Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.
On Homers Birthplace
By Antipater of Sidon (fl. c. 100 B.C.)Translated by J. H. Merivale
F
From Smyrna some, and some from Chios;
These noble Salamis have sung,
While those proclaim thee born in Ios;
And others cry up Thessaly
The mother of the Lapithæ.
The birthplace just which suits his mind.
By Phœbus to his followers given,
I ’d say they ’re all mistaken quite,
And that his real country ’s heaven;
While for his mother, she can be
No other than Calliope.