HOMER'S EPIGRAMS[1]
I
Have reverence for him who needs a home and stranger's dole, all ye who dwell in the high city of Cyme, the lovely maiden, hard by the foothills of lofty Sardene, ye who drink the heavenly water of the divine stream, eddying Hermus, whom deathless Zeus begot.
II
Speedily may my feet bear me to some town of righteous men; for their hearts are generous and their wit is best.
III
I am a maiden of bronze and am set upon the tomb of Midas. While the waters flow and tall trees flourish, and the sun rises and shines and the bright moon also; while rivers run and the sea breaks on the shore, ever remaining on this mournful tomb, I tell the passer-by that Midas here lies buried.
IV
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 knees! By the will of Zeus who holds the
- ↑ The Epigrams are preserved in the pseudo-Herodotean Life of Homer. Nos. III, XIII, and XVII are also found in the Contest of Homer and Hesiod, and No. I is also extant at the end of some MSS. of the Homeric Hymns.
