own expense. It may be observed in these verses particularly:[1]
"A herald placed a magnificent lyre in the hands of Phemius, the worthiest pupil of Apollo; unwillingly he takes it, constrained to sing among those lovers. Traversing the lyre with light and active fingers, he produces melodious sounds."
He also celebrates the sea-captain with whom he had traveled through so many lands. His name was Mentes, and these are the verses:[2]
"My name is Mentes; born of Anchialus, illustrious by his valour, I reign over the expert-rowing Taphians."
He also speaks of the armourer, Tychius, who had hospitably entertained him at Neonteichos. The verses in his praise occur in the Iliad, thus:[3]
"Already the son of Telamon waits on him near, carrying a tower-like shield. Tychius, at Hylæ resident, unequalled in industry by any of his fellows, made him this buckler, a master-piece of his art, formed of the spoil of seven mighty oxen, bound by a strong covering of brass."
XXVII. These poems rendered Homer celebrated in Ionia, and his reputation began to spread itself in the continent of Greece. On this account, many persons visited him during his residence in Chios, and some advised him to go to Greece. He had always desired to do so, and thus the counsel pleased him.
XXVIII. He had praised the town of Argos very frequently,[4] but remembering that he had no where mentioned
- ↑ Our author has, however, substituted Φημίῳ ὅς δὴ πολλὸν ἐκαίνυτο παντας ἀείδων, "Phēmius excelling in the art of song," for Φημίῳ, ὃς ῥ' ἤειδε παρὰ μνηστῆρσιν ἀναγκῃ, as it stands in the Odyssea (i. 154). And then he connects the second and third verses by καὶ πάλιν, as if there were several lines between them. Perhaps, as Larcher thinks, the writer quoted from memory; or very possibly his authority was a corrupt and ill-written copy.
- ↑ Odyss. i. 180.
- ↑ Il. vii. 219.
- ↑ Conf. Herod. v. 67.
