Note 303 — Chapter XXIII
L. Dora Schmitz translation
Nothing can be clearer than Homer’s own testimony on this point, when he invokes the Muses to inspire him with the knowledge of what he had only heard by report (Iliad, II. 484-487):—
Ἔσπετε νῦν μοι, Μοῦσαι Ὀλύμπια δώματ’ ἔχουσαι,— Ὑμεῖς γὰρ θεαί ἐστε, πάρεστέ τε, ἴστε τε πάντα, Ἡμεῖς δὲ κλέος οἶον ἀκούομεν, οὐδέ τι ἴδμεν— Οἵ τινες ἡγεμόνες Δαναῶν καὶ κοίρανοι ἦσαν. “Say now, ye Nine, who on Olympus dwell, Muses—for ye are Goddesses, and ye Were present, and know all things: we ourselves But hear from Rumour’s voice, and nothing know— Who were the chiefs and mighty lords of Greece.”—[Ed.]