Page:Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica.djvu/591

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THE MARGITES

THE MARGITES

1.

Pigres. A Carian of Halicarnassus and brother of Artemisia, wife of Mausolus, who distinguished herself in war... He also wrote the Margites attributed to Homer and the Battle of the Frogs and Mice.


2.

"There came to Colophon an old man and divine singer, a servant of the Muses and of far-shooting Apollo. In his dear hands he held a sweet-toned lyre."


3.

"He knew many things but knew all badly...The gods had taught him neither to dig nor to plough, nor any other skill; he failed in every craft."


4.

He refers to Margites, a man who, though well grown up, did not know whether it was his father or his mother who gave him birth, and would not lie with his wife, saying that he was

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