11 OCTOBER 1968, Page 31

Homer's ghost

Sir: There may only have been one Homer, but he was not the editor of the Oxford Classical Text which A. Q. Morton's computer con- sulted (Letters, 27 September); and verse reprisals on the Homeric Question might yield unexpected results: Twin poets' words I trust (And their respective tutors) But put their lines before A boardroom of computers.

And first I was at pains To mutilate the carcase (As Homers' corpus was In turn, by Aristarchus.) The sixteen Morton lines Were metric'ly emended To let the several jaws Digest them undistended.

The oracles agreed That of this corpus, all is A Morton syndicate, Its chairman, Mr Hollis.

Graham Anderson

10 Leicester Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6