1. For a good account of this matter, see the article by Murray.

2. In an oral poet, to compose and to perform are to a large extent the same activity: he ‘thinks on his feet’. See Murray, pp. 94–6.

3. It is characteristic of early Greek thought to ‘overdetermine’ causation: ‘Zeus made me do it’ and ‘I did it myself’ are not exclusive. Homer, Odyssey XXII, 347–8 demonstrates the point neatly: Phemius (see p. 53 n. 3) says, ‘I am self-taught, and a god has planted in my mind all manner of songs.’