appear in another connection in the Certamen (Allen, p. 228, 78-79) are used by Stobaeus, who gives his source as the Μουσείον of Alkidamas (ἐκ τοῦ ̓Αλκιδάμαντος Μουσείου, Flor. 120, 3). This Movσetov of Alkidamas appears to have been a collection of rhetorical exercises, doubtless for school purposes, whose style is trenchantly criticised by Aristotle in his Rhetoric." The question won new interest from the discovery of the Flinders Petrie papyrus, a fragment consisting of parts of 48 lines, whose significance lies in the fact that it presents, with slight variants, a portion of the text of the Certamen and belongs to the third century B.C.8 Its age "proves to demonstration," as Mahaffy said, "that the Contest was not an invention of Hadrian's age, but existed in much the same form four hundred years earlier." And accepting Nietzsche's conclusions, he did not hesitate to add: "we have, therefore, before us a fragment of the Movotîov of Alcidamas, which may now be added to the scanty remains of that once remarkable literary figure." To this conclusion, as to Nietzsche's theory in general, Eduard Meyer 9 strongly objected. "Die Ansicht von Nietzsche . . . die Schrift stamme im wesentlichen aus dem Movσetov des Rhetors Alkidamas, des Schülers des Gorgias, stammt aus der Zeit der Einquellenhypothese und sollte nicht mehr nachgesprochen werden (wie das von Mahaffy, der daher das Movσeîov des Alkidamas gefunden zu haben glaubt, und von manchen anderen gethan ist). Wir wissen nur, dass Alkidamas die Legende von Hesiods Tod erzählte (§ 13) und die bekannten Verse des ἀγών: ἀρχὴν μὲν μὴ φῦναι etc. citirte (Stob. Flor. 120, 3). Aber der Stoff ist von ihm nicht erfunden und nach rhetorischen Gesichtspunkten verarbeitet, wie Nietzsche meinte, sondern weit älter.” 10 His belief that the 7 Cf. III, 3, 1406 a; Nietzsche, op. cit. XXVIII (1873), 219; Vahlen, Gesammelte Schriften, pp. 117 ff. 8 Published by J. P. Mahaffy, Cunningham Memoirs, 1891, Pl. xxv, Commentary, pp. 71-73; the text appears also in Allen, p. 225. 9 "Homerische Parerga," Hermes, xxvII (1892), 377–380. 10 Op. cit. p. 378, n. 1. substance of the contest is older is based on the fact that lines 107-108 (Allen, 229) of the Certamen agree, with minor variants, with Aristophanes, Pax, 1282-1283. It must be sought, he believes, in the work of the Rhapsodists. "Mit dem gesammten rhapsodischen Material ist im fünften Jahrhundert auch der ȧywv in den Schulunterricht übergegangen und von den Knaben gelernt werden. . . . Es ist eine Tradition, die mindestens weit ins sechste, wahrscheinlich ins siebente Jahrhundert hinaufreicht, und so der Schlussredaction der grossen Epen gleichzeitig, wenn nicht älter ist." " With this position Vahlen expressed virtual agreement when he reprinted his famous essay of 1863 in his Gesammelte Schriften.12 Nietzsche's theory of Alkidamas' Movσeîov and its relation to the Certamen has, however, found a stout defender in Adolf Busse,13 who maintains that the material Alkidamas used lay more or less ready to hand in the familiar school exercises in improvisation, but that its organization into the form in which we now have it was substantially the work of Alkidamas himself.14 In his essay the "Lives of Homer" 15 Mr. T. W. Allen has attacked the old problem with fresh vigor and acumen. His conclusion coincides in part with that of Eduard Meyer so far as the age and character of the contest proper are concerned; but Allen recognizes, as Meyer did not, the share which Alkidamas may have had in the work. "We conclude," he remarks (p. 24), "that Alcidamas used the traditional contest 11 Op. cit. pp. 379, 380. 12 Cf. p. 127, n. 1. 13 Der Agon zwischen Homer und Hesiod," Rh. Mus. LXIV (1909), 108-119. 14 'Aus diesem Born schöpften diejenigen, denen zu eignen Improvisationen beim Gelage die Kraft gebrach, hieraus strömte auch der Jugend mittelbar oder unmittelbar die Kenntnis der beliebten Scherzverse zu, hier fand endlich auch Alkidamas den Stoff zu seinem Dichterwettkampf. Ob nun aber Alkidamas die ganze Wechselrede entlehnt oder manches aus eigener geistiger Werkstatt hinzugetan hat, bleibt zweifelhaft. Die Stoffverteilung und der Aufbau des Ganzen ist sicherlich sein Werk" (p. 118). 15 J. H. S. XXXII (1912), 250-260; xXXIII (1913), 19-26; reprinted with some changes in Homer, The Origins and the Transmission, pp. 11–41. between Homer and Hesiod as a vehicle to convey criticism on badly composed verses of the heroic corpus." And again (p. 27): "it seems, then, safe to say that the tradition of the rivalry between the Homeric and Hesiodic schools can be traced to a Lesbian cyclic poet of the eighth century. A poem also appeared to be the source of the Herodotean life. The Lesbian poem contained a contest in amoebean verse: it was probably only an episode in the poetical life of Homer. In the fourth century Alcidamas, whose interest was in style, expanded the incident into a rhetorical exercise conveying criticism on the post-Homeric epopoei." Wilamowitz-Moellendorff 16 regards the contest proper, which is one of the three constituent parts 17 of the Certamen, as "ein rechtes Volksbuch, gemischt aus Versen und Prosa" (p. 401), dating back to the sixth century at least. With Alkidamas' share in the Certamen he is not primarily concerned, limiting himself to the view that on the available evidence all that can be affirmed is that Alkidamas narrated the story of Hesiod's death and used a poetical passage from the Agon. Diverse as these theories may appear, they have in various ways established three things: (1) the Certamen is a relatively late compilation; (2) Alkidamas is associated with the tradition to a greater or less degree; and (3) the contest proper is older than Alkidamas. The new fragment proves conclusively the validity of the Alkidamas tradition. In the first place, the passage from line 1 to 14 agrees so closely with the Certamen (238, 329–338) in thought and phraseology that the relationship is apparent. In the second place, the passage 15-23, in the style of the rhetorician who called the Odyssey καλὸν ἀνθρωπίνου βίου κάтожт роV (Aristotle, Rhet. III, 3, 1406, b), does not appear in the Certamen or anywhere else. It was certainly not invented by the writer of this papyrus; the only alternative is the 16 Zwei alte Volksbücher in Die Ilias und Homer2, Berlin, 1920, pp. 396-439. 17 Its tripartite nature is recognized also by Busse, op. cit. p. 108, and by Allen, p. 186; cf. Homer, Origins, p. 20. reasonable assumption that it was in the source used by the grammarian who wrote the Certamen in Hadrian's time, and that in composing his account he abbreviated his source. And finally, the presence of the name Alkidamas in the title fastens the substance of this part at least of the Certamen on Alkidamas as conclusively as anything can. The grammarian who composed the work represented by the Florentine manuscript undoubtedly had Alkidamas before him when he wrote. How much he invented it is, of course, impossible to say; but the evidence of the Petrie papyrus and the Michigan fragment tends to show that his work was merely that of a compiler. On the evidence available we have no right to maintain, as Nietzsche and Busse have done, that Alkidamas was the sole source for the entire Certamen; that is a view which is extremely improbable. But we are warranted in asserting that Alkidamas wrote an account, entitled simply Tepi 'Oμý pov, which was the immediate source of the end of the Certamen. So much is now fact, no longer theory. Alkidamas in turn certainly drew his material from older sources, but with this phase of the question we are not here concerned. In transcribing the text I have followed the practice now common among papyrologists. It is perhaps needless to add that the photograph does not always reveal traces of letters that appear with certainty in the papyrus under a highlymagnifying binocular microscope. Where enough of a letter remains to establish its identity the letter is printed as certain. In studying the text I have received much help from Professor Hunt who has seen the photograph and emended my original transcript. To him and to Professor Campbell Bonner, with whom I have discussed many of the problems which the papyrus presents, I am under deep obligation. 1. οι δε ορώντες αυ]τον εσχεδιασαν τονδε [το]ν στιχον οσσ ελ[αβ]ο[ν] λ[ι]πομεσθ' οσσ ουκ ελαβον χθεν ηρετο αυτους [ο τι] λεγοιεν οι δε εφασαν ε 5. φ αλιειαν οιχομενο[ι αγρίευσαι μεν ουδεν καθη μενο[[ύ] [δ]ε φ[θ]ειρ[ι]ζεσ[θ]αι των δε φθείρων ους ελα βον αυτου κατα[λ]ιποιεν ους δ ουκ ελαβον εν > τοις τριβωσιν ε[ν]θ αποφέρειν αναμνησθεις δε του μαντε[ιο]υ [οτι] η καταστροφη αυτω το[υ] 10. βιου ηκεν π[οι]ει εις εαυτον επιγραμ[μ]α το[δ]ε ενθαδ[ε] την ιε[ρη]ν κεφαλην κατα γαια καλυ δ ψε ανθρων ηρωων κοσμητορα θειον Ομηρ[ο]ν και αν[α]χωρων παληου οντος ολισθάνει και πε σων επι πλευραν ουτως φασιν ετελεύτησεν 15. περι τουτου μεν ουν ποιεισθαι την αρετην ποι ησομεν μαλιστα δ' ορων < τες > τους ιστορικους θαυ μαζόμενους Ομηρος γ ουν δια τουτο και ζων και αποθανων τετιμηται παρα πασιν ανθρω ποις ταυτη[ν] ουν αυτω της παιδιας χαριν α 20. ποδιδῳ[μεν αγ]ωνος αυτου και την αλλη[ν] ποι ησιν δι αγ[χιστ]ειας μνημης τοις βουλομε νοις φιλοκαλ]ειν των Ελληνων εις το κοινον παραδω[μεν] 1. And seeing him they improvised the following line: Whate'er we caught we left, the rest we bear. Not being able to understand what was said, he asked them what 5. they meant. And they said that they had gone fishing and had caught nothing, and then they had sat down and hunted for lice. The lice which they caught they left there, but what they did not catch they carried away in their clothing. Recalling the prophecy that the end of his life was at hand, he composed this 10. epigram to himself: The earth enveileth here his sacred head, The godlike bard who men and heroes led. And as he withdrew he slipped because of the mud and falling on his side so met his end, they say. In regard to this, then, |