The _Epigrams of Homer_ are derived from the pseudo-Herodotean _Life of
Homer_, but many of them occur in other documents such as the _Contest
of Homer and Hesiod_, or are quoted by various ancient authors. These
poetic fragments clearly antedate the “Life” itself, which seems to
have been so written round them as to supply appropriate occasions for
their composition. Epigram iii on Midas of Larissa was otherwise
attributed to Cleobulus of Lindus, one of the Seven Sages; the address
to Glaucus (xi) is purely Hesiodic; xiii, according to MM. Croiset, is
a fragment from a gnomic poem. Epigram xiv is a curious poem attributed
on no very obvious grounds to Hesiod by Julius Pollox. In it the poet
invokes Athena to protect certain potters and their craft, if they
will, according to promise, give him a reward for his song; if they
prove false, malignant gnomes are invoked to wreck the kiln and hurt
the potters.