Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/15

Rh and proceeded from place to place with him, coming at length to Colophon. It was there that Melesigenes was again attacked by the disease, which, raging more malevolently, left him totally blind. This misfortune determined him to depart from Colophon, and to return to Smyrna, where he studied the art of poetry and harmonics with much attention.

After some time, the bad state of his affairs induced him to go to Cumæ. Setting out, he travelled over the Hermæan plain, and arrived at Neon-teichos, a colony of Cumæ. It is related, that being at that city near an armourer's workshop, he recited these, his first verses:

"O ye, citizens of the amiable daughter of Cumæ, who cover the feet of Mount Sædena with your habitations, whose summit is shaded by refreshing woods, and whence flow the waters of divine Hermus, create of Zeus, respect the misfortunes of a stranger, who possesses no refuge for shelter."