom. 461. 2: ‘Argos which was waterless Danaus

made well-watered.’

Fragment #17—Hecataeus 1715 in Scholiast on Euripides, Orestes, 872:

Aegyptus himself did not go to Argos, but sent his sons, fifty in

number, as Hesiod represented.

Fragment #18—1716 Strabo, viii. p. 370: And Apollodorus says that

Hesiod already knew that the whole people were called both Hellenes and

Panhellenes, as when he says of the daughters of Proetus that the

Panhellenes sought them in marriage.

Apollodorus, ii. 2.1.4: Acrisius was king of Argos and Proetus of

Tiryns. And Acrisius had by Eurydice the daughter of Lacedemon, Danae;

and Proetus by Stheneboea ‘Lysippe and Iphinoe and Iphianassa’. And

these fell mad, as Hesiod states, because they would not receive the

rites of Dionysus.

Probus 1717 on Vergil, Eclogue vi. 48: These (the daughters of

Proetus), because they had scorned the divinity of Juno, were overcome

with madness, such that they believed they had been turned into cows,

and left Argos their own country. Afterwards they were cured by

Melampus, the son of Amythaon.

Suidas, s.v.: 1718 ‘Because of their hideous wantonness they lost their

tender beauty....’

Eustathius, Hom. 1746.7: ‘....For he shed upon their heads a fearful

itch: and leprosy covered all their flesh, and their hair dropped from

their heads, and their fair scalps were made bare.’

Fragment #19A—1719 Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 1 (3rd cent. A.D.): 1720

(ll. 1-32) ‘....So she (Europa) crossed the briny water from afar to

Crete, beguiled by the wiles of Zeus. Secretly did the Father snatch

her away and gave her a gift, the golden necklace, the toy which

Hephaestus the famed craftsman once made by his cunning skill and

brought and gave it to his father for a possession. And Zeus received

the gift, and gave it in turn to the daughter of proud Phoenix. But

when the Father of men and of gods had mated so far off with

trim-ankled Europa, then he departed back again from the rich-haired

girl. So she bare sons to the almighty Son of Cronos, glorious leaders

of wealthy men—Minos the ruler, and just Rhadamanthys and noble

Sarpedon the blameless and strong. To these did wise Zeus give each a

share of his honour. Verily Sarpedon reigned mightily over wide Lycia

and ruled very many cities filled with people, wielding the sceptre of

Zeus: and great honour followed him, which his father gave him, the

great-hearted shepherd of the people. For wise Zeus ordained that he

should live for three generations of mortal men and not waste away with

old age. He sent him to Troy; and Sarpedon gathered a great host, men

chosen out of Lycia to be allies to the Trojans. These men did Sarpedon

lead, skilled in bitter war. And Zeus, whose wisdom is everlasting,

sent him forth from heaven a star, showing tokens for the return of his

dear son........for well he (Sarpedon) knew in his heart that the sign

was indeed from Zeus. Very greatly did he excel in war together with

man-slaying Hector and brake down the wall, bringing woes upon the

Danaans. But so soon as Patroclus had inspired the Argives with hard

courage....’

Fragment #19—Scholiast on Homer, Il. xii. 292: Zeus saw Europa the

daughter of Phoenix gathering flowers in a meadow with some nymphs and

fell in love with her. So he came down and changed himself into a bull

and breathed from his mouth a crocus 1721. In this way he deceived

Europa, carried her off and crossed the sea to Crete where he had

intercourse with her. Then in this condition he made her live with

Asterion the king of the Cretans. There she conceived and bore three

sons, Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthys. The tale is in Hesiod and

Bacchylides.

Fragment #20—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. ii. 178: But

according to Hesiod (Phineus) was the son of Phoenix, Agenor’s son and

Cassiopea.

Fragment #21—Apollodorus 1722, iii. 14.4.1: But Hesiod says that he

(Adonis) was the son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea.

Fragment #22—Porphyrius, Quaest. Hom. ad Iliad. pert. p. 189: As it is

said in Hesiod in the _Catalogue of Women_ concerning Demodoce the

daughter of Agenor: ‘Demodoce whom very many of men on earth, mighty

princes, wooed, promising splendid gifts, because of her exceeding

beauty.’

Fragment #23—Apollodorus, iii. 5.6.2: Hesiod says that (the children of

Amphion and Niobe) were ten sons and ten daughters.

Aelian 1723, Var. Hist. xii. 36: But Hesiod says they were nine boys

and ten girls;—unless after all the verses are not Hesiod but are

falsely ascribed to him as are many others.

Fragment #24—Scholiast on Homer, Il. xxiii. 679: And Hesiod says that

when Oedipus had died at Thebes, Argea the daughter of Adrastus came

with others to the funeral of Oedipus.

Fragment #25—Herodian 1724 in Etymologicum Magnum, p. 60, 40: Tityos

the son of Elara.

Fragment #26—1725 Argument: Pindar, Ol. xiv: Cephisus is a river in

Orchomenus where also the Graces are worshipped. Eteoclus the son of

the river Cephisus first sacrificed to them, as Hesiod says.

Scholiast on Homer, Il. ii. 522: ‘which from Lilaea spouts forth its

sweet flowing water....’

Strabo, ix. 424: ‘....And which flows on by Panopeus and through fenced

Glechon and through Orchomenus, winding like a snake.’

Fragment #27—Scholiast on Homer, Il. vii. 9: For the father of

Menesthius, Areithous was a Boeotian living at Arnae; and this is in

Boeotia, as also Hesiod says.

Fragment #28—Stephanus of Byzantium: Onchestus: a grove 1726. It is

situate in the country of Haliartus and was founded by Onchestus the

Boeotian, as Hesiod says.

Fragment #29—Stephanus of Byzantium: There is also a plain of Aega

bordering on Cirrha, according to Hesiod.

Fragment #30—Apollodorus, ii. 1.1.5: But Hesiod says that Pelasgus was

autochthonous.

Fragment #31—Strabo, v. p. 221: That this tribe (the Pelasgi) were from

Arcadia, Ephorus states on the authority of Hesiod; for he says: ‘Sons

were born to god-like Lycaon whom Pelasgus once begot.’

Fragment #32—Stephanus of Byzantium: Pallantium. A city of Arcadia, so

named after Pallas, one of Lycaon’s sons, according to Hesiod.

Fragment #33—(Unknown): ‘Famous Meliboea bare Phellus the good

spear-man.’

Fragment #34—Herodian, On Peculiar Diction, p. 18: In Hesiod in the

second Catalogue: ‘Who once hid the torch 1727 within.’

Fragment #35—Herodian, On Peculiar Diction, p. 42: Hesiod in the third

Catalogue writes: ‘And a resounding thud of feet rose up.’

Fragment #36—Apollonius Dyscolus 1728, On the Pronoun, p. 125: ‘And a

great trouble to themselves.’

Fragment #37—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 45: Neither Homer

nor Hesiod speak of Iphiclus as amongst the Argonauts.

Fragment #38—‘Eratosthenes’ 1729, Catast. xix. p. 124: The Ram.]—This

it was that transported Phrixus and Helle. It was immortal and was

given them by their mother Nephele, and had a golden fleece, as Hesiod

and Pherecydes say.

Fragment #39—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. ii. 181: Hesiod in

the _Great Eoiae_ says that Phineus was blinded because he revealed to

Phrixus the road; but in the third _Catalogue_, because he preferred

long life to sight.

Hesiod says he had two sons, Thynus and Mariandynus.

Ephorus 1730 in Strabo, vii. 302: Hesiod, in the so-called Journey

round the Earth, says that Phineus was brought by the Harpies ‘to the

land of milk-feeders 1731 who have waggons for houses.’

Fragment #40A—(Cp. Fr. 43 and 44) Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 2 (3rd

cent. A.D.): 1732 ((LACUNA—Slight remains of 7 lines))

(ll. 8-35) ‘(The Sons of Boreas pursued the Harpies) to the lands of

the Massagetae and of the proud Half-Dog men, of the Underground-folk

and of the feeble Pygmies; and to the tribes of the boundless

Black-skins and the Libyans. Huge Earth bare these to

Epaphus—soothsaying people, knowing seercraft by the will of Zeus the

lord of oracles, but deceivers, to the end that men whose thought

passes their utterance 1733 might be subject to the gods and suffer

harm—Aethiopians and Libyans and mare-milking Scythians. For verily

Epaphus was the child of the almighty Son of Cronos, and from him

sprang the dark Libyans, and high-souled Aethiopians, and the

Underground-folk and feeble Pygmies. All these are the offspring of the

lord, the Loud-thunderer. Round about all these (the Sons of Boreas)

sped in darting flight.... ....of the well-horsed Hyperboreans—whom

Earth the all-nourishing bare far off by the tumbling streams of

deep-flowing Eridanus........of amber, feeding her wide-scattered

offspring—and about the steep Fawn mountain and rugged Etna to the isle

Ortygia and the people sprung from Laestrygon who was the son of

wide-reigning Poseidon. Twice ranged the Sons of Boreas along this

coast and wheeled round and about yearning to catch the Harpies, while

they strove to escape and avoid them. And they sped to the tribe of the

haughty Cephallenians, the people of patient-souled Odysseus whom in

aftertime Calypso the queenly nymph detained for Poseidon. Then they

came to the land of the lord the son of Ares........they heard. Yet

still (the Sons of Boreas) ever pursued them with instant feet. So they

(the Harpies) sped over the sea and through the fruitless air...’

Fragment #40—Strabo, vii. p. 300: ‘The Aethiopians and Ligurians and

mare-milking Scythians.’

Fragment #41—Apollodorus, i. 9.21.6: As they were being pursued, one of

the Harpies fell into the river Tigris, in Peloponnesus which is now

called Harpys after her. Some call this one Nicothoe, and others

Aellopus. The other who was called Ocypete, or as some say Ocythoe

(though Hesiod calls her Ocypus), fled down the Propontis and reached

as far as to the Echinades islands which are now called because of her,

Strophades (Turning Islands).

Fragment #42—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. ii. 297: Hesiod also

says that those with Zetes 1734 turned and prayed to Zeus: ‘There they

prayed to the lord of Aenos who reigns on high.’

Apollonius indeed says it was Iris who made Zetes and his following

turn away, but Hesiod says Hermes.

Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. ii. 296: Others say (the islands)

were called Strophades, because they turned there and prayed Zeus to

seize the Harpies. But according to Hesiod... they were not killed.

Fragment #43—Philodemus 1735, On Piety, 10: Nor let anyone mock at

Hesiod who mentions.... or even the Troglodytes and the Pygmies.

Fragment #44—Strabo, i. p. 43: No one would accuse Hesiod of ignorance

though he speaks of the Half-dog people and the Great-Headed people and

the Pygmies.

Fragment #45—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 284: But Hesiod

says they (the Argonauts) had sailed in through the Phasis.

Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 259: But Hesiod (says)....

they came through the Ocean to Libya, and so, carrying the Argo,

reached our sea.

Fragment #46—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iii. 311:

Apollonius, following Hesiod, says that Circe came to the island over

against Tyrrhenia on the chariot of the Sun. And he called it

Hesperian, because it lies toward the west.

Fragment #47—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 892: He

(Apollonius) followed Hesiod who thus names the island of the Sirens:

‘To the island Anthemoessa (Flowery) which the son of Cronos gave

them.’

And their names are Thelxiope or Thelxinoe, Molpe and Aglaophonus 1736.

Scholiast on Homer, Od. xii. 168: Hence Hesiod said that they charmed

even the winds.

Fragment #48—Scholiast on Homer, Od. i. 85: Hesiod says that Ogygia is

within towards the west, but Ogygia lies over against Crete: ‘...the

Ogygian sea and......the island Ogygia.’

Fragment #49—Scholiast on Homer, Od. vii. 54: Hesiod regarded Arete as

the sister of Alcinous.

Fragment #50—Scholiast on Pindar, Ol. x. 46: Her Hippostratus (did

wed), a scion of Ares, the splendid son of Phyetes, of the line of

Amarynces, leader of the Epeians.

Fragment #51—Apollodorus, i. 8.4.1: When Althea was dead, Oeneus

married Periboea, the daughter of Hipponous. Hesiod says that she was

seduced by Hippostratus the son of Amarynces and that her father

Hipponous sent her from Olenus in Achaea to Oeneus because he was far

away from Hellas, bidding him kill her.

‘She used to dwell on the cliff of Olenus by the banks of wide Peirus.’

Fragment #52—Diodorus 1737 v. 81: Macareus was a son of Crinacus the

son of Zeus as Hesiod says... and dwelt in Olenus in the country then

called Ionian, but now Achaean.

Fragment #53—Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. ii. 21: Concerning the Myrmidons

Hesiod speaks thus: ‘And she conceived and bare Aeacus, delighting in

horses. Now when he came to the full measure of desired youth, he

chafed at being alone. And the father of men and gods made all the ants

that were in the lovely isle into men and wide-girdled women. These

were the first who fitted with thwarts ships with curved sides, and the

first who used sails, the wings of a sea-going ship.’

Fragment #54—Polybius, v. 2: ‘The sons of Aeacus who rejoiced in battle

as though a feast.’

Fragment #55—Porphyrius, Quaest. Hom. ad Iliad. pertin. p. 93: He has

indicated the shameful deed briefly by the phrase ‘to lie with her

against her will’, and not like Hesiod who recounts at length the story

of Peleus and the wife of Acastus.

Fragment #56—Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. iv. 95: ‘And this seemed to him

(Acastus) in his mind the best plan; to keep back himself, but to hide

beyond guessing the beautiful knife which the very famous Lame One had

made for him, that in seeking it alone over steep Pelion, he (Peleus)

might be slain forthwith by the mountain-bred Centaurs.’

Fragment #57—Voll. Herculan. (Papyri from Herculaneum), 2nd Collection,

viii. 105: The author of the _Cypria_ 1738 says that Thetis avoided

wedlock with Zeus to please Hera; but that Zeus was angry and swore

that she should mate with a mortal. Hesiod also has the like account.

Fragment #58—Strassburg Greek Papyri 55 (2nd century A.D.): (ll. 1-13)

‘Peleus the son of Aeacus, dear to the deathless gods, came to Phthia

the mother of flocks, bringing great possessions from spacious Iolcus.

And all the people envied him in their hearts seeing how he had sacked

the well-built city, and accomplished his joyous marriage; and they all

spake this word: “Thrice, yea, four times blessed son of Aeacus, happy

Peleus! For far-seeing Olympian Zeus has given you a wife with many

gifts and the blessed gods have brought your marriage fully to pass,

and in these halls you go up to the holy bed of a daughter of Nereus.

Truly the father, the son of Cronos, made you very pre-eminent among

heroes and honoured above other men who eat bread and consume the fruit

of the ground.”’

Fragment #59—1739 Origen, Against Celsus, iv. 79: ‘For in common then

were the banquets, and in common the seats of deathless gods and mortal

men.’

Fragment #60—Scholiast on Homer, Il. xvi. 175: ...whereas Hesiod and

the rest call her (Peleus’ daughter) Polydora.

Fragment #61—Eustathius, Hom. 112. 44 sq: It should be observed that

the ancient narrative hands down the account that Patroclus was even a

kinsman of Achilles; for Hesiod says that Menoethius the father of

Patroclus, was a brother of Peleus, so that in that case they were

first cousins.

Fragment #62—Scholiast on Pindar, Ol. x. 83: Some write ‘Serus the son

of Halirrhothius’, whom Hesiod mentions: ‘He (begot) Serus and

Alazygus, goodly sons.’ And Serus was the son of Halirrhothius

Perieres’ son, and of Alcyone.

Fragment #63—Pausanias 1740, ii. 26. 7: This oracle most clearly proves

that Asclepius was not the son of Arsinoe, but that Hesiod or one of

Hesiod’s interpolators composed the verses to please the Messenians.

Scholiast on Pindar, Pyth. iii. 14: Some say (Asclepius) was the son of

Arsinoe, others of Coronis. But Asclepiades says that Arsinoe was the

daughter of Leucippus, Perieres’ son, and that to her and Apollo

Asclepius and a daughter, Eriopis, were born:

‘And she bare in the palace Asclepius, leader of men, and Eriopis with

the lovely hair, being subject in love to Phoebus.’

And of Arsinoe likewise:

‘And Arsinoe was joined with the son of Zeus and Leto and bare a son

Asclepius, blameless and strong.’ 1741

Fragment #64—For how does he say that the same persons (the Cyclopes)

were like the gods, and yet represent them as being destroyed by Apollo

in the _Catalogue of the Daughters of Leucippus_?

Fragment #65—“Echemus made Timandra his buxom wife.”

Fragment #66—Hesiod in giving their descent makes them (Castor and

Polydeuces) both sons of Zeus.

Hesiod, however, makes Helen the child neither of Leda nor Nemesis, but

daughter of Ocean and Zeus.

Fragment #67—Scholiast on Euripides, Orestes 249: Steischorus says that

while sacrificing to the gods Tyndareus forgot Aphrodite and that the

goddess was angry and made his daughters twice and thrice wed and

deserters of their husbands.... And Hesiod also says:

(ll. 1-7) ‘And laughter-loving Aphrodite felt jealous when she looked

on them and cast them into evil report. Then Timandra deserted Echemus

and went and came to Phyleus, dear to the deathless gods; and even so

Clytaemnestra deserted god-like Agamemnon and lay with Aegisthus and

chose a worse mate; and even so Helen dishonoured the couch of

golden-haired Menelaus.’

Fragment #68—1742 Berlin Papyri, No. 9739: (ll. 1-10) ‘....Philoctetes

sought her, a leader of spearmen, .... most famous of all men at

shooting from afar and with the sharp spear. And he came to Tyndareus’

bright city for the sake of the Argive maid who had the beauty of

golden Aphrodite, and the sparkling eyes of the Graces; and the

dark-faced daughter of Ocean, very lovely of form, bare her when she

had shared the embraces of Zeus and the king Tyndareus in the bright

palace.... (And.... sought her to wife offering as gifts)

((LACUNA))

(ll. 11-15)....and as many women skilled in blameless arts, each

holding a golden bowl in her hands. And truly Castor and strong

Polydeuces would have made him 1743 their brother perforce, but

Agamemnon, being son-in-law to Tyndareus, wooed her for his brother

Menelaus.

(ll. 16-19) And the two sons of Amphiaraus the lord, Oecleus’ son,

sought her to wife from Argos very near at hand; yet.... fear of the

blessed gods and the indignation of men caused them also to fail.

((LACUNA))

(l. 20)...but there was no deceitful dealing in the sons of Tyndareus.

(ll. 21-27) And from Ithaca the sacred might of Odysseus, Laertes son,

who knew many-fashioned wiles, sought her to wife. He never sent gifts

for the sake of the neat-ankled maid, for he knew in his heart that

golden-haired Menelaus would win, since he was greatest of the Achaeans

in possessions and was ever sending messages 1744 to horse-taming

Castor and prize-winning Polydeuces.

(ll. 28-30) And....on’s son sought her to wife (and brought)

....bridal-gifts.... ....cauldrons....

((LACUNA))

(ll. 31-33)...to horse-taming Castor and prize-winning Polydeuces,

desiring to be the husband of rich-haired Helen, though he had never

seen her beauty, but because he heard the report of others.

(ll. 34-41) And from Phylace two men of exceeding worth sought her to

wife, Podarces son of Iphiclus, Phylacus’ son, and Actor’s noble son,

overbearing Protesilaus. Both of them kept sending messages to

Lacedaemon, to the house of wise Tyndareus, Oebalus’ son, and they

offered many bridal-gifts, for great was the girl’s renown, brazen....

....golden....

((LACUNA))

(l. 42)...(desiring) to be the husband of rich-haired Helen.

(ll. 43-49) From Athens the son of Peteous, Menestheus, sought her to

wife, and offered many bridal-gifts; for he possessed very many stored

treasures, gold and cauldrons and tripods, fine things which lay hid in

the house of the lord Peteous, and with them his heart urged him to win

his bride by giving more gifts than any other; for he thought that no

one of all the heroes would surpass him in possessions and gifts.

(ll. 50-51) There came also by ship from Crete to the house of the son

of Oebalus strong Lycomedes for rich-haired Helen’s sake.

Berlin Papyri, No. 10560: (ll. 52-54)...sought her to wife. And after

golden-haired Menelaus he offered the greatest gifts of all the

suitors, and very much he desired in his heart to be the husband of

Argive Helen with the rich hair.

(ll. 55-62) And from Salamis Aias, blameless warrior, sought her to

wife, and offered fitting gifts, even wonderful deeds; for he said that

he would drive together and give the shambling oxen and strong sheep of

all those who lived in Troezen and Epidaurus near the sea, and in the

island of Aegina and in Mases, sons of the Achaeans, and shadowy Megara

and frowning Corinthus, and Hermione and Asine which lie along the sea;

for he was famous with the long spear.

(ll. 63-66) But from Euboea Elephenor, leader of men, the son of

Chalcodon, prince of the bold Abantes, sought her to wife. And he

offered very many gifts, and greatly he desired in his heart to be the

husband of rich-haired Helen.

(ll. 67-74) And from Crete the mighty Idomeneus sought her to wife,

Deucalion’s son, offspring of renowned Minos. He sent no one to woo her

in his place, but came himself in his black ship of many thwarts over

the Ogygian sea across the dark wave to the home of wise Tyndareus, to

see Argive Helen and that no one else should bring back for him the

girl whose renown spread all over the holy earth.

(l. 75) And at the prompting of Zeus the all-wise came.

((LACUNA—Thirteen lines lost.))

(ll. 89-100) But of all who came for the maid’s sake, the lord

Tyndareus sent none away, nor yet received the gift of any, but asked

of all the suitors sure oaths, and bade them swear and vow with unmixed

libations that no one else henceforth should do aught apart from him as

touching the marriage of the maid with shapely arms; but if any man

should cast off fear and reverence and take her by force, he bade all

the others together follow after and make him pay the penalty. And

they, each of them hoping to accomplish his marriage, obeyed him

without wavering. But warlike Menelaus, the son of Atreus, prevailed

against them all together, because he gave the greatest gifts.

(ll. 100-106) But Chiron was tending the son of Peleus, swift-footed

Achilles, pre-eminent among men, on woody Pelion; for he was still a

boy. For neither warlike Menelaus nor any other of men on earth would

have prevailed in suit for Helen, if fleet Achilles had found her

unwed. But, as it was, warlike Menelaus won her before.

II. 1745

(ll. 1-2) And she (Helen) bare neat-ankled Hermione in the palace, a

child unlooked for.

(ll. 2-13) Now all the gods were divided through strife; for at that

very time Zeus who thunders on high was meditating marvellous deeds,

even to mingle storm and tempest over the boundless earth, and already

he was hastening to make an utter end of the race of mortal men,

declaring that he would destroy the lives of the demi-gods, that the

children of the gods should not mate with wretched mortals, seeing

their fate with their own eyes; but that the blessed gods henceforth

even as aforetime should have their living and their habitations apart

from men. But on those who were born of immortals and of mankind verily

Zeus laid toil and sorrow upon sorrow.

((LACUNA—Two lines missing.))

(ll. 16-30)....nor any one of men.... ....should go upon black

ships.... ....to be strongest in the might of his hands.... ....of

mortal men declaring to all those things that were, and those that are,

and those that shall be, he brings to pass and glorifies the counsels

of his father Zeus who drives the clouds. For no one, either of the

blessed gods or of mortal men, knew surely that he would contrive

through the sword to send to Hades full many a one of heroes fallen in

strife. But at that time he knew not as yet the intent of his father’s

mind, and how men delight in protecting their children from doom. And

he delighted in the desire of his mighty father’s heart who rules

powerfully over men.

(ll. 31-43) From stately trees the fair leaves fell in abundance

fluttering down to the ground, and the fruit fell to the ground because

Boreas blew very fiercely at the behest of Zeus; the deep seethed and

all things trembled at his blast: the strength of mankind consumed away

and the fruit failed in the season of spring, at that time when the

Hairless One 1746 in a secret place in the mountains gets three young

every three years. In spring he dwells upon the mountain among tangled

thickets and brushwood, keeping afar from and hating the path of men,

in the glens and wooded glades. But when winter comes on, he lies in a

close cave beneath the earth and covers himself with piles of luxuriant

leaves, a dread serpent whose back is speckled with awful spots.

(ll. 44-50) But when he becomes violent and fierce unspeakably, the

arrows of Zeus lay him low.... Only his soul is left on the holy earth,

and that fits gibbering about a small unformed den. And it comes

enfeebled to sacrifices beneath the broad-pathed earth.... and it

lies....’

((LACUNA—Traces of 37 following lines.))

Fragment #69—Tzetzes 1747, Exeg. Iliad. 68. 19H: Agamemnon and Menelaus

likewise according to Hesiod and Aeschylus are regarded as the sons of

Pleisthenes, Atreus’ son. And according to Hesiod, Pleisthenes was a

son of Atreus and Aerope, and Agamemnon, Menelaus and Anaxibia were the

children of Pleisthenes and Cleolla the daughter of Dias.

Fragment #70—Laurentian Scholiast on Sophocles’ Electra, 539: ‘And she

(Helen) bare to Menelaus, famous with the spear, Hermione and her

youngest-born, Nicostratus, a scion of Ares.’

Fragment #71—Pausanias, i. 43. 1: I know that Hesiod in the _Catalogue

of Women_ represented that Iphigeneia was not killed but, by the will

of Artemis, became Hecate 1748.

Fragment #72—Eustathius, Hom. 13. 44. sq: Butes, it is said, was a son

of Poseidon: so Hesiod in the _Catalogue_.

Fragment #73—Pausanias, ii. 6. 5: Hesiod represented Sicyon as the son

of Erechtheus.

Fragment #74—Plato, Minos, p. 320. D: ‘(Minos) who was most kingly of

mortal kings and reigned over very many people dwelling round about,

holding the sceptre of Zeus wherewith he ruled many.’

Fragment #75—Hesychius 1749: The athletic contest in memory of Eurygyes

Melesagorus says that Androgeos the son of Minos was called Eurygyes,

and that a contest in his honour is held near his tomb at Athens in the

Ceramicus. And Hesiod writes: ‘And Eurygyes 1750, while yet a lad in

holy Athens...’

Fragment #76—Plutarch, Theseus 20: There are many tales.... about

Ariadne...., how that she was deserted by Theseua for love of another

woman: ‘For strong love for Aegle the daughter of Panopeus overpowered

him.’ For Hereas of Megara says that Peisistratus removed this verse

from the works of Hesiod.

Athenaeus 1751, xiii. 557 A: But Hesiod says that Theseus wedded both

Hippe and Aegle lawfully.

Fragment #77—Strabo, ix. p. 393: The snake of Cychreus: Hesiod says

that it was brought up by Cychreus, and was driven out by Eurylochus as

defiling the island, but that Demeter received it into Eleusis, and

that it became her attendant.

Fragment #78—Argument I. to the Shield of Heracles: But Apollonius of

Rhodes says that it (the _Shield of Heracles_) is Hesiod’s both from

the general character of the work and from the fact that in the

_Catalogue_ we again find Iolaus as charioteer of Heracles.

Fragment #79—Scholiast on Soph. Trach., 266: (ll. 1-6) ‘And

fair-girdled Stratonica conceived and bare in the palace Eurytus her

well-loved son. Of him sprang sons, Didaeon and Clytius and god-like

Toxeus and Iphitus, a scion of Ares. And after these Antiope the queen,

daughter of the aged son of Nauboius, bare her youngest child,

golden-haired Iolea.’

Fragment #80—Herodian in Etymologicum Magnum: ‘Who bare Autolycus and

Philammon, famous in speech.... All things that he (Autolyeus) took in

his hands, he made to disappear.’

Fragment #81—Apollonius, Hom. Lexicon: ‘Aepytus again, begot Tlesenor

and Peirithous.’

Fragment #82—Strabo, vii. p. 322: ‘For Locrus truly was leader of the

Lelegian people, whom Zeus the Son of Cronos, whose wisdom is

unfailing, gave to Deucalion, stones gathered out of the earth. So out

of stones mortal men were made, and they were called people.’ 1752

Fragment #83—Tzetzes, Schol. in Exeg. Iliad. 126: ‘...Ileus whom the

lord Apollo, son of Zeus, loved. And he named him by his name, because

he found a nymph complaisant 1753 and was joined with her in sweet

love, on that day when Poseidon and Apollo raised high the wall of the

well-built city.’

Fragment #84—Scholiast on Homer, Od. xi. 326: Clymene the daughter of

Minyas the son of Poseidon and of Euryanassa, Hyperphas’ daughter, was

wedded to Phylacus the son of Deion, and bare Iphiclus, a boy fleet of

foot. It is said of him that through his power of running he could race

the winds and could move along upon the ears of corn 1754.... The tale

is in Hesiod: ‘He would run over the fruit of the asphodel and not

break it; nay, he would run with his feet upon wheaten ears and not

hurt the fruit.’

Fragment #85—Choeroboscus 1755, i. 123, 22H: ‘And she bare a son

Thoas.’

Fragment #86—Eustathius, Hom. 1623. 44: Maro 1756, whose father, it is

said, Hesiod relates to have been Euanthes the son of Oenopion, the son

of Dionysus.

Fragment #87—Athenaeus, x. 428 B, C: ‘Such gifts as Dionysus gave to

men, a joy and a sorrow both. Who ever drinks to fullness, in him wine

becomes violent and binds together his hands and feet, his tongue also

and his wits with fetters unspeakable: and soft sleep embraces him.’

Fragment #88—Strabo, ix. p. 442: ‘Or like her (Coronis) who lived by

the holy Twin Hills in the plain of Dotium over against Amyrus rich in

grapes, and washed her feet in the Boebian lake, a maid unwed.’

Fragment #89—Scholiast on Pindar, Pyth. iii. 48: ‘To him, then, there

came a messenger from the sacred feast to goodly Pytho, a crow 1757,

and he told unshorn Phoebus of secret deeds, that Ischys son of Elatus

had wedded Coronis the daughter of Phlegyas of birth divine.

Fragment #90—Athenagoras 1758, Petition for the Christians, 29:

Concerning Asclepius Hesiod says: ‘And the father of men and gods was

wrath, and from Olympus he smote the son of Leto with a lurid

thunderbolt and killed him, arousing the anger of Phoebus.’

Fragment #91—Philodemus, On Piety, 34: But Hesiod (says that Apollo)

would have been cast by Zeus into Tartarus 1759; but Leto interceded

for him, and he became bondman to a mortal.

Fragment #92—Scholiast on Pindar, Pyth. ix. 6: ‘Or like her, beautiful

Cyrene, who dwelt in Phthia by the water of Peneus and had the beauty

of the Graces.’

Fragment #93—Servius on Vergil, Georg. i. 14: He invoked Aristaeus,

that is, the son of Apollo and Cyrene, whom Hesiod calls ‘the shepherd

Apollo.’ 1760

Fragment #94—Scholiast on Vergil, Georg. iv. 361: ‘But the water stood

all round him, bowed into the semblance of a mountain.’ This verse he

has taken over from Hesiod’s _Catalogue of Women_.

Fragment #95—Scholiast on Homer, Iliad ii. 469: ‘Or like her (Antiope)

whom Boeotian Hyria nurtured as a maid.’

Fragment #96—Palaephatus 1761, c. 42: Of Zethus and Amphion. Hesiod and

some others relate that they built the walls of Thebes by playing on

the lyre.

Fragment #97—Scholiast on Soph. Trach., 1167: (ll. 1-11) ‘There is a

land Ellopia with much glebe and rich meadows, and rich in flocks and

shambling kine. There dwell men who have many sheep and many oxen, and

they are in number past telling, tribes of mortal men. And there upon

its border is built a city, Dodona 1762; and Zeus loved it and

(appointed) it to be his oracle, reverenced by men........And they (the

doves) lived in the hollow of an oak. From them men of earth carry away

all kinds of prophecy,—whosoever fares to that spot and questions the

deathless god, and comes bringing gifts with good omens.’

Fragment #98—Berlin Papyri, No. 9777: 1763 (ll. 1-22) ‘....strife....

Of mortals who would have dared to fight him with the spear and charge

against him, save only Heracles, the great-hearted offspring of

Alcaeus? Such an one was (?) strong Meleager loved of Ares, the

golden-haired, dear son of Oeneus and Althaea. From his fierce eyes

there shone forth portentous fire: and once in high Calydon he slew the

destroying beast, the fierce wild boar with gleaming tusks. In war and

in dread strife no man of the heroes dared to face him and to approach

and fight with him when he appeared in the forefront. But he was slain

by the hands and arrows of Apollo 1764, while he was fighting with the

Curetes for pleasant Calydon. And these others (Althaea) bare to

Oeneus, Porthaon’s son; horse-taming Pheres, and Agelaus surpassing all

others, Toxeus and Clymenus and godlike Periphas, and rich-haired Gorga

and wise Deianeira, who was subject in love to mighty Heracles and bare

him Hyllus and Glenus and Ctesippus and Odites. These she bare and in

ignorance she did a fearful thing: when (she had received).... the

poisoned robe that held black doom....’

Fragment #99A—Scholiast on Homer, Iliad. xxiii. 679: And yet Hesiod

says that after he had died in Thebes, Argeia the daughter of Adrastus

together with others (cp. frag. 99) came to the lamentation over

Oedipus.

Fragment #99—1765 Papyri greci e latine, No. 131 (2nd-3rd century):

1766 (ll. 1-10) ‘And (Eriphyle) bare in the palace Alcmaon 1767,

shepherd of the people, to Amphiaraus. Him (Amphiaraus) did the Cadmean

(Theban) women with trailing robes admire when they saw face to face

his eyes and well-grown frame, as he was busied about the burying of

Oedipus, the man of many woes. ....Once the Danai, servants of Ares,

followed him to Thebes, to win renown........for Polynices. But, though

well he knew from Zeus all things ordained, the earth yawned and

swallowed him up with his horses and jointed chariot, far from

deep-eddying Alpheus.

(ll. 11-20) But Electyron married the all-beauteous daughter of Pelops

and, going up into one bed with her, the son of Perses begat........and

Phylonomus and Celaeneus and Amphimachus and........and Eurybius and

famous.... All these the Taphians, famous shipmen, slew in fight for

oxen with shambling hoofs,.... ....in ships across the sea’s wide back.

So Alcmena alone was left to delight her parents........and the

daughter of Electryon....

((LACUNA))

(l. 21)....who was subject in love to the dark-clouded son of Cronos

and bare (famous Heracles).’

Fragment #100—Argument to the Shield of Heracles, i: The beginning of

the _Shield_ as far as the 56th verse is current in the fourth

_Catalogue_

Fragment #101 (UNCERTAIN POSITION)—Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1359 fr. 1 (early

3rd cent. A.D.): ((LACUNA—Slight remains of 3 lines))

(ll. 4-17) ‘...if indeed he (Teuthras) delayed, and if he feared to

obey the word of the immortals who then appeared plainly to them. But

her (Auge) he received and brought up well, and cherished in the

palace, honouring her even as his own daughters.

And Auge bare Telephus of the stock of Areas, king of the Mysians,

being joined in love with the mighty Heracles when he was journeying in

quest of the horses of proud Laomedon—horses the fleetest of foot that

the Asian land nourished,—and destroyed in battle the tribe of the

dauntless Amazons and drove them forth from all that land. But Telephus

routed the spearmen of the bronze-clad Achaeans and made them embark

upon their black ships. Yet when he had brought down many to the ground

which nourishes men, his own might and deadliness were brought low....’

Fragment #102 (UNCERTAIN POSITION)—Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1359 fr. 2 (early

3rd cent. A.D.): ((LACUNA—Remains of 4 lines))

(ll. 5-16) ‘....Electra.... was subject to the dark-clouded Son of

Cronos and bare Dardanus.... and Eetion.... who once greatly loved

rich-haired Demeter. And cloud-gathering Zeus was wroth and smote him,

Eetion, and laid him low with a flaming thunderbolt, because he sought

to lay hands upon rich-haired Demeter. But Dardanus came to the coast

of the mainland—from him Erichthonius and thereafter Tros were sprung,

and Ilus, and Assaracus, and godlike Ganymede,—when he had left holy

Samothrace in his many-benched ship.

((LACUNA))

Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1359 fr. 3 (early 3rd cent. A.D.): (ll. 17-24)

1768....Cleopatra ....the daughter of.... ....But an eagle caught up

Ganymede for Zeus because he vied with the immortals in

beauty........rich-tressed Diomede; and she bare Hyacinthus, the

blameless one and strong........whom, on a time Phoebus himself slew

unwittingly with a ruthless disk....

THE SHIELD OF HERACLES

(ll. 1-27) Or like her who left home and country and came to Thebes,

following warlike Amphitryon,—even Alcmena, the daughter of Electyron,

gatherer of the people. She surpassed the tribe of womankind in beauty

and in height; and in wisdom none vied with her of those whom mortal

women bare of union with mortal men. Her face and her dark eyes wafted

such charm as comes from golden Aphrodite. And she so honoured her

husband in her heart as none of womankind did before her. Verily he had

slain her noble father violently when he was angry about oxen; so he

left his own country and came to Thebes and was suppliant to the

shield-carrying men of Cadmus. There he dwelt with his modest wife

without the joys of love, nor might he go in unto the neat-ankled

daughter of Electyron until he had avenged the death of his wife’s

great-hearted brothers and utterly burned with blazing fire the

villages of the heroes, the Taphians and Teleboans; for this thing was

laid upon him, and the gods were witnesses to it. And he feared their

anger, and hastened to perform the great task to which Zeus had bound

him. With him went the horse-driving Boeotians, breathing above their

shields, and the Locrians who fight hand to hand, and the gallant

Phocians eager for war and battle. And the noble son of Alcaeus led

them, rejoicing in his host.

(ll. 27-55) But the father of men and gods was forming another scheme

in his heart, to beget one to defend against destruction gods and men

who eat bread. So he arose from Olympus by night pondering guile in the

deep of his heart, and yearned for the love of the well-girded woman.

Quickly he came to Typhaonium, and from there again wise Zeus went on

and trod the highest peak of Phicium 1801: there he sat and planned

marvellous things in his heart. So in one night Zeus shared the bed and

love of the neat-ankled daughter of Electyron and fulfilled his desire;

and in the same night Amphitryon, gatherer of the people, the glorious

hero, came to his house when he had ended his great task. He hastened

not to go to his bondmen and shepherds afield, but first went in unto

his wife: such desire took hold on the shepherd of the people. And as a

man who has escaped joyfully from misery, whether of sore disease or

cruel bondage, so then did Amphitryon, when he had wound up all his

heavy task, come glad and welcome to his home. And all night long he

lay with his modest wife, delighting in the gifts of golden Aphrodite.

And she, being subject in love to a god and to a man exceeding goodly,

brought forth twin sons in seven-gated Thebe. Though they were

brothers, these were not of one spirit; for one was weaker but the

other a far better man, one terrible and strong, the mighty Heracles.

Him she bare through the embrace of the son of Cronos lord of dark

clouds and the other, Iphiclus, of Amphitryon the

spear-wielder—offspring distinct, this one of union with a mortal man,

but that other of union with Zeus, leader of all the gods.

(ll. 57-77) And he slew Cycnus, the gallant son of Ares. For he found

him in the close of far-shooting Apollo, him and his father Ares, never

sated with war. Their armour shone like a flame of blazing fire as they

two stood in their car: their swift horses struck the earth and pawed

it with their hoofs, and the dust rose like smoke about them, pounded

by the chariot wheels and the horses’ hoofs, while the well-made

chariot and its rails rattled around them as the horses plunged. And

blameless Cycnus was glad, for he looked to slay the warlike son of

Zeus and his charioteer with the sword, and to strip off their splendid

armour. But Phoebus Apollo would not listen to his vaunts, for he

himself had stirred up mighty Heracles against him. And all the grove

and altar of Pagasaean Apollo flamed because of the dread god and

because of his arms; for his eyes flashed as with fire. What mortal men

would have dared to meet him face to face save Heracles and glorious

Iolaus? For great was their strength and unconquerable were the arms

which grew from their shoulders on their strong limbs. Then Heracles

spake to his charioteer strong Iolaus:

(ll. 78-94) ‘O hero Iolaus, best beloved of all men, truly Amphitryon

sinned deeply against the blessed gods who dwell on Olympus when he

came to sweet-crowned Thebe and left Tiryns, the well-built citadel,

because he slew Electryon for the sake of his wide-browned oxen. Then

he came to Creon and long-robed Eniocha, who received him kindly and

gave him all fitting things, as is due to suppliants, and honoured him

in their hearts even more. And he lived joyfully with his wife the

neat-ankled daughter of Electyron: and presently, while the years

rolled on, we were born, unlike in body as in mind, even your father

and I. From him Zeus took away sense, so that he left his home and his

parents and went to do honour to the wicked Eurystheus—unhappy man!

Deeply indeed did he grieve afterwards in bearing the burden of his own

mad folly; but that cannot be taken back. But on me fate laid heavy

tasks.

(ll. 95-101) ‘Yet, come, friend, quickly take the red-dyed reins of the

swift horses and raise high courage in your heart and guide the swift

chariot and strong fleet-footed horses straight on. Have no secret fear

at the noise of man-slaying Ares who now rages shouting about the holy

grove of Phoebus Apollo, the lord who shoots form afar. Surely, strong

though he be, he shall have enough of war.’

(ll. 102-114) And blameless Iolaus answered him again: ‘Good friend,

truly the father of men and gods greatly honours your head and the

bull-like Earth-Shaker also, who keeps Thebe’s veil of walls and guards

the city,—so great and strong is this fellow they bring into your hands

that you may win great glory. But come, put on your arms of war that

with all speed we may bring the car of Ares and our own together and

fight; for he shall not frighten the dauntless son of Zeus, nor yet the

son of Iphiclus: rather, I think he will flee before the two sons of

blameless Alcides who are near him and eager to raise the war cry for

battle; for this they love better than a feast.’

(ll. 115-117) So he said. And mighty Heracles was glad in heart and

smiled, for the other’s words pleased him well, and he answered him

with winged words:

(ll. 118-121) ‘O hero Iolaus, heaven-sprung, now is rough battle hard

at hand. But, as you have shown your skill at other-times, so now also

wheel the great black-maned horse Arion about every way, and help me as

you may be able.’

(ll. 122-138) So he said, and put upon his legs greaves of shining

bronze, the splendid gift of Hephaestus. Next he fastened about his

breast a fine golden breast-plate, curiously wrought, which Pallas

Athene the daughter of Zeus had given him when first he was about to

set out upon his grievous labours. Over his shoulders the fierce

warrior put the steel that saves men from doom, and across his breast

he slung behind him a hollow quiver. Within it were many chilling

arrows, dealers of death which makes speech forgotten: in front they

had death, and trickled with tears; their shafts were smooth and very

long; and their butts were covered with feathers of a brown eagle. And

he took his strong spear, pointed with shining bronze, and on his

valiant head set a well-made helm of adamant, cunningly wrought, which

fitted closely on the temples; and that guarded the head of god-like

Heracles.

(ll. 139-153) In his hands he took his shield, all glittering: no one

ever broke it with a blow or crushed it. And a wonder it was to see;

for its whole orb was a-shimmer with enamel and white ivory and

electrum, and it glowed with shining gold; and there were zones of

cyanus 1802 drawn upon it. In the centre was Fear worked in adamant,

unspeakable, staring backwards with eyes that glowed with fire. His

mouth was full of teeth in a white row, fearful and daunting, and upon

his grim brow hovered frightful Strife who arrays the throng of men:

pitiless she, for she took away the mind and senses of poor wretches

who made war against the son of Zeus. Their souls passed beneath the

earth and went down into the house of Hades; but their bones, when the

skin is rotted about them, crumble away on the dark earth under

parching Sirius.

(ll. 154-160) Upon the shield Pursuit and Flight were wrought, and

Tumult, and Panic, and Slaughter. Strife also, and Uproar were hurrying

about, and deadly Fate was there holding one man newly wounded, and

another unwounded; and one, who was dead, she was dragging by the feet

through the tumult. She had on her shoulders a garment red with the

blood of men, and terribly she glared and gnashed her teeth.

(ll. 160-167) And there were heads of snakes unspeakably frightful,

twelve of them; and they used to frighten the tribes of men on earth

whosoever made war against the son of Zeus; for they would clash their

teeth when Amphitryon’s son was fighting: and brightly shone these

wonderful works. And it was as though there were spots upon the

frightful snakes: and their backs were dark blue and their jaws were

black.

(ll. 168-177) Also there were upon the shield droves of boars and lions

who glared at each other, being furious and eager: the rows of them

moved on together, and neither side trembled but both bristled up their

manes. For already a great lion lay between them and two boars, one on

either side, bereft of life, and their dark blood was dripping down

upon the ground; they lay dead with necks outstretched beneath the grim

lions. And both sides were roused still more to fight because they were

angry, the fierce boars and the bright-eyed lions.

(ll. 178-190) And there was the strife of the Lapith spearmen gathered

round the prince Caeneus and Dryas and Peirithous, with Hopleus,

Exadius, Phalereus, and Prolochus, Mopsus the son of Ampyce of

Titaresia, a scion of Ares, and Theseus, the son of Aegeus, like unto

the deathless gods. These were of silver, and had armour of gold upon

their bodies. And the Centaurs were gathered against them on the other

side with Petraeus and Asbolus the diviner, Arctus, and Ureus, and

black-haired Mimas, and the two sons of silver, and they had pinetrees

of gold in their hands, and they were rushing together as though they

were alive and striking at one another hand to hand with spears and

with pines.

(ll. 191-196) And on the shield stood the fleet-footed horses of grim

Ares made gold, and deadly Ares the spoil-winner himself. He held a

spear in his hands and was urging on the footmen: he was red with blood

as if he were slaying living men, and he stood in his chariot. Beside

him stood Fear and Flight, eager to plunge amidst the fighting men.

(ll. 197-200) There, too, was the daughter of Zeus, Tritogeneia who

drives the spoil 1803. She was like as if she would array a battle,

with a spear in her hand, and a golden helmet, and the aegis about her

shoulders. And she was going towards the awful strife.

(ll. 201-206) And there was the holy company of the deathless gods: and

in the midst the son of Zeus and Leto played sweetly on a golden lyre.

There also was the abode of the gods, pure Olympus, and their assembly,

and infinite riches were spread around in the gathering, the Muses of

Pieria were beginning a song like clear-voiced singers.

(ll. 207-215) And on the shield was a harbour with a safe haven from

the irresistible sea, made of refined tin wrought in a circle, and it

seemed to heave with waves. In the middle of it were many dolphins

rushing this way and that, fishing: and they seemed to be swimming. Two

dolphins of silver were spouting and devouring the mute fishes. And

beneath them fishes of bronze were trembling. And on the shore sat a

fisherman watching: in his hands he held a casting net for fish, and

seemed as if about to cast it forth.

(ll. 216-237) There, too, was the son of rich-haired Danae, the

horseman Perseus: his feet did not touch the shield and yet were not

far from it—very marvellous to remark, since he was not supported

anywhere; for so did the famous Lame One fashion him of gold with his

hands. On his feet he had winged sandals, and his black-sheathed sword

was slung across his shoulders by a cross-belt of bronze. He was flying

swift as thought. The head of a dreadful monster, the Gorgon, covered

the broad of his back, and a bag of silver—a marvel to see—contained

it: and from the bag bright tassels of gold hung down. Upon the head of

the hero lay the dread cap 1804 of Hades which had the awful gloom of

night. Perseus himself, the son of Danae, was at full stretch, like one

who hurries and shudders with horror. And after him rushed the Gorgons,

unapproachable and unspeakable, longing to seize him: as they trod upon

the pale adamant, the shield rang sharp and clear with a loud clanging.

Two serpents hung down at their girdles with heads curved forward:

their tongues were flickering, and their teeth gnashing with fury, and

their eyes glaring fiercely. And upon the awful heads of the Gorgons

great Fear was quaking.

(ll. 237-270) And beyond these there were men fighting in warlike

harness, some defending their own town and parents from destruction,

and others eager to sack it; many lay dead, but the greater number

still strove and fought. The women on well-built towers of bronze were

crying shrilly and tearing their cheeks like living beings—the work of

famous Hephaestus. And the men who were elders and on whom age had laid

hold were all together outside the gates, and were holding up their

hands to the blessed gods, fearing for their own sons. But these again

were engaged in battle: and behind them the dusky Fates, gnashing their

white fangs, lowering, grim, bloody, and unapproachable, struggled for

those who were falling, for they all were longing to drink dark blood.

So soon as they caught a man overthrown or falling newly wounded, one

of them would clasp her great claws about him, and his soul would go

down to Hades to chilly Tartarus. And when they had satisfied their

souls with human blood, they would cast that one behind them, and rush

back again into the tumult and the fray. Clotho and Lachesis were over

them and Atropos less tall than they, a goddess of no great frame, yet

superior to the others and the eldest of them. And they all made a

fierce fight over one poor wretch, glaring evilly at one another with

furious eyes and fighting equally with claws and hands. By them stood

Darkness of Death, mournful and fearful, pale, shrivelled, shrunk with

hunger, swollen-kneed. Long nails tipped her hands, and she dribbled at

the nose, and from her cheeks blood dripped down to the ground. She

stood leering hideously, and much dust sodden with tears lay upon her

shoulders.

(ll. 270-285) Next, there was a city of men with goodly towers; and

seven gates of gold, fitted to the lintels, guarded it. The men were

making merry with festivities and dances; some were bringing home a

bride to her husband on a well-wheeled car, while the bridal-song

swelled high, and the glow of blazing torches held by handmaidens

rolled in waves afar. And these maidens went before, delighting in the

festival; and after them came frolicsome choirs, the youths singing

soft-mouthed to the sound of shrill pipes, while the echo was shivered

around them, and the girls led on the lovely dance to the sound of

lyres. Then again on the other side was a rout of young men revelling,

with flutes playing; some frolicking with dance and song, and others

were going forward in time with a flute player and laughing. The whole

town was filled with mirth and dance and festivity.

(ll. 285-304) Others again were mounted on horseback and galloping

before the town. And there were ploughmen breaking up the good soil,

clothed in tunics girt up. Also there was a wide cornland and some men

were reaping with sharp hooks the stalks which bended with the weight

of the cars—as if they were reaping Demeter’s grain: others were

binding the sheaves with bands and were spreading the threshing floor.

And some held reaping hooks and were gathering the vintage, while

others were taking from the reapers into baskets white and black

clusters from the long rows of vines which were heavy with leaves and

tendrils of silver. Others again were gathering them into baskets.

Beside them was a row of vines in gold, the splendid work of cunning

Hephaestus: it had shivering leaves and stakes of silver and was laden

with grapes which turned black 1805. And there were men treading out

the grapes and others drawing off liquor. Also there were men boxing

and wrestling, and huntsmen chasing swift hares with a leash of

sharp-toothed dogs before them, they eager to catch the hares, and the

hares eager to escape.

(ll 305-313) Next to them were horsemen hard set, and they contended

and laboured for a prize. The charioteers standing on their well-woven

cars, urged on their swift horses with loose rein; the jointed cars

flew along clattering and the naves of the wheels shrieked loudly. So

they were engaged in an unending toil, and the end with victory came

never to them, and the contest was ever unwon. And there was set out

for them within the course a great tripod of gold, the splendid work of

cunning Hephaestus.

(ll. 314-317) And round the rim Ocean was flowing, with a full stream

as it seemed, and enclosed all the cunning work of the shield. Over it

swans were soaring and calling loudly, and many others were swimming

upon the surface of the water; and near them were shoals of fish.

(ll. 318-326) A wonderful thing the great strong shield was to see—even

for Zeus the loud-thunderer, by whose will Hephaestus made it and

fitted it with his hands. This shield the valiant son of Zeus wielded

masterly, and leaped upon his horse-chariot like the lightning of his

father Zeus who holds the aegis, moving lithely. And his charioteer,

strong Iolaus, standing upon the car, guided the curved chariot.

(ll. 327-337) Then the goddess grey-eyed Athene came near them and

spoke winged words, encouraging them: ‘Hail, offspring of far-famed

Lynceus! Even now Zeus who reigns over the blessed gods gives you power

to slay Cycnus and to strip off his splendid armour. Yet I will tell

you something besides, mightiest of the people. When you have robbed

Cycnus of sweet life, then leave him there and his armour also, and you

yourself watch man-slaying Ares narrowly as he attacks, and wherever

you shall see him uncovered below his cunningly-wrought shield, there

wound him with your sharp spear. Then draw back; for it is not ordained

that you should take his horses or his splendid armour.’

(ll. 338-349) So said the bright-eyed goddess and swiftly got up into

the car with victory and renown in her hands. Then heaven-nurtured

Iolaus called terribly to the horses, and at his cry they swiftly

whirled the fleet chariot along, raising dust from the plain; for the

goddess bright-eyed Athene put mettle into them by shaking her aegis.

And the earth groaned all round them.

And they, horse-taming Cycnus and Ares, insatiable in war, came on

together like fire or whirlwind. Then their horses neighed shrilly,

face to face; and the echo was shivered all round them. And mighty

Heracles spoke first and said to that other:

(ll. 350-367) ‘Cycnus, good sir! Why, pray, do you set your swift

horses at us, men who are tried in labour and pain? Nay, guide your

fleet car aside and yield and go out of the path. It is to Trachis I am

driving on, to Ceyx the king, who is the first in Trachis for power and

for honour, and that you yourself know well, for you have his daughter

dark-eyed Themistinoe to wife. Fool! For Ares shall not deliver you

from the end of death, if we two meet together in battle. Another time

ere this I declare he has made trial of my spear, when he defended

sandy Pylos and stood against me, fiercely longing for fight. Thrice

was he stricken by my spear and dashed to earth, and his shield was

pierced; but the fourth time I struck his thigh, laying on with all my

strength, and tare deep into his flesh. And he fell headlong in the

dust upon the ground through the force of my spear-thrust; then truly

he would have been disgraced among the deathless gods, if by my hands

he had left behind his bloody spoils.’

(ll. 368-385) So said he. But Cycnus the stout spearman cared not to

obey him and to pull up the horses that drew his chariot. Then it was

that from their well-woven cars they both leaped straight to the

ground, the son of Zeus and the son of the Lord of War. The charioteers

drove near by their horses with beautiful manes, and the wide earth

rang with the beat of their hoofs as they rushed along. As when rocks

leap forth from the high peak of a great mountain, and fall on one

another, and many towering oaks and pines and long-rooted poplars are

broken by them as they whirl swiftly down until they reach the plain;

so did they fall on one another with a great shout: and all the town of

the Myrmidons, and famous Iolcus, and Arne, and Helice, and grassy

Anthea echoed loudly at the voice of the two. With an awful cry they

closed: and wise Zeus thundered loudly and rained down drops of blood,

giving the signal for battle to his dauntless son.

(ll. 386-401) As a tusked boar, that is fearful for a man to see before

him in the glens of a mountain, resolves to fight with the huntsmen and

white tusks, turning sideways, while foam flows all round his mouth as

he gnashes, and his eyes are like glowing fire, and he bristles the

hair on his mane and around his neck—like him the son of Zeus leaped

from his horse-chariot. And when the dark-winged whirring grasshopper,

perched on a green shoot, begins to sing of summer to men—his food and

drink is the dainty dew—and all day long from dawn pours forth his

voice in the deadliest heat, when Sirius scorches the flesh (then the

beard grows upon the millet which men sow in summer), when the crude

grapes which Dionysus gave to men—a joy and a sorrow both—begin to

colour, in that season they fought and loud rose the clamour.

(ll. 402-412) As two lions 1806 on either side of a slain deer spring

at one another in fury, and there is a fearful snarling and a clashing

also of teeth—like vultures with crooked talons and hooked beak that

fight and scream aloud on a high rock over a mountain goat or fat

wild-deer which some active man has shot with an arrow from the string,

and himself has wandered away elsewhere, not knowing the place; but

they quickly mark it and vehemently do keen battle about it—like these

they two rushed upon one another with a shout.

(ll. 413-423) Then Cycnus, eager to kill the son of almighty Zeus,

struck upon his shield with a brazen spear, but did not break the

bronze; and the gift of the god saved his foe. But the son of

Amphitryon, mighty Heracles, with his long spear struck Cycnus

violently in the neck beneath the chin, where it was unguarded between

helm and shield. And the deadly spear cut through the two sinews; for

the hero’s full strength lighted on his foe. And Cycnus fell as an oak

falls or a lofty pine that is stricken by the lurid thunderbolt of

Zeus; even so he fell, and his armour adorned with bronze clashed about

him.

(ll. 424-442) Then the stout hearted son of Zeus let him be, and

himself watched for the onset of manslaying Ares: fiercely he stared,

like a lion who has come upon a body and full eagerly rips the hide

with his strong claws and takes away the sweet life with all speed: his

dark heart is filled with rage and his eyes glare fiercely, while he

tears up the earth with his paws and lashes his flanks and shoulders

with his tail so that no one dares to face him and go near to give

battle. Even so, the son of Amphitryon, unsated of battle, stood

eagerly face to face with Ares, nursing courage in his heart. And Ares

drew near him with grief in his heart; and they both sprang at one

another with a cry. As it is when a rock shoots out from a great cliff

and whirls down with long bounds, careering eagerly with a roar, and a

high crag clashes with it and keeps it there where they strike

together; with no less clamour did deadly Ares, the chariot-borne, rush

shouting at Heracles. And he quickly received the attack.

(ll. 443-449) But Athene the daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus came to

meet Ares, wearing the dark aegis, and she looked at him with an angry

frown and spoke winged words to him. ‘Ares, check your fierce anger and

matchless hands; for it is not ordained that you should kill Heracles,

the bold-hearted son of Zeus, and strip off his rich armour. Come,

then, cease fighting and do not withstand me.’

(ll. 450-466) So said she, but did not move the courageous spirit of

Ares. But he uttered a great shout and waving his spears like fire, he

rushed headlong at strong Heracles, longing to kill him, and hurled a

brazen spear upon the great shield, for he was furiously angry because

of his dead son; but bright-eyed Athene reached out from the car and

turned aside the force of the spear.

Then bitter grief seized Ares and he drew his keen sword and leaped

upon bold-hearted Heracles. But as he came on, the son of Amphitryon,

unsated of fierce battle, shrewdly wounded his thigh where it was

exposed under his richly-wrought shield, and tare deep into his flesh

with the spear-thrust and cast him flat upon the ground. And Panic and

Dread quickly drove his smooth-wheeled chariot and horses near him and

lifted him from the wide-pathed earth into his richly-wrought car, and

then straight lashed the horses and came to high Olympus.

(ll. 467-471) But the son of Alcmena and glorious Iolaus stripped the

fine armour off Cycnus’ shoulders and went, and their swift horses

carried them straight to the city of Trachis. And bright-eyed Athene

went thence to great Olympus and her father’s house.

(ll. 472-480) As for Cycnus, Ceyx buried him and the countless people

who lived near the city of the glorious king, in Anthe and the city of

the Myrmidons, and famous Iolcus, and Arne, and Helice: and much people

were gathered doing honour to Ceyx, the friend of the blessed gods. But

Anaurus, swelled by a rain-storm, blotted out the grave and memorial of

Cycnus; for so Apollo, Leto’s son, commanded him, because he used to

watch for and violently despoil the rich hecatombs that any might bring

to Pytho.

THE MARRIAGE OF CEYX

Fragment #1—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 128: Hesiod in the

“Marriage of Ceyx” says that he (Heracles) landed (from the Argo) to

look for water and was left behind in Magnesia near the place called

Aphetae because of his desertion there.

Fragment #2—Zenobius 1901, ii. 19: Hesiod used the proverb in the

following way: Heracles is represented as having constantly visited the

house of Ceyx of Trachis and spoken thus: ‘Of their own selves the good

make for the feasts of good.’

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Homer, Il. xiv. 119: ‘And horse-driving Ceyx

beholding...’

Fragment #4—Athenaeus, ii. p. 49b: Hesiod in the “Marriage of Ceyx”—for

though grammar-school boys alienate it from the poet, yet I consider

the poem ancient—calls the tables tripods.

Fragment #5—Gregory of Corinth, On Forms of Speech (Rhett. Gr. vii.

776): ‘But when they had done with desire for the equal-shared feast,

even then they brought from the forest the mother of a mother (sc.

wood), dry and parched, to be slain by her own children’ (sc. to be

burnt in the flames).

THE GREAT EOIAE

Fragment #1—Pausanius, ii. 26. 3: Epidaurus. According to the opinion

of the Argives and the epic poem, the _Great Eoiae_, Argos the son of

Zeus was father of Epidaurus.

Fragment #2—Anonymous Comment. on Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, iii.

7: And, they say, Hesiod is sufficient to prove that the word PONEROS

(bad) has the same sense as ‘laborious’ or ‘ill-fated’; for in the

_Great Eoiae_ he represents Alcmene as saying to Heracles: ‘My son,

truly Zeus your father begot you to be the most toilful as the most

excellent...’; and again: ‘The Fates (made) you the most toilful and

the most excellent...’

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Pindar, Isthm. v. 53: The story has been taken

from the _Great Eoiae_; for there we find Heracles entertained by

Telamon, standing dressed in his lion-skin and praying, and there also

we find the eagle sent by Zeus, from which Aias took his name 2001.

Fragment #4—Pausanias, iv. 2. 1: But I know that the so-called _Great

Eoiae_ say that Polycaon the son of Butes married Euaechme, daughter of

Hyllus, Heracles’ son.

Fragment #5—Pausanias, ix. 40. 6: ‘And Phylas wedded Leipephile the

daughter of famous Iolaus: and she was like the Olympians in beauty.

She bare him a son Hippotades in the palace, and comely Thero who was

like the beams of the moon. And Thero lay in the embrace of Apollo and

bare horse-taming Chaeron of hardy strength.’

Fragment #6—Scholiast on Pindar, Pyth. iv. 35: ‘Or like her in Hyria,

careful-minded Mecionice, who was joined in the love of golden

Aphrodite with the Earth-holder and Earth-Shaker, and bare Euphemus.’

Fragment #7—Pausanias, ix. 36. 7: ‘And Hyettus killed Molurus the dear

son of Aristas in his house because he lay with his wife. Then he left

his home and fled from horse-rearing Argos and came to Minyan

Orchomenus. And the hero received him and gave him a portion of his

goods, as was fitting.’

Fragment #8—Pausanias, ii. 2. 3: But in the _Great Eoiae_ Peirene is

represented to be the daughter of Oebalius.

Fragment #9—Pausanias, ii. 16. 4: The epic poem, which the Greek call

the _Great Eoiae_, says that she (Mycene) was the daughter of Inachus

and wife of Arestor: from her, then, it is said, the city received its

name.

Fragment #10—Pausanias, vi. 21. 10: According to the poem the _Great

Eoiae_, these were killed by Oenomaus 2002: Alcathous the son of

Porthaon next after Marmax, and after Alcathous, Euryalus, Eurymachus

and Crotalus. The man killed next after them, Aerias, we should judge

to have been a Lacedemonian and founder of Aeria. And after Acrias,

they say, Capetus was done to death by Oenomaus, and Lycurgus, Lasius,

Chalcodon and Tricolonus.... And after Tricolonus fate overtook

Aristomachus and Prias on the course, as also Pelagon and Aeolius and

Cronius.

Fragment #11—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 57: In the

_Great Eoiae_ it is said that Endymion was transported by Zeus into

heaven, but when he fell in love with Hera, was befooled with a shape

of cloud, and was cast out and went down into Hades.

Fragment #12—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 118: In the

_Great Eoiae_ it is related that Melampus, who was very dear to Apollo,

went abroad and stayed with Polyphantes. But when the king had

sacrificed an ox, a serpent crept up to the sacrifice and destroyed his

servants. At this the king was angry and killed the serpent, but

Melampus took and buried it. And its offspring, brought up by him, used

to lick his ears and inspire him with prophecy. And so, when he was

caught while trying to steal the cows of Iphiclus and taken bound to

the city of Aegina, and when the house, in which Iphiclus was, was

about to fall, he told an old woman, one of the servants of Iphiclus,

and in return was released.

Fragment #13—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 828: In the

_Great Eoiae_ Scylla is the daughter of Phoebus and Hecate.

Fragment #14—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. ii. 181: Hesiod in

the _Great Eoiae_ says that Phineus was blinded because he told Phrixus

the way 2003.

Fragment #15—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. ii. 1122: Argus.

This is one of the children of Phrixus. These.... ....Hesiod in the

_Great Eoiae_ says were born of Iophossa the daughter of Aeetes. And he

says there were four of them, Argus, Phrontis, Melas, and Cytisorus.

Fragment #16—Antoninus Liberalis, xxiii: Battus. Hesiod tells the story

in the _Great Eoiae_.... ....Magnes was the son of Argus, the son of

Phrixus and Perimele, Admetus’ daughter, and lived in the region of

Thessaly, in the land which men called after him Magnesia. He had a son

of remarkable beauty, Hymenaeus. And when Apollo saw the boy, he was

seized with love for him, and would not leave the house of Magnes. Then

Hermes made designs on Apollo’s herd of cattle which were grazing in

the same place as the cattle of Admetus. First he cast upon the dogs

which were guarding them a stupor and strangles, so that the dogs

forgot the cows and lost the power of barking. Then he drove away

twelve heifers and a hundred cows never yoked, and the bull who mounted

the cows, fastening to the tail of each one brushwood to wipe out the

footmarks of the cows.

He drove them through the country of the Pelasgi, and Achaea in the

land of Phthia, and through Locris, and Boeotia and Megaris, and thence

into Peloponnesus by way of Corinth and Larissa, until he brought them

to Tegea. From there he went on by the Lycaean mountains, and past

Maenalus and what are called the watch-posts of Battus. Now this Battus

used to live on the top of the rock and when he heard the voice of the

heifers as they were being driven past, he came out from his own place,

and knew that the cattle were stolen. So he asked for a reward to tell

no one about them. Hermes promised to give it him on these terms, and

Battus swore to say nothing to anyone about the cattle. But when Hermes

had hidden them in the cliff by Coryphasium, and had driven them into a

cave facing towards Italy and Sicily, he changed himself and came again

to Battus and tried whether he would be true to him as he had vowed.

So, offering him a robe as a reward, he asked of him whether he had

noticed stolen cattle being driven past. And Battus took the robe and

told him about the cattle. But Hermes was angry because he was

double-tongued, and struck him with his staff and changed him into a

rock. And either frost or heat never leaves him 2004.

THE MELAMPODIA

Fragment #1—Strabo, xiv. p. 642: It is said that Calchis the seer

returned from Troy with Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus and came on

foot to this place 2101. But happening to find near Clarus a seer

greater than himself, Mopsus, the son of Manto, Teiresias’ daughter, he

died of vexation. Hesiod, indeed, works up the story in some form as

this: Calchas set Mopsus the following problem:

‘I am filled with wonder at the quantity of figs this wild fig-tree

bears though it is so small. Can you tell their number?’

And Mopsus answered: ‘Ten thousand is their number, and their measure

is a bushel: one fig is left over, which you would not be able to put

into the measure.’

So said he; and they found the reckoning of the measure true. Then did

the end of death shroud Calchas.

Fragment #2—Tzetzes on Lycophron, 682: But now he is speaking of

Teiresias, since it is said that he lived seven generations—though

others say nine. He lived from the times of Cadmus down to those of

Eteocles and Polyneices, as the author of “Melampodia” also says: for

he introduces Teiresias speaking thus:

‘Father Zeus, would that you had given me a shorter span of life to be

mine and wisdom of heart like that of mortal men! But now you have

honoured me not even a little, though you ordained me to have a long

span of life, and to live through seven generations of mortal kind.’

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Homer, Odyssey, x. 494: They say that

Teiresias saw two snakes mating on Cithaeron and that, when he killed

the female, he was changed into a woman, and again, when he killed the

male, took again his own nature. This same Teiresias was chosen by Zeus

and Hera to decide the question whether the male or the female has most

pleasure in intercourse. And he said:

‘Of ten parts a man enjoys only one; but a woman’s sense enjoys all ten

in full.’

For this Hera was angry and blinded him, but Zeus gave him the seer’s

power.

Fragment #4—2102 Athenaeus, ii. p. 40: ‘For pleasant it is at a feast

and rich banquet to tell delightful tales, when men have had enough of

feasting;...’

Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis vi. 2 26: ‘...and pleasant also it is

to know a clear token of ill or good amid all the signs that the

deathless ones have given to mortal men.’

Fragment #5—Athenaeus, xi. 498. A: ‘And Mares, swift messenger, came to

him through the house and brought a silver goblet which he had filled,

and gave it to the lord.’

Fragment #6—Athenaeus, xi. 498. B: ‘And then Mantes took in his hands

the ox’s halter and Iphiclus lashed him upon the back. And behind him,

with a cup in one hand and a raised sceptre in the other, walked

Phylacus and spake amongst the bondmen.’

Fragment #7—Athenaeus, xiii. p. 609 e: Hesiod in the third book of the

“Melampodia” called Chalcis in Euboea ‘the land of fair women’.

Fragment #8—Strabo, xiv. p. 676: But Hesiod says that Amphilochus was

killed by Apollo at Soli.

Fragment #9—Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, v. p. 259: ‘And now

there is no seer among mortal men such as would know the mind of Zeus

who holds the aegis.’

AEGIMIUS

Fragment #1—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iii. 587: But the

author of the “Aegimius” says that he (Phrixus) was received without

intermediary because of the fleece 2201. He says that after the

sacrifice he purified the fleece and so: ‘Holding the fleece he walked

into the halls of Aeetes.’

Fragment #2—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 816: The author

of the “Aegimius” says in the second book that Thetis used to throw the

children she had by Peleus into a cauldron of water, because she wished

to learn where they were mortal.... ....And that after many had

perished Peleus was annoyed, and prevented her from throwing Achilles

into the cauldron.

Fragment #3—Apollodorus, ii. 1.3.1: Hesiod and Acusilaus say that she

(Io) was the daughter of Peiren. While she was holding the office of

priestess of Hera, Zeus seduced her, and being discovered by Hera,

touched the girl and changed her into a white cow, while he swore that

he had no intercourse with her. And so Hesiod says that oaths touching

the matter of love do not draw down anger from the gods: ‘And

thereafter he ordained that an oath concerning the secret deeds of the

Cyprian should be without penalty for men.’

Fragment #4—Herodian in Stephanus of Byzantium: ‘(Zeus changed Io) in

the fair island Abantis, which the gods, who are eternally, used to

call Abantis aforetime, but Zeus then called it Euboea after the cow.’

2202

Fragment #5—Scholiast on Euripides, Phoen. 1116: ‘And (Hera) set a

watcher upon her (Io), great and strong Argus, who with four eyes looks

every way. And the goddess stirred in him unwearying strength: sleep

never fell upon his eyes; but he kept sure watch always.’

Fragment #6—Scholiast on Homer, Il. xxiv. 24: ‘Slayer of Argus’.

According to Hesiod’s tale he (Hermes) slew (Argus) the herdsman of Io.

Fragment #7—Athenaeus, xi. p. 503: And the author of the “Aegimius”,

whether he is Hesiod or Cercops of Miletus (says): ‘There, some day,

shall be my place of refreshment, O leader of the people.’

Fragment #8—Etym. Gen.: Hesiod (says there were so called) because they

settled in three groups: ‘And they all were called the Three-fold

people, because they divided in three the land far from their country.’

For (he says) that three Hellenic tribes settled in Crete, the Pelasgi,

Achaeans and Dorians. And these have been called Three-fold People.

FRAGMENTS OF UNKNOWN POSITION

Fragment #1—Diogenes Laertius, viii. 1. 26: 2301 ‘So Urania bare Linus,

a very lovely son: and him all men who are singers and harpers do

bewail at feasts and dances, and as they begin and as they end they

call on Linus....’

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i. p. 121: ‘....who was skilled in all

manner of wisdom.’

Fragment #2—Scholiast on Homer, Odyssey, iv. 232: ‘Unless Phoebus

Apollo should save him from death, or Paean himself who knows the

remedies for all things.’

Fragment #3—Clement of Alexandria, Protrept, c. vii. p. 21: ‘For he

alone is king and lord of all the undying gods, and no other vies with

him in power.’

Fragment #4—Anecd. Oxon (Cramer), i. p. 148: ‘(To cause?) the gifts of

the blessed gods to come near to earth.’

Fragment #5—Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i. p. 123: ‘Of the Muses who

make a man very wise, marvellous in utterance.’

Fragment #6—Strabo, x. p. 471: ‘But of them (sc. the daughters of

Hecaterus) were born the divine mountain Nymphs and the tribe of

worthless, helpless Satyrs, and the divine Curetes, sportive dancers.’

Fragment #7—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 824: ‘Beseeching

the offspring of glorious Cleodaeus.’

Fragment #8—Suidas, s.v.: ‘For the Olympian gave might to the sons of

Aeacus, and wisdom to the sons of Amythaon, and wealth to the sons of

Atreus.’

Fragment #9—Scholiast on Homer, Iliad, xiii. 155: ‘For through his lack

of wood the timber of the ships rotted.’

Fragment #10—Etymologicum Magnum: ‘No longer do they walk with delicate

feet.’

Fragment #11—Scholiast on Homer, Iliad, xxiv. 624: ‘First of all they

roasted (pieces of meat), and drew them carefully off the spits.’

Fragment #12—Chrysippus, Fragg. ii. 254. 11: ‘For his spirit increased

in his dear breast.’

Fragment #13—Chrysippus, Fragg. ii. 254. 15: ‘With such heart grieving

anger in her breast.’

Fragment #14—Strabo, vii. p. 327: ‘He went to Dodona and the oak-grove,

the dwelling place of the Pelasgi.’

Fragment #15—Anecd. Oxon (Cramer), iii. p. 318. not.: ‘With the

pitiless smoke of black pitch and of cedar.’

Fragment #16—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 757: ‘But he

himself in the swelling tide of the rain-swollen river.’

Fragment #17—Stephanus of Byzantium: (The river) Parthenius, ‘Flowing

as softly as a dainty maiden goes.’

Fragment #18—Scholiast on Theocritus, xi. 75: ‘Foolish the man who

leaves what he has, and follows after what he has not.’

Fragment #19—Harpocration: ‘The deeds of the young, the counsels of the

middle-aged, and the prayers of the aged.’

Fragment #20—Porphyr, On Abstinence, ii. 18. p. 134: ‘Howsoever the

city does sacrifice, the ancient custom is best.’

Fragment #21—Scholiast on Nicander, Theriaca, 452: ‘But you should be

gentle towards your father.’

Fragment #22—Plato, Epist. xi. 358: ‘And if I said this, it would seem

a poor thing and hard to understand.’

Fragment #23—Bacchylides, v. 191-3: Thus spake the Boeotian, even

Hesiod 2302, servant of the sweet Muses: ‘whomsoever the immortals

honour, the good report of mortals also followeth him.’

DOUBTFUL FRAGMENTS

Fragment #1—Galen, de plac. Hipp. et Plat. i. 266: ‘And then it was

Zeus took away sense from the heart of Athamas.’

Fragment #2—Scholiast on Homer, Od. vii. 104: ‘They grind the yellow

grain at the mill.’

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. ii. 1: ‘Then first in Delos did I

and Homer, singers both, raise our strain—stitching song in new

hymns—Phoebus Apollo with the golden sword, whom Leto bare.’

Fragment #4—Julian, Misopogon, p. 369: ‘But starvation on a handful is

a cruel thing.’

Fragment #5—Servius on Vergil, Aen. iv. 484: Hesiod says that these

Hesperides........daughters of Night, guarded the golden apples beyond

Ocean: ‘Aegle and Erythea and ox-eyed Hesperethusa.’ 2401

Fragment #6—Plato, Republic, iii. 390 E: ‘Gifts move the gods, gifts

move worshipful princes.’

Fragment #7—2402 Clement of Alexandria, Strom. v. p. 256: ‘On the

seventh day again the bright light of the sun....’

Fragment #8—Apollonius, Lex. Hom.: ‘He brought pure water and mixed it

with Ocean’s streams.’

Fragment #9—Stephanus of Byzantium: ‘Aspledon and Clymenus and god-like

Amphidocus.’ (sons of Orchomenus).

Fragment #10—Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. iii. 64: ‘Telemon never sated

with battle first brought light to our comrades by slaying blameless

Melanippe, destroyer of men, own sister of the golden-girdled queen.’

THE HOMERIC HYMNS

I. TO DIONYSUS 2501

* * * *

(ll. 1-9) For some say, at Dracanum; and some, on windy Icarus; and

some, in Naxos, O Heaven-born, Insewn 2502; and others by the

deep-eddying river Alpheus that pregnant Semele bare you to Zeus the

thunder-lover. And others yet, lord, say you were born in Thebes; but

all these lie. The Father of men and gods gave you birth remote from

men and secretly from white-armed Hera. There is a certain Nysa, a

mountain most high and richly grown with woods, far off in Phoenice,

near the streams of Aegyptus.

* * * *

(ll. 10-12) ‘...and men will lay up for her 2503 many offerings in her

shrines. And as these things are three 2504, so shall mortals ever

sacrifice perfect hecatombs to you at your feasts each three years.’

(ll. 13-16) The Son of Cronos spoke and nodded with his dark brows. And

the divine locks of the king flowed forward from his immortal head, and

he made great Olympus reel. So spake wise Zeus and ordained it with a

nod.

(ll. 17-21) Be favourable, O Insewn, Inspirer of frenzied women! we

singers sing of you as we begin and as we end a strain, and none

forgetting you may call holy song to mind. And so, farewell, Dionysus,

Insewn, with your mother Semele whom men call Thyone.

II. TO DEMETER

(ll. 1-3) I begin to sing of rich-haired Demeter, awful goddess—of her

and her trim-ankled daughter whom Aidoneus rapt away, given to him by

all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer.

(ll. 4-18) Apart from Demeter, lady of the golden sword and glorious

fruits, she was playing with the deep-bosomed daughters of Oceanus and

gathering flowers over a soft meadow, roses and crocuses and beautiful

violets, irises also and hyacinths and the narcissus, which Earth made

to grow at the will of Zeus and to please the Host of Many, to be a

snare for the bloom-like girl—a marvellous, radiant flower. It was a

thing of awe whether for deathless gods or mortal men to see: from its

root grew a hundred blooms, and it smelled most sweetly, so that all

wide heaven above and the whole earth and the sea’s salt swell laughed

for joy. And the girl was amazed and reached out with both hands to

take the lovely toy; but the wide-pathed earth yawned there in the

plain of Nysa, and the lord, Host of Many, with his immortal horses

sprang out upon her—the Son of Cronos, He who has many names 2505.

(ll. 19-32) He caught her up reluctant on his golden car and bare her

away lamenting. Then she cried out shrilly with her voice, calling upon

her father, the Son of Cronos, who is most high and excellent. But no

one, either of the deathless gods or of mortal men, heard her voice,

nor yet the olive-trees bearing rich fruit: only tender-hearted Hecate,

bright-coiffed, the daughter of Persaeus, heard the girl from her cave,

and the lord Helios, Hyperion’s bright son, as she cried to her father,

the Son of Cronos. But he was sitting aloof, apart from the gods, in

his temple where many pray, and receiving sweet offerings from mortal

men. So he, that Son of Cronos, of many names, who is Ruler of Many and

Host of Many, was bearing her away by leave of Zeus on his immortal

chariot—his own brother’s child and all unwilling.

(ll. 33-39) And so long as she, the goddess, yet beheld earth and

starry heaven and the strong-flowing sea where fishes shoal, and the

rays of the sun, and still hoped to see her dear mother and the tribes

of the eternal gods, so long hope calmed her great heart for all her

trouble.... ((LACUNA)) ....and the heights of the mountains and the

depths of the sea rang with her immortal voice: and her queenly mother

heard her.

(ll. 40-53) Bitter pain seized her heart, and she rent the covering

upon her divine hair with her dear hands: her dark cloak she cast down

from both her shoulders and sped, like a wild-bird, over the firm land

and yielding sea, seeking her child. But no one would tell her the

truth, neither god nor mortal men; and of the birds of omen none came

with true news for her. Then for nine days queenly Deo wandered over

the earth with flaming torches in her hands, so grieved that she never

tasted ambrosia and the sweet draught of nectar, nor sprinkled her body

with water. But when the tenth enlightening dawn had come, Hecate, with

a torch in her hands, met her, and spoke to her and told her news:

(ll. 54-58) ‘Queenly Demeter, bringer of seasons and giver of good

gifts, what god of heaven or what mortal man has rapt away Persephone

and pierced with sorrow your dear heart? For I heard her voice, yet saw

not with my eyes who it was. But I tell you truly and shortly all I

know.’

(ll. 59-73) So, then, said Hecate. And the daughter of rich-haired Rhea

answered her not, but sped swiftly with her, holding flaming torches in

her hands. So they came to Helios, who is watchman of both gods and

men, and stood in front of his horses: and the bright goddess enquired

of him: ‘Helios, do you at least regard me, goddess as I am, if ever by

word or deed of mine I have cheered your heart and spirit. Through the

fruitless air I heard the thrilling cry of my daughter whom I bare,

sweet scion of my body and lovely in form, as of one seized violently;

though with my eyes I saw nothing. But you—for with your beams you look

down from the bright upper air Over all the earth and sea—tell me truly

of my dear child, if you have seen her anywhere, what god or mortal man

has violently seized her against her will and mine, and so made off.’

(ll. 74-87) So said she. And the Son of Hyperion answered her: ‘Queen

Demeter, daughter of rich-haired Rhea, I will tell you the truth; for I

greatly reverence and pity you in your grief for your trim-ankled

daughter. None other of the deathless gods is to blame, but only

cloud-gathering Zeus who gave her to Hades, her father’s brother, to be

called his buxom wife. And Hades seized her and took her loudly crying

in his chariot down to his realm of mist and gloom. Yet, goddess, cease

your loud lament and keep not vain anger unrelentingly: Aidoneus, the

Ruler of Many, is no unfitting husband among the deathless gods for

your child, being your own brother and born of the same stock: also,

for honour, he has that third share which he received when division was

made at the first, and is appointed lord of those among whom he

dwells.’

(ll. 88-89) So he spake, and called to his horses: and at his chiding

they quickly whirled the swift chariot along, like long-winged birds.

(ll. 90-112) But grief yet more terrible and savage came into the heart

of Demeter, and thereafter she was so angered with the dark-clouded Son

of Cronos that she avoided the gathering of the gods and high Olympus,

and went to the towns and rich fields of men, disfiguring her form a

long while. And no one of men or deep-bosomed women knew her when they

saw her, until she came to the house of wise Celeus who then was lord

of fragrant Eleusis. Vexed in her dear heart, she sat near the wayside

by the Maiden Well, from which the women of the place were used to draw

water, in a shady place over which grew an olive shrub. And she was

like an ancient woman who is cut off from childbearing and the gifts of

garland-loving Aphrodite, like the nurses of king’s children who deal

justice, or like the house-keepers in their echoing halls. There the

daughters of Celeus, son of Eleusis, saw her, as they were coming for

easy-drawn water, to carry it in pitchers of bronze to their dear

father’s house: four were they and like goddesses in the flower of

their girlhood, Callidice and Cleisidice and lovely Demo and Callithoe

who was the eldest of them all. They knew her not,—for the gods are not

easily discerned by mortals—but standing near by her spoke winged

words:

(ll. 113-117) ‘Old mother, whence and who are you of folk born long

ago? Why are you gone away from the city and do not draw near the

houses? For there in the shady halls are women of just such age as you,

and others younger; and they would welcome you both by word and by

deed.’

(ll. 118-144) Thus they said. And she, that queen among goddesses

answered them saying: ‘Hail, dear children, whosoever you are of

woman-kind. I will tell you my story; for it is not unseemly that I

should tell you truly what you ask. Doso is my name, for my stately

mother gave it me. And now I am come from Crete over the sea’s wide

back,—not willingly; but pirates brought me thence by force of strength

against my liking. Afterwards they put in with their swift craft to

Thoricus, and there the women landed on the shore in full throng and

the men likewise, and they began to make ready a meal by the

stern-cables of the ship. But my heart craved not pleasant food, and I

fled secretly across the dark country and escaped my masters, that they

should not take me unpurchased across the sea, there to win a price for

me. And so I wandered and am come here: and I know not at all what land

this is or what people are in it. But may all those who dwell on

Olympus give you husbands and birth of children as parents desire, so

you take pity on me, maidens, and show me this clearly that I may

learn, dear children, to the house of what man and woman I may go, to

work for them cheerfully at such tasks as belong to a woman of my age.

Well could I nurse a new born child, holding him in my arms, or keep

house, or spread my masters’ bed in a recess of the well-built chamber,

or teach the women their work.’

(ll. 145-146) So said the goddess. And straightway the unwed maiden

Callidice, goodliest in form of the daughters of Celeus, answered her

and said:

(ll. 147-168) ‘Mother, what the gods send us, we mortals bear perforce,

although we suffer; for they are much stronger than we. But now I will

teach you clearly, telling you the names of men who have great power

and honour here and are chief among the people, guarding our city’s

coif of towers by their wisdom and true judgements: there is wise

Triptolemus and Dioclus and Polyxeinus and blameless Eumolpus and

Dolichus and our own brave father. All these have wives who manage in

the house, and no one of them, so soon as she has seen you, would

dishonour you and turn you from the house, but they will welcome you;

for indeed you are godlike. But if you will, stay here; and we will go

to our father’s house and tell Metaneira, our deep-bosomed mother, all

this matter fully, that she may bid you rather come to our home than

search after the houses of others. She has an only son, late-born, who

is being nursed in our well-built house, a child of many prayers and

welcome: if you could bring him up until he reached the full measure of

youth, any one of womankind who should see you would straightway envy

you, such gifts would our mother give for his upbringing.’

(ll. 169-183) So she spake: and the goddess bowed her head in assent.

And they filled their shining vessels with water and carried them off

rejoicing. Quickly they came to their father’s great house and

straightway told their mother according as they had heard and seen.

Then she bade them go with all speed and invite the stranger to come

for a measureless hire. As hinds or heifers in spring time, when sated

with pasture, bound about a meadow, so they, holding up the folds of

their lovely garments, darted down the hollow path, and their hair like

a crocus flower streamed about their shoulders. And they found the good

goddess near the wayside where they had left her before, and led her to

the house of their dear father. And she walked behind, distressed in

her dear heart, with her head veiled and wearing a dark cloak which

waved about the slender feet of the goddess.

(ll. 184-211) Soon they came to the house of heaven-nurtured Celeus and

went through the portico to where their queenly mother sat by a pillar

of the close-fitted roof, holding her son, a tender scion, in her

bosom. And the girls ran to her. But the goddess walked to the

threshold: and her head reached the roof and she filled the doorway

with a heavenly radiance. Then awe and reverence and pale fear took

hold of Metaneira, and she rose up from her couch before Demeter, and

bade her be seated. But Demeter, bringer of seasons and giver of

perfect gifts, would not sit upon the bright couch, but stayed silent

with lovely eyes cast down until careful Iambe placed a jointed seat

for her and threw over it a silvery fleece. Then she sat down and held

her veil in her hands before her face. A long time she sat upon the

stool 2506 without speaking because of her sorrow, and greeted no one

by word or by sign, but rested, never smiling, and tasting neither food

nor drink, because she pined with longing for her deep-bosomed

daughter, until careful Iambe—who pleased her moods in aftertime

also—moved the holy lady with many a quip and jest to smile and laugh

and cheer her heart. Then Metaneira filled a cup with sweet wine and

offered it to her; but she refused it, for she said it was not lawful

for her to drink red wine, but bade them mix meal and water with soft

mint and give her to drink. And Metaneira mixed the draught and gave it

to the goddess as she bade. So the great queen Deo received it to

observe the sacrament.... 2507

((LACUNA))

(ll. 212-223) And of them all, well-girded Metaneira first began to

speak: ‘Hail, lady! For I think you are not meanly but nobly born;

truly dignity and grace are conspicuous upon your eyes as in the eyes

of kings that deal justice. Yet we mortals bear perforce what the gods

send us, though we be grieved; for a yoke is set upon our necks. But

now, since you are come here, you shall have what I can bestow: and

nurse me this child whom the gods gave me in my old age and beyond my

hope, a son much prayed for. If you should bring him up until he reach

the full measure of youth, any one of womankind that sees you will

straightway envy you, so great reward would I give for his upbringing.’

(ll. 224-230) Then rich-haired Demeter answered her: ‘And to you, also,

lady, all hail, and may the gods give you good! Gladly will I take the

boy to my breast, as you bid me, and will nurse him. Never, I ween,

through any heedlessness of his nurse shall witchcraft hurt him nor yet

the Undercutter 2508: for I know a charm far stronger than the

Woodcutter, and I know an excellent safeguard against woeful

witchcraft.’

(ll. 231-247) When she had so spoken, she took the child in her

fragrant bosom with her divine hands: and his mother was glad in her

heart. So the goddess nursed in the palace Demophoon, wise Celeus’

goodly son whom well-girded Metaneira bare. And the child grew like

some immortal being, not fed with food nor nourished at the breast: for

by day rich-crowned Demeter would anoint him with ambrosia as if he

were the offspring of a god and breathe sweetly upon him as she held

him in her bosom. But at night she would hide him like a brand in the

heart of the fire, unknown to his dear parents. And it wrought great

wonder in these that he grew beyond his age; for he was like the gods

face to face. And she would have made him deathless and unageing, had

not well-girded Metaneira in her heedlessness kept watch by night from

her sweet-smelling chamber and spied. But she wailed and smote her two

hips, because she feared for her son and was greatly distraught in her

heart; so she lamented and uttered winged words:

(ll. 248-249) ‘Demophoon, my son, the strange woman buries you deep in

fire and works grief and bitter sorrow for me.’

(ll. 250-255) Thus she spoke, mourning. And the bright goddess,

lovely-crowned Demeter, heard her, and was wroth with her. So with her

divine hands she snatched from the fire the dear son whom Metaneira had

born unhoped-for in the palace, and cast him from her to the ground;

for she was terribly angry in her heart. Forthwith she said to

well-girded Metaneira:

(ll. 256-274) ‘Witless are you mortals and dull to foresee your lot,

whether of good or evil, that comes upon you. For now in your

heedlessness you have wrought folly past healing; for—be witness the

oath of the gods, the relentless water of Styx—I would have made your

dear son deathless and unageing all his days and would have bestowed on

him everlasting honour, but now he can in no way escape death and the

fates. Yet shall unfailing honour always rest upon him, because he lay

upon my knees and slept in my arms. But, as the years move round and

when he is in his prime, the sons of the Eleusinians shall ever wage

war and dread strife with one another continually. Lo! I am that

Demeter who has share of honour and is the greatest help and cause of

joy to the undying gods and mortal men. But now, let all the people

build me a great temple and an altar below it and beneath the city and

its sheer wall upon a rising hillock above Callichorus. And I myself

will teach my rites, that hereafter you may reverently perform them and

so win the favour of my heart.’

(ll. 275-281) When she had so said, the goddess changed her stature and

her looks, thrusting old age away from her: beauty spread round about

her and a lovely fragrance was wafted from her sweet-smelling robes,

and from the divine body of the goddess a light shone afar, while

golden tresses spread down over her shoulders, so that the strong house

was filled with brightness as with lightning. And so she went out from

the palace.

(ll. 281-291) And straightway Metaneira’s knees were loosed and she

remained speechless for a long while and did not remember to take up

her late-born son from the ground. But his sisters heard his pitiful

wailing and sprang down from their well-spread beds: one of them took

up the child in her arms and laid him in her bosom, while another

revived the fire, and a third rushed with soft feet to bring their

mother from her fragrant chamber. And they gathered about the

struggling child and washed him, embracing him lovingly; but he was not

comforted, because nurses and handmaids much less skilful were holding

him now.

(ll. 292-300) All night long they sought to appease the glorious

goddess, quaking with fear. But, as soon as dawn began to show, they

told powerful Celeus all things without fail, as the lovely-crowned

goddess Demeter charged them. So Celeus called the countless people to

an assembly and bade them make a goodly temple for rich-haired Demeter

and an altar upon the rising hillock. And they obeyed him right

speedily and harkened to his voice, doing as he commanded. As for the

child, he grew like an immortal being.

(ll. 301-320) Now when they had finished building and had drawn back

from their toil, they went every man to his house. But golden-haired

Demeter sat there apart from all the blessed gods and stayed, wasting

with yearning for her deep-bosomed daughter. Then she caused a most

dreadful and cruel year for mankind over the all-nourishing earth: the

ground would not make the seed sprout, for rich-crowned Demeter kept it

hid. In the fields the oxen drew many a curved plough in vain, and much

white barley was cast upon the land without avail. So she would have

destroyed the whole race of man with cruel famine and have robbed them

who dwell on Olympus of their glorious right of gifts and sacrifices,

had not Zeus perceived and marked this in his heart. First he sent

golden-winged Iris to call rich-haired Demeter, lovely in form. So he

commanded. And she obeyed the dark-clouded Son of Cronos, and sped with

swift feet across the space between. She came to the stronghold of

fragrant Eleusis, and there finding dark-cloaked Demeter in her temple,

spake to her and uttered winged words:

(ll. 321-323) ‘Demeter, father Zeus, whose wisdom is everlasting, calls

you to come join the tribes of the eternal gods: come therefore, and

let not the message I bring from Zeus pass unobeyed.’

(ll. 324-333) Thus said Iris imploring her. But Demeter’s heart was not

moved. Then again the father sent forth all the blessed and eternal

gods besides: and they came, one after the other, and kept calling her

and offering many very beautiful gifts and whatever right she might be

pleased to choose among the deathless gods. Yet no one was able to

persuade her mind and will, so wrath was she in her heart; but she

stubbornly rejected all their words: for she vowed that she would never

set foot on fragrant Olympus nor let fruit spring out of the ground,

until she beheld with her eyes her own fair-faced daughter.

(ll. 334-346) Now when all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer heard this,

he sent the Slayer of Argus whose wand is of gold to Erebus, so that

having won over Hades with soft words, he might lead forth chaste

Persephone to the light from the misty gloom to join the gods, and that

her mother might see her with her eyes and cease from her anger. And

Hermes obeyed, and leaving the house of Olympus, straightway sprang

down with speed to the hidden places of the earth. And he found the

lord Hades in his house seated upon a couch, and his shy mate with him,

much reluctant, because she yearned for her mother. But she was afar

off, brooding on her fell design because of the deeds of the blessed

gods. And the strong Slayer of Argus drew near and said:

(ll. 347-356) ‘Dark-haired Hades, ruler over the departed, father Zeus

bids me bring noble Persephone forth from Erebus unto the gods, that

her mother may see her with her eyes and cease from her dread anger

with the immortals; for now she plans an awful deed, to destroy the

weakly tribes of earthborn men by keeping seed hidden beneath the

earth, and so she makes an end of the honours of the undying gods. For

she keeps fearful anger and does not consort with the gods, but sits

aloof in her fragrant temple, dwelling in the rocky hold of Eleusis.’

(ll. 357-359) So he said. And Aidoneus, ruler over the dead, smiled

grimly and obeyed the behest of Zeus the king. For he straightway urged

wise Persephone, saying:

(ll. 360-369) ‘Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, go, and

feel kindly in your heart towards me: be not so exceedingly cast down;

for I shall be no unfitting husband for you among the deathless gods,

that am own brother to father Zeus. And while you are here, you shall

rule all that lives and moves and shall have the greatest rights among

the deathless gods: those who defraud you and do not appease your power

with offerings, reverently performing rites and paying fit gifts, shall

be punished for evermore.’

(ll. 370-383) When he said this, wise Persephone was filled with joy

and hastily sprang up for gladness. But he on his part secretly gave

her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she

might not remain continually with grave, dark-robed Demeter. Then

Aidoneus the Ruler of Many openly got ready his deathless horses

beneath the golden chariot. And she mounted on the chariot, and the

strong Slayer of Argos took reins and whip in his dear hands and drove

forth from the hall, the horses speeding readily. Swiftly they

traversed their long course, and neither the sea nor river-waters nor

grassy glens nor mountain-peaks checked the career of the immortal

horses, but they clave the deep air above them as they went. And Hermes

brought them to the place where rich-crowned Demeter was staying and

checked them before her fragrant temple.

(ll. 384-404) And when Demeter saw them, she rushed forth as does a

Maenad down some thick-wooded mountain, while Persephone on the other

side, when she saw her mother’s sweet eyes, left the chariot and

horses, and leaped down to run to her, and falling upon her neck,

embraced her. But while Demeter was still holding her dear child in her

arms, her heart suddenly misgave her for some snare, so that she feared

greatly and ceased fondling her daughter and asked of her at once: ‘My

child, tell me, surely you have not tasted any food while you were

below? Speak out and hide nothing, but let us both know. For if you

have not, you shall come back from loathly Hades and live with me and

your father, the dark-clouded Son of Cronos and be honoured by all the

deathless gods; but if you have tasted food, you must go back again

beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a third part of

the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be with me and

the other deathless gods. But when the earth shall bloom with the

fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the realm of

darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be a wonder for gods

and mortal men. And now tell me how he rapt you away to the realm of

darkness and gloom, and by what trick did the strong Host of Many

beguile you?’

(ll. 405-433) Then beautiful Persephone answered her thus: ‘Mother, I

will tell you all without error. When luck-bringing Hermes came, swift

messenger from my father the Son of Cronos and the other Sons of

Heaven, bidding me come back from Erebus that you might see me with

your eyes and so cease from your anger and fearful wrath against the

gods, I sprang up at once for joy; but he secretly put in my mouth

sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against my will.

Also I will tell how he rapt me away by the deep plan of my father the

Son of Cronos and carried me off beneath the depths of the earth, and

will relate the whole matter as you ask. All we were playing in a

lovely meadow, Leucippe 2509 and Phaeno and Electra and Ianthe, Melita

also and Iache with Rhodea and Callirhoe and Melobosis and Tyche and

Ocyrhoe, fair as a flower, Chryseis, Ianeira, Acaste and Admete and

Rhodope and Pluto and charming Calypso; Styx too was there and Urania

and lovely Galaxaura with Pallas who rouses battles and Artemis

delighting in arrows: we were playing and gathering sweet flowers in

our hands, soft crocuses mingled with irises and hyacinths, and

rose-blooms and lilies, marvellous to see, and the narcissus which the

wide earth caused to grow yellow as a crocus. That I plucked in my joy;

but the earth parted beneath, and there the strong lord, the Host of

Many, sprang forth and in his golden chariot he bore me away, all

unwilling, beneath the earth: then I cried with a shrill cry. All this

is true, sore though it grieves me to tell the tale.’

(ll. 434-437) So did they turn, with hearts at one, greatly cheer each

the other’s soul and spirit with many an embrace: their heart had

relief from their griefs while each took and gave back joyousness.

(ll. 438-440) Then bright-coiffed Hecate came near to them, and often

did she embrace the daughter of holy Demeter: and from that time the

lady Hecate was minister and companion to Persephone.

(ll. 441-459) And all-seeing Zeus sent a messenger to them, rich-haired

Rhea, to bring dark-cloaked Demeter to join the families of the gods:

and he promised to give her what right she should choose among the

deathless gods and agreed that her daughter should go down for the

third part of the circling year to darkness and gloom, but for the two

parts should live with her mother and the other deathless gods. Thus he

commanded. And the goddess did not disobey the message of Zeus; swiftly

she rushed down from the peaks of Olympus and came to the plain of

Rharus, rich, fertile corn-land once, but then in nowise fruitful, for

it lay idle and utterly leafless, because the white grain was hidden by

design of trim-ankled Demeter. But afterwards, as springtime waxed, it

was soon to be waving with long ears of corn, and its rich furrows to

be loaded with grain upon the ground, while others would already be

bound in sheaves. There first she landed from the fruitless upper air:

and glad were the goddesses to see each other and cheered in heart.

Then bright-coiffed Rhea said to Demeter:

(ll. 460-469) ‘Come, my daughter; for far-seeing Zeus the

loud-thunderer calls you to join the families of the gods, and has

promised to give you what rights you please among the deathless gods,

and has agreed that for a third part of the circling year your daughter

shall go down to darkness and gloom, but for the two parts shall be

with you and the other deathless gods: so has he declared it shall be

and has bowed his head in token. But come, my child, obey, and be not

too angry unrelentingly with the dark-clouded Son of Cronos; but rather

increase forthwith for men the fruit that gives them life.’

(ll. 470-482) So spake Rhea. And rich-crowned Demeter did not refuse

but straightway made fruit to spring up from the rich lands, so that

the whole wide earth was laden with leaves and flowers. Then she went,

and to the kings who deal justice, Triptolemus and Diocles, the

horse-driver, and to doughty Eumolpus and Celeus, leader of the people,

she showed the conduct of her rites and taught them all her mysteries,

to Triptolemus and Polyxeinus and Diocles also,—awful mysteries which

no one may in any way transgress or pry into or utter, for deep awe of

the gods checks the voice. Happy is he among men upon earth who has

seen these mysteries; but he who is uninitiate and who has no part in

them, never has lot of like good things once he is dead, down in the

darkness and gloom.

(ll. 483-489) But when the bright goddess had taught them all, they

went to Olympus to the gathering of the other gods. And there they

dwell beside Zeus who delights in thunder, awful and reverend

goddesses. Right blessed is he among men on earth whom they freely

love: soon they do send Plutus as guest to his great house, Plutus who

gives wealth to mortal men.

(ll. 490-495) And now, queen of the land of sweet Eleusis and sea-girt

Paros and rocky Antron, lady, giver of good gifts, bringer of seasons,

queen Deo, be gracious, you and your daughter all beauteous Persephone,

and for my song grant me heart-cheering substance. And now I will

remember you and another song also.

III. TO DELIAN APOLLO

(ll. 1-18) I will remember and not be unmindful of Apollo who shoots

afar. As he goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him

and all spring up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his

bright bow. But Leto alone stays by the side of Zeus who delights in

thunder; and then she unstrings his bow, and closes his quiver, and

takes his archery from his strong shoulders in her hands and hangs them

on a golden peg against a pillar of his father’s house. Then she leads

him to a seat and makes him sit: and the Father gives him nectar in a

golden cup welcoming his dear son, while the other gods make him sit

down there, and queenly Leto rejoices because she bare a mighty son and

an archer. Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bare glorious children, the

lord Apollo and Artemis who delights in arrows; her in Ortygia, and him

in rocky Delos, as you rested against the great mass of the Cynthian

hill hard by a palm-tree by the streams of Inopus.

(ll. 19-29) How, then, shall I sing of you who in all ways are a worthy

theme of song? For everywhere, O Phoebus, the whole range of song is

fallen to you, both over the mainland that rears heifers and over the

isles. All mountain-peaks and high headlands of lofty hills and rivers

flowing out to the deep and beaches sloping seawards and havens of the

sea are your delight. Shall I sing how at the first Leto bare you to be

the joy of men, as she rested against Mount Cynthus in that rocky isle,

in sea-girt Delos—while on either hand a dark wave rolled on landwards

driven by shrill winds—whence arising you rule over all mortal men?

(ll. 30-50) Among those who are in Crete, and in the township of

Athens, and in the isle of Aegina and Euboea, famous for ships, in

Aegae and Eiresiae and Peparethus near the sea, in Thracian Athos and

Pelion’s towering heights and Thracian Samos and the shady hills of

Ida, in Scyros and Phocaea and the high hill of Autocane and fair-lying

Imbros and smouldering Lemnos and rich Lesbos, home of Macar, the son

of Aeolus, and Chios, brightest of all the isles that lie in the sea,

and craggy Mimas and the heights of Corycus and gleaming Claros and the

sheer hill of Aesagea and watered Samos and the steep heights of

Mycale, in Miletus and Cos, the city of Meropian men, and steep Cnidos

and windy Carpathos, in Naxos and Paros and rocky Rhenaea—so far roamed

Leto in travail with the god who shoots afar, to see if any land would

be willing to make a dwelling for her son. But they greatly trembled

and feared, and none, not even the richest of them, dared receive

Phoebus, until queenly Leto set foot on Delos and uttered winged words

and asked her:

(ll. 51-61) ‘Delos, if you would be willing to be the abode of my son

Phoebus Apollo and make him a rich temple—; for no other will touch

you, as you will find: and I think you will never be rich in oxen and

sheep, nor bear vintage nor yet produce plants abundantly. But if you

have the temple of far-shooting Apollo, all men will bring you

hecatombs and gather here, and incessant savour of rich sacrifice will

always arise, and you will feed those who dwell in you from the hand of

strangers; for truly your own soil is not rich.’

(ll. 62-82) So spake Leto. And Delos rejoiced and answered and said:

‘Leto, most glorious daughter of great Coeus, joyfully would I receive

your child the far-shooting lord; for it is all too true that I am

ill-spoken of among men, whereas thus I should become very greatly

honoured. But this saying I fear, and I will not hide it from you,

Leto. They say that Apollo will be one that is very haughty and will

greatly lord it among gods and men all over the fruitful earth.

Therefore, I greatly fear in heart and spirit that as soon as he sets

the light of the sun, he will scorn this island—for truly I have but a

hard, rocky soil—and overturn me and thrust me down with his feet in

the depths of the sea; then will the great ocean wash deep above my

head for ever, and he will go to another land such as will please him,

there to make his temple and wooded groves. So, many-footed creatures

of the sea will make their lairs in me and black seals their dwellings

undisturbed, because I lack people. Yet if you will but dare to sware a

great oath, goddess, that here first he will build a glorious temple to

be an oracle for men, then let him afterwards make temples and wooded

groves amongst all men; for surely he will be greatly renowned.’

(ll. 83-88) So said Delos. And Leto sware the great oath of the gods:

‘Now hear this, Earth and wide Heaven above, and dropping water of Styx

(this is the strongest and most awful oath for the blessed gods),

surely Phoebus shall have here his fragrant altar and precinct, and you

he shall honour above all.’

(ll. 89-101) Now when Leto had sworn and ended her oath, Delos was very

glad at the birth of the far-shooting lord. But Leto was racked nine

days and nine nights with pangs beyond wont. And there were with her

all the chiefest of the goddesses, Dione and Rhea and Ichnaea and

Themis and loud-moaning Amphitrite and the other deathless goddesses

save white-armed Hera, who sat in the halls of cloud-gathering Zeus.

Only Eilithyia, goddess of sore travail, had not heard of Leto’s

trouble, for she sat on the top of Olympus beneath golden clouds by

white-armed Hera’s contriving, who kept her close through envy, because

Leto with the lovely tresses was soon to bear a son faultless and

strong.

(ll. 102-114) But the goddesses sent out Iris from the well-set isle to

bring Eilithyia, promising her a great necklace strung with golden

threads, nine cubits long. And they bade Iris call her aside from

white-armed Hera, lest she might afterwards turn her from coming with

her words. When swift Iris, fleet of foot as the wind, had heard all

this, she set to run; and quickly finishing all the distance she came

to the home of the gods, sheer Olympus, and forthwith called Eilithyia

out from the hall to the door and spoke winged words to her, telling

her all as the goddesses who dwell on Olympus had bidden her. So she

moved the heart of Eilithyia in her dear breast; and they went their

way, like shy wild-doves in their going.

(ll. 115-122) And as soon as Eilithyia the goddess of sore travail set

foot on Delos, the pains of birth seized Leto, and she longed to bring

forth; so she cast her arms about a palm tree and kneeled on the soft

meadow while the earth laughed for joy beneath. Then the child leaped

forth to the light, and all the goddesses washed you purely and cleanly

with sweet water, and swathed you in a white garment of fine texture,

new-woven, and fastened a golden band about you.

(ll. 123-130) Now Leto did not give Apollo, bearer of the golden blade,

her breast; but Themis duly poured nectar and ambrosia with her divine

hands: and Leto was glad because she had borne a strong son and an

archer. But as soon as you had tasted that divine heavenly food, O

Phoebus, you could no longer then be held by golden cords nor confined

with bands, but all their ends were undone. Forthwith Phoebus Apollo

spoke out among the deathless goddesses:

(ll. 131-132) ‘The lyre and the curved bow shall ever be dear to me,

and I will declare to men the unfailing will of Zeus.’

(ll. 133-139) So said Phoebus, the long-haired god who shoots afar and

began to walk upon the wide-pathed earth; and all goddesses were amazed

at him. Then with gold all Delos was laden, beholding the child of Zeus

and Leto, for joy because the god chose her above the islands and shore

to make his dwelling in her: and she loved him yet more in her heart,

and blossomed as does a mountain-top with woodland flowers.

(ll. 140-164) And you, O lord Apollo, god of the silver bow, shooting

afar, now walked on craggy Cynthus, and now kept wandering about the

island and the people in them. Many are your temples and wooded groves,

and all peaks and towering bluffs of lofty mountains and rivers flowing

to the sea are dear to you, Phoebus, yet in Delos do you most delight

your heart; for there the long robed Ionians gather in your honour with

their children and shy wives: mindful, they delight you with boxing and

dancing and song, so often as they hold their gathering. A man would

say that they were deathless and unageing if he should then come upon

the Ionians so met together. For he would see the graces of them all,

and would be pleased in heart gazing at the men and well-girded women

with their swift ships and great wealth. And there is this great wonder

besides—and its renown shall never perish—the girls of Delos,

hand-maidens of the Far-shooter; for when they have praised Apollo

first, and also Leto and Artemis who delights in arrows, they sing a

strain telling of men and women of past days, and charm the tribes of

men. Also they can imitate the tongues of all men and their clattering

speech: each would say that he himself were singing, so close to truth

is their sweet song.

(ll. 165-178) And now may Apollo be favourable and Artemis; and

farewell all you maidens. Remember me in after time whenever any one of

men on earth, a stranger who has seen and suffered much, comes here and

asks of you: ‘Whom think ye, girls, is the sweetest singer that comes

here, and in whom do you most delight?’ Then answer, each and all, with

one voice: ‘He is a blind man, and dwells in rocky Chios: his lays are

evermore supreme.’ As for me, I will carry your renown as far as I roam

over the earth to the well-placed this thing is true. And I will never

cease to praise far-shooting Apollo, god of the silver bow, whom

rich-haired Leto bare.

TO PYTHIAN APOLLO—

(ll. 179-181) O Lord, Lycia is yours and lovely Maeonia and Miletus,

charming city by the sea, but over wave-girt Delos you greatly reign

your own self.

(ll. 182-206) Leto’s all-glorious son goes to rocky Pytho, playing upon

his hollow lyre, clad in divine, perfumed garments; and at the touch of

the golden key his lyre sings sweet. Thence, swift as thought, he

speeds from earth to Olympus, to the house of Zeus, to join the

gathering of the other gods: then straightway the undying gods think

only of the lyre and song, and all the Muses together, voice sweetly

answering voice, hymn the unending gifts the gods enjoy and the

sufferings of men, all that they endure at the hands of the deathless

gods, and how they live witless and helpless and cannot find healing

for death or defence against old age. Meanwhile the rich-tressed Graces

and cheerful Seasons dance with Harmonia and Hebe and Aphrodite,

daughter of Zeus, holding each other by the wrist. And among them sings

one, not mean nor puny, but tall to look upon and enviable in mien,

Artemis who delights in arrows, sister of Apollo. Among them sport Ares

and the keen-eyed Slayer of Argus, while Apollo plays his lyre stepping

high and featly and a radiance shines around him, the gleaming of his

feet and close-woven vest. And they, even gold-tressed Leto and wise

Zeus, rejoice in their great hearts as they watch their dear son

playing among the undying gods.

(ll. 207-228) How then shall I sing of you—though in all ways you are a

worthy theme for song? Shall I sing of you as wooer and in the fields

of love, how you went wooing the daughter of Azan along with god-like

Ischys the son of well-horsed Elatius, or with Phorbas sprung from

Triops, or with Ereutheus, or with Leucippus and the wife of

Leucippus.... ((LACUNA)) ....you on foot, he with his chariot, yet he

fell not short of Triops. Or shall I sing how at the first you went

about the earth seeking a place of oracle for men, O far-shooting

Apollo? To Pieria first you went down from Olympus and passed by sandy

Lectus and Enienae and through the land of the Perrhaebi. Soon you came

to Iolcus and set foot on Cenaeum in Euboea, famed for ships: you stood

in the Lelantine plain, but it pleased not your heart to make a temple

there and wooded groves. From there you crossed the Euripus,

far-shooting Apollo, and went up the green, holy hills, going on to

Mycalessus and grassy-bedded Teumessus, and so came to the wood-clad

abode of Thebe; for as yet no man lived in holy Thebe, nor were there

tracks or ways about Thebe’s wheat-bearing plain as yet.

(ll. 229-238) And further still you went, O far-shooting Apollo, and

came to Onchestus, Poseidon’s bright grove: there the new-broken colt

distressed with drawing the trim chariot gets spirit again, and the

skilled driver springs from his car and goes on his way. Then the

horses for a while rattle the empty car, being rid of guidance; and if

they break the chariot in the woody grove, men look after the horses,

but tilt the chariot and leave it there; for this was the rite from the

very first. And the drivers pray to the lord of the shrine; but the

chariot falls to the lot of the god.

(ll. 239-243) Further yet you went, O far-shooting Apollo, and reached

next Cephissus’ sweet stream which pours forth its sweet-flowing water

from Lilaea, and crossing over it, O worker from afar, you passed

many-towered Ocalea and reached grassy Haliartus.

(ll. 244-253) Then you went towards Telphusa: and there the pleasant

place seemed fit for making a temple and wooded grove. You came very

near and spoke to her: ‘Telphusa, here I am minded to make a glorious

temple, an oracle for men, and hither they will always bring perfect

hecatombs, both those who live in rich Peloponnesus and those of Europe

and all the wave-washed isles, coming to seek oracles. And I will

deliver to them all counsel that cannot fail, giving answer in my rich

temple.’

(ll. 254-276) So said Phoebus Apollo, and laid out all the foundations

throughout, wide and very long. But when Telphusa saw this, she was

angry in heart and spoke, saying: ‘Lord Phoebus, worker from afar, I

will speak a word of counsel to your heart, since you are minded to

make here a glorious temple to be an oracle for men who will always

bring hither perfect hecatombs for you; yet I will speak out, and do

you lay up my words in your heart. The trampling of swift horses and

the sound of mules watering at my sacred springs will always irk you,

and men will like better to gaze at the well-made chariots and

stamping, swift-footed horses than at your great temple and the many

treasures that are within. But if you will be moved by me—for you,

lord, are stronger and mightier than I, and your strength is very

great—build at Crisa below the glades of Parnassus: there no bright

chariot will clash, and there will be no noise of swift-footed horses

near your well-built altar. But so the glorious tribes of men will

bring gifts to you as Iepaeon (‘Hail-Healer’), and you will receive

with delight rich sacrifices from the people dwelling round about.’ So

said Telphusa, that she alone, and not the Far-Shooter, should have

renown there; and she persuaded the Far-Shooter.

(ll. 277-286) Further yet you went, far-shooting Apollo, until you came

to the town of the presumptuous Phlegyae who dwell on this earth in a

lovely glade near the Cephisian lake, caring not for Zeus. And thence

you went speeding swiftly to the mountain ridge, and came to Crisa

beneath snowy Parnassus, a foothill turned towards the west: a cliff

hangs over it from above, and a hollow, rugged glade runs under. There

the lord Phoebus Apollo resolved to make his lovely temple, and thus he

said:

(ll. 287-293) ‘In this place I am minded to build a glorious temple to

be an oracle for men, and here they will always bring perfect

hecatombs, both they who dwell in rich Peloponnesus and the men of

Europe and from all the wave-washed isles, coming to question me. And I

will deliver to them all counsel that cannot fail, answering them in my

rich temple.’

(ll. 294-299) When he had said this, Phoebus Apollo laid out all the

foundations throughout, wide and very long; and upon these the sons of

Erginus, Trophonius and Agamedes, dear to the deathless gods, laid a

footing of stone. And the countless tribes of men built the whole

temple of wrought stones, to be sung of for ever.

(ll. 300-310) But near by was a sweet flowing spring, and there with

his strong bow the lord, the son of Zeus, killed the bloated, great

she-dragon, a fierce monster wont to do great mischief to men upon

earth, to men themselves and to their thin-shanked sheep; for she was a

very bloody plague. She it was who once received from gold-throned Hera

and brought up fell, cruel Typhaon to be a plague to men. Once on a

time Hera bare him because she was angry with father Zeus, when the Son

of Cronos bare all-glorious Athena in his head. Thereupon queenly Hera

was angry and spoke thus among the assembled gods:

(ll. 311-330) ‘Hear from me, all gods and goddesses, how

cloud-gathering Zeus begins to dishonour me wantonly, when he has made

me his true-hearted wife. See now, apart from me he has given birth to

bright-eyed Athena who is foremost among all the blessed gods. But my

son Hephaestus whom I bare was weakly among all the blessed gods and

shrivelled of foot, a shame and disgrace to me in heaven, whom I myself

took in my hands and cast out so that he fell in the great sea. But

silver-shod Thetis the daughter of Nereus took and cared for him with

her sisters: would that she had done other service to the blessed gods!

O wicked one and crafty! What else will you now devise? How dared you

by yourself give birth to bright-eyed Athena? Would not I have borne

you a child—I, who was at least called your wife among the undying gods

who hold wide heaven. Beware now lest I devise some evil thing for you

hereafter: yes, now I will contrive that a son be born me to be

foremost among the undying gods—and that without casting shame on the

holy bond of wedlock between you and me. And I will not come to your

bed, but will consort with the blessed gods far off from you.’

(ll. 331-333) When she had so spoken, she went apart from the gods,

being very angry. Then straightway large-eyed queenly Hera prayed,

striking the ground flatwise with her hand, and speaking thus:

(ll. 334-362) ‘Hear now, I pray, Earth and wide Heaven above, and you

Titan gods who dwell beneath the earth about great Tartarus, and from

whom are sprung both gods and men! Harken you now to me, one and all,

and grant that I may bear a child apart from Zeus, no wit lesser than

him in strength—nay, let him be as much stronger than Zeus as

all-seeing Zeus than Cronos.’ Thus she cried and lashed the earth with

her strong hand. Then the life-giving earth was moved: and when Hera

saw it she was glad in heart, for she thought her prayer would be

fulfilled. And thereafter she never came to the bed of wise Zeus for a

full year, not to sit in her carved chair as aforetime to plan wise

counsel for him, but stayed in her temples where many pray, and

delighted in her offerings, large-eyed queenly Hera. But when the

months and days were fulfilled and the seasons duly came on as the

earth moved round, she bare one neither like the gods nor mortal men,

fell, cruel Typhaon, to be a plague to men. Straightway large-eyed

queenly Hera took him and bringing one evil thing to another such, gave

him to the dragoness; and she received him. And this Typhaon used to

work great mischief among the famous tribes of men. Whosoever met the

dragoness, the day of doom would sweep him away, until the lord Apollo,

who deals death from afar, shot a strong arrow at her. Then she, rent

with bitter pangs, lay drawing great gasps for breath and rolling about

that place. An awful noise swelled up unspeakable as she writhed

continually this way and that amid the wood: and so she left her life,

breathing it forth in blood. Then Phoebus Apollo boasted over her:

(ll. 363-369) ‘Now rot here upon the soil that feeds man! You at least

shall live no more to be a fell bane to men who eat the fruit of the

all-nourishing earth, and who will bring hither perfect hecatombs.

Against cruel death neither Typhoeus shall avail you nor ill-famed

Chimera, but here shall the Earth and shining Hyperion make you rot.’

(ll. 370-374) Thus said Phoebus, exulting over her: and darkness

covered her eyes. And the holy strength of Helios made her rot away

there; wherefore the place is now called Pytho, and men call the lord

Apollo by another name, Pythian; because on that spot the power of

piercing Helios made the monster rot away.

(ll. 375-378) Then Phoebus Apollo saw that the sweet-flowing spring had

beguiled him, and he started out in anger against Telphusa; and soon

coming to her, he stood close by and spoke to her:

(ll. 379-381) ‘Telphusa, you were not, after all, to keep to yourself

this lovely place by deceiving my mind, and pour forth your clear

flowing water: here my renown shall also be and not yours alone?’

(ll. 382-387) Thus spoke the lord, far-working Apollo, and pushed over

upon her a crag with a shower of rocks, hiding her streams: and he made

himself an altar in a wooded grove very near the clear-flowing stream.

In that place all men pray to the great one by the name Telphusian,

because he humbled the stream of holy Telphusa.

(ll. 388-439) Then Phoebus Apollo pondered in his heart what men he

should bring in to be his ministers in sacrifice and to serve him in

rocky Pytho. And while he considered this, he became aware of a swift

ship upon the wine-like sea in which were many men and goodly, Cretans

from Cnossos 2510, the city of Minos, they who do sacrifice to the

prince and announce his decrees, whatsoever Phoebus Apollo, bearer of

the golden blade, speaks in answer from his laurel tree below the dells

of Parnassus. These men were sailing in their black ship for traffic

and for profit to sandy Pylos and to the men of Pylos. But Phoebus

Apollo met them: in the open sea he sprang upon their swift ship, like

a dolphin in shape, and lay there, a great and awesome monster, and

none of them gave heed so as to understand 2511; but they sought to

cast the dolphin overboard. But he kept shaking the black ship every

way and make the timbers quiver. So they sat silent in their craft for

fear, and did not loose the sheets throughout the black, hollow ship,

nor lowered the sail of their dark-prowed vessel, but as they had set

it first of all with oxhide ropes, so they kept sailing on; for a

rushing south wind hurried on the swift ship from behind. First they

passed by Malea, and then along the Laconian coast they came to

Taenarum, sea-garlanded town and country of Helios who gladdens men,

where the thick-fleeced sheep of the lord Helios feed continually and

occupy a glad-some country. There they wished to put their ship to

shore, and land and comprehend the great marvel and see with their eyes

whether the monster would remain upon the deck of the hollow ship, or

spring back into the briny deep where fishes shoal. But the well-built

ship would not obey the helm, but went on its way all along

Peloponnesus: and the lord, far-working Apollo, guided it easily with

the breath of the breeze. So the ship ran on its course and came to

Arena and lovely Argyphea and Thryon, the ford of Alpheus, and

well-placed Aepy and sandy Pylos and the men of Pylos; past Cruni it

went and Chalcis and past Dyme and fair Elis, where the Epei rule. And

at the time when she was making for Pherae, exulting in the breeze from

Zeus, there appeared to them below the clouds the steep mountain of

Ithaca, and Dulichium and Same and wooded Zacynthus. But when they were

passed by all the coast of Peloponnesus, then, towards Crisa, that vast

gulf began to heave in sight which through all its length cuts off the

rich isle of Pelops. There came on them a strong, clear west-wind by

ordinance of Zeus and blew from heaven vehemently, that with all speed

the ship might finish coursing over the briny water of the sea. So they

began again to voyage back towards the dawn and the sun: and the lord

Apollo, son of Zeus, led them on until they reached far-seen Crisa,

land of vines, and into haven: there the sea-coursing ship grounded on

the sands.

(ll. 440-451) Then, like a star at noonday, the lord, far-working

Apollo, leaped from the ship: flashes of fire flew from him thick and

their brightness reached to heaven. He entered into his shrine between

priceless tripods, and there made a flame to flare up bright, showing

forth the splendour of his shafts, so that their radiance filled all

Crisa, and the wives and well-girded daughters of the Crisaeans raised

a cry at that outburst of Phoebus; for he cast great fear upon them

all. From his shrine he sprang forth again, swift as a thought, to

speed again to the ship, bearing the form of a man, brisk and sturdy,

in the prime of his youth, while his broad shoulders were covered with

his hair: and he spoke to the Cretans, uttering winged words:

(ll. 452-461) ‘Strangers, who are you? Whence come you sailing along

the paths of the sea? Are you for traffic, or do you wander at random

over the sea as pirates do who put their own lives to hazard and bring

mischief to men of foreign parts as they roam? Why rest you so and are

afraid, and do not go ashore nor stow the gear of your black ship? For

that is the custom of men who live by bread, whenever they come to land

in their dark ships from the main, spent with toil; at once desire for

sweet food catches them about the heart.’

(ll. 462-473) So speaking, he put courage in their hearts, and the

master of the Cretans answered him and said: ‘Stranger—though you are

nothing like mortal men in shape or stature, but are as the deathless

gods—hail and all happiness to you, and may the gods give you good. Now

tell me truly that I may surely know it: what country is this, and what

land, and what men live herein? As for us, with thoughts set

otherwards, we were sailing over the great sea to Pylos from Crete (for

from there we declare that we are sprung), but now are come on

shipboard to this place by no means willingly—another way and other

paths—and gladly would we return. But one of the deathless gods brought

us here against our will.’

(ll. 474-501) Then far-working Apollo answered then and said:

‘Strangers who once dwelt about wooded Cnossos but now shall return no

more each to his loved city and fair house and dear wife; here shall

you keep my rich temple that is honoured by many men. I am the son of

Zeus; Apollo is my name: but you I brought here over the wide gulf of

the sea, meaning you no hurt; nay, here you shall keep my rich temple

that is greatly honoured among men, and you shall know the plans of the

deathless gods, and by their will you shall be honoured continually for

all time. And now come, make haste and do as I say. First loose the

sheets and lower the sail, and then draw the swift ship up upon the

land. Take out your goods and the gear of the straight ship, and make

an altar upon the beach of the sea: light fire upon it and make an

offering of white meal. Next, stand side by side around the altar and

pray: and in as much as at the first on the hazy sea I sprang upon the

swift ship in the form of a dolphin, pray to me as Apollo Delphinius;

also the altar itself shall be called Delphinius and overlooking 2512

for ever. Afterwards, sup beside your dark ship and pour an offering to

the blessed gods who dwell on Olympus. But when you have put away

craving for sweet food, come with me singing the hymn Ie Paean (Hail,

Healer!), until you come to the place where you shall keep my rich

temple.’

(ll. 502-523) So said Apollo. And they readily harkened to him and

obeyed him. First they unfastened the sheets and let down the sail and

lowered the mast by the forestays upon the mast-rest. Then, landing

upon the beach of the sea, they hauled up the ship from the water to

dry land and fixed long stays under it. Also they made an altar upon

the beach of the sea, and when they had lit a fire, made an offering of

white meal, and prayed standing around the altar as Apollo had bidden

them. Then they took their meal by the swift, black ship, and poured an

offering to the blessed gods who dwell on Olympus. And when they had

put away craving for drink and food, they started out with the lord

Apollo, the son of Zeus, to lead them, holding a lyre in his hands, and

playing sweetly as he stepped high and featly. So the Cretans followed

him to Pytho, marching in time as they chanted the Ie Paean after the

manner of the Cretan paean-singers and of those in whose hearts the

heavenly Muse has put sweet-voiced song. With tireless feet they

approached the ridge and straightway came to Parnassus and the lovely

place where they were to dwell honoured by many men. There Apollo

brought them and showed them his most holy sanctuary and rich temple.

(ll. 524-525) But their spirit was stirred in their dear breasts, and

the master of the Cretans asked him, saying:

(ll. 526-530) ‘Lord, since you have brought us here far from our dear

ones and our fatherland,—for so it seemed good to your heart,—tell us

now how we shall live. That we would know of you. This land is not to

be desired either for vineyards or for pastures so that we can live

well thereon and also minister to men.’

(ll. 531-544) Then Apollo, the son of Zeus, smiled upon them and said:

‘Foolish mortals and poor drudges are you, that you seek cares and hard

toils and straits! Easily will I tell you a word and set it in your

hearts. Though each one of you with knife in hand should slaughter

sheep continually, yet would you always have abundant store, even all

that the glorious tribes of men bring here for me. But guard you my

temple and receive the tribes of men that gather to this place, and

especially show mortal men my will, and do you keep righteousness in

your heart. But if any shall be disobedient and pay no heed to my

warning, or if there shall be any idle word or deed and outrage as is

common among mortal men, then other men shall be your masters and with

a strong hand shall make you subject for ever. All has been told you:

do you keep it in your heart.’

(ll. 545-546) And so, farewell, son of Zeus and Leto; but I will

remember you and another hymn also.

IV. TO HERMES

(ll. 1-29) Muse, sing of Hermes, the son of Zeus and Maia, lord of

Cyllene and Arcadia rich in flocks, the luck-bringing messenger of the

immortals whom Maia bare, the rich-tressed nymph, when she was joined

in love with Zeus,—a shy goddess, for she avoided the company of the

blessed gods, and lived within a deep, shady cave. There the son of

Cronos used to lie with the rich-tressed nymph, unseen by deathless

gods and mortal men, at dead of night while sweet sleep should hold

white-armed Hera fast. And when the purpose of great Zeus was fixed in

heaven, she was delivered and a notable thing was come to pass. For

then she bare a son, of many shifts, blandly cunning, a robber, a

cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the

gates, one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the

deathless gods. Born with the dawning, at mid-day he played on the

lyre, and in the evening he stole the cattle of far-shooting Apollo on

the fourth day of the month; for on that day queenly Maia bare him. So

soon as he had leaped from his mother’s heavenly womb, he lay not long

waiting in his holy cradle, but he sprang up and sought the oxen of

Apollo. But as he stepped over the threshold of the high-roofed cave,

he found a tortoise there and gained endless delight. For it was Hermes

who first made the tortoise a singer. The creature fell in his way at

the courtyard gate, where it was feeding on the rich grass before the

dwelling, waddling along. When he saw it, the luck-bringing son of Zeus

laughed and said:

(ll. 30-38) ‘An omen of great luck for me so soon! I do not slight it.

Hail, comrade of the feast, lovely in shape, sounding at the dance!

With joy I meet you! Where got you that rich gaud for covering, that

spangled shell—a tortoise living in the mountains? But I will take and

carry you within: you shall help me and I will do you no disgrace,

though first of all you must profit me. It is better to be at home:

harm may come out of doors. Living, you shall be a spell against

mischievous witchcraft 2513; but if you die, then you shall make

sweetest song.

(ll. 39-61) Thus speaking, he took up the tortoise in both hands and

went back into the house carrying his charming toy. Then he cut off its

limbs and scooped out the marrow of the mountain-tortoise with a scoop

of grey iron. As a swift thought darts through the heart of a man when

thronging cares haunt him, or as bright glances flash from the eye, so

glorious Hermes planned both thought and deed at once. He cut stalks of

reed to measure and fixed them, fastening their ends across the back

and through the shell of the tortoise, and then stretched ox hide all

over it by his skill. Also he put in the horns and fitted a cross-piece

upon the two of them, and stretched seven strings of sheep-gut. But

when he had made it he proved each string in turn with the key, as he

held the lovely thing. At the touch of his hand it sounded

marvellously; and, as he tried it, the god sang sweet random snatches,

even as youths bandy taunts at festivals. He sang of Zeus the son of

Cronos and neat-shod Maia, the converse which they had before in the

comradeship of love, telling all the glorious tale of his own

begetting. He celebrated, too, the handmaids of the nymph, and her

bright home, and the tripods all about the house, and the abundant

cauldrons.

(ll. 62-67) But while he was singing of all these, his heart was bent

on other matters. And he took the hollow lyre and laid it in his sacred

cradle, and sprang from the sweet-smelling hall to a watch-place,

pondering sheer trickery in his heart—deeds such as knavish folk pursue

in the dark night-time; for he longed to taste flesh.

(ll. 68-86) The Sun was going down beneath the earth towards Ocean with

his horses and chariot when Hermes came hurrying to the shadowy

mountains of Pieria, where the divine cattle of the blessed gods had

their steads and grazed the pleasant, unmown meadows. Of these the Son

of Maia, the sharp-eyed slayer of Argus then cut off from the herd

fifty loud-lowing kine, and drove them straggling-wise across a sandy

place, turning their hoof-prints aside. Also, he bethought him of a

crafty ruse and reversed the marks of their hoofs, making the front

behind and the hind before, while he himself walked the other way 2514.

Then he wove sandals with wicker-work by the sand of the sea, wonderful

things, unthought of, unimagined; for he mixed together tamarisk and

myrtle-twigs, fastening together an armful of their fresh, young wood,

and tied them, leaves and all securely under his feet as light sandals.

The brushwood the glorious Slayer of Argus plucked in Pieria as he was

preparing for his journey, making shift 2515 as one making haste for a

long journey.

(ll. 87-89) But an old man tilling his flowering vineyard saw him as he

was hurrying down the plain through grassy Onchestus. So the Son of

Maia began and said to him:

(ll. 90-93) ‘Old man, digging about your vines with bowed shoulders,

surely you shall have much wine when all these bear fruit, if you obey

me and strictly remember not to have seen what you have seen, and not

to have heard what you have heard, and to keep silent when nothing of

your own is harmed.’

(ll. 94-114) When he had said this much, he hurried the strong cattle

on together: through many shadowy mountains and echoing gorges and

flowery plains glorious Hermes drove them. And now the divine night,

his dark ally, was mostly passed, and dawn that sets folk to work was

quickly coming on, while bright Selene, daughter of the lord Pallas,

Megamedes’ son, had just climbed her watch-post, when the strong Son of

Zeus drove the wide-browed cattle of Phoebus Apollo to the river

Alpheus. And they came unwearied to the high-roofed byres and the

drinking-troughs that were before the noble meadow. Then, after he had

well-fed the loud-bellowing cattle with fodder and driven them into the

byre, close-packed and chewing lotus and began to seek the art of fire.

He chose a stout laurel branch and trimmed it with the knife....

((LACUNA)) 2516 ....held firmly in his hand: and the hot smoke rose up.

For it was Hermes who first invented fire-sticks and fire. Next he took

many dried sticks and piled them thick and plenty in a sunken trench:

and flame began to glow, spreading afar the blast of fierce-burning

fire.

(ll. 115-137) And while the strength of glorious Hephaestus was

beginning to kindle the fire, he dragged out two lowing, horned cows

close to the fire; for great strength was with him. He threw them both

panting upon their backs on the ground, and rolled them on their sides,

bending their necks over 2517, and pierced their vital chord. Then he

went on from task to task: first he cut up the rich, fatted meat, and

pierced it with wooden spits, and roasted flesh and the honourable

chine and the paunch full of dark blood all together. He laid them

there upon the ground, and spread out the hides on a rugged rock: and

so they are still there many ages afterwards, a long, long time after

all this, and are continually 2518. Next glad-hearted Hermes dragged

the rich meats he had prepared and put them on a smooth, flat stone,

and divided them into twelve portions distributed by lot, making each

portion wholly honourable. Then glorious Hermes longed for the

sacrificial meat, for the sweet savour wearied him, god though he was;

nevertheless his proud heart was not prevailed upon to devour the

flesh, although he greatly desired 2519. But he put away the fat and

all the flesh in the high-roofed byre, placing them high up to be a

token of his youthful theft. And after that he gathered dry sticks and

utterly destroyed with fire all the hoofs and all the heads.

(ll. 138-154) And when the god had duly finished all, he threw his

sandals into deep-eddying Alpheus, and quenched the embers, covering

the black ashes with sand, and so spent the night while Selene’s soft

light shone down. Then the god went straight back again at dawn to the

bright crests of Cyllene, and no one met him on the long journey either

of the blessed gods or mortal men, nor did any dog bark. And

luck-bringing Hermes, the son of Zeus, passed edgeways through the

key-hole of the hall like the autumn breeze, even as mist: straight

through the cave he went and came to the rich inner chamber, walking

softly, and making no noise as one might upon the floor. Then glorious

Hermes went hurriedly to his cradle, wrapping his swaddling clothes

about his shoulders as though he were a feeble babe, and lay playing

with the covering about his knees; but at his left hand he kept close

his sweet lyre.

(ll. 155-161) But the god did not pass unseen by the goddess his

mother; but she said to him: ‘How now, you rogue! Whence come you back

so at night-time, you that wear shamelessness as a garment? And now I

surely believe the son of Leto will soon have you forth out of doors

with unbreakable cords about your ribs, or you will live a rogue’s life

in the glens robbing by whiles. Go to, then; your father got you to be

a great worry to mortal men and deathless gods.’

(ll. 162-181) Then Hermes answered her with crafty words: ‘Mother, why

do you seek to frighten me like a feeble child whose heart knows few

words of blame, a fearful babe that fears its mother’s scolding? Nay,

but I will try whatever plan is best, and so feed myself and you

continually. We will not be content to remain here, as you bid, alone

of all the gods unfee’d with offerings and prayers. Better to live in

fellowship with the deathless gods continually, rich, wealthy, and

enjoying stories of grain, than to sit always in a gloomy cave: and, as

regards honour, I too will enter upon the rite that Apollo has. If my

father will not give it to me, I will seek—and I am able—to be a prince

of robbers. And if Leto’s most glorious son shall seek me out, I think

another and a greater loss will befall him. For I will go to Pytho to

break into his great house, and will plunder therefrom splendid

tripods, and cauldrons, and gold, and plenty of bright iron, and much

apparel; and you shall see it if you will.’

(ll. 182-189) With such words they spoke together, the son of Zeus who

holds the aegis, and the lady Maia. Now Eros the early born was rising

from deep-flowing Ocean, bringing light to men, when Apollo, as he

went, came to Onchestus, the lovely grove and sacred place of the

loud-roaring Holder of the Earth. There he found an old man grazing his

beast along the pathway from his court-yard fence, and the all-glorious

Son of Leto began and said to him.

(ll. 190-200) ‘Old man, weeder 2520 of grassy Onchestus, I am come here

from Pieria seeking cattle, cows all of them, all with curving horns,

from my herd. The black bull was grazing alone away from the rest, but

fierce-eyed hounds followed the cows, four of them, all of one mind,

like men. These were left behind, the dogs and the bull—which is great

marvel; but the cows strayed out of the soft meadow, away from the

pasture when the sun was just going down. Now tell me this, old man

born long ago: have you seen one passing along behind those cows?’

(ll. 201-211) Then the old man answered him and said: ‘My son, it is

hard to tell all that one’s eyes see; for many wayfarers pass to and

fro this way, some bent on much evil, and some on good: it is difficult

to know each one. However, I was digging about my plot of vineyard all

day long until the sun went down, and I thought, good sir, but I do not

know for certain, that I marked a child, whoever the child was, that

followed long-horned cattle—an infant who had a staff and kept walking

from side to side: he was driving them backwards way, with their heads

toward him.’

(ll. 212-218) So said the old man. And when Apollo heard this report,

he went yet more quickly on his way, and presently, seeing a

long-winged bird, he knew at once by that omen that thief was the child

of Zeus the son of Cronos. So the lord Apollo, son of Zeus, hurried on

to goodly Pylos seeking his shambling oxen, and he had his broad

shoulders covered with a dark cloud. But when the Far-Shooter perceived

the tracks, he cried:

(ll. 219-226) ‘Oh, oh! Truly this is a great marvel that my eyes

behold! These are indeed the tracks of straight-horned oxen, but they

are turned backwards towards the flowery meadow. But these others are

not the footprints of man or woman or grey wolves or bears or lions,

nor do I think they are the tracks of a rough-maned Centaur—whoever it

be that with swift feet makes such monstrous footprints; wonderful are

the tracks on this side of the way, but yet more wonderfully are those

on that.’

(ll. 227-234) When he had so said, the lord Apollo, the Son of Zeus

hastened on and came to the forest-clad mountain of Cyllene and the

deep-shadowed cave in the rock where the divine nymph brought forth the

child of Zeus who is the son of Cronos. A sweet odour spread over the

lovely hill, and many thin-shanked sheep were grazing on the grass.

Then far-shooting Apollo himself stepped down in haste over the stone

threshold into the dusky cave.

(ll. 235-253) Now when the Son of Zeus and Maia saw Apollo in a rage

about his cattle, he snuggled down in his fragrant swaddling-clothes;

and as wood-ash covers over the deep embers of tree-stumps, so Hermes

cuddled himself up when he saw the Far-Shooter. He squeezed head and

hands and feet together in a small space, like a new born child seeking

sweet sleep, though in truth he was wide awake, and he kept his lyre

under his armpit. But the Son of Leto was aware and failed not to

perceive the beautiful mountain-nymph and her dear son, albeit a little

child and swathed so craftily. He peered in every corner of the great

dwelling and, taking a bright key, he opened three closets full of

nectar and lovely ambrosia. And much gold and silver was stored in

them, and many garments of the nymph, some purple and some silvery

white, such as are kept in the sacred houses of the blessed gods. Then,

after the Son of Leto had searched out the recesses of the great house,

he spake to glorious Hermes:

(ll. 254-259) ‘Child, lying in the cradle, make haste and tell me of my

cattle, or we two will soon fall out angrily. For I will take and cast

you into dusty Tartarus and awful hopeless darkness, and neither your

mother nor your father shall free you or bring you up again to the

light, but you will wander under the earth and be the leader amongst

little folk.’ 2521

(ll. 260-277) Then Hermes answered him with crafty words: ‘Son of Leto,

what harsh words are these you have spoken? And is it cattle of the

field you are come here to seek? I have not seen them: I have not heard

of them: no one has told me of them. I cannot give news of them, nor

win the reward for news. Am I like a cattle-lifter, a stalwart person?

This is no task for me: rather I care for other things: I care for

sleep, and milk of my mother’s breast, and wrappings round my

shoulders, and warm baths. Let no one hear the cause of this dispute;

for this would be a great marvel indeed among the deathless gods, that

a child newly born should pass in through the forepart of the house

with cattle of the field: herein you speak extravagantly. I was born

yesterday, and my feet are soft and the ground beneath is rough;

nevertheless, if you will have it so, I will swear a great oath by my

father’s head and vow that neither am I guilty myself, neither have I

seen any other who stole your cows—whatever cows may be; for I know

them only by hearsay.’

(ll. 278-280) So, then, said Hermes, shooting quick glances from his

eyes: and he kept raising his brows and looking this way and that,

whistling long and listening to Apollo’s story as to an idle tale.

(ll. 281-292) But far-working Apollo laughed softly and said to him: ‘O

rogue, deceiver, crafty in heart, you talk so innocently that I most

surely believe that you have broken into many a well-built house and

stripped more than one poor wretch bare this night 2522, gathering his

goods together all over the house without noise. You will plague many a

lonely herdsman in mountain glades, when you come on herds and

thick-fleeced sheep, and have a hankering after flesh. But come now, if

you would not sleep your last and latest sleep, get out of your cradle,

you comrade of dark night. Surely hereafter this shall be your title

amongst the deathless gods, to be called the prince of robbers

continually.’

(ll. 293-300) So said Phoebus Apollo, and took the child and began to

carry him. But at that moment the strong Slayer of Argus had his plan,

and, while Apollo held him in his hands, sent forth an omen, a

hard-worked belly-serf, a rude messenger, and sneezed directly after.

And when Apollo heard it, he dropped glorious Hermes out of his hands

on the ground: then sitting down before him, though he was eager to go

on his way, he spoke mockingly to Hermes:

(ll. 301-303) ‘Fear not, little swaddling baby, son of Zeus and Maia. I

shall find the strong cattle presently by these omens, and you shall

lead the way.’

(ll. 304-306) When Apollo had so said, Cyllenian Hermes sprang up

quickly, starting in haste. With both hands he pushed up to his ears

the covering that he had wrapped about his shoulders, and said:

(ll. 307-312) ‘Where are you carrying me, Far-Worker, hastiest of all

the gods? Is it because of your cattle that you are so angry and harass

me? O dear, would that all the sort of oxen might perish; for it is not

I who stole your cows, nor did I see another steal them—whatever cows

may be, and of that I have only heard report. Nay, give right and take

it before Zeus, the Son of Cronos.’

(ll. 313-326) So Hermes the shepherd and Leto’s glorious son kept

stubbornly disputing each article of their quarrel: Apollo, speaking

truly.... ((LACUNA)) ....not fairly sought to seize glorious Hermes

because of the cows; but he, the Cyllenian, tried to deceive the God of

the Silver Bow with tricks and cunning words. But when, though he had

many wiles, he found the other had as many shifts, he began to walk

across the sand, himself in front, while the Son of Zeus and Leto came

behind. Soon they came, these lovely children of Zeus, to the top of

fragrant Olympus, to their father, the Son of Cronos; for there were

the scales of judgement set for them both.

There was an assembly on snowy Olympus, and the immortals who perish

not were gathering after the hour of gold-throned Dawn.

(ll. 327-329) Then Hermes and Apollo of the Silver Bow stood at the

knees of Zeus: and Zeus who thunders on high spoke to his glorious son

and asked him:

(ll. 330-332) ‘Phoebus, whence come you driving this great spoil, a

child new born that has the look of a herald? This is a weighty matter

that is come before the council of the gods.’

(ll. 333-364) Then the lord, far-working Apollo, answered him: ‘O my

father, you shall soon hear no trifling tale though you reproach me

that I alone am fond of spoil. Here is a child, a burgling robber, whom

I found after a long journey in the hills of Cyllene: for my part I

have never seen one so pert either among the gods or all men that catch

folk unawares throughout the world. He stole away my cows from their

meadow and drove them off in the evening along the shore of the

loud-roaring sea, making straight for Pylos. There were double tracks,

and wonderful they were, such as one might marvel at, the doing of a

clever sprite; for as for the cows, the dark dust kept and showed their

footprints leading towards the flowery meadow; but he

himself—bewildering creature—crossed the sandy ground outside the path,

not on his feet nor yet on his hands; but, furnished with some other

means he trudged his way—wonder of wonders!—as though one walked on

slender oak-trees. Now while he followed the cattle across sandy

ground, all the tracks showed quite clearly in the dust; but when he

had finished the long way across the sand, presently the cows’ track

and his own could not be traced over the hard ground. But a mortal man

noticed him as he drove the wide-browed kine straight towards Pylos.

And as soon as he had shut them up quietly, and had gone home by crafty

turns and twists, he lay down in his cradle in the gloom of a dim cave,

as still as dark night, so that not even an eagle keenly gazing would

have spied him. Much he rubbed his eyes with his hands as he prepared

falsehood, and himself straightway said roundly: “I have not seen them:

I have not heard of them: no man has told me of them. I could not tell

you of them, nor win the reward of telling.”’

(ll. 365-367) When he had so spoken, Phoebus Apollo sat down. But

Hermes on his part answered and said, pointing at the Son of Cronos,

the lord of all the gods:

(ll. 368-386) ‘Zeus, my father, indeed I will speak truth to you; for I

am truthful and I cannot tell a lie. He came to our house to-day

looking for his shambling cows, as the sun was newly rising. He brought

no witnesses with him nor any of the blessed gods who had seen the

theft, but with great violence ordered me to confess, threatening much

to throw me into wide Tartarus. For he has the rich bloom of glorious

youth, while I was born but yesterday—as he too knows—nor am I like a

cattle-lifter, a sturdy fellow. Believe my tale (for you claim to be my

own father), that I did not drive his cows to my house—so may I

prosper—nor crossed the threshold: this I say truly. I reverence Helios

greatly and the other gods, and you I love and him I dread. You

yourself know that I am not guilty: and I will swear a great oath upon

it:—No! by these rich-decked porticoes of the gods. And some day I will

punish him, strong as he is, for this pitiless inquisition; but now do

you help the younger.’

(ll. 387-396) So spake the Cyllenian, the Slayer of Argus, while he

kept shooting sidelong glances and kept his swaddling-clothes upon his

arm, and did not cast them away. But Zeus laughed out loud to see his

evil-plotting child well and cunningly denying guilt about the cattle.

And he bade them both to be of one mind and search for the cattle, and

guiding Hermes to lead the way and, without mischievousness of heart,

to show the place where now he had hidden the strong cattle. Then the

Son of Cronos bowed his head: and goodly Hermes obeyed him; for the

will of Zeus who holds the aegis easily prevailed with him.

(ll. 397-404) Then the two all-glorious children of Zeus hastened both

to sandy Pylos, and reached the ford of Alpheus, and came to the fields

and the high-roofed byre where the beasts were cherished at night-time.

Now while Hermes went to the cave in the rock and began to drive out

the strong cattle, the son of Leto, looking aside, saw the cowhides on

the sheer rock. And he asked glorious Hermes at once:

(ll. 405-408) ‘How were you able, you crafty rogue, to flay two cows,

new-born and babyish as you are? For my part, I dread the strength that

will be yours: there is no need you should keep growing long,

Cyllenian, son of Maia!’

(ll. 409-414) So saying, Apollo twisted strong withes with his hands

meaning to bind Hermes with firm bands; but the bands would not hold

him, and the withes of osier fell far from him and began to grow at

once from the ground beneath their feet in that very place. And

intertwining with one another, they quickly grew and covered all the

wild-roving cattle by the will of thievish Hermes, so that Apollo was

astonished as he gazed.

(ll. 414-435) Then the strong slayer of Argus looked furtively upon the

ground with eyes flashing fire.... desiring to hide.... ((LACUNA))

....Very easily he softened the son of all-glorious Leto as he would,

stern though the Far-shooter was. He took the lyre upon his left arm

and tried each string in turn with the key, so that it sounded

awesomely at his touch. And Phoebus Apollo laughed for joy; for the

sweet throb of the marvellous music went to his heart, and a soft

longing took hold on his soul as he listened. Then the son of Maia,

harping sweetly upon his lyre, took courage and stood at the left hand

of Phoebus Apollo; and soon, while he played shrilly on his lyre, he

lifted up his voice and sang, and lovely was the sound of his voice

that followed. He sang the story of the deathless gods and of the dark

earth, how at the first they came to be, and how each one received his

portion. First among the gods he honoured Mnemosyne, mother of the

Muses, in his song; for the son of Maia was of her following. And next

the goodly son of Zeus hymned the rest of the immortals according to

their order in age, and told how each was born, mentioning all in order

as he struck the lyre upon his arm. But Apollo was seized with a

longing not to be allayed, and he opened his mouth and spoke winged

words to Hermes:

(ll. 436-462) ‘Slayer of oxen, trickster, busy one, comrade of the

feast, this song of yours is worth fifty cows, and I believe that

presently we shall settle our quarrel peacefully. But come now, tell me

this, resourceful son of Maia: has this marvellous thing been with you

from your birth, or did some god or mortal man give it you—a noble

gift—and teach you heavenly song? For wonderful is this new-uttered

sound I hear, the like of which I vow that no man nor god dwelling on

Olympus ever yet has known but you, O thievish son of Maia. What skill

is this? What song for desperate cares? What way of song? For verily

here are three things to hand all at once from which to choose,—mirth,

and love, and sweet sleep. And though I am a follower of the Olympian

Muses who love dances and the bright path of song—the full-toned chant

and ravishing thrill of flutes—yet I never cared for any of those feats

of skill at young men’s revels, as I do now for this: I am filled with

wonder, O son of Zeus, at your sweet playing. But now, since you,

though little, have such glorious skill, sit down, dear boy, and

respect the words of your elders. For now you shall have renown among

the deathless gods, you and your mother also. This I will declare to

you exactly: by this shaft of cornel wood I will surely make you a

leader renowned among the deathless gods, and fortunate, and will give

you glorious gifts and will not deceive you from first to last.’

(ll. 463-495) Then Hermes answered him with artful words: ‘You question

me carefully, O Far-worker; yet I am not jealous that you should enter

upon my art: this day you shall know it. For I seek to be friendly with

you both in thought and word. Now you well know all things in your

heart, since you sit foremost among the deathless gods, O son of Zeus,

and are goodly and strong. And wise Zeus loves you as all right is, and

has given you splendid gifts. And they say that from the utterance of

Zeus you have learned both the honours due to the gods, O Far-worker,

and oracles from Zeus, even all his ordinances. Of all these I myself

have already learned that you have great wealth. Now, you are free to

learn whatever you please; but since, as it seems, your heart is so

strongly set on playing the lyre, chant, and play upon it, and give

yourself to merriment, taking this as a gift from me, and do you, my

friend, bestow glory on me. Sing well with this clear-voiced companion

in your hands; for you are skilled in good, well-ordered utterance.

From now on bring it confidently to the rich feast and lovely dance and

glorious revel, a joy by night and by day. Whoso with wit and wisdom

enquires of it cunningly, him it teaches through its sound all manner

of things that delight the mind, being easily played with gentle

familiarities, for it abhors toilsome drudgery; but whoso in ignorance

enquires of it violently, to him it chatters mere vanity and

foolishness. But you are able to learn whatever you please. So then, I

will give you this lyre, glorious son of Zeus, while I for my part will

graze down with wild-roving cattle the pastures on hill and

horse-feeding plain: so shall the cows covered by the bulls calve

abundantly both males and females. And now there is no need for you,

bargainer though you are, to be furiously angry.’

(ll. 496-502) When Hermes had said this, he held out the lyre: and

Phoebus Apollo took it, and readily put his shining whip in Hermes’

hand, and ordained him keeper of herds. The son of Maia received it

joyfully, while the glorious son of Leto, the lord far-working Apollo,

took the lyre upon his left arm and tried each string with the key.

Awesomely it sounded at the touch of the god, while he sang sweetly to

its note.

(ll. 503-512) Afterwards they two, the all-glorious sons of Zeus turned

the cows back towards the sacred meadow, but themselves hastened back

to snowy Olympus, delighting in the lyre. Then wise Zeus was glad and

made them both friends. And Hermes loved the son of Leto continually,

even as he does now, when he had given the lyre as token to the

Far-shooter, who played it skilfully, holding it upon his arm. But for

himself Hermes found out another cunning art and made himself the pipes

whose sound is heard afar.

(ll. 513-520) Then the son of Leto said to Hermes: ‘Son of Maia, guide

and cunning one, I fear you may steal form me the lyre and my curved

bow together; for you have an office from Zeus, to establish deeds of

barter amongst men throughout the fruitful earth. Now if you would only

swear me the great oath of the gods, either by nodding your head, or by

the potent water of Styx, you would do all that can please and ease my

heart.’

(ll. 521-549) Then Maia’s son nodded his head and promised that he

would never steal anything of all the Far-shooter possessed, and would

never go near his strong house; but Apollo, son of Leto, swore to be

fellow and friend to Hermes, vowing that he would love no other among

the immortals, neither god nor man sprung from Zeus, better than

Hermes: and the Father sent forth an eagle in confirmation. And Apollo

sware also: ‘Verily I will make you only to be an omen for the

immortals and all alike, trusted and honoured by my heart. Moreover, I

will give you a splendid staff of riches and wealth: it is of gold,

with three branches, and will keep you scatheless, accomplishing every

task, whether of words or deeds that are good, which I claim to know

through the utterance of Zeus. But as for sooth-saying, noble,

heaven-born child, of which you ask, it is not lawful for you to learn

it, nor for any other of the deathless gods: only the mind of Zeus

knows that. I am pledged and have vowed and sworn a strong oath that no

other of the eternal gods save I should know the wise-hearted counsel

of Zeus. And do not you, my brother, bearer of the golden wand, bid me

tell those decrees which all-seeing Zeus intends. As for men, I will

harm one and profit another, sorely perplexing the tribes of unenviable

men. Whosoever shall come guided by the call and flight of birds of

sure omen, that man shall have advantage through my voice, and I will

not deceive him. But whoso shall trust to idly-chattering birds and

shall seek to invoke my prophetic art contrary to my will, and to

understand more than the eternal gods, I declare that he shall come on

an idle journey; yet his gifts I would take.

(ll. 550-568) ‘But I will tell you another thing, Son of all-glorious

Maia and Zeus who holds the aegis, luck-bringing genius of the gods.

There are certain holy ones, sisters born—three virgins 2523 gifted

with wings: their heads are besprinkled with white meal, and they dwell

under a ridge of Parnassus. These are teachers of divination apart from

me, the art which I practised while yet a boy following herds, though

my father paid no heed to it. From their home they fly now here, now

there, feeding on honey-comb and bringing all things to pass. And when

they are inspired through eating yellow honey, they are willing to

speak truth; but if they be deprived of the gods’ sweet food, then they

speak falsely, as they swarm in and out together. These, then, I give

you; enquire of them strictly and delight your heart: and if you should

teach any mortal so to do, often will he hear your response—if he have

good fortune. Take these, Son of Maia, and tend the wild roving, horned

oxen and horses and patient mules.’

(ll. 568a-573) So he spake. And from heaven father Zeus himself gave

confirmation to his words, and commanded that glorious Hermes should be

lord over all birds of omen and grim-eyed lions, and boars with

gleaming tusks, and over dogs and all flocks that the wide earth

nourishes, and over all sheep; also that he only should be the

appointed messenger to Hades, who, though he takes no gift, shall give

him no mean prize.

(ll. 574-578) Thus the lord Apollo showed his kindness for the Son of

Maia by all manner of friendship: and the Son of Cronos gave him grace

besides. He consorts with all mortals and immortals: a little he

profits, but continually throughout the dark night he cozens the tribes

of mortal men.

(ll. 579-580) And so, farewell, Son of Zeus and Maia; but I will

remember you and another song also.

V. TO APHRODITE

(ll. 1-6) Muse, tell me the deeds of golden Aphrodite the Cyprian, who

stirs up sweet passion in the gods and subdues the tribes of mortal men

and birds that fly in air and all the many creatures that the dry land

rears, and all the sea: all these love the deeds of rich-crowned

Cytherea.

(ll. 7-32) Yet there are three hearts that she cannot bend nor yet

ensnare. First is the daughter of Zeus who holds the aegis, bright-eyed

Athene; for she has no pleasure in the deeds of golden Aphrodite, but

delights in wars and in the work of Ares, in strifes and battles and in

preparing famous crafts. She first taught earthly craftsmen to make

chariots of war and cars variously wrought with bronze, and she, too,

teaches tender maidens in the house and puts knowledge of goodly arts

in each one’s mind. Nor does laughter-loving Aphrodite ever tame in

love Artemis, the huntress with shafts of gold; for she loves archery

and the slaying of wild beasts in the mountains, the lyre also and

dancing and thrilling cries and shady woods and the cities of upright

men. Nor yet does the pure maiden Hestia love Aphrodite’s works. She

was the first-born child of wily Cronos and youngest too 2524, by will

of Zeus who holds the aegis,—a queenly maid whom both Poseidon and

Apollo sought to wed. But she was wholly unwilling, nay, stubbornly

refused; and touching the head of father Zeus who holds the aegis, she,

that fair goddess, sware a great oath which has in truth been

fulfilled, that she would be a maiden all her days. So Zeus the Father

gave her an high honour instead of marriage, and she has her place in

the midst of the house and has the richest portion. In all the temples

of the gods she has a share of honour, and among all mortal men she is

chief of the goddesses.

(ll. 33-44) Of these three Aphrodite cannot bend or ensnare the hearts.

But of all others there is nothing among the blessed gods or among

mortal men that has escaped Aphrodite. Even the heart of Zeus, who

delights in thunder, is led astray by her; though he is greatest of all

and has the lot of highest majesty, she beguiles even his wise heart

whensoever she pleases, and mates him with mortal women, unknown to

Hera, his sister and his wife, the grandest far in beauty among the

deathless goddesses—most glorious is she whom wily Cronos with her

mother Rhea did beget: and Zeus, whose wisdom is everlasting, made her

his chaste and careful wife.

(ll. 45-52) But upon Aphrodite herself Zeus cast sweet desire to be

joined in love with a mortal man, to the end that, very soon, not even

she should be innocent of a mortal’s love; lest laughter-loving

Aphrodite should one day softly smile and say mockingly among all the

gods that she had joined the gods in love with mortal women who bare

sons of death to the deathless gods, and had mated the goddesses with

mortal men.

(ll. 53-74) And so he put in her heart sweet desire for Anchises who

was tending cattle at that time among the steep hills of

many-fountained Ida, and in shape was like the immortal gods.

Therefore, when laughter-loving Aphrodite saw him, she loved him, and

terribly desire seized her in her heart. She went to Cyprus, to Paphos,

where her precinct is and fragrant altar, and passed into her

sweet-smelling temple. There she went in and put to the glittering

doors, and there the Graces bathed her with heavenly oil such as blooms

upon the bodies of the eternal gods—oil divinely sweet, which she had

by her, filled with fragrance. And laughter-loving Aphrodite put on all

her rich clothes, and when she had decked herself with gold, she left

sweet-smelling Cyprus and went in haste towards Troy, swiftly

travelling high up among the clouds. So she came to many-fountained

Ida, the mother of wild creatures and went straight to the homestead

across the mountains. After her came grey wolves, fawning on her, and

grim-eyed lions, and bears, and fleet leopards, ravenous for deer: and

she was glad in heart to see them, and put desire in their breasts, so

that they all mated, two together, about the shadowy coombes.

(ll. 75-88) 2525 But she herself came to the neat-built shelters, and

him she found left quite alone in the homestead—the hero Anchises who

was comely as the gods. All the others were following the herds over

the grassy pastures, and he, left quite alone in the homestead, was

roaming hither and thither and playing thrillingly upon the lyre. And

Aphrodite, the daughter of Zeus stood before him, being like a pure

maiden in height and mien, that he should not be frightened when he

took heed of her with his eyes. Now when Anchises saw her, he marked

her well and wondered at her mien and height and shining garments. For

she was clad in a robe out-shining the brightness of fire, a splendid

robe of gold, enriched with all manner of needlework, which shimmered

like the moon over her tender breasts, a marvel to see.

Also she wore twisted brooches and shining earrings in the form of

flowers; and round her soft throat were lovely necklaces.

(ll. 91-105) And Anchises was seized with love, and said to her: ‘Hail,

lady, whoever of the blessed ones you are that are come to this house,

whether Artemis, or Leto, or golden Aphrodite, or high-born Themis, or

bright-eyed Athene. Or, maybe, you are one of the Graces come hither,

who bear the gods company and are called immortal, or else one of those

who inhabit this lovely mountain and the springs of rivers and grassy

meads. I will make you an altar upon a high peak in a far seen place,

and will sacrifice rich offerings to you at all seasons. And do you

feel kindly towards me and grant that I may become a man very eminent

among the Trojans, and give me strong offspring for the time to come.

As for my own self, let me live long and happily, seeing the light of

the sun, and come to the threshold of old age, a man prosperous among

the people.’

(ll. 106-142) Thereupon Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus answered him:

‘Anchises, most glorious of all men born on earth, know that I am no

goddess: why do you liken me to the deathless ones? Nay, I am but a

mortal, and a woman was the mother that bare me. Otreus of famous name

is my father, if so be you have heard of him, and he reigns over all

Phrygia rich in fortresses. But I know your speech well beside my own,

for a Trojan nurse brought me up at home: she took me from my dear

mother and reared me thenceforth when I was a little child. So comes

it, then, that I well know your tongue also. And now the Slayer of

Argus with the golden wand has caught me up from the dance of huntress

Artemis, her with the golden arrows. For there were many of us, nymphs

and marriageable 2526 maidens, playing together; and an innumerable

company encircled us: from these the Slayer of Argus with the golden

wand rapt me away. He carried me over many fields of mortal men and

over much land untilled and unpossessed, where savage wild-beasts roam

through shady coombes, until I thought never again to touch the

life-giving earth with my feet. And he said that I should be called the

wedded wife of Anchises, and should bear you goodly children. But when

he had told and advised me, he, the strong Slayer of Argos, went back

to the families of the deathless gods, while I am now come to you: for

unbending necessity is upon me. But I beseech you by Zeus and by your

noble parents—for no base folk could get such a son as you—take me now,

stainless and unproved in love, and show me to your father and careful

mother and to your brothers sprung from the same stock. I shall be no

ill-liking daughter for them, but a likely. Moreover, send a messenger

quickly to the swift-horsed Phrygians, to tell my father and my

sorrowing mother; and they will send you gold in plenty and woven

stuffs, many splendid gifts; take these as bride-piece. So do, and then

prepare the sweet marriage that is honourable in the eyes of men and

deathless gods.’

(ll. 143-144) When she had so spoken, the goddess put sweet desire in

his heart. And Anchises was seized with love, so that he opened his

mouth and said:

(ll. 145-154) ‘If you are a mortal and a woman was the mother who bare

you, and Otreus of famous name is your father as you say, and if you

are come here by the will of Hermes the immortal Guide, and are to be

called my wife always, then neither god nor mortal man shall here

restrain me till I have lain with you in love right now; no, not even

if far-shooting Apollo himself should launch grievous shafts from his

silver bow. Willingly would I go down into the house of Hades, O lady,

beautiful as the goddesses, once I had gone up to your bed.’

(ll. 155-167) So speaking, he caught her by the hand. And

laughter-loving Aphrodite, with face turned away and lovely eyes

downcast, crept to the well-spread couch which was already laid with

soft coverings for the hero; and upon it lay skins of bears and

deep-roaring lions which he himself had slain in the high mountains.

And when they had gone up upon the well-fitted bed, first Anchises took

off her bright jewelry of pins and twisted brooches and earrings and

necklaces, and loosed her girdle and stripped off her bright garments

and laid them down upon a silver-studded seat. Then by the will of the

gods and destiny he lay with her, a mortal man with an immortal

goddess, not clearly knowing what he did.

(ll. 168-176) But at the time when the herdsmen drive their oxen and

hardy sheep back to the fold from the flowery pastures, even then

Aphrodite poured soft sleep upon Anchises, but herself put on her rich

raiment. And when the bright goddess had fully clothed herself, she

stood by the couch, and her head reached to the well-hewn roof-tree;

from her cheeks shone unearthly beauty such as belongs to rich-crowned

Cytherea. Then she aroused him from sleep and opened her mouth and

said:

(ll. 177-179) ‘Up, son of Dardanus!—why sleep you so heavily?—and

consider whether I look as I did when first you saw me with your eyes.’

(ll. 180-184) So she spake. And he awoke in a moment and obeyed her.

But when he saw the neck and lovely eyes of Aphrodite, he was afraid

and turned his eyes aside another way, hiding his comely face with his

cloak. Then he uttered winged words and entreated her:

(ll. 185-190) ‘So soon as ever I saw you with my eyes, goddess, I knew

that you were divine; but you did not tell me truly. Yet by Zeus who

holds the aegis I beseech you, leave me not to lead a palsied life

among men, but have pity on me; for he who lies with a deathless

goddess is no hale man afterwards.’

(ll. 191-201) Then Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus answered him:

‘Anchises, most glorious of mortal men, take courage and be not too

fearful in your heart. You need fear no harm from me nor from the other

blessed ones, for you are dear to the gods: and you shall have a dear

son who shall reign among the Trojans, and children’s children after

him, springing up continually. His name shall be Aeneas 2527, because I

felt awful grief in that I laid me in the bed of mortal man: yet are

those of your race always the most like to gods of all mortal men in

beauty and in stature 2528.

(ll. 202-217) ‘Verily wise Zeus carried off golden-haired Ganymedes

because of his beauty, to be amongst the Deathless Ones and pour drink

for the gods in the house of Zeus—a wonder to see—honoured by all the

immortals as he draws the red nectar from the golden bowl. But grief

that could not be soothed filled the heart of Tros; for he knew not

whither the heaven-sent whirlwind had caught up his dear son, so that

he mourned him always, unceasingly, until Zeus pitied him and gave him

high-stepping horses such as carry the immortals as recompense for his

son. These he gave him as a gift. And at the command of Zeus, the

Guide, the slayer of Argus, told him all, and how his son would be

deathless and unageing, even as the gods. So when Tros heard these

tidings from Zeus, he no longer kept mourning but rejoiced in his heart

and rode joyfully with his storm-footed horses.

(ll. 218-238) ‘So also golden-throned Eos rapt away Tithonus who was of

your race and like the deathless gods. And she went to ask the

dark-clouded Son of Cronos that he should be deathless and live

eternally; and Zeus bowed his head to her prayer and fulfilled her

desire. Too simply was queenly Eos: she thought not in her heart to ask

youth for him and to strip him of the slough of deadly age. So while he

enjoyed the sweet flower of life he lived rapturously with

golden-throned Eos, the early-born, by the streams of Ocean, at the

ends of the earth; but when the first grey hairs began to ripple from

his comely head and noble chin, queenly Eos kept away from his bed,

though she cherished him in her house and nourished him with food and

ambrosia and gave him rich clothing. But when loathsome old age pressed

full upon him, and he could not move nor lift his limbs, this seemed to

her in her heart the best counsel: she laid him in a room and put to

the shining doors. There he babbles endlessly, and no more has strength

at all, such as once he had in his supple limbs.

(ll. 239-246) ‘I would not have you be deathless among the deathless

gods and live continually after such sort. Yet if you could live on

such as now you are in look and in form, and be called my husband,

sorrow would not then enfold my careful heart. But, as it is, harsh

2529 old age will soon enshroud you—ruthless age which stands someday

at the side of every man, deadly, wearying, dreaded even by the gods.

(ll. 247-290) ‘And now because of you I shall have great shame among

the deathless gods henceforth, continually. For until now they feared

my jibes and the wiles by which, or soon or late, I mated all the

immortals with mortal women, making them all subject to my will. But

now my mouth shall no more have this power among the gods; for very

great has been my madness, my miserable and dreadful madness, and I

went astray out of my mind who have gotten a child beneath my girdle,

mating with a mortal man. As for the child, as soon as he sees the

light of the sun, the deep-breasted mountain Nymphs who inhabit this

great and holy mountain shall bring him up. They rank neither with

mortals nor with immortals: long indeed do they live, eating heavenly

food and treading the lovely dance among the immortals, and with them

the Sileni and the sharp-eyed Slayer of Argus mate in the depths of

pleasant caves; but at their birth pines or high-topped oaks spring up

with them upon the fruitful earth, beautiful, flourishing trees,

towering high upon the lofty mountains (and men call them holy places

of the immortals, and never mortal lops them with the axe); but when

the fate of death is near at hand, first those lovely trees wither

where they stand, and the bark shrivels away about them, and the twigs

fall down, and at last the life of the Nymph and of the tree leave the

light of the sun together. These Nymphs shall keep my son with them and

rear him, and as soon as he is come to lovely boyhood, the goddesses

will bring him here to you and show you your child. But, that I may

tell you all that I have in mind, I will come here again towards the

fifth year and bring you my son. So soon as ever you have seen him—a

scion to delight the eyes—you will rejoice in beholding him; for he

shall be most godlike: then bring him at once to windy Ilion. And if

any mortal man ask you who got your dear son beneath her girdle,

remember to tell him as I bid you: say he is the offspring of one of

the flower-like Nymphs who inhabit this forest-clad hill. But if you

tell all and foolishly boast that you lay with rich-crowned Aphrodite,

Zeus will smite you in his anger with a smoking thunderbolt. Now I have

told you all. Take heed: refrain and name me not, but have regard to

the anger of the gods.’

(l. 291) When the goddess had so spoken, she soared up to windy heaven.

(ll. 292-293) Hail, goddess, queen of well-builded Cyprus! With you

have I begun; now I will turn me to another hymn.

VI. TO APHRODITE

(ll. 1-18) I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and

beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus.

There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of

the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours

welcomed her joyously. They clothed her with heavenly garments: on her

head they put a fine, well-wrought crown of gold, and in her pierced

ears they hung ornaments of orichalc and precious gold, and adorned her

with golden necklaces over her soft neck and snow-white breasts, jewels

which the gold-filleted Hours wear themselves whenever they go to their

father’s house to join the lovely dances of the gods. And when they had

fully decked her, they brought her to the gods, who welcomed her when

they saw her, giving her their hands. Each one of them prayed that he

might lead her home to be his wedded wife, so greatly were they amazed

at the beauty of violet-crowned Cytherea.

(ll. 19-21) Hail, sweetly-winning, coy-eyed goddess! Grant that I may

gain the victory in this contest, and order you my song. And now I will

remember you and another song also.

VII. TO DIONYSUS

(ll. 1-16) I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, how he

appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea,

seeming like a stripling in the first flush of manhood: his rich, dark

hair was waving about him, and on his strong shoulders he wore a purple

robe. Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian

2530 pirates on a well-decked ship—a miserable doom led them on. When

they saw him they made signs to one another and sprang out quickly, and

seizing him straightway, put him on board their ship exultingly; for

they thought him the son of heaven-nurtured kings. They sought to bind

him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold him, and the withes

fell far away from his hands and feet: and he sat with a smile in his

dark eyes. Then the helmsman understood all and cried out at once to

his fellows and said:

(ll. 17-24) ‘Madmen! What god is this whom you have taken and bind,

strong that he is? Not even the well-built ship can carry him. Surely

this is either Zeus or Apollo who has the silver bow, or Poseidon, for

he looks not like mortal men but like the gods who dwell on Olympus.

Come, then, let us set him free upon the dark shore at once: do not lay

hands on him, lest he grow angry and stir up dangerous winds and heavy

squalls.’

(ll. 25-31) So said he: but the master chid him with taunting words:

‘Madman, mark the wind and help hoist sail on the ship: catch all the

sheets. As for this fellow we men will see to him: I reckon he is bound

for Egypt or for Cyprus or to the Hyperboreans or further still. But in

the end he will speak out and tell us his friends and all his wealth

and his brothers, now that providence has thrown him in our way.’

(ll. 32-54) When he had said this, he had mast and sail hoisted on the

ship, and the wind filled the sail and the crew hauled taut the sheets

on either side. But soon strange things were seen among them. First of

all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming throughout all the black ship

and a heavenly smell arose, so that all the seamen were seized with

amazement when they saw it. And all at once a vine spread out both ways

along the top of the sail with many clusters hanging down from it, and

a dark ivy-plant twined about the mast, blossoming with flowers, and

with rich berries growing on it; and all the thole-pins were covered

with garlands. When the pirates saw all this, then at last they bade

the helmsman to put the ship to land. But the god changed into a

dreadful lion there on the ship, in the bows, and roared loudly:

amidships also he showed his wonders and created a shaggy bear which

stood up ravening, while on the forepeak was the lion glaring fiercely

with scowling brows. And so the sailors fled into the stern and crowded

bemused about the right-minded helmsman, until suddenly the lion sprang

upon the master and seized him; and when the sailors saw it they leapt

out overboard one and all into the bright sea, escaping from a

miserable fate, and were changed into dolphins. But on the helmsman

Dionysus had mercy and held him back and made him altogether happy,

saying to him:

(ll. 55-57) ‘Take courage, good...; you have found favour with my

heart. I am loud-crying Dionysus whom Cadmus’ daughter Semele bare of

union with Zeus.’

(ll. 58-59) Hail, child of fair-faced Semele! He who forgets you can in

no wise order sweet song.

VIII. TO ARES

(ll. 1-17) Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden-helmed,

doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of cities, harnessed in

bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defence of

Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of

the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptred King of manliness,

who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold

courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you

above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of

dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and

strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from

my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also

the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of

blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to

abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and

the violent fiends of death.

IX. TO ARTEMIS

(ll. 1-6) Muse, sing of Artemis, sister of the Far-shooter, the virgin

who delights in arrows, who was fostered with Apollo. She waters her

horses from Meles deep in reeds, and swiftly drives her all-golden

chariot through Smyrna to vine-clad Claros where Apollo, god of the

silver bow, sits waiting for the far-shooting goddess who delights in

arrows.

(ll. 7-9) And so hail to you, Artemis, in my song and to all goddesses

as well. Of you first I sing and with you I begin; now that I have

begun with you, I will turn to another song.

X. TO APHRODITE

(ll. 1-3) Of Cytherea, born in Cyprus, I will sing. She gives kindly

gifts to men: smiles are ever on her lovely face, and lovely is the

brightness that plays over it.

(ll. 4-6) Hail, goddess, queen of well-built Salamis and sea-girt

Cyprus; grant me a cheerful song. And now I will remember you and

another song also.

XI. TO ATHENA

(ll. 1-4) Of Pallas Athene, guardian of the city, I begin to sing.

Dread is she, and with Ares she loves deeds of war, the sack of cities

and the shouting and the battle. It is she who saves the people as they

go out to war and come back.

(l. 5) Hail, goddess, and give us good fortune with happiness!

XII. TO HERA

(ll. 1-5) I sing of golden-throned Hera whom Rhea bare. Queen of the

immortals is she, surpassing all in beauty: she is the sister and the

wife of loud-thundering Zeus,—the glorious one whom all the blessed

throughout high Olympus reverence and honour even as Zeus who delights

in thunder.

XIII. TO DEMETER

(ll. 1-2) I begin to sing of rich-haired Demeter, awful goddess, of her

and of her daughter lovely Persephone.

(l. 3) Hail, goddess! Keep this city safe, and govern my song.

XIV. TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS

(ll. 1-5) I prithee, clear-voiced Muse, daughter of mighty Zeus, sing

of the mother of all gods and men. She is well-pleased with the sound

of rattles and of timbrels, with the voice of flutes and the outcry of

wolves and bright-eyed lions, with echoing hills and wooded coombes.

(l. 6) And so hail to you in my song and to all goddesses as well!

XV. TO HERACLES THE LION-HEARTED

(ll. 1-8) I will sing of Heracles, the son of Zeus and much the

mightiest of men on earth. Alcmena bare him in Thebes, the city of

lovely dances, when the dark-clouded Son of Cronos had lain with her.

Once he used to wander over unmeasured tracts of land and sea at the

bidding of King Eurystheus, and himself did many deeds of violence and

endured many; but now he lives happily in the glorious home of snowy

Olympus, and has neat-ankled Hebe for his wife.

(l. 9) Hail, lord, son of Zeus! Give me success and prosperity.

XVI. TO ASCLEPIUS

(ll. 1-4) I begin to sing of Asclepius, son of Apollo and healer of

sicknesses. In the Dotian plain fair Coronis, daughter of King

Phlegyas, bare him, a great joy to men, a soother of cruel pangs.

(l. 5) And so hail to you, lord: in my song I make my prayer to thee!

XVII. TO THE DIOSCURI

(ll. 1-4) Sing, clear-voiced Muse, of Castor and Polydeuces, the

Tyndaridae, who sprang from Olympian Zeus. Beneath the heights of

Taygetus stately Leda bare them, when the dark-clouded Son of Cronos

had privily bent her to his will.

(l. 5) Hail, children of Tyndareus, riders upon swift horses!

XVIII. TO HERMES

(ll. 1-9) I sing of Cyllenian Hermes, the Slayer of Argus, lord of

Cyllene and Arcadia rich in flocks, luck-bringing messenger of the

deathless gods. He was born of Maia, the daughter of Atlas, when she

had made with Zeus,—a shy goddess she. Ever she avoided the throng of

the blessed gods and lived in a shadowy cave, and there the Son of

Cronos used to lie with the rich-tressed nymph at dead of night, while

white-armed Hera lay bound in sweet sleep: and neither deathless god

nor mortal man knew it.

(ll. 10-11) And so hail to you, Son of Zeus and Maia; with you I have

begun: now I will turn to another song!

(l. 12) Hail, Hermes, giver of grace, guide, and giver of good things!

2531

XIX. TO PAN

(ll. 1-26) Muse, tell me about Pan, the dear son of Hermes, with his

goat’s feet and two horns—a lover of merry noise. Through wooded glades

he wanders with dancing nymphs who foot it on some sheer cliff’s edge,

calling upon Pan, the shepherd-god, long-haired, unkempt. He has every

snowy crest and the mountain peaks and rocky crests for his domain;

hither and thither he goes through the close thickets, now lured by

soft streams, and now he presses on amongst towering crags and climbs

up to the highest peak that overlooks the flocks. Often he courses

through the glistening high mountains, and often on the shouldered

hills he speeds along slaying wild beasts, this keen-eyed god. Only at

evening, as he returns from the chase, he sounds his note, playing

sweet and low on his pipes of reed: not even she could excel him in

melody—that bird who in flower-laden spring pouring forth her lament

utters honey-voiced song amid the leaves. At that hour the clear-voiced

nymphs are with him and move with nimble feet, singing by some spring

of dark water, while Echo wails about the mountain-top, and the god on

this side or on that of the choirs, or at times sidling into the midst,

plies it nimbly with his feet. On his back he wears a spotted

lynx-pelt, and he delights in high-pitched songs in a soft meadow where

crocuses and sweet-smelling hyacinths bloom at random in the grass.

(ll. 27-47) They sing of the blessed gods and high Olympus and choose

to tell of such an one as luck-bringing Hermes above the rest, how he

is the swift messenger of all the gods, and how he came to Arcadia, the

land of many springs and mother of flocks, there where his sacred place

is as god of Cyllene. For there, though a god, he used to tend

curly-fleeced sheep in the service of a mortal man, because there fell

on him and waxed strong melting desire to wed the rich-tressed daughter

of Dryops, and there he brought about the merry marriage. And in the

house she bare Hermes a dear son who from his birth was marvellous to

look upon, with goat’s feet and two horns—a noisy, merry-laughing

child. But when the nurse saw his uncouth face and full beard, she was

afraid and sprang up and fled and left the child. Then luck-bringing

Hermes received him and took him in his arms: very glad in his heart

was the god. And he went quickly to the abodes of the deathless gods,

carrying the son wrapped in warm skins of mountain hares, and set him

down beside Zeus and showed him to the rest of the gods. Then all the

immortals were glad in heart and Bacchie Dionysus in especial; and they

called the boy Pan 2532 because he delighted all their hearts.

(ll. 48-49) And so hail to you, lord! I seek your favour with a song.

And now I will remember you and another song also.

XX. TO HEPHAESTUS

(ll. 1-7) Sing, clear-voiced Muses, of Hephaestus famed for inventions.

With bright-eyed Athene he taught men glorious gifts throughout the

world,—men who before used to dwell in caves in the mountains like wild

beasts. But now that they have learned crafts through Hephaestus the

famed worker, easily they live a peaceful life in their own houses the

whole year round.

(l. 8) Be gracious, Hephaestus, and grant me success and prosperity!

XXI. TO APOLLO

(ll. 1-4) Phoebus, of you even the swan sings with clear voice to the

beating of his wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river

Peneus; and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched

lyre, always sings both first and last.

(l. 5) And so hail to you, lord! I seek your favour with my song.

XXII. TO POSEIDON

(ll. 1-5) I begin to sing about Poseidon, the great god, mover of the

earth and fruitless sea, god of the deep who is also lord of Helicon

and wide Aegae. A two-fold office the gods allotted you, O Shaker of

the Earth, to be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships!

(ll. 6-7) Hail, Poseidon, Holder of the Earth, dark-haired lord! O

blessed one, be kindly in heart and help those who voyage in ships!

XXIII. TO THE SON OF CRONOS, MOST HIGH

(ll. 1-3) I will sing of Zeus, chiefest among the gods and greatest,

all-seeing, the lord of all, the fulfiller who whispers words of wisdom

to Themis as she sits leaning towards him.

(l. 4) Be gracious, all-seeing Son of Cronos, most excellent and great!

XXIV. TO HESTIA

(ll. 1-5) Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the

Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from your

locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus the

all-wise—draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.

XXV. TO THE MUSES AND APOLLO

(ll. 1-5) I will begin with the Muses and Apollo and Zeus. For it is

through the Muses and Apollo that there are singers upon the earth and

players upon the lyre; but kings are from Zeus. Happy is he whom the

Muses love: sweet flows speech from his lips.

(ll. 6-7) Hail, children of Zeus! Give honour to my song! And now I

will remember you and another song also.

XXVI. TO DIONYSUS

(ll. 1-9) I begin to sing of ivy-crowned Dionysus, the loud-crying god,

splendid son of Zeus and glorious Semele. The rich-haired Nymphs

received him in their bosoms from the lord his father and fostered and

nurtured him carefully in the dells of Nysa, where by the will of his

father he grew up in a sweet-smelling cave, being reckoned among the

immortals. But when the goddesses had brought him up, a god oft hymned,

then began he to wander continually through the woody coombes, thickly

wreathed with ivy and laurel. And the Nymphs followed in his train with

him for their leader; and the boundless forest was filled with their

outcry.

(ll. 10-13) And so hail to you, Dionysus, god of abundant clusters!

Grant that we may come again rejoicing to this season, and from that

season onwards for many a year.

XXVII. TO ARTEMIS

(ll. 1-20) I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on

the hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery,

own sister to Apollo with the golden sword. Over the shadowy hills and

windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends

out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the

tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earthquakes

and the sea also where fishes shoal. But the goddess with a bold heart

turns every way destroying the race of wild beasts: and when she is

satisfied and has cheered her heart, this huntress who delights in

arrows slackens her supple bow and goes to the great house of her dear

brother Phoebus Apollo, to the rich land of Delphi, there to order the

lovely dance of the Muses and Graces. There she hangs up her curved bow

and her arrows, and heads and leads the dances, gracefully arrayed,

while all they utter their heavenly voice, singing how neat-ankled Leto

bare children supreme among the immortals both in thought and in deed.

(ll. 21-22) Hail to you, children of Zeus and rich-haired Leto! And now

I will remember you and another song also.

XXVIII. TO ATHENA

(ll. 1-16) I begin to sing of Pallas Athene, the glorious goddess,

bright-eyed, inventive, unbending of heart, pure virgin, saviour of

cities, courageous, Tritogeneia. From his awful head wise Zeus himself

bare her arrayed in warlike arms of flashing gold, and awe seized all

the gods as they gazed. But Athena sprang quickly from the immortal

head and stood before Zeus who holds the aegis, shaking a sharp spear:

great Olympus began to reel horribly at the might of the bright-eyed

goddess, and earth round about cried fearfully, and the sea was moved

and tossed with dark waves, while foam burst forth suddenly: the bright

Son of Hyperion stopped his swift-footed horses a long while, until the

maiden Pallas Athene had stripped the heavenly armour from her immortal

shoulders. And wise Zeus was glad.

(ll. 17-18) And so hail to you, daughter of Zeus who holds the aegis!

Now I will remember you and another song as well.

XXIX. TO HESTIA

(ll. 1-6) Hestia, in the high dwellings of all, both deathless gods and

men who walk on earth, you have gained an everlasting abode and highest

honour: glorious is your portion and your right. For without you

mortals hold no banquet,—where one does not duly pour sweet wine in

offering to Hestia both first and last.

(ll. 7-10) 2533 And you, slayer of Argus, Son of Zeus and Maia,

messenger of the blessed gods, bearer of the golden rod, giver of good,

be favourable and help us, you and Hestia, the worshipful and dear.

Come and dwell in this glorious house in friendship together; for you

two, well knowing the noble actions of men, aid on their wisdom and

their strength.

(ll. 12-13) Hail, Daughter of Cronos, and you also, Hermes, bearer of

the golden rod! Now I will remember you and another song also.

XXX. TO EARTH THE MOTHER OF ALL

(ll. 1-16) I will sing of well-founded Earth, mother of all, eldest of

all beings. She feeds all creatures that are in the world, all that go

upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and

all that fly: all these are fed of her store. Through you, O queen, men

are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you

it belongs to give means of life to mortal men and to take it away.

Happy is the man whom you delight to honour! He has all things

abundantly: his fruitful land is laden with corn, his pastures are

covered with cattle, and his house is filled with good things. Such men

rule orderly in their cities of fair women: great riches and wealth

follow them: their sons exult with ever-fresh delight, and their

daughters in flower-laden bands play and skip merrily over the soft

flowers of the field. Thus is it with those whom you honour O holy

goddess, bountiful spirit.

(ll. 17-19) Hail, Mother of the gods, wife of starry Heaven; freely

bestow upon me for this my song substance that cheers the heart! And

now I will remember you and another song also.

XXXI. TO HELIOS

(ll. 1-16) 2534 And now, O Muse Calliope, daughter of Zeus, begin to

sing of glowing Helios whom mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one,

bare to the Son of Earth and starry Heaven. For Hyperion wedded

glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children,

rosy-armed Eos and rich-tressed Selene and tireless Helios who is like

the deathless gods. As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and

deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden

helmet. Bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, and his bright locks

streaming from the temples of his head gracefully enclose his far-seen

face: a rich, fine-spun garment glows upon his body and flutters in the

wind: and stallions carry him. Then, when he has stayed his

golden-yoked chariot and horses, he rests there upon the highest point

of heaven, until he marvellously drives them down again through heaven

to Ocean.

(ll. 17-19) Hail to you, lord! Freely bestow on me substance that

cheers the heart. And now that I have begun with you, I will celebrate

the race of mortal men half-divine whose deeds the Muses have showed to

mankind.

XXXII. TO SELENE

(ll. 1-13) And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus,

well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged 2535 Moon. From her

immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and

great is the beauty that ariseth from her shining light. The air, unlit

before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam

clear, whensoever bright Selene having bathed her lovely body in the

waters of Ocean, and donned her far-gleaming, shining team, drives on

her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month: then

her great orbit is full and then her beams shine brightest as she

increases. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men.

(ll. 14-16) Once the Son of Cronos was joined with her in love; and she

conceived and bare a daughter Pandia, exceeding lovely amongst the

deathless gods.

(ll. 17-20) Hail, white-armed goddess, bright Selene, mild,

bright-tressed queen! And now I will leave you and sing the glories of

men half-divine, whose deeds minstrels, the servants of the Muses,

celebrate with lovely lips.

XXXIII. TO THE DIOSCURI

(ll. 1-17) Bright-eyed Muses, tell of the Tyndaridae, the Sons of Zeus,

glorious children of neat-ankled Leda, Castor the tamer of horses, and

blameless Polydeuces. When Leda had lain with the dark-clouded Son of

Cronos, she bare them beneath the peak of the great hill

Taygetus,—children who are delivers of men on earth and of swift-going

ships when stormy gales rage over the ruthless sea. Then the shipmen

call upon the sons of great Zeus with vows of white lambs, going to the

forepart of the prow; but the strong wind and the waves of the sea lay

the ship under water, until suddenly these two are seen darting through

the air on tawny wings. Forthwith they allay the blasts of the cruel

winds and still the waves upon the surface of the white sea: fair signs

are they and deliverance from toil. And when the shipmen see them they

are glad and have rest from their pain and labour.

(ll. 18-19) Hail, Tyndaridae, riders upon swift horses! Now I will

remember you and another song also.

HOMER’S EPIGRAMS2601

I. (5 lines) (ll. 1-5) Have reverence for him who needs a home and

stranger’s dole, all ye who dwell in the high city of Cyme, the lovely

maiden, hard by the foothills of lofty Sardene, ye who drink the

heavenly water of the divine stream, eddying Hermus, whom deathless

Zeus begot.

II. (2 lines) (ll. 1-2) Speedily may my feet bear me to some town of

righteous men; for their hearts are generous and their wit is best.

III. (6 lines) (ll. 1-6) I am a maiden of bronze and am set upon the

tomb of Midas. While the waters flow and tall trees flourish, and the

sun rises and shines and the bright moon also; while rivers run and the

sea breaks on the shore, ever remaining on this mournful tomb, I tell

the passer-by that Midas here lies buried.

IV. (17 lines) (ll. 1-17) To what a fate did Zeus the Father give me a

prey even while he made me to grow, a babe at my mother’s knee! By the

will of Zeus who holds the aegis the people of Phricon, riders on

wanton horses, more active than raging fire in the test of war, once

built the towers of Aeolian Smyrna, wave-shaken neighbour to the sea,

through which glides the pleasant stream of sacred Meles; thence 2602

arose the daughters of Zeus, glorious children, and would fain have

made famous that fair country and the city of its people. But in their

folly those men scorned the divine voice and renown of song, and in

trouble shall one of them remember this hereafter—he who with scornful

words to them 2603 contrived my fate. Yet I will endure the lot which

heaven gave me even at my birth, bearing my disappointment with a

patient heart. My dear limbs yearn not to stay in the sacred streets of

Cyme, but rather my great heart urges me to go unto another country,

small though I am.

V. (2 lines) (ll. 1-2) Thestorides, full many things there are that

mortals cannot sound; but there is nothing more unfathomable than the

heart of man.

VI. (8 lines) (ll. 1-8) Hear me, Poseidon, strong shaker of the earth,

ruler of wide-spread, tawny Helicon! Give a fair wind and sight of safe

return to the shipmen who speed and govern this ship. And grant that

when I come to the nether slopes of towering Mimas I may find

honourable, god-fearing men. Also may I avenge me on the wretch who

deceived me and grieved Zeus the lord of guests and his own

guest-table.

VII. (3 lines) (ll. 1-3) Queen Earth, all bounteous giver of

honey-hearted wealth, how kindly, it seems, you are to some, and how

intractable and rough for those with whom you are angry.

VIII. (4 lines) (ll. 1-4) Sailors, who rove the seas and whom a hateful

fate has made as the shy sea-fowl, living an unenviable life, observe

the reverence due to Zeus who rules on high, the god of strangers; for

terrible is the vengeance of this god afterwards for whosoever has

sinned.

IX. (2 lines) (ll. 1-2) Strangers, a contrary wind has caught you: but

even now take me aboard and you shall make your voyage.

X. (4 lines) (ll. 1-4) Another sort of pine shall bear a better fruit

2604 than you upon the heights of furrowed, windy Ida. For there shall

mortal men get the iron that Ares loves so soon as the Cebrenians shall

hold the land.

XI. (4 lines) (ll. 1-4) Glaucus, watchman of flocks, a word will I put

in your heart. First give the dogs their dinner at the courtyard gate,

for this is well. The dog first hears a man approaching and the

wild-beast coming to the fence.

XII. (4 lines) (ll. 1-4) Goddess-nurse of the young 2605, give ear to

my prayer, and grant that this woman may reject the love-embraces of

youth and dote on grey-haired old men whose powers are dulled, but

whose hearts still desire.

XIII. (6 lines) (ll. 1-6) Children are a man’s crown, towers of a city;

horses are the glory of a plain, and so are ships of the sea; wealth

will make a house great, and reverend princes seated in assembly are a

goodly sight for the folk to see. But a blazing fire makes a house look

more comely upon a winter’s day, when the Son of Cronos sends down

snow.

XIV. (23 lines) (ll. 1-23) Potters, if you will give me a reward, I

will sing for you. Come, then, Athena, with hand upraised 2606 over the

kiln. Let the pots and all the dishes turn out well and be well fired:

let them fetch good prices and be sold in plenty in the market, and

plenty in the streets. Grant that the potters may get great gain and

grant me so to sing to them. But if you turn shameless and make false

promises, then I call together the destroyers of kilns, Shatter and

Smash and Charr and Crash and Crudebake who can work this craft much

mischief. Come all of you and sack the kiln-yard and the buildings: let

the whole kiln be shaken up to the potter’s loud lament. As a horse’s

jaw grinds, so let the kiln grind to powder all the pots inside. And

you, too, daughter of the Sun, Circe the witch, come and cast cruel

spells; hurt both these men and their handiwork. Let Chiron also come

and bring many Centaurs—all that escaped the hands of Heracles and all

that were destroyed: let them make sad havoc of the pots and overthrow

the kiln, and let the potters see the mischief and be grieved; but I

will gloat as I behold their luckless craft. And if anyone of them

stoops to peer in, let all his face be burned up, that all men may

learn to deal honestly.

XV. (13 lines) 2607 (ll. 1-7) Let us betake us to the house of some man

of great power,—one who bears great power and is greatly prosperous

always. Open of yourselves, you doors, for mighty Wealth will enter in,

and with Wealth comes jolly Mirth and gentle Peace. May all the

corn-bins be full and the mass of dough always overflow the

kneading-trough. Now (set before us) cheerful barley-pottage, full of

sesame....

((LACUNA))

(ll. 8-10) Your son’s wife, driving to this house with strong-hoofed

mules, shall dismount from her carriage to greet you; may she be shod

with golden shoes as she stands weaving at the loom.

(ll. 11-13) I come, and I come yearly, like the swallow that perches

light-footed in the fore-part of your house. But quickly bring....

XVI. (2 lines) (ll. 1-2) If you will give us anything (well). But if

not, we will not wait, for we are not come here to dwell with you.

XVII. HOMER: Hunters of deep sea prey, have we caught anything?

FISHERMAN: All that we caught we left behind, and all that we did not

catch we carry home. 2608

HOMER: Ay, for of such fathers you are sprung as neither hold rich

lands nor tend countless sheep.

FRAGMENTS OF THE EPIC CYCLE

THE WAR OF THE TITANS

Fragment #1—Photius, Epitome of the Chrestomathy of Proclus: The Epic

Cycle begins with the fabled union of Heaven and Earth, by which they

make three hundred-handed sons and three Cyclopes to be born to him.

Fragment #2—Anecdota Oxon. (Cramer) i. 75: According to the writer of

the _War of the Titans_ Heaven was the son of Aether.

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 1165: Eumelus says

that Aegaeon was the son of Earth and Sea and, having his dwelling in

the sea, was an ally of the Titans.

Fragment #4—Athenaeus, vii. 277 D: The poet of the _War of the Titans_,

whether Eumelus of Corinth or Arctinus, writes thus in his second book:

‘Upon the shield were dumb fish afloat, with golden faces, swimming and

sporting through the heavenly water.’

Fragment #5—Athenaeus, i. 22 C: Eumelus somewhere introduces Zeus

dancing: he says—‘In the midst of them danced the Father of men and

gods.’

Fragment #6—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 554: The author of

the _War of the Giants_ says that Cronos took the shape of a horse and

lay with Philyra, the daughter of Ocean. Through this cause Cheiron was

born a centaur: his wife was Chariclo.

Fragment #7—Athenaeus, xi. 470 B: Theolytus says that he (Heracles)

sailed across the sea in a cauldron 2701; but the first to give this

story is the author of the _War of the Titans_.

Fragment #8—Philodemus, On Piety: The author of the _War of the Titans_

says that the apples (of the Hesperides) were guarded.

THE STORY OF OEDIPUS

Fragment #1—C.I.G. Ital. et Sic. 1292. ii. 11: ....the _Story of

Oedipus_ by Cinaethon in six thousand six hundred verses.

Fragment #2—Pausanias, ix. 5.10: Judging by Homer I do not believe that

Oedipus had children by Iocasta: his sons were born of Euryganeia as

the writer of the Epic called the _Story of Oedipus_ clearly shows.

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Euripides Phoen., 1750: The authors of the

_Story of Oedipus_ (say) of the Sphinx: ‘But furthermore (she killed)

noble Haemon, the dear son of blameless Creon, the comeliest and

loveliest of boys.’

THE THEBAID

Fragment #1—Contest of Homer and Hesiod: Homer travelled about reciting

his epics, first the “Thebaid”, in seven thousand verses, which begins:

‘Sing, goddess, of parched Argos, whence lords...’

Fragment #2—Athenaeus, xi. 465 E: ‘Then the heaven-born hero,

golden-haired Polyneices, first set beside Oedipus a rich table of

silver which once belonged to Cadmus the divinely wise: next he filled

a fine golden cup with sweet wine. But when Oedipus perceived these

treasures of his father, great misery fell on his heart, and he

straight-way called down bitter curses there in the presence of both

his sons. And the avenging Fury of the gods failed not to hear him as

he prayed that they might never divide their father’s goods in loving

brotherhood, but that war and fighting might be ever the portion of

them both.’

Fragment #3—Laurentian Scholiast on Sophocles, O.C. 1375: ‘And when

Oedipus noticed the haunch 2801 he threw it on the ground and said:

“Oh! Oh! my sons have sent this mocking me...” So he prayed to Zeus the

king and the other deathless gods that each might fall by his brother’s

hand and go down into the house of Hades.’

Fragment #4—Pausanias, viii. 25.8: Adrastus fled from Thebes ‘wearing

miserable garments, and took black-maned Areion 2802 with him.’

Fragment #5—Pindar, Ol. vi. 15: 2803 ‘But when the seven dead had

received their last rites in Thebes, the Son of Talaus lamented and

spoke thus among them: “Woe is me, for I miss the bright eye of my

host, a good seer and a stout spearman alike.”’

Fragment #6—Apollodorus, i. 74: Oeneus married Periboea the daughter of

Hipponous. The author of the _Thebais_ says that when Olenus had been

stormed, Oeneus received her as a prize.

Fragment #7—Pausanias, ix. 18.6: Near the spring is the tomb of

Asphodicus. This Asphodicus killed Parthenopaeus the son of Talaus in

the battle against the Argives, as the Thebans say; though that part of

the _Thebais_ which tells of the death of Parthenopaeus says that it

was Periclymenus who killed him.

THE EPIGONI

Fragment #1—Contest of Homer and Hesiod: Next (Homer composed) the

_Epigoni_ in seven thousand verses, beginning, ‘And now, Muses, let us

begin to sing of younger men.’

Fragment #2—Photius, Lexicon: Teumesia. Those who have written on

Theban affairs have given a full account of the Teumesian fox. 2901

They relate that the creature was sent by the gods to punish the

descendants of Cadmus, and that the Thebans therefore excluded those of

the house of Cadmus from kingship. But (they say) a certain Cephalus,

the son of Deion, an Athenian, who owned a hound which no beast ever

escaped, had accidentally killed his wife Procris, and being purified

of the homicide by the Cadmeans, hunted the fox with his hound, and

when they had overtaken it both hound and fox were turned into stones

near Teumessus. These writers have taken the story from the Epic Cycle.

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 308: The authors

of the _Thebais_ say that Manto the daughter of Teiresias was sent to

Delphi by the Epigoni as a first fruit of their spoil, and that in

accordance with an oracle of Apollo she went out and met Rhacius, the

son of Lebes, a Mycenaean by race. This man she married—for the oracle

also contained the command that she should marry whomsoever she might

meet—and coming to Colophon, was there much cast down and wept over the

destruction of her country.

THE CYPRIA

Fragment #1—Proclus, Chrestomathia, i: This 3001 is continued by the

epic called _Cypria_ which is current is eleven books. Its contents are

as follows.

Zeus plans with Themis to bring about the Trojan war. Strife arrives

while the gods are feasting at the marriage of Peleus and starts a

dispute between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite as to which of them is

fairest. The three are led by Hermes at the command of Zeus to

Alexandrus on Mount Ida for his decision, and Alexandrus, lured by his

promised marriage with Helen, decides in favour of Aphrodite.

Then Alexandrus builds his ships at Aphrodite’s suggestion, and Helenus

foretells the future to him, and Aphrodite order Aeneas to sail with

him, while Cassandra prophesies as to what will happen afterwards.

Alexandrus next lands in Lacedaemon and is entertained by the sons of

Tyndareus, and afterwards by Menelaus in Sparta, where in the course of

a feast he gives gifts to Helen.

After this, Menelaus sets sail for Crete, ordering Helen to furnish the

guests with all they require until they depart. Meanwhile, Aphrodite

brings Helen and Alexandrus together, and they, after their union, put

very great treasures on board and sail away by night. Hera stirs up a

storm against them and they are carried to Sidon, where Alexandrus

takes the city. From there he sailed to Troy and celebrated his

marriage with Helen.

In the meantime Castor and Polydeuces, while stealing the cattle of

Idas and Lynceus, were caught in the act, and Castor was killed by

Idas, and Lynceus and Idas by Polydeuces. Zeus gave them immortality

every other day.

Iris next informs Menelaus of what has happened at his home. Menelaus

returns and plans an expedition against Ilium with his brother, and

then goes on to Nestor. Nestor in a digression tells him how Epopeus

was utterly destroyed after seducing the daughter of Lycus, and the

story of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, and the story of Theseus and

Ariadne. Then they travel over Hellas and gather the leaders, detecting

Odysseus when he pretends to be mad, not wishing to join the

expedition, by seizing his son Telemachus for punishment at the

suggestion of Palamedes.

All the leaders then meet together at Aulis and sacrifice. The incident

of the serpent and the sparrows 3002 takes place before them, and

Calchas foretells what is going to befall. After this, they put out to

sea, and reach Teuthrania and sack it, taking it for Ilium. Telephus

comes out to the rescue and kills Thersander and son of Polyneices, and

is himself wounded by Achilles. As they put out from Mysia a storm

comes on them and scatters them, and Achilles first puts in at Scyros

and married Deidameia, the daughter of Lycomedes, and then heals

Telephus, who had been led by an oracle to go to Argos, so that he

might be their guide on the voyage to Ilium.

When the expedition had mustered a second time at Aulis, Agamemnon,

while at the chase, shot a stag and boasted that he surpassed even

Artemis. At this the goddess was so angry that she sent stormy winds

and prevented them from sailing. Calchas then told them of the anger of

the goddess and bade them sacrifice Iphigeneia to Artemis. This they

attempt to do, sending to fetch Iphigeneia as though for marriage with

Achilles.

Artemis, however, snatched her away and transported her to the Tauri,

making her immortal, and putting a stag in place of the girl upon the

altar.

Next they sail as far as Tenedos: and while they are feasting,

Philoctetes is bitten by a snake and is left behind in Lemnos because

of the stench of his sore. Here, too, Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon

because he is invited late. Then the Greeks tried to land at Ilium, but

the Trojans prevent them, and Protesilaus is killed by Hector. Achilles

then kills Cycnus, the son of Poseidon, and drives the Trojans back.

The Greeks take up their dead and send envoys to the Trojans demanding

the surrender of Helen and the treasure with her. The Trojans refusing,

they first assault the city, and then go out and lay waste the country

and cities round about. After this, Achilles desires to see Helen, and

Aphrodite and Thetis contrive a meeting between them. The Achaeans next

desire to return home, but are restrained by Achilles, who afterwards

drives off the cattle of Aeneas, and sacks Lyrnessus and Pedasus and

many of the neighbouring cities, and kills Troilus. Patroclus carries

away Lycaon to Lemnos and sells him as a slave, and out of the spoils

Achilles receives Briseis as a prize, and Agamemnon Chryseis. Then

follows the death of Palamedes, the plan of Zeus to relieve the Trojans

by detaching Achilles from the Hellenic confederacy, and a catalogue of

the Trojan allies.

Fragment #2—Tzetzes, Chil. xiii. 638: Stasinus composed the _Cypria_

which the more part say was Homer’s work and by him given to Stasinus

as a dowry with money besides.

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Homer, Il. i. 5: ‘There was a time when the

countless tribes of men, though wide-dispersed, oppressed the surface

of the deep-bosomed earth, and Zeus saw it and had pity and in his wise

heart resolved to relieve the all-nurturing earth of men by causing the

great struggle of the Ilian war, that the load of death might empty the

world. And so the heroes were slain in Troy, and the plan of Zeus came

to pass.’

Fragment #4—Volumina Herculan, II. viii. 105: The author of the

_Cypria_ says that Thetis, to please Hera, avoided union with Zeus, at

which he was enraged and swore that she should be the wife of a mortal.

Fragment #5—Scholiast on Homer, Il. xvii. 140: For at the marriage of

Peleus and Thetis, the gods gathered together on Pelion to feast and

brought Peleus gifts. Cheiron gave him a stout ashen shaft which he had

cut for a spear, and Athena, it is said, polished it, and Hephaestus

fitted it with a head. The story is given by the author of the

_Cypria_.

Fragment #6—Athenaeus, xv. 682 D, F: The author of the _Cypria_,

whether Hegesias or Stasinus, mentions flowers used for garlands. The

poet, whoever he was, writes as follows in his first book:

(ll. 1-7) ‘She clothed herself with garments which the Graces and Hours

had made for her and dyed in flowers of spring—such flowers as the

Seasons wear—in crocus and hyacinth and flourishing violet and the

rose’s lovely bloom, so sweet and delicious, and heavenly buds, the

flowers of the narcissus and lily. In such perfumed garments is

Aphrodite clothed at all seasons.

((LACUNA))

(ll. 8-12) Then laughter-loving Aphrodite and her handmaidens wove

sweet-smelling crowns of flowers of the earth and put them upon their

heads—the bright-coiffed goddesses, the Nymphs and Graces, and golden

Aphrodite too, while they sang sweetly on the mount of many-fountained

Ida.’

Fragment #7—Clement of Alexandria, Protrept ii. 30. 5: ‘Castor was

mortal, and the fate of death was destined for him; but Polydeuces,

scion of Ares, was immortal.’

Fragment #8—Athenaeus, viii. 334 B: ‘And after them she bare a third

child, Helen, a marvel to men. Rich-tressed Nemesis once gave her birth

when she had been joined in love with Zeus the king of the gods by

harsh violence. For Nemesis tried to escape him and liked not to lie in

love with her father Zeus the Son of Cronos; for shame and indignation

vexed her heart: therefore she fled him over the land and fruitless

dark water. But Zeus ever pursued and longed in his heart to catch her.

Now she took the form of a fish and sped over the waves of the

loud-roaring sea, and now over Ocean’s stream and the furthest bounds

of Earth, and now she sped over the furrowed land, always turning into

such dread creatures as the dry land nurtures, that she might escape

him.’

Fragment #9—Scholiast on Euripides, Andr. 898: The writer 3003 of the

Cyprian histories says that (Helen’s third child was) Pleisthenes and

that she took him with her to Cyprus, and that the child she bore

Alexandrus was Aganus.

Fragment #10—Herodotus, ii. 117: For it is said in the _Cypria_ that

Alexandrus came with Helen to Ilium from Sparta in three days, enjoying

a favourable wind and calm sea.

Fragment #11—Scholiast on Homer, Il. iii. 242: For Helen had been

previously carried off by Theseus, and it was in consequence of this

earlier rape that Aphidna, a town in Attica, was sacked and Castor was

wounded in the right thigh by Aphidnus who was king at that time. Then

the Dioscuri, failing to find Theseus, sacked Athens. The story is in

the Cyclic writers.

Plutarch, Thes. 32: Hereas relates that Alycus was killed by Theseus

himself near Aphidna, and quotes the following verses in evidence: ‘In

spacious Aphidna Theseus slew him in battle long ago for rich-haired

Helen’s sake.’ 3004

Fragment #12—Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. x. 114: (ll. 1-6) ‘Straightway

Lynceus, trusting in his swift feet, made for Taygetus. He climbed its

highest peak and looked throughout the whole isle of Pelops, son of

Tantalus; and soon the glorious hero with his dread eyes saw

horse-taming Castor and athlete Polydeuces both hidden within a hollow

oak.’

Philodemus, On Piety: (Stasinus?) writes that Castor was killed with a

spear shot by Idas the son of Aphareus.

Fragment #13—Athenaeus, 35 C: ‘Menelaus, know that the gods made wine

the best thing for mortal man to scatter cares.’

Fragment #14—Laurentian Scholiast on Sophocles, Elect. 157: Either he

follows Homer who spoke of the three daughters of Agamemnon, or—like

the writer of the _Cypria_—he makes them four, (distinguishing)

Iphigeneia and Iphianassa.

Fragment #15—3005 Contest of Homer and Hesiod: ‘So they feasted all day

long, taking nothing from their own houses; for Agamemnon, king of men,

provided for them.’

Fragment #16—Louvre Papyrus: ‘I never thought to enrage so terribly the

stout heart of Achilles, for very well I loved him.’

Fragment #17—Pausanias, iv. 2. 7: The poet of the _Cypria_ says that

the wife of Protesilaus—who, when the Hellenes reached the Trojan

shore, first dared to land—was called Polydora, and was the daughter of

Meleager, the son of Oeneus.

Fragment #18—Eustathius, 119. 4: Some relate that Chryseis was taken

from Hypoplacian 3006 Thebes, and that she had not taken refuge there

nor gone there to sacrifice to Artemis, as the author of the _Cypria_

states, but was simply a fellow townswoman of Andromache.

Fragment #19—Pausanias, x. 31. 2: I know, because I have read it in the

epic _Cypria_, that Palamedes was drowned when he had gone out fishing,

and that it was Diomedes and Odysseus who caused his death.

Fragment #20—Plato, Euthyphron, 12 A: ‘That it is Zeus who has done

this, and brought all these things to pass, you do not like to say; for

where fear is, there too is shame.’

Fragment #21—Herodian, On Peculiar Diction: ‘By him she conceived and

bare the Gorgons, fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon, a rocky

island in deep-eddying Oceanus.’

Fragment #22—Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis vii. 2. 19: Again,

Stasinus says: ‘He is a simple man who kills the father and lets the

children live.’

THE AETHIOPIS

Fragment #1—Proclus, Chrestomathia, ii: The _Cypria_, described in the

preceding book, has its sequel in the _Iliad_ of Homer, which is

followed in turn by the five books of the _Aethiopis_, the work of

Arctinus of Miletus. Their contents are as follows. The Amazon

Penthesileia, the daughter of Ares and of Thracian race, comes to aid

the Trojans, and after showing great prowess, is killed by Achilles and