batch.motif.greek-hesiod-homeric-hymns-evelyn-white-gutenberg-l8294-l8325
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-hesiod-homeric-hymns-evelyn-white-gutenberg-l8294-l8325
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
passage_locator:
label: THE EXPEDITION OF AMPHIARAUS / THE TAKING OF OECHALIA / THE PHOCAIS / THE
MARGITES; lines 8294-8325
start: '8294'
end: '8325'
translation: Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'The passage gives fragmentary testimonia about the Phocais and Margites:
attributions of poems to Homer or Pigres; a description of an old divine singer
serving the Muses and Apollo with a lyre; statements that Margites knew many things
badly, lacked practical skills, did not understand his own birth, avoided his
wife, and a proverb contrasting the fox''s many wiles with the hedgehog''s single
effective trick.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Homer is said to have composed the Lesser Iliad and the Phocais while living
with Thestorides, while Phocaeans say he composed the Phocais among them.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Pigres is identified as a Carian of Halicarnassus and brother of Artemisia,
and is said to have written works attributed to Homer.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: An old man and divine singer came to Colophon carrying a sweet-toned lyre.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The divine singer is described as a servant of the Muses and of far-shooting
Apollo.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Margites is said to have known many things but to have known them all badly.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The gods are said not to have taught Margites digging, ploughing, or any other
skill, and he failed in every craft.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Margites, though grown up, did not know whether his father or mother gave
him birth.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Margites would not lie with his wife because he feared she might give a bad
account of him to her mother.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: A proverb says that the fox knows many wiles, but the hedgehog's one trick
can beat them all.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Homer
description: Poet to whom the Lesser Iliad, Phocais, and other works are attributed
in the testimonia.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Thestorides
description: Person with whom Homer is said to have been living when he composed
the Lesser Iliad and the Phocais.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Phocaeans
description: Community said to claim that Homer composed the Phocais among them.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Pigres
description: A Carian of Halicarnassus, brother of Artemisia, associated with authorship
of works attributed to Homer.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Old divine singer
description: An old man and divine singer who came to Colophon with a sweet-toned
lyre.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Muses
description: Divine figures whom the old singer serves.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Far-shooting Apollo
description: Divine figure whom the old singer serves.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Margites
description: A grown man characterized by bad knowledge, lack of craft skills, ignorance
about his birth, and avoidance of his wife.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Gods
description: Divine beings said not to have taught Margites practical skills.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Fox
description: Animal in the proverb that knows many wiles.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Hedgehogs
description: Animals in the proverb whose one trick can beat the fox's many wiles.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Attributed poet
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage reports works attributed to or composed by Homer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: Host or companion in residence
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Homer is said to have been living with Thestorides.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: Local claimants of poetic composition
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The Phocaeans say the Phocais was composed among them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: Alternative attributed author
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Pigres is said to have written the Margites attributed to Homer and the Battle
of the Frogs and Mice.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: Divine singer
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The figure is called an old man and divine singer with a lyre.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: Divine patron served by singer
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: The singer is described as a servant of the Muses and Apollo.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:7
label: Foolish or unskilled man
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Margites knows many things badly, lacks practical skills, misunderstands
birth, and avoids his wife from fear of report.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: Withholding or absent teachers of skill
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The gods are said to have taught Margites neither digging, ploughing, nor
other skill.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:9
label: Many-wiled animal
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The fox is said to know many wiles.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:10
label: Single-trick victor animal
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The hedgehog's one trick is said to beat the fox's many wiles.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Sweet-toned lyre
literal_form: lyre
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: Many wiles
literal_form: fox's many wiles
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: One effective trick
literal_form: hedgehog's one trick
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:4
label: Practical crafts not learned
literal_form: digging, ploughing, and other skills
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Attribution of the Phocais
summary: The passage reports that Homer composed the Lesser Iliad and Phocais while
living with Thestorides, while Phocaeans claim the Phocais was composed among
them.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Pigres and Homeric attribution
summary: Pigres is identified and linked to the authorship of the Margites attributed
to Homer and the Battle of the Frogs and Mice.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Divine singer arrives at Colophon
summary: An old divine singer, servant of the Muses and Apollo, comes to Colophon
carrying a sweet-toned lyre.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Margites characterized by failed knowledge and skill
summary: Margites is described as knowing many things badly and as lacking divine
instruction in practical crafts.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Margites' ignorance of birth and marriage avoidance
summary: Margites is said not to know which parent gave him birth and to avoid lying
with his wife because of fear she might report badly of him to her mother.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:6
label: Fox and hedgehog proverb
summary: A proverb contrasts the fox's many wiles with the hedgehog's single trick
that can defeat them.
figure_refs:
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Divinely affiliated singer with lyre
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage presents an old divine singer, servant of the Muses and Apollo,
holding a sweet-toned lyre.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The fragment is brief and does not narrate a full mythic episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Fool who knows many things badly
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Margites is described as knowing many things but badly and as failing in
every craft because the gods did not teach him practical skills.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference is inverse or negative, since the passage emphasizes
failed knowledge rather than wisdom attained.
- id: motif:3
label: Adult ignorance about birth and marriage
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Margites, though grown up, does not know whether father or mother gave him
birth and avoids sexual relations with his wife from fear of her report.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The fragment supplies comic characterization but little narrative context.
- id: motif:4
label: Many tricks overcome by one effective trick
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The proverb contrasts the fox's many wiles with the hedgehog's one trick
that can beat them all.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage gives a proverb without a surrounding fable narrative.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 8294-8298
quote_or_summary: Pseudo-Herodotus reports that Homer composed the Lesser Iliad
and the Phocais while living with Thestorides; the Phocaeans claim the Phocais
was composed among them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 8300-8305
quote_or_summary: Suidas identifies Pigres as a Carian of Halicarnassus, brother
of Artemisia, and says he wrote the Margites attributed to Homer and the Battle
of the Frogs and Mice.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 8307-8310
quote_or_summary: '"There came to Colophon an old man and divine singer, a servant
of the Muses and of far-shooting Apollo. In his dear hands he held a sweet-toned
lyre."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 8312-8313
quote_or_summary: '"He knew many things but knew all badly..."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short quotation.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 8315-8317
quote_or_summary: Aristotle reports that the gods taught Margites neither digging,
ploughing, nor any other skill, and that he failed in every craft.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 8319-8323
quote_or_summary: A scholion says Margites, though grown, did not know whether his
father or mother gave him birth and would not lie with his wife because he feared
she might speak badly of him to her mother.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: quote
locator: lines 8325
quote_or_summary: '"The fox knows many a wile; but the hedge-hogs one trick can
beat them all."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short quotation.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Extraction is based on short fragmentary testimonia. Motif labels are cautious
because the passage contains isolated notices and proverbs rather than full narrative
contexts.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not explicitly support a cross-textual or historical comparison beyond the provided fragmentary attributions.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-hesiod-homeric-hymns-evelyn-white-gutenberg__l8294-l8325
passage_sha256=01adde483503359808566228996eaa3866ee227c86676bc05be7bec38736830e