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[556] τιτυσκόμεναι, literally, ‘aiming at it with their minds,’ so “ἄντα τιτυσκομένη” Od.21. 48, “τιτύσκεσθαι ἐγχείῃ” Il.21. 582; and especially Il.13. 558“τιτύσκετο δὲ φρεσὶν ᾗσιν”

“ἤ τευ ἀκοντίσσαι ἠὲ σχεδὸν ὁρμηθῆναι”. These marvellous ships, endued with human sense, and anticipating the will of their masters, flit unseen over the sea, (for this is the meaning of ἠέρι καὶ νεφέλῃ κεκαλυμμέναι, see note on “ἠέρα” 7. 140), enjoying immunity from all danger. The same sort of story appears again partly in the legend of the ‘Flying Dutchman;’ partly in the tale of ‘Hiawatha and his Canoe.’ Welcker (Klein. Schrift. ii.) sees in the description of the Phaeacians and their ghostly ships, conveying Odysseus in a deep sleep to his home, a Greek adaptation of the Northern legend of the Ferrymen of Death, carrying over the souls of the departed to the island of Brittia, as told by Procopius ( Bell. Goth. 4. 20); but this dismal office seems little suited for the gay and easy Phaeacians, who are πομποὶ ἀπήμονες. The mist and cloud that envelopes them is but the natural concealment of the working of supernatural power. Compare however Od.11. 15.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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