Thirdly, besides many simple patronymics, there are found thirteen minor genealogies in the Catalogue, ten of them Greek, and three foreign. They are of three generations only in every case, with the single exception of the Orchomenian leaders, who have four: and in every case they attach to secondary heroes, who are thus treated in a mass, while provision is made in other parts of the poem for making known to us the descent (with the exception of Ajax) of all the greater heroes, as occasion serves to state it for each of them singly. Now it is inconceivable, even on general grounds, that the poet should have invented this mass of names; for they could surely have excited no sort of interest among his hearers, except upon one ground. They must have been true genealogical records of persons, who had played a part in the great national drama; one not perhaps of high importance, yet sufficient to be the basis of such traditions, as are justly deemed worthy of local record among a people eminently strong in their municipal, as well as their general patriotism. Over and above this, many points of these minor genealogies coincide with, and illustrate other historical notices in other parts of the poem. Again, there are in all eight cases in the Catalogue, where the name of a mother is mentioned. These are, 1. Astyoche, mother of Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, Mars being the father, v. 513. 2. Aroura mother of Erechtheus, no father being mentioned, v. 548. 3. Astyochea mother of Tlepolemus, Hercules being the father, v. 658. 4. Aglaie mother of Nireus, Charops the father, v. 672. 5. Alcestis mother of Eumelus, Admetus the father, v. 715. 6. Rhene mother of Medon, Oileus the father, v. 728. 7. Hippodamia mother of Polypœtes, Pirithous the father, v. 742. 8. Venus is mentioned as the mother of Æneas, Anchises being the father, v. 820. The second of these cases, if we are to regard the passage containing it as Homeric, must not be considered as an account of parentage, but simply as a mode of asserting autochthonism. Again, the parents of Nireus, whether true persons or not, are evidently named with reference to the consideration of beauty only, which is the key to the whole passage. And the parentage of Æneas may also perhaps be named for the sole purpose of embellishment.