[35] Homer was an Asiatic Greek who lived probably about B. C. 850. Seven cities claimed the honor of his birth, which ancient critics commonly accorded to Chios, and modern, to Smyrna. Many legends describe his sorrowful and changeful life, shadowed by poverty and blindness; but we can be sure of little except that he was the author of some of the earliest and yet greatest poems in the world’s literature.
[36] The word Erinnyes meant curses, and hence the angry or persecuting goddesses. Fearing to call these terrible beings by their real name, the Greeks substituted the term Eumenides, which meant soothed or benevolent.
[37] For a specimen, see §§ [108-9], [114].
[38] My´us, Prie´ne, Eph´esus, Co´lophon, Leb´edos, Te´os, Er´ythræ, Clazom´enæ, Phocæ´a, Mile´tus, Chi´os, and Sa´mos.
[40] Of the Seven Wise Men, six were rulers and statesmen. The seven were Solon of Athens, Periander of Corinth, Cleobulus of Lindus, Bias of Prie´ne, Pittacus of Mytilene, Thales of Miletus, and Chilo of Sparta.