Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
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