Page:Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica.djvu/47

 Finally there is the Battle of the Frogs and Mice. Here is told the story of the quarrel which arose between the two tribes, and how they fought, until Zeus sent crabs to break up the battle. It is a parody of the warlike epic, but has little in it that is really comic or of literary merit, except perhaps the list of quaint arms assumed by the warriors. The text of the poem is in a chaotic condition, and there are many interpolations, some of Byzantine date.

Though popularly ascribed to Homer, its real author is said by Suidas to have been Pigres, a Carian, brother of Artemisia, "wife of Mausolus," who distinguished herself at the battle of Salamis. Suidas is confusing the two Artemisias, but he may be right in attributing the poem to about 480 B.C.

This curious work dates in its present form from the lifetime or shortly after the death of Hadrian, but seems to be based in part on an earlier version by the sophist Alcidamas (c. 400 B.C.). Plutarch (Convir. Sept. Sap., 40) uses an earlier (or at least a shorter) version than that which we possess. The extant Contest, however, has clearly combined with the original document much other ill-digested matter on the life and descent of Homer, probably drawing on the same general sources as does the Herodotean Life of Homer. Its scope is as follows: (1) the descent (as variously reported) and relative dates of Homer

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