Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica [68]
the heifers as they were being driven past, he came out from his own place, and knew that the cattle were stolen. So he asked for a reward to tell no one about them. Hermes promised to give it him on these terms, and Battus swore to say nothing to anyone about the cattle. But when Hermes had hidden them in the cliff by Coryphasium, and had driven them into a cave facing towards Italy and Sicily, he changed himself and came again to Battus and tried whether he would be true to him as he had vowed. So, offering him a robe as a reward, he asked of him whether he had noticed stolen cattle being driven past. And Battus took the robe and told him about the cattle. But Hermes was angry because he was double-tongued, and struck him with his staff and changed him into a rock. And either frost or heat never leaves him (4).
ENDNOTES:
(1) When Heracles prayed that a son might be born to Telamon and Eriboea, Zeus sent forth an eagle in token that the prayer would be granted. Heracles then bade the parents call their son Aias after the eagle (`aietos'). (2) Oenomaus, king of Pisa in Elis, warned by an oracle that he should be killed by his son-in-law, offered his daughter Hippodamia to the man who could defeat him in a chariot race, on condition that the defeated suitors should be slain by him. Ultimately Pelops, through the treachery of the charioteer of Oenomaus, became victorious. (3) sc. to Scythia. (4) In the Homeric "Hymn to Hermes" Battus almost disappears from the story, and a somewhat different account of the stealing of the cattle is given.
THE MELAMPODIA (fragments)
Fragment #1 -- Strabo, xiv. p. 642: It is said that Calchis the seer returned from Troy with Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus and came on foot to this place (1). But happening to find near Clarus a seer greater than himself, Mopsus, the son of Manto, Teiresias' daughter, he died of vexation. Hesiod, indeed, works up the story in some form as this: Calchas set Mopsus the following problem:
`I am filled with wonder at the quantity of figs this wild fig- tree bears though it is so small. Can you tell their number?'
And Mopsus answered: `Ten thousand is their number, and their measure is a bushel: one fig is left over, which you would not be able to put into the measure.'
So said he; and they found the reckoning of the measure true. Then did the end of death shroud Calchas.
Fragment #2 -- Tzetzes on Lycophron, 682: But now he is speaking of Teiresias, since it is said that he lived seven generations -- though others say nine. He lived from the times of Cadmus down to those of Eteocles and Polyneices, as the author of "Melampodia" also says: for he introduces Teiresias speaking thus:
`Father Zeus, would that you had given me a shorter span of life to be mine and wisdom of heart like that of mortal men! But now you have honoured me not even a little, though you ordained me to have a long span of life, and to live through seven generations of mortal kind.'
Fragment #3 -- Scholiast on Homer, Odyssey, x. 494: They say that Teiresias saw two snakes mating on Cithaeron and that, when he killed the female, he was changed into a woman, and again, when he killed the male, took again his own nature. This same Teiresias was chosen by Zeus and Hera to decide the question whether the male or the female has most pleasure in intercourse. And he said:
`Of ten parts a man enjoys only one; but a woman's sense enjoys all ten in full.'
For this Hera was angry and blinded him, but Zeus gave him the seer's power.
Fragment #4 -- (2) Athenaeus, ii. p. 40: `For pleasant it is at a feast and rich banquet to tell delightful tales, when men have had enough of feasting;...'
Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis vi. 2 26: `...and pleasant also it is to know a clear token of ill or good amid all the signs that the deathless ones have given to mortal men.'
Fragment #5 -- Athenaeus, xi. 498. A: `And Mares, swift messenger, came to him through the house and brought a silver goblet
ENDNOTES:
(1) When Heracles prayed that a son might be born to Telamon and Eriboea, Zeus sent forth an eagle in token that the prayer would be granted. Heracles then bade the parents call their son Aias after the eagle (`aietos'). (2) Oenomaus, king of Pisa in Elis, warned by an oracle that he should be killed by his son-in-law, offered his daughter Hippodamia to the man who could defeat him in a chariot race, on condition that the defeated suitors should be slain by him. Ultimately Pelops, through the treachery of the charioteer of Oenomaus, became victorious. (3) sc. to Scythia. (4) In the Homeric "Hymn to Hermes" Battus almost disappears from the story, and a somewhat different account of the stealing of the cattle is given.
THE MELAMPODIA (fragments)
Fragment #1 -- Strabo, xiv. p. 642: It is said that Calchis the seer returned from Troy with Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus and came on foot to this place (1). But happening to find near Clarus a seer greater than himself, Mopsus, the son of Manto, Teiresias' daughter, he died of vexation. Hesiod, indeed, works up the story in some form as this: Calchas set Mopsus the following problem:
`I am filled with wonder at the quantity of figs this wild fig- tree bears though it is so small. Can you tell their number?'
And Mopsus answered: `Ten thousand is their number, and their measure is a bushel: one fig is left over, which you would not be able to put into the measure.'
So said he; and they found the reckoning of the measure true. Then did the end of death shroud Calchas.
Fragment #2 -- Tzetzes on Lycophron, 682: But now he is speaking of Teiresias, since it is said that he lived seven generations -- though others say nine. He lived from the times of Cadmus down to those of Eteocles and Polyneices, as the author of "Melampodia" also says: for he introduces Teiresias speaking thus:
`Father Zeus, would that you had given me a shorter span of life to be mine and wisdom of heart like that of mortal men! But now you have honoured me not even a little, though you ordained me to have a long span of life, and to live through seven generations of mortal kind.'
Fragment #3 -- Scholiast on Homer, Odyssey, x. 494: They say that Teiresias saw two snakes mating on Cithaeron and that, when he killed the female, he was changed into a woman, and again, when he killed the male, took again his own nature. This same Teiresias was chosen by Zeus and Hera to decide the question whether the male or the female has most pleasure in intercourse. And he said:
`Of ten parts a man enjoys only one; but a woman's sense enjoys all ten in full.'
For this Hera was angry and blinded him, but Zeus gave him the seer's power.
Fragment #4 -- (2) Athenaeus, ii. p. 40: `For pleasant it is at a feast and rich banquet to tell delightful tales, when men have had enough of feasting;...'
Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis vi. 2 26: `...and pleasant also it is to know a clear token of ill or good amid all the signs that the deathless ones have given to mortal men.'
Fragment #5 -- Athenaeus, xi. 498. A: `And Mares, swift messenger, came to him through the house and brought a silver goblet