τὸ ἔνατον τῶν Συμποσιακῶν, ὦ Σόσσιε Σενεκίων, περιέχει λόγους τοὺς Ἀθήνησιν ἐν τοῖς Μουσείοις γενομένους καὶ μάλιστα τὴν ἐννεάδα ταῖς Μούσαις προσήκειν. ὁ δʼ ἀριθμὸς; ἂν ὑπερβάλλῃ τὴν συνήθη δεκάδα τῶν ζητημάτων, οὐ θαυμαστέον ἔδει γὰρ πάντα ταῖς Μούσαις ἀποδοῦναι τὰ τῶν Μουσῶν καὶ μηδὲν ἀφελεῖν ὥσπερ ἀφʼ ἱερῶν, πλείονα καὶ καλλίονα τούτων ὀφείλοντας αὐταῖς.
This ninth book, Sossius Senecio, contains the discourses we held at Athens at the Muses’ feast, for this number nine is agreeable to the number of the Muses. Nor must you wonder when you find more than ten questions (which number I have observed in my other books) in it; for we ought to give the Muses all that belongs to them, and be as careful of robbing them as of a temple, since we owe them much more and much better things than these.
Ἀμμώνιος Ἀθήνησι στρατηγῶν ἀπόδειξιν ἔλαβεν ἐν τῷ Διογενείῳ τῶν γράμματα, καὶ γεωμετρίαν καὶ τὰ ῥητορικὰ καὶ μουσικὴν μανθανόντων, καὶ τοὺς; εὐδοκιμήσαντας τῶν διδασκάλων ἐπὶ δεῖπνον ἐκάλεσε. παρῆσαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φιλολόγων συχνοὶ καὶ πάντες ἐπιεικῶς οἱ συνήθεις. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀχιλλεὺς μόνοις τῶν ἀγωνισαμένων τοῖς μονομαχήσασι δεῖπνον κατήγγειλε, βουλόμενος; ὥς φασιν εἴ τις ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ὀργὴ πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ χαλεπότης γένοιτο, ταύτην ἀφεῖναι καὶ καταθέσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἑστιάσεως κοινῆς καὶ τραπέζης μετασχόντας τῷ δʼ Ἀμμωνίῳ συνέβαινε τοὐναντίον ἀκμὴν γὰρ ἡ τῶν διδασκάλων ἅμιλλα καὶ φιλονεικία σφοδροτέραν ἔλαβεν ἐν ταῖς κύλιξι γενομένων· ἤδη δὲ καὶ προτάσεις καὶ προκλήσεις ἦσαν ἄκριτοι καὶ ἄτακτοι.
AMMONIUS, captain of the militia at Athens, would show Diogenianus the proficiency of those youths that learned grammar, geometry, rhetoric, and music; and invited the chief masters of the town to supper. There were a great many scholars at the feast, and almost all his acquaintance. Achilles invited only the single combatants to his feast, intending (as the story goes) that, if in the heat of the encounter they had conceived any anger or ill-will against one another, they might then lay it aside, being made partakers of one common entertainment. But the contrary happened to Ammonius, for the contentions of the masters increased and grew more sharp midst their cups and merriment; and all was disorder and confused babbling.
διὸ πρῶτον μὲν ἐκέλευσεν ᾆσαι τὸν Ἐράτωνα πρὸς τὴν λύραν· ᾄσαντος δὲ τὰ πρῶτα τῶν Ἔργων οὐκ ἄρα μοῦνον ἔην ἐρίδων γένος, ἐπῄνεσεν ὡς τῷ καιρῷ πρεπόντως ἁρμοσάμενον ἔπειτα περὶ στίχων εὐκαιρίας ἐνέβαλε λόγον, ὡς μὴ μόνον χάριν ἀλλὰ καὶ χρείαν ἔστιν ὅτε μεγάλην ἐχούσης. καὶ ὁ μὲν ῥαψῳδὸς εὐθὺς ἦν διὰ στόματος πᾶσιν, ἐν τοῖς Πτολεμαίου γάμοις ἀγομένου τὴν ἀδελφὴν καὶ πρᾶγμα δρᾶν ἀλλόκοτον νομιζομένου καὶ ἄθεσμον ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπῶν ἐκείνων Ζεὺς δʼ Ἥρην ἐκάλεσσε κασιγνήτην ἄλοχόν τε· καὶ ὁ παρὰ Δημητρίῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀπρόθυμος ὢν ᾄδειν μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον, ὥς τε προσέπεμψεν αὐτῷ τὸν υἱὸν ἔτι παιδάριον ὄντα, τὸν Φίλιππον, ἐπιβαλὼν εὐθὺς τὸν παῖδά μοι τόνδʼ ἀξίως Ἡρακλέους / ἡμῶν τε θρέψαι· / καὶ Ἀνάξαρχος ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου μήλοις βαλλόμενος παρὰ δεῖπνον, ἐπαναστὰς καὶ εἰπών βεβλήσεταί τις θεῶν βροτησίᾳ χερί. πάντων δʼ ἄριστος Κορίνθιος παῖς αἰχμάλωτος, ὅθʼ ἡ πόλις ἀπώλετο καὶ Μόμμιος ἐκ τῶν ἐλευθέρων τοὺς ἐπισταμένους γράμματα παῖδας εὐσυσκοπῶν ἐκέλευσε γράψαι στίχον, ἔγραψε τρὶς μάκαρες Δαναοὶ καὶ τετράκις, οἳ τότʼ ὄλοντο· καὶ γὰρ παθεῖν τι τὸν Μόμμιόν φασι καὶ δακρῦσαι καὶ πάντας ἀφεῖναι ἐλευθέρους τοὺς τῷ παιδὶ προσήκοντας. ἐμνήσθη τε καὶ τῆς Θεοδώρου τοῦ τραγῳδοῦ γυναικὸς οὐ προσδεξαμένης αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ συγκαθεύδειν, ὑπογύου τοῦ ἀγῶνος ὄντος· ἐπεὶ δὲ νικήσας εἰσῆλθε πρὸς αὐτήν, ἀσπασαμένης καὶ εἰπούσης Ἀγαμέμνονος παῖ, νῦν ἐκεῖνʼ ἔξεστί σοι.
Therefore Ammonius commanded Erato to sing to his harp, and he sang some part of Hesiod’s Works beginning thus, Contention to one sort is not confined; and I commended him for choosing so apposite a song. Then he began to discourse about the seasonable use of verse, that it was not only pleasant but profitable. And straight every one’s mouth was full of that poet who began Ptolemy’s epithalamium (when he married his sister, a wicked and abominable match) thus, Jove Juno called his sister and his wife; and another, who was unwilling to sing after supper to Demetrius the king, but when he sent him his young son Philip to be educated sang thus, Breed thou the boy as doth become / Both Hercules’s race and us; / and Anaxarchus who, being pelted with apples by Alexander at supper, rose up and said, Some God shall wounded be by mortal hand. But that Corinthian captive boy excelled all, who, when the city was destroyed, and Mummius, taking a survey of all the free-born children that understood letters, commanded each to write a verse, wrote thus: Thrice, four times blest, the happy Greeks that fell. For they say that Mummius was affected with it, wept, and gave all the free-born children that were allied to the boy their liberty. And some mentioned the wife of Theodorus the tragedian, who refused his embraces a little before he contended for the prize; but, when he was conqueror and came in unto her, clasped him and said, Now, Agamemnon’s son, you freely may.
ἐκ δὲ τούτου πολλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀκαίρων ἐνίοις ἐπῄει λέγειν, ὡς οὐκ ἄχρηστον εἰδέναι καὶ φυλάττεσθαι· οἷον Πομπηίῳ Μάγνῳ φασὶν ἀπὸ τῆς μεγάλης ἐπανήκοντι στρατείας τὸν διδάσκαλον τῆς θυγατρὸς ἀπόδειξιν διδόντα, βιβλίου κομισθέντος ἐνδοῦναι τῇ παιδὶ τοιαύτην ἀρχήν, ἤλυθες ἐκ πολέμου· ὡς ὤφελες αὐτόθʼ ὀλέσθαι. Κασσίῳ δὲ Λογγίνῳ λόγου προσπεσόντος ἀδεσπότου, τὸν υἱὸν ἐπὶ ξένης τεθνάναι, καὶ τἀληθὲς ἔχοντος εἰπεῖν οὐδενὸς οὐδʼ ἀνελεῖν τὸ ὕποπτον, εἰσελθὼν συγκλητικὸς ἀνὴρ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἤδη πρεσβύτερος οὐ καταφρονήσεις ἔφη Λογγῖνε, λαλιᾶς ἀπίστου καὶ κακοήθους φήμης, ὥσπερ οὐκ εἰδὼς οὐδʼ ἀνεγνωκὼς τὸ φήμη δʼ οὔ τις πάμπαν ἀπόλλυταιὁ δʼ ἐν Ῥόδῳ στίχον αἰτήσαντι γραμματικῷ ποιουμένῳ δεῖξιν ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ προτείνας ἔρρʼ ἐκ νήσου θᾶσσον, ἐλέγχιστε ζωόντων ἄδηλον εἴτε παίζων ἐφύβρισεν εἴτʼ ἄκων ἠστόχησε. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν παρηγόρησεν ἀστείως τὸν θόρυβον.
After this a great many sayings were mentioned as unseasonably spoken, it being fit that we should know such and avoid them;—as that to Pompey the Great, to whom, upon his return from a dangerous war, the schoolmaster brought his little daughter, and, to show him what a proficient she was, called for a book, and bade her begin at this line, Returned from war; but hadst thou there been slain, / My wish had been complete; /
and that to Cassius Longinus, to whom a flying report of his son’s dying abroad being brought, and he no ways appearing either to know the certain truth or to clear the doubt, an old senator came and said: Longinus, will you not despise the flying uncertain rumor, as if you neither knew nor had read this line, For no report is wholly false? And he that at Rhodes, to a grammarian demanding a line upon which he might show his skill in the theatre, proposed this, Fly from the island, worst of all mankind, either slyly put a trick upon him, or unwittingly blundered. And this discourse quieted the tumult.
ἔθους δʼ ὄντος ἐν τοῖς Μουσείοις κλήρους περιφέρεσθαι καὶ τοὺς συλλαχόντας ἀλλήλοις προτείνειν φιλόλογα ζητήματα, φοβούμενος ὁ Ἀμμώνιος μὴ τῶν ὁμοτέχνων τινὲς ἀλλήλοις συλλάχωσι, προσέταξεν ἄνευ κλήρου γεωμέτρην γραμματικῷ προτεῖναι καὶ ῥητορικῷ μουσικόν, εἶτʼ ἔμπαλιν ἀναστρέφειν τὰς ἀνταποδόσεις.
IT being the custom of the Muses’ feast to draw lots, and those that were matched to propose curious questions to one another, Ammonius, fearing that two of the same profession might be matched together, ordered, without drawing lots, a geometrician to propose questions to a grammarian, and a master of music to a rhetorician.
προὔτεινεν οὖν Ἑρμείας ὁ γεωμέτρης Πρωτογένει τῷ γραμματικῷ πρῶτος αἰτίαν εἰπεῖν, διʼ ἣν τὸ ἄλφα προτάττεται τῶν γραμμάτων ἁπάντων ὁ δὲ τὴν ἐν ταῖς σχολαῖς λεγομένην ἀπέδωκε· τὰ μὲν γὰρ φωνήεντα τῷ δικαιοτάτῳ λόγῳ πρωτεύειν τῶν ἀφώνων καὶ ἡμιφώνων ἐν δὲ τούτοις τῶν μὲν μακρῶν ὄντων τῶν δὲ βραχέων, τῶν δʼ ἀμφότερα καὶ διχρόνων λεγομένων, ταῦτʼ εἰκότως τῇ δυνάμει διαφέρειν. αὐτῶν δὲ τούτων πάλιν ἡγεμονικωτάτην ἔχειν τάξιν τὸ προτάττεσθαι τῶν ἄλλων δυεῖν ὑποτάττεσθαι δὲ μηδετέρῳ πεφυκός, οἷόν ἐστι τὸ ἄλφα· τουτὶ γὰρ οὔτε τοῦ ἰῶτα δεύτερον οὔτε τοῦ υ ταττόμενον ἐθέλειν ὁμολογεῖν οὐδʼ ὁμοπαθεῖν ὥστε συλλαβὴν μίαν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν γενέσθαι, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἀγανακτοῦν καὶ ἀποπηδῶν ἰδίαν ἀρχὴν ζητεῖν ἀεί· ἐκείνων δʼ ὁποτέρου βούλει προταττόμενον ἀκολουθοῦντι καὶ συμφωνοῦντι χρῆσθαι καὶ συλλαβὰς ὀνομάτων ποιεῖν, ὥσπερ τοῦ αὔριον καὶ τοῦ αὐλεῖν καὶ τοῦ Αἴαντος καὶ τοῦ αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ μυρίων ἄλλων. διὸ τοῖς τρισίν, ὥσπερ οἱ πένταθλοι, περίεστι καὶ νικᾷ, τὰ μὲν πολλὰ τῷ φωνᾶεν εἶναι, τὰ δʼ αὖ φωνάεντα τῷ δίχρονον, ταῦτα δʼ αὐτὰ τῷ πεφυκέναι καθηγεῖσθαι δευτερεύειν δὲ μηδέποτε μηδʼ ἀκολουθεῖν.
First therefore, Hermeas the geometrician demanded of Protogenes the grammarian a reason why Alpha was the first letter of the alphabet. And he returned the common answer of the schools, that it was fit the vowels should be set before the mutes and semi vowels. And of the vowels, some being long, some short, some both long and short, it is just that the latter should be most esteemed. And of these that are long and short, that is to be set first which is usually placed before the other two but never after either; and that is Alpha. For that put either after Iota or Upsilon will not be pronounced, will not make one syllable with them, but as it were resenting the affront and angry at the position, seeks the first as its proper place. But if you place Alpha before either of those, they are obedient, and quietly join in one syllable, as in these words, αὔριον, αὐλεῖν, Αἴαωτος, αἰδεῖσθαι, and a thousand others. In these three respects therefore, as the conquerors in all the five exercises, it claims the precedence,—that of most other letters by being a vowel, that of other vowels by being double-timed, and lastly, that of these double-timed vowels themselves because it is its natural place to be set before and never after them.
παυσαμένου δὲ τοῦ Πρωτογένους, καλέσας ἐμὲ ὁ Ἀμμώνιος οὐδέν ἔφη σὺ τῷ Κάδμῳ βοηθεῖς ὁ Βοιώτιος, ὅν φασι τὸ ἄλφα πάντων προτάξαι διὰ τὸ Φοίνικας, οὕτω καλεῖν τὸν βοῦν, ὃν οὐ δεύτερον οὐδὲ τρίτον, ὥσπερ Ἡσίοδος, ἀλλὰ πρῶτον τίθεσθαι τῶν ἀναγκαίων;οὐδέν ἔφην ἐγώ· τῷ γὰρ ἐμῷ πάππῳ βοηθεῖν, εἴ τι δύναμαι, δίκαιός εἰμι μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ τοῦ Διονύσου. Λαμπρίας γὰρ ὁ ἐμὸς πάππος ἔλεγε πρώτην φύσει φωνὴν τῶν ἐνάρθρων ἐκφέρεσθαι διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἄλφα δυνάμεως· τὸ γὰρ ἐν τῷ στόματι πνεῦμα ταῖς περὶ τὰ χείλη μάλιστα πλάττεσθαι κινήσεσιν, ὧν πρώτην ἀνοιγομένων τὴν ἄνω διάστασιν οὖσαν ἐξιέναι τοῦτον τὸν ἦχον, ἁπλοῦν ὄντα κομιδῇ καὶ μηδεμιᾶς δεόμενον πραγματείας, μήτε τὴν γλῶτταν παρακαλοῦντα μήδʼ ὑπομένοντα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ χώραν ἀποκειμένης ἐκείνης ἐκπεμπόμενον ᾗ καὶ τὰ νήπια ταύτην πρώτην ἀφιέναι φωνήν. ὠνομάσθαι δὲ καὶ τὸ ἀίειν ἐπὶ τῷ φωνῆς αἰσθάνεσθαι καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ὁμοίων, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ ᾄδειν καὶ τὸ αὐλεῖν καὶ τὸ ἀλαλάζειν. οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τὸ αἴρειν καὶ τὸ ἀνοίγειν οὐκ ἀπὸ τρόπου τῇ τῶν χειλῶν ἀνοίξει καὶ ἄρσει, καθʼ ἣν οὗτος ἐκπίπτει τοῦ στόματος ὁ φθόγγος, ὠνομάσθαι διὸ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀφώνων γραμμάτων ὀνόματα πλὴν ἑνὸς ἅπαντα προσχρῆται τῷ ἄλφα καθάπερ φωτὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὰ τυφλότητος · τοῦ δὲ πῖ μόνον ἄπεστιν ἡ δύναμις αὕτη· τὸ γὰρ φῖ καὶ τὸ χῖ τὸ μέν ἐστι πῖ τὸ δὲ κάππα δασυνόμενον.
Protogenes making a pause, Ammonius, speaking to me, said: What! have you, being a Boeotian, nothing to say for Cadmus, who (as the story goes) placed Alpha the first in order, because a cow is called Alpha by the Phoenicians, and they account it not the second or third (as Hesiod doth) but the first of their necessary things? Nothing at all, I replied, for it is just that, to the best of my power, I should rather assist my own than Bacchus’s grandfather. For Lamprias my grandfather said, that the first articulate sound that is made is Alpha; for the air in the mouth is formed and fashioned by the motion of the lips; now as soon as those are opened, that sound breaks forth, being very plain and simple, not requiring or depending upon the motion of the tongue, but gently breathed forth whilst that lies still. Therefore that is the first sound that children make. Thus ἀίειν, to hear, ᾄδειν, to sing, αὐλεῖν, to pipe, ἀλαλάζειν, to hollow, begin with the letter Alpha; and I think that αἴρειν, to lift up, and ἀνοίγειν, to open, were fitly taken from that opening and lifting up of the lips when his voice is uttered. Thus all the names of the mutes besides one have an Alpha, as it were a light to assist their blindness; for Pi alone wants it, and Phi and Chi are only Pi and Kappa with an aspirate.
πρὸς ταῦτα τοῦ Ἑρμείου φήσαντος ἀμφοτέρους ἀποδέχεσθαι τοὺς λόγους τί οὖν ἔφην οὐ καὶ σὺ διῆλθες ἡμῖν, εἴ τις ἔστι λόγος τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν στοιχείων, ὥς γʼ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ; τεκμήριον δὲ ποιοῦμαι τὸ μὴ κατὰ τύχην τῶν ἀφώνων καὶ ἡμιφώνων πρὸς τʼ ἄλληλα καὶ πρὸς τὰ φωνήεντα γεγονέναι τὸ πλῆθος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἀναλογίαν ἀν δὲ καλουμένην ὑφʼ ἡμῶν. ἐννέα γὰρ ὄντων καὶ ὀκτὼ καὶ ἑπτά, οὕτω τὸν μέσον ἀριθμὸν ὑπερέχειν καὶ ὑπερέχεσθαι συμβέβηκε· τῶν δʼ ἄκρων ὁ μέγιστος πρὸς; τὸν ἐλάχιστον ἔχει λόγον, ὃν ὁ τῶν Μουσῶν πρὸς τὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος· ἡ γὰρ ἐννεὰς δήπου ταῖς Μούσαις ἡ δʼ ἑβδομὰς τῷ Μουσηγέτῃ προσκεκλήρωται· συντεθέντα δʼ ἀλλήλοις διπλασιάζει τὸν μέσον εἰκότως, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ἡμίφωνα τῆς ἀμφοῖν τρόπον τινὰ κοινωνεῖ δυνάμεωσ.
HERMEAS saying that he approved both reasons, why then (continued I) do not you explain the proportion, if there be any, of the number of the letters; for, in my opinion, there is; and I think so, because the number of mutes and semi-vowels, compared between themselves or with the vowels, doth not seem casual and undesigned, but to be according to the first proportion which you call arithmetical. For their number being nine, eight, and seven, the middle exceeds the last as much as it wants of the first. And the first number being compared with the last, hath the same proportion that the Muses have to Apollo; for nine is appropriated to them, and seven to him. And these two numbers tied together double the middle; and not without reason, since the semi-vowels partake the power of both.
καὶ ὁ ἙρμείαςἙρμῆς ἔφη λέγεται θεῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γράμματα πρῶτος εὑρεῖν· διὸ καὶ τὸ τῶν γραμμάτων Αἰγύπτιοι πρῶτον ἶβιν γράφουσιν, ὡς Ἑρμεῖ προσήκουσαν, οὐκ ὀρθῶς κατά γε τὴν ἐμὴν δόξαν, ἀναύδῳ καὶ ἀφθόγγῳ προεδρίαν ἐν γράμμασιν ἀποδόντες. Ἑρμεῖ δὲ μάλιστα τῶν ἀριθμῶν ἡ τετρὰς ἀνάκειται· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τετράδι μηνὸς ἱσταμένου γενέσθαι τὸν θεὸν ἱστοροῦσι. τὰ δὲ δὴ πρῶτα καὶ Φοινίκεια διὰ Κάδμον ὀνομασθέντα τετράκις ἡ τετρὰς γενομένη παρέσχε· καὶ τῶν αὖθις ἐφευρεθέντων δὲ Παλαμήδης τε πρότερος τέτταρα καὶ Σιμωνίδης αὖθις ἄλλα τοσαῦτα προσέθηκε. καὶ μὴν ὅτι πάντων ἀριθμῶν πρῶτος τέλειος, ἡ μὲν τριὰς ὡς ἀρχὴν καὶ μέσον ἔχουσα καὶ τέλος, ἡ δʼ ἑξὰς ὡς ἴση τοῖς αὑτῆς μέρεσι γιγνομένη, δῆλόν ἐστι. τούτων τοίνυν ἡ μὲν ἑξὰς ὑπὸ τῆς τετράδος, ἡ δὲ τριὰς ὑπὸ τῆς ὀγδοάδος πολλαπλασιασθεῖσα, πρώτου κύβου πρῶτος τέλειος, τὸ τῶν τεττάρων καὶ εἴκοσι παρέσχηκε πλῆθοσ.
And Hermeas replied: It is said that Mercury was the first God that discovered letters in Egypt; and therefore the Egyptians make the figure of an Ibis, a bird dedicated to Mercury, for the first letter. But it is not fit, in my opinion, to place an animal that makes no noise at the head of the letters. Amongst all the numbers, the fourth is peculiarly dedicated to Mercury, because, as some say, the God was born on the fourth day of the month. The first letters called Phoenician from Cadmus are four times four, or sixteen; and of those that were afterward added, Palamedes found four, and Simonides four more. Now amongst numbers, three is the first perfect, as consisting of a first, a middle, and a last; and after that six, as being equal the sum of its own divisors (1+2+3). Of these, six multiplied by four makes twenty-four; and also the first perfect number, three, multiplied by the first cube, eight.
ἔτι δʼ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος, ὁ γραμματιστὴς Ζωπυρίων δῆλος ἦν καταγελῶν καὶ παρεφθέγγετο· παυσαμένου δέ, οὐ κατέσχεν ἀλλὰ φλυαρίαν τὰ τοιαῦτα πολλὴν ἀπεκάλει· μηδενὶ γὰρ λόγῳ συντυχίᾳ δέ τινι καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γραμμάτων γεγονέναι τοσοῦτον καὶ τὴν τάξιν οὕτως ἔχουσαν, ὥσπερ, ἔφη, καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἰλιάδος τὸν πρῶτον στίχον τῷ τῆς Ὀδυσσείας ἰσοσύλλαβον εἶναι καὶ πάλιν τῷ τελευταίῳ τὸν τελευταῖον ἐκ τύχης καὶ αὐτομάτως ἐπηκολουθηκέναι.
Whilst he was discoursing thus, Zopyrion the grammarian sneered and muttered something between his teeth; and, as soon as he had done, cried out that he most egregiously trifled; for it was mere chance, and not design, that gave such a number and order to the letters, as it was mere chance that the first and last verses of Homer’s Iliads have just as many syllables as the first and last of his Odysseys.
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