Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
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