1.   Read the the Suggestions first (below) in order to approach this assignment with the proper mindset.  Callimachus was highly aware of the epic tradition as handed down by Homer;  reconstructing the Hecale will test your own awareness.

2.  Read the Diegesis second (below), which contains a summary of the Hecale, written before the poem was destroyed.  It tells much about the structure and content of the poem.

3.  Review the Fragments third (below), a selection of the more lucid pieces of the Hecale, but in no particular order.

4.  Type a reconstruction of the poem, due in class on November 7.  Format your reconstruction in the following manner:

• Outline the major narrative movements of the poem, and list by number the fragments pertaining to each movement underneath.
  
• The fragments themselves should be listed in chronological order, from earliest to latest. You need not list the text of the fragments, only their numbers.
  
• For each fragment, provide a one- or two-sentence justification as to why you have located it where you have.
  
• Any fragments for which you cannot account should be listed at the end of your reconstruction. Do this only as a last resort.
  

Your reconstruction should look something like this (a completely fictitious example):

Reconstructing the Hecale will doubtless prove a challenge, one that will require you to draw upon your knowledge of Greek (especially Homeric) epic.

Here are several suggestions to put you in the right frame of mind as you sort the fragments.

1.  Remember Homer.

As you will learn from Apollonius, later poets were very aware of how their characters reflected those of Homer.  Which characters does Callimachus recall?  The same line of reasoning applies to themes as well.  How does Callimachus handle the code of xenia?

2.  Remember Callimachus.

The second prologue to the Aetia finds Callimachus railing against critics who would have him sing about kings and heroes in one continuous poem of many thousands of lines.  Can you imply anything about the Hecale from this — especially when you remember that the poem itself was possibly no longer than one scroll (around a thousand verses)?  Keep a sense of proportion.

The Diegesis emphasizes the quest of against the bull of Marathon;  but this emphasis itself may be disproportionate to the poem's actual focus.

3.  Remember the spoken word.

Some fragments are clearly third person narration, while others are clearly spoken in the first person — even though no quotation marks are given.

Listen to what these fragments are telling you.  Often it is possible to infer who is speaking, and to whom, and in what context.

4.  Remember your online resources.

Callimachus was, like Apollonius, fond of demonstrating his knowledge of myth.  Fragment 35, for instance, mentions someone named Cercyon.  Before you throw your hands up in despair, use the online resources at your disposal to find out who Cercyon was.  Let the web be your Library of Alexandria.

What follows is an ancient summary of the Hecale known as the Diegesis ("Digest"), written by an unknown scholar who knew the poem before it was destroyed. It remains the best report from antiquity on the contents of the poem — if not the most sensitive or stirring.

"Once on a hill of Erechtheus there lived a woman of Attica..."

Theseus, avoiding the plot of Medea, was kept under close watch by his father, Aegeus, seeing that the lad was brought back to him suddenly and contrary to his expectations.

Yet Theseus, wishing to go forth against the Bull that was causing trouble around the deme of Marathon in order to subdue it, and even though he was kept under guard, he departed, setting out in secret from the house at nightfall.

Yet when a storm broke unexpectedly, after catching sight of a cottage at the foot of a mountain, which belonged to an old woman named Hecale, he was hospitably received within.

Arising at dawn he went out into the countryside, and having subdued the Bull, he went back to Hecale.

But upon finding her dead unexpectedly, and after lamenting how he was cheated of what he had expected, he undertook to repay her for her hospitality [xenia] after death. He founded the deme that he named after her, and established the sacred precinct of Zeus Hecaleos.

Here are 35 of the most telling fragments from the Hecale, adapted from the translation of Trypanis (1958).  Review them carefully.

NOTES:

• The notation "[...]" indicates either that there is a hole in our papyrus manuscripts, or that what survives of the text is not helpful enough to print here.
  
• (Words in parentheses) are not in the text, but are likely supplements, presented here for context.
  
• The fragments are arranged in no particular order, although you will note that their length tends to increase as their numbers do.  The numbers are simply for your convenience.
  

1. All wayfarers honored her for her hospitality, for she kept her house open.

2. A salt tear fell from her.

3. She took down wood stored away a long time ago.

4. [...] as she saw him also getting up.

5. But tell me into what vessel am I to pour the water for my feet, and from where.

6. From the deme of Colonae somebody brought me to live in the same house.

7. She understood that it was the son of Aegeus.

8. [...] having at once snatched a small tattered garment from the couch.

9. [...] having bent to the earth the terrible horns of the beast.

10. She swiftly took off the hollow, boiling pot.

11. He cast off his wet garment.

12. He was dragging (the bull), and it was following, a sluggish wayfarer.

13. Hold back, child, do not drink.

14. I marvel (as I look upon you).

15. I will sleep in a corner (of my hut). A couch is ready for me.

16. Once on a hill of Erechtheus there lived a woman of Attica.

17. She made him sit on the humble couch.

18. The lips of an old woman are never silent.

19. Therefore, father, let me go; you would again receive me alive and well.

20. She emptied the tub, and then she drew another mixed draught.

21. [...] whose tomb is this you are building?

22. We miserable paupers suffer; and at home all our belongings have been divided out.

23. From the bread box she took and served loaves in abundance, such as women put away for herdsmen.

24. For poverty was not in my family, nor was I a pauper from my grandparents. O that I, O that I had a third of [...]

25. [...] olives which grew ripe on the tree, and wild olives, and the light colored ones, which in autumn she had put to swim in brine.

26. Go, gentle woman, the way which heart-gnawing worries do not traverse. [...] Often, good mother [...] we will remember your hospitable hut, for it was a common shelter for all.

27. [...] the wide hat, stretching out beyond the head, a shepherd’s felt headgear, suited her, and in her hand a stick.

28. [...] was I refusing to hear death calling me for a long time ago, that I might soon tear my garments over you too (dead) [...]

29. These two I brought up on dainties, nor did anybody else in such a manner [...] abundantly rich [...] they should be drenched in a warm bath [...] carrying the children [...] these two of mine sprang up like aspens, which in a ravine [...]

30. For in Troezen, he put it under a hollow stone together with the boots. [...] whenever the child should be strong enough to lift up with his arms the hollow stone. Having seized the sword of Aedepsos...and the boots, which the abundant rotting mold had not ruined.

31. They guarded my threshing floor, trod in a circle by the oxen. Horses (brought) him from Aphidnae, looking like [...] and who were Zeus’ sons [...] I remember the beautiful [...] mantle held by golden brooches, a work of spiders [...]

32. I go down to Marathon, so that [...] and (Pallas) leads the way. (You have thus learned from me) what you asked me. And you, good mother, (tell me, for I also) wish to hear you for a while (speaking) [...] you live an old woman in a lonely [...]

33. (Cercyon) [...] wrestlings [...] city, who fled from Arcadia and took up residence near us, a bad neighbor [...] may I pierce his impudent eyes with thorns while he is still alive, and if it is not a sin, eat him raw [...].

34. While it was still midday, and the earth was warm, for so long the brilliant sky was clearer than glass, not was a wisp of vapor to be seen, and cloudless stretched the heavens [...] But when to their mother...(the daughters) ask for the evening meal, and take their hands from work, then [...] First over Parnes, and then farther forward and larger on the summit of thyme-covered Aegaleos, stood (the cloud?) bringing much rain [...] and thereupon a double [...] of rugged Hymettus [...] and lightning was flashing [...] as when [...] on the Ausonian Sea [...] and the swift northern squall from Merithus fell upon the clouds.

35. The other (strap) he fastened and put in his sword [...] when they saw it they all trembled and shrank from looking face to face on the great hero and the monstrous beast, until Theseus called to them from afar: "Have courage and stay, and let the swiftest go to the city to bear this message to my father Aegeus — for he shall relieve him from many cares: 'Theseus is close at hand, bringing the bull alive from Marathon rich in water.' " Thus he spoke, and when they heard, they all cried out "Hurrah!" and stayed there. The south wind does not shed so great a fall of leaves, nor the north wind, even in the month of falling leaves, as those which in that hour the countryfolk threw all around and over Theseus, the countryfolk who [...] encircled him, while the women [...] crowned him with belts [...]