Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/19

Rh borders of the ocean, by the behest of Zeus, that city traversed by the sacred waters of Meles. The illustrious daughters of Zeus, on their departure from these places, wished to immortalize this sacred town by my verses; but, deaf to my voice, the brutish herd disdained my harmonious lays. No, it shall not continue so! whoever in blind folly heaped insults on my head, shall not escape unscathed. I will courageously endure the ills dealt out to me by the Deity. 'Tis over, I will no longer rest in Cumæ. My feet burn to depart hence, and my panting heart urges me to seek a foreign clime, and there to dwell, however insignificant the place may be."

On leaving Cumæ for Phocæa he pronounced a malediction against the Cumæans, to the following effect: "that there never might be born in Cumæ poet, who could render it celebrated, and give it glory." Arrived at Phocæa, he supported himself as he had done at Cumæ and elsewhere, assiduously frequenting the places of assembly, at which he recited his verses. There was, at that time, an unprincipled man named Thestorides at Phocæa, a teacher of the rudiments of literature. Having observed the talents of Homer, he offered to shelter and take care of him, if, as a recompence, Homer would permit him to take down his verses in writing, and if he would do the same with those he might hereafter compose. Homer, being poor and destitute, accepted his offer.