by Homer
XXVIII. TO ATHENA
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged 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.
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.
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
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.
Hail, Tyndaridae, riders upon swift horses! Now I will remember you and another song also.
FRAGMENTS AND SPURIOUS WORKS
An idealised portrayal of Homer dating to the Hellenistic period
HOMER'S EPIGRAMS
The "Epigrams of Homer" are mentioned in 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 predate 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.
I. (5 lines) 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) 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) 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) 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 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 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) Thestorides, full many things there are that mortals cannot sound; but there is nothing more unfathomable than the heart of man.
VI. (8 lines) 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) 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) 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) Strangers, a contrary wind has caught you: but even now take me aboard and you shall make your voyage.
X. (4 lines) Another sort of pine shall bear a better fruit 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) 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) Goddess-nurse of the young , 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) 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) Potters, if you will give me a reward, I will sing for you. Come, then, Athena, with hand upraised 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) 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
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.
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) 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.
HOMER: Ay, for of such fathers you are sprung as neither hold rich lands nor tend countless sheep.
FRAGMENTS OF LOST EPIC POEMS
The Epic Cycles
Sadly, we only have two complete epic poems by Homer, yet there were others written by him and fellow ancient poets, which have not survived the passing of time. In this section of the eBook you can learn about the lost epics and explore fragments of lines and passages that remain from these once great literary works.
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". Fragments from these lost works are provided below.
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" 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 (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 narrat
ive 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 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.'