Μουσάων Ἑλικωνιάδων ἀρχώμεθ᾽ ἀείδειν

ἔγραφε ποιμαίνων, ὡς λόγος, Ἡσίοδος.

μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, καὶ
ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα

εἶπεν
Ὁμηρείῳ Καλλιόπη στόματι:

κἀμὲ δὲ δεῖ γράψαι τι προοίμιον. ἀλλά τί γράψω,
δεύτερον ἐκδιδόναι βιβλίον ἀρχόμενος;

Μοῦσαι Ὀλυμπιάδες, κοῦραι Διός, οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθην,

εἰ μή μοι Καῖσαρ χαλκὸν ἔδωκε Νέρων.

— Paton edition

"Let us begin our song from the Heliconian
Muses" ; so Hesiod wrote,¹ they say, while he kept
his sheep. " Sing, Ο goddess, the wrath," and
"Tell me, Muse, the man," said Calliope by the
mouth of Homer. Now I have got to write a proem
of some sort. But what shall I write now I am
beginning to publish this second book ? " Olympian
Muses, daughters of Zeus, I should not have been
saved unless Nero Caesar had given me money."

— Paton edition