Homer, Hesiod

“ Homer, then, having the advantage on every point, Hesiod was jealous and began again:
"Homer, son of Meles, if indeed the Muses, daughters of great Zeus the most high, honour you as it is said, tell me a standard that is both best and worst for mortal-men; for I long to know it." Homer replied: "Hesiod, son of Dius, I am willing to tell you what you command, and very readily will I answer you. For each man to be a standard to himself is most excellent for the good, but for the bad it is the worst of all things. ”

“ Shield closed with shield, and helm with helm, and each man with his fellow, and the peaks of their head-pieces with crests of horsehair touched as they bent their heads: so close they stood together. The murderous battle bristled with the long, flesh-rending spears they held, and the flash of bronze from polished helms and burnished breast-plates and gleaming shields blinded the eyes. Very hard of heart would he have been, who could then have seen that strife with joy and fell no pang."
Here, again, the Hellenes applauded Homer admiringly, so far did the verses exceed the ordinary level ”

“ Everyone boasts that the most divine of poets, Homer and Hesiod, are said to be his particular countrymen. Hesiod, indeed, has put a name to his native place and so prevented any rivalry, for he said that his father "settled near Helicon in a wretched hamlet, Ascra, which is miserable in winter sultry in summer, and good at no season." But, as for Homer, you might almost say that every city with its inhabitants claims him as her son. Foremost are the men of Smyrna who say that he was the Son of Meles, the river of their town, by a nymph Cretheïs, and that he was at first called Melesigenes. ”