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and he said he could not certainly tell himself, because some said he was of Chios,Seven cities of Greece strove for the birth of Homer, which are comprised in this verse:
Smyrna, Rhodos, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athenæ. some of Smyrna, and many to be of Colophon; but he said indeed he was a Babylonian, and among his own countrymen not called Homer but Tigranes, and afterwards living as an hostageὍμηρος signifies a pledge or hostage. among the Grecians, he had therefore that name put upon him. Then I questioned him about those verses in his books that are disallowed as not of his making, whether they were written by him or not, and he told me they were all his own, much condemning Zenodotus and Aristarchus,Two carping grammarians that undertook to correct some of Homer's verses. the grammarians, for their weakness in judgment.

This touches some commentators upon Homer, who have gone about to give a reason almost of every word he wrote.When he had satisfied me in this, I asked him again why he began the first verse of