Part 12

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 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 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: