though some contend that the fire was not lighted until afterwards:
"A man is proud of his children; a town of its battlements; a plain of its horses; the ocean of its navies;[1] riches ornament the house; just judges seated in the hall of justice, are a noble spectacle; but the most pleasant sight, in my opinion, is that of a burning fire, on a day when the son of Saturn decks the ground with snow and frost."
He entered, and seating himself with the Phratrium, received much attention and respect from its members. Here he passed the night.
XXXII. The next day he went out. Some potters having observed him while they were mending their fire, invited him to enter, and not the less readily from having a knowledge of his talents. They entreated him to sing some of his verses, promising to recompense him for his kindness by presenting him with some of their vases, or in any other way they could. Homer sung them those verses which are called "The Poem of the Furnace:[2]
"Potters, if ye bestow on me the stipulated reward, I will sing these favourable verses to you.[3] Hear my prayer, Athene, protect the furnace. Grant that the cotylii and the baskets[4] be covered with a shining black; may they also bake quickly. May they sell for much in the Agora, for much in the street. Grant, O goddess, that I may increase in wisdom. But if you shamelessly endeavour to deceive me, I
- ↑ An ancient British inscription, cut in wood, and given by the Rev. Horne, (Bibliography, vol. i. p. 105,) says, Enwawg meiciad o' i voc. "The swineherd is proud of his swine."
- ↑ These verses, as Jul. Pollux cites them, (Onomastic, x. 85, p. 1284,) are entitled, Κεραμεῖς, "the clay-potters." That grammarian mentions that some attribute them to Hesiod. Mure (Greek Literature, vol. ii. p. 362) cites the Song of the Bell of Schiller, as resembling this poem.
- ↑ "May the following happen to you." Athenê was one of the tutelary deities of the potters, as a patroness of the arts.
- ↑ The potters made vases like baskets; hence their name.
