492 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



arrjae S' liyoiv, If ^ h.6rjva'iaiv laravTO (fiaXayyes, fiaprvpi )(pr]craadai ra TroirjTri rov 



TTjv prjcrov e$ apx^i 'Adrjvaicov Inap^ai. This bit of evidence, if true, though 

 we must bear ru mind that it is based on tradition, and that, too, tra- 

 dition which ascribes an act to either one of two men, points to an 

 insertion which might more properly be called malicious than literary. 

 This inserted line, popularly said to have been an interpolation, is 

 verse 558 of the Iliad B, and stands in all known manuscripts, with 

 the exception of seventeen. ^ But in the best manuscript it is lacking, 

 as La Roche points out in his edition of the Iliad.^ By " the best 

 manuscript " I understand him to mean the Venetus A. Accordingly, 

 in his text, he encloses this line in brackets. Aristotle also, in his 

 Rhetoric,"^ makes Homer, as a writer of historical accuracy, the final 

 court of appeal for the Athenians in their contest for the possession 

 of the much-disputed Salamis, though unfortunately he does not men- 

 tion the name of PisistratuS : nepX 5e paprvpaiv, p,apTvpes elcTi SiTTOi, ot pev 

 TroKaiol, ot 5e T7p6cr(f)aTOi, koI tovtcov ot pev pere^ovTe? rov Kivdvvov, ol 8 €kt6s. 

 Xeyo) 8e TToKaiovs pev rovs re tvoitjtcis Kal ocrcov aXXcov yvcopipai' eiai Kpiafis 

 (jiavepai, oiov 'Adrjvaloi 'OprjpM paprvpi ixpr]aavTO nepl ^aXaplvos- 1 hlS re- 

 mark of Aristotle's, of course, has no direct connection with Pisistratus. 

 I quote it here merely to show that at least Strabo's story of the use 

 of Homer as a witness in the dispute about Salamis is true on the 

 authority of Aristotle. In Quintilian (V, 11, 40) we have a slightly 

 more pertinent reference to the same circumstance. His words are 

 these : neque est ignobile exemplum (i. e. of auctoritas) Megarios ab 

 Atheniensibus, cum de Salamine contenderent, victos esse Homeri 

 versu, qui tamen ipse non in omni editione reperitur, significans 

 Aiacem naves suas Atheniensibus iunxisse. Here we see the verse in 

 question is quoted in a translation with the added suggestion that per- 

 haps it is not genuine from the fact that it is not contained in all the 

 manuscripts. This statement, however, about the use of Homer as 

 historical testimony may very well have been made by Quintilian on 

 the authority of Strabo, his predecessor, Quintilian's own more inti- 

 mate and critical literary knowledge prompting him to note the omis- 

 sions in certain manuscripts, with which Strabo, very naturally, was 

 unfamiliar. 



On the authority of Hereas, a Megarian writer of uncertain date, we 

 are informed by Plutarch (Theseus, XX) that Pisistratus inserted verse 

 630 of the eleventh book of the Odyssey : Aeivos yap piv erfipev i'pcos Uavo- 



TTT/iSor A'iyXrjs. Toiiro yap to eVos e/c rcoi' 'HctloSov Tleia-ia-TpaTov i^eXelv (prjaiu 



1 Cf. T. W. Allen in Class Rev., XV, p. 8 (1901). 



2 Footnote to II., II, 558. 



3 1, p. 1375, 26. 



