So you must be assuredly liable to one of these three charges: either you were lying, to put it harshly, when you said that the Muses promised you power to foretell the future; or they kept their promise, but out of spite you are keeping their gift hidden in your pocket and not sharing it with those who ask; or you have written a great deal on the subject, but not yet given it to the outside world, preserving its use for some or other special occasion. I wouldn’t dare say this, that the Muses promised you two things and gave you one, breaking half their promise—knowledge of the future I mean—especially when they promised this first in your verse.
1
So you must be assuredly liable to one of these three charges: either you were lying, to put it harshly, when you said that the Muses promised you power to foretell the future; or they kept their promise, but out of spite you are keeping their gift hidden in your pocket and not sharing it with those who ask; or you have written a great deal on the subject, but not yet given it to the outside world, preserving its use for some or other special occasion. I wouldn’t dare say this, that the Muses promised you two things and gave you one, breaking half their promise—knowledge of the future I mean—especially when they promised this first in your verse.
1
Hesiod. Lucian of Samosata. Kenneth Kilburn (Translator). Medford, MA. Perseus 5.0.
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