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I forward with the sender's permission some email with more information on this, since people seem interested. He's right of course that Archilochos wrote in various meters; I made a dumb mistake out of hurry when I said that "his poetry is written in just one meter." What I should have said was that Archilochos in this fragment was saying (according to some scholars) "My only weapon is these iambic verses, but it is a deadly one." >From: Alan Shaw <[log in to unmask]> >To: Jon Corelis <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: Archilochos's hedgehog >Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 16:29:55 -0500 > > ><<A definitive interpretation of the hedgehog in Archilochos 103 would >requiresome serious research; the following is just a note of the little I >know of it. > ><<The proverb is said by an ancient grammarian to come from some >unspecified >Homeric poem; there is some reason to believe that it was the lost comic >epic Margites.>> > >Bowra's interpretation is that Archilochus "applies it [the traditional >line] to himself and both its references. In his favorite role of the Fox >he >knows how to deal with his enemies, but in some circumstances the wiles of >the Fox are worthless in comparison with the single great trick of the >Hedgehog . . ." > > ><<Some scholars think the reference is to a fable; others that >Archilochos is using it as a metaphor for his own poetry, which is written >in just one meter but is pointedly effective.>> > >In fact he wrote in a number of meters, though most of his extant lines are >either iambic trimeters or elegiac couplets. > >Alan Shaw >(forward to list if you like) _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail