Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica Part 17

Fragment #17--Stepha.n.u.s 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--st.i.tching 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 G.o.ds, gifts move wors.h.i.+pful 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--Stepha.n.u.s of Byzantium: 'Aspledon and Clymenus and G.o.d-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.'

WORKS ATTRIBUTED TO HOMER

THE HOMERIC HYMNS

I. TO DIONYSUS (21 lines) [2501]

((LACUNA))

(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 G.o.ds 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.

((LACUNA))

(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 (495 lines)

(ll. 1-3) I begin to sing of rich-haired Demeter, awful G.o.ddess--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 Ocea.n.u.s 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.ddess, 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.d 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: