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Lives of Homer. II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Extract

We have next to inquire into the relation of these lives to one another. One way of doing this is to consider the authorities they quote. The Herodotean Life naturally stands on one side; IV. also as being clearly V. less its quotations, may be neglected. I mark with an asterisk the ἅπαξ ϕερόμενα in each case.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1913

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References

22 And Critias, F.H.G. ii. 70.

23 The same no doubt as Suidas' Εὕμητις (Rohde I.c. 388), which is in Charax' stemma

24 Olymipiodorus Thebanus, F.H.G. iv. 65.

25 Heracl. Pont F.H.G. ii. 222.

26 In his commentary on Archilochus (ἐν τοῖς ὐρχιλοχείοις ὑπομνήμασι) Clem. Al. Strom, i. 21 § 117.

27 As Athenocritus ap. schol. T. X. 51.

28 The Cymaean hymn-writer Melanopus, Paus. v. 7. 8 may have had his say about this personage.

29 Ephorus' stemma included Chariphemus, vi. 11.

30 Damastes made Musaeus Homer's tenth ancestor, vi. 9, followed apparently by Gorgias (Procl. 100. 5).

31 Dinarchus, vi. 27, made Crrthon Homer's father.

32 Apparently the poem of Magnes ἐν τοῖς ἕπεσιν ἦσεν ὁ Μάννης Αυδῶν ἀρίστειαν ἐν ἱππομαχίᾳ πρὸς Ἀμαζόνας Nic. Damasc. fr. 62) for which be paid so dear. The story shows (i) that the poems were delivered under the name of Homer, (ii) that their composer was nevertheless known at the time of delivery, (iii) that the poem being anonymous, the real author was often foreotten or disputed (e.g. the Cypria and the Ilias parva), (iv) that in the historical but non-critical age such a poem regarded as Homeric produced inferences upon the age and circumstances of Homer: e.g. from the hymo to Apollo it was inferred he was blind, and from the Amazonia or a similar poem Euphorion dated Homer to Gyges' reign, and Theopompus to 500 years after Troy (Clem. Alex. Strom, i. 2 ).

33 The Cypria finds a position apart from the Cycle also in Photius' abstract of Proclus (my ed. p. 97. 12 sqq.).

34 Or ὄμηρυς I cannot find authority for treating it as Aeolic for ὄμηρος Welcker i. 141 identified it with Θαμύρας

35 Piccolomini's emendation (Κρήθωνος for και ρηθωνος) is certain.

36 The learned Allacci still contains the whole of extant knowledge. Welcker, Ep. Cycl. i., Sengebnsch diss Hom. i., Rohde, Rh. Mus. 36Google Scholar, are more accessible. A new Notitia Homerica is not the work of an article. I wish only to exhibit the continuity.

37 Damastes made him tenth from Musaeus according to VI. 9. If this is true it does not disarrange the tree materially, as Musaeus and Orpheus were often father and son.

38 See the Table and Welcker, Ep. Cycl. i. 138Google Scholar.

39 The horographer Creophylus, F.H.G. iv. 371Google Scholar probably belonged to the family.

40 This passage, and its counterpart in Clement Al., Strom, i. 21Google Scholar and Philostratus came direct from the hypomnema of s. i. A.D. (p. 21).

41 The same type of story is embedded in the Pythagoras-cycle: Iambl, , vit. Pyth. 146Google Scholar the ίερὸν σύγγραμμα was left to his daughter Damo, from whom it passed to her daughter Bisalte, by whose husband (and uncle) Telauges it was edited.

42 Kinkel, , E.G.F. 202Google Scholarsqq.

43 E.g. Welcker, Ep. Cyd. i. 135Google Scholar.

44 I adduced l.c. the Hesiodic school, who possessed all these attributes except the patronymic: I may here mention the Carpo cratiani who worshipped Epiphanes son of Oarpocration in Cephallenia: ἔζησε δὲ τὰ πάντα ἔτη ἐπτακαίδεικα, καὶ θεὸς ἐν Σάμῃ τῆς Κεφαλληνίας τετίμηται ἔνθα αύτῷ ίερὸν ῥυτῶν λίθων, βωμοί, τεμένη, μουσεῖον ψ᾿ κοδόμηταὶ τε καὶ καθιέρωται καὶ συνιόντες εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ο Κεφαλλῆνες καὶ νουμηνίαν γενέθλιον ἀποθέωσιν θύουσιν ᾿ Επιφάνει σπένδουσι τε καὶ εὐωχοῦντα καὶ ὔμνοι λέγονταιi Clem. Alex., Strom. iii. 2Google Scholar.

45 Who amplified the Iliad in a serious spirit, but also wrote the Batrachomyomachia, and was credited with the Margites.

46 The origin and meaning of the Homeric legend diffused by the Homeridae is a further question. A recent article by Maass, Herr E. in the Neue Jahrbb. 1911, 539Google Scholar (‘Die Person Homers’) deals with the parents' names. Maass thinks Μελησιγένης means born on the day of the Melesia, and that Κριθηίς is mythological. His positive argument turns entirely on the forms, and these are not certain. ‘Son of Melesr’ no doubt should be Μελητογένης A form like this (μελιτογενῆα) is actually preserved vit. Herod. 30; and μελησι μελισσι etc. may be corruptions therefrom under the influence of μέλισσα As to the mother, κριθηίς are equally attested; the latter seems the more substantial person-name, if we compare Κρήθων, Κρηθεύς. Κριθ was acceptable for its obvious meaning. Again it is hard to suppose that these sixth-century legends should have forgotten the Μελήσια if there were -such a festival. If Asius parodied Meles' wedding feast, Meles (as father) must have been in existence well before his time. He is better attested than his festival (of which there is no mention).