Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
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