Part 19

IV. (17 lines) (ll. 1-17) 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 2602 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 2603 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) (ll. 1-2) Thestorides, full many things there are that mortals cannot sound; but there is nothing more unfathomable than the heart of man.

VI. (8 lines) (ll. 1-8) 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) (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 story of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, and the story of Theseus and Ariadne. Then they travel over Hellas and gather the leaders, detecting Odysseus when he pretends to be mad, not wishing to join the expedition, by seizing his son Telemachus for punishment at the suggestion of Palamedes.

All the leaders then meet together at Aulis and sacrifice. The incident of the serpent and the sparrows 3002 takes place before them, and Calchas foretells what is going to befall. After this, they put out to sea, and reach Teuthrania and sack it, taking it for Ilium. Telephus comes out to the rescue and kills Thersander and son of Polyneices, and is himself wounded by Achilles. As they put out from Mysia a storm comes on them and scatters them, and Achilles first puts in at Scyros and married Deidameia, the daughter of Lycomedes, and then heals Telephus, who had been led by an oracle to go to Argos, so that he might be their guide on the voyage to Ilium.

When the expedition had mustered a second time at Aulis, Agamemnon, while at the chase, shot a stag and boasted that he surpassed even Artemis. At this the goddess was so angry that she sent stormy winds and prevented them from sailing. Calchas then told them of the anger of the goddess and bade them sacrifice Iphigeneia to Artemis. This they attempt to do, sending to fetch Iphigeneia as though for marriage with Achilles.

Artemis, however, snatched her away and transported her to the Tauri, making her immortal, and putting a stag in place of the girl upon the altar.

Next they sail as far as Tenedos: and while they are feasting, Philoctetes is bitten by a snake and is left behind in Lemnos because of the stench of his sore. Here, too, Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon because he is invited late. Then the Greeks tried to land at Ilium, but the Trojans prevent them, and Protesilaus is killed by Hector. Achilles then kills Cycnus, the son of Poseidon, and drives the Trojans back. The Greeks take up their dead and send envoys to the Trojans demanding the surrender of Helen and the treasure with her. The Trojans refusing, they first assault the city, and then go out and lay waste the country and cities round about. After this, Achilles desires to see Helen, and Aphrodite and Thetis contrive a meeting between them. The Achaeans next desire to return home, but are restrained by Achilles, who afterwards drives off the cattle of Aeneas, and sacks Lyrnessus and Pedasus and many of the neighbouring cities, and kills Troilus. Patroclus carries away Lycaon to Lemnos and sells him as a slave, and out of the spoils Achilles receives Briseis as a prize, and Agamemnon Chryseis. Then follows the death of Palamedes, the plan of Zeus to relieve the Trojans by detaching Achilles from the Hellenic confederacy, and a catalogue of the Trojan allies.

Fragment #2—Tzetzes, Chil. xiii. 638: Stasinus composed the _Cypria_ which the more part say was Homer’s work and by him given to Stasinus as a dowry with money besides.

Fragment #3—Scholiast on Homer, Il. i. 5: ‘There was a time when the countless tribes of men, though wide-dispersed, oppressed the surface of the deep-bosomed earth, and Zeus saw it and had pity and in his wise heart resolved to relieve the all-nurturing earth of men by causing the great struggle of the Ilian war, that the load of death might empty the world. And so the heroes were slain in Troy, and the plan of Zeus came to pass.’

Fragment #4—Volumina Herculan, II. viii. 105: The author of the _Cypria_ says that Thetis, to please Hera, avoided union with Zeus, at which he was enraged and swore that she should be the wife of a mortal.

Fragment #5—Scholiast on Homer, Il. xvii. 140: For at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the gods gathered together on Pelion to feast and brought Peleus gifts. Cheiron gave him a stout ashen shaft which he had cut for a spear, and Athena, it is said, polished it, and Hephaestus fitted it with a head. The story is given by the author of the _Cypria_.

Fragment #6—Athenaeus, xv. 682 D, F: The author of the _Cypria_, whether Hegesias or Stasinus, mentions flowers used for garlands. The poet, whoever he was, writes as follows in his first book:

(ll. 1-7) ‘She clothed herself with garments which the Graces and Hours had made for her and dyed in flowers of spring—such flowers as the Seasons wear—in crocus and hyacinth and flourishing violet and the rose’s lovely bloom, so sweet and delicious, and heavenly buds, the flowers of the narcissus and lily. In such perfumed garments is Aphrodite clothed at all seasons.

((LACUNA))

(ll. 8-12) Then laughter-loving Aphrodite and her handmaidens wove sweet-smelling crowns of flowers of the earth and put them upon their heads—the bright-coiffed goddesses, the Nymphs and Graces, and golden Aphrodite too, while they sang sweetly on the mount of many-fountained Ida.’

Fragment #7—Clement of Alexandria, Protrept ii. 30. 5: ‘Castor was mortal, and the fate of death was destined for him; but Polydeuces, scion of Ares, was immortal.’

Fragment #8—Athenaeus, viii. 334 B: ‘And after them she bare a third child, Helen, a marvel to men. Rich-tressed Nemesis once gave her birth when she had been joined in love with Zeus the king of the gods by harsh violence. For Nemesis tried to escape him and liked not to lie in love with her father Zeus the Son of Cronos; for shame and indignation vexed her heart: therefore she fled him over the land and fruitless dark water. But Zeus ever pursued and longed in his heart to catch her. Now she took the form of a fish and sped over the waves of the loud-roaring sea, and now over Ocean’s stream and the furthest bounds of Earth, and now she sped over the furrowed land, always turning into such dread creatures as the dry land nurtures, that she might escape him.’

Fragment #9—Scholiast on Euripides, Andr. 898: The writer 3003 of the Cyprian histories says that (Helen’s third child was) Pleisthenes and that she took him with her to Cyprus, and that the child she bore Alexandrus was Aganus.

Fragment #10—Herodotus, ii. 117: For it is said in the _Cypria_ that Alexandrus came with Helen to Ilium from Sparta in three days, enjoying a favourable wind and calm sea.

Fragment #11—Scholiast on Homer, Il. iii. 242: For Helen had been previously carried off by Theseus, and it was in consequence of this earlier rape that Aphidna, a town in Attica, was sacked and Castor was wounded in the right thigh by Aphidnus who was king at that time. Then the Dioscuri, failing to find Theseus, sacked Athens. The story is in the Cyclic writers.

Plutarch, Thes. 32: Hereas relates that Alycus was killed by Theseus himself near Aphidna, and quotes the following verses in evidence: ‘In spacious Aphidna Theseus slew him in battle long ago for rich-haired Helen’s sake.’ 3004

Fragment #12—Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. x. 114: (ll. 1-6) ‘Straightway Lynceus, trusting in his swift feet, made for Taygetus. He climbed its highest peak and looked throughout the whole isle of Pelops, son of Tantalus; and soon the glorious hero with his dread eyes saw horse-taming Castor and athlete Polydeuces both hidden within a hollow oak.’

Philodemus, On Piety: (Stasinus?) writes that Castor was killed with a spear shot by Idas the son of Aphareus.

Fragment #13—Athenaeus, 35 C: ‘Menelaus, know that the gods made wine the best thing for mortal man to scatter cares.’

Fragment #14—Laurentian Scholiast on Sophocles, Elect. 157: Either he follows Homer who spoke of the three daughters of Agamemnon, or—like the writer of the _Cypria_—he makes them four, (distinguishing) Iphigeneia and Iphianassa.

Fragment #15—3005 Contest of Homer and Hesiod: ‘So they feasted all day long, taking nothing from their own houses; for Agamemnon, king of men, provided for them.’

Fragment #16—Louvre Papyrus: ‘I never thought to enrage so terribly the stout heart of Achilles, for very well I loved him.’

Fragment #17—Pausanias, iv. 2. 7: The poet of the _Cypria_ says that the wife of Protesilaus—who, when the Hellenes reached the Trojan shore, first dared to land—was called Polydora, and was the daughter of Meleager, the son of Oeneus.

Fragment #18—Eustathius, 119. 4: Some relate that Chryseis was taken from Hypoplacian 3006 Thebes, and that she had not taken refuge there nor gone there to sacrifice to Artemis, as the author of the _Cypria_ states, but was simply a fellow townswoman of Andromache.

Fragment #19—Pausanias, x. 31. 2: I know, because I have read it in the epic _Cypria_, that Palamedes was drowned when he had gone out fishing, and that it was Diomedes and Odysseus who caused his death.

Fragment #20—Plato, Euthyphron, 12 A: ‘That it is Zeus who has done this, and brought all these things to pass, you do not like to say; for where fear is, there too is shame.’

Fragment #21—Herodian, On Peculiar Diction: ‘By him she conceived and bare the Gorgons, fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon, a rocky island in deep-eddying Oceanus.’

Fragment #22—Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis vii. 2. 19: Again, Stasinus says: ‘He is a simple man who kills the father and lets the children live.’

THE AETHIOPIS

Fragment #1—Proclus, Chrestomathia, ii: The _Cypria_, described in the preceding book, has its sequel in the _Iliad_ of Homer, which is followed in turn by the five books of the _Aethiopis_, the work of Arctinus of Miletus. Their contents are as follows. The Amazon Penthesileia, the daughter of Ares and of Thracian race, comes to aid the Trojans, and after showing great prowess, is killed by Achilles and buried by the Trojans. Achilles then slays Thersites for abusing and reviling him for his supposed love for Penthesileia. As a result a dispute arises amongst the Achaeans over the killing of Thersites, and Achilles sails to Lesbos and after sacrificing to Apollo, Artemis, and Leto, is purified by Odysseus from bloodshed.