Where champions fight,—where dancers beat the ground,—
Where cheerful music echoes all around,
Thy feast to honour, and thy praise to sound.[[1177]]
The great historian who quotes this hymn, and unhesitatingly attributes it to Homer, brings forward to prove the occurrence of musical contests another passage, in which, as he observes, the poet speaks of himself:—
But now, Apollo, with thy sister fair,
Smile as the lingering bard prefers his prayer;
And ye, O Delian nymphs,[[1178]] who guard the fane
Of Phœbos, listen to my parting strain;
Should some lone stranger, when my lay no more
Floats on the breezes of the sacred shore,