PROLEGOMENA

Ios, Colophon, Smyrna, Athens.
But you must know that Homer was a Smyrnean.
They say that he also had seven fathers.
For some say his father was Menemachos 60

the Egyptian, who was a temple scribe;
others, in turn, [say] Daeimon, and some Massagoras,
both of whom lived a life of commerce;
others babble that he was Telemachus and Thamyris;
to others he is called the son of Maeon and Ornithous; 65

but the majority say [he is the son] of Meles and Critheis.
Homer's teacher is Pronapides.

(58) Scholia in B C, and in Anecdota Oxoniensia vol. 3, p. 316: "Because only in Smyrna is there a river called Meles, whom the majority say is Homer's father. This is strictly Homer's fatherland." For 'is called', Cramer conjectures 'lies'. — This verse is found also in Chiliad 13, 630, and taken from here, as Tzetzes himself declares.

(59) C, "as I said" written above 'to exist'.

(60) A, Menelachus. B, C, Burg., Menemachos. The 'Contest of Homer' [has] Menemachus.

(61) Burg., 'history-scribe' [an error for temple-scribe].

(62) Daeimon is known from the 'Contest of Homer'. A, Massagoras. B C, Massagoras. Burg., Messagoras. Perhaps one should read 'Dmasagoras' from the 'Contest of Homer'.

(64) Scholia in C and in Anecdota Oxoniensia vol. 3, p. 376: "I said 'they babble', because Odysseus's Telemachus was later than Homer, as is clear from the time of Pronapides, Homer's teacher, who was third from Cadmus, and Homer was fourth. But Thamyris, in turn, was ancient, contemporary with Cadmus, the grandfather of Orpheus; and Orpheus was the son of Menippe, the daughter of Thamyris, even if allegorically he is said to be the son of Calliope." Cramer does not have 'was' before 'of the daughter', nor 'of the' before 'Calliope'.

Ex verbo 'I said' it is manifest that Tzetzes himself is the author of the scholia; which he also explicitly declares in the scholium to v. 216.

(65) B, Maeon. B C, Burgess, Hyrnithous. It is 'Eugnetho' in the 'Contest of Homer', § 1.

(66) B, 'the majority'. A, Critheis. Better 'Critheis' in B C. Allatius, who in 'On the Fatherland of Homer', c. 12, cites verses 56, 57, 58, has 'Critheis'. And elsewhere Tzetzes or his scribe has erred in this way: Chiliad 13, 631: "Son indeed of Meles and Critheis." Compare the Greek Thesaurus. Allatius ibid. cites from the 'Homeric Contest' the passage about the Smyrneans proclaiming Homer [as the son] of Meles, the river among them, and the nymph Critheis. My edition, which is the only one at hand now, correctly [has] 'Critheis'. In C, the scholium on the name 'Meles' I think refers to [the following]: "He who by the majority is judged to be the father of Homer." There is an 'is' obscured by a compendium [abbreviation] that I do not remember having seen, so that I have followed the sense, not the handwriting.

(67) B, "Homer's teacher also becomes Pronapides." C and Bg., "Homer's teacher becomes Pronapides." A, Prinapides, and so below. But Chiliad 13, 633: "Consider Pronapides to be the teacher of Homer." Codex 2644, Pronapides. And Pronapides [appears] in not a few places of the 'Exegesis', and soon in the scholium to v. 105.