Book 2
20
Before more than two or three days had passed I approached Homer, the poet, when we were both at leisure, and asked him several questions; among others, what his birthplace was, telling him that this was a great subject of research among us to this day. He said he was aware already that some believe he was born in Chios, some in Smyrna, and many in Colophon. He was, however (he said), a Babylonian, and in his own country was called not Homer, but Tigranes. But when later he made his home in Greece as a hostage he changed his name. I also asked him about those verses in his poems rejected by the critics, whether they were written by him or not, and he declared they were all his. As you will imagine, this filled me with contempt for the callous criticism of the commentators Zenodotos and Aristarchos. When he had satisfied me on these points, I asked what in the world was his reason for beginning his poem with the word "wrath." He said that was the way it came into his head, and he took no pains about it. I was eager to know this, too: whether he wrote the Odyssey before the Iliad, as most critics declare; but he said he did not. As to that other story about him, that he was blind, I very soon perceived that it was false, for he saw, so that there was no need even to put the question. I repeated my action frequently when I saw him unoccupied, going up to him and interrogating him. He answered me cordially, especially after he had won his lawsuit. An indictment for slander had been brought against him by Thersites, on the ground of the scoffs against him in Homer's poems. But Homer won the suit, having Odysseus as counsel.
