37. We are told by Mnaseas
that the Muses are the daughters of Tellus and Cœlus; others
declare
that they are
Jove’s by his wife Memory, or Mens;
some relate that they were virgins, others that they were
matrons. For now we wish to touch briefly on the points where you
are shown, from the difference of your opinions, to make different
statements about the same thing. Ephorus, then, says that they
are three
4032
in number;
Mnaseas, whom we mentioned,
that they are
four;
4033
Myrtilus
4034
brings forward
seven; Crates asserts that there are eight; finally Hesiod, enriching
heaven and the stars with gods, comes forward with nine names.
4035
If we are not mistaken, such want of agreement marks
those who are wholly ignorant of the truth, and does not spring from
the real
state of the
case. For if their number were clearly known, the voice of all
would be the same, and the agreement of all would tend to and find
issue in the same conclusion.
4036
4032
Three was the most ancient number; and the names preserved by
Pausanias, are
Μελέτη,
᾽Αοιδή,
Μνήμη
.
4033
Cicero (
de Nat. Deor.
, iii. 21, a passage where there is
some doubt as to the reading) enumerates as the four Muses, Thelxiope,
Aœde, Arche, Melete.
4034
The
ms.
reads
Murtylus
. Seven are said to have been mentioned by
Epicharmis,—Neilous, Tritone, Asopous, Heptapolis, Acheloïs,
Tipoplous, and Rhodia.
4035
The nine are Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore,
Erato, Polymnia, Ourania, and Calliope (
Theog.
,
77–79).
4036
Lit., “into the end of the same opinion.”