Wherefore I must have a purgation. And I bethink me of an ancient purgation of mythological error which was devised, not by Homer, for he never had the wit to discover why he was blind, but by Stesichorus, who was a philosopher and knew the reason why; and therefore, when he lost his eyes, for that was the penalty which was inflicted upon him for reviling the lovely Helen, he at once purged himself. And the purgation was a recantation, which began thus,--‘False is that word of mine--the truth is that thou didst not embark in ships, nor ever go to the walls of Troy;’ and when he had completed his poem, which is called ‘the recantation,’ immediately his sight returned to him.