W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886), Book 1 (α）, line 222

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[222] νώνυμνον ὀπίσσω, ‘inglorious for the time to come.’ So “ὄπιθεν” used of the future, Od.2. 270.Cp. Il.1. 343; 3.411. This is the really graphic way of describing the future; we speak of it as what lies ‘before us,’ the Greeks looked upon it as what was coming up behind them, that overtook them, and then, still moving on, became ‘the past,’ lying before their eyes. Thus the past is called “τὸ ἔμπροσθεν” Plato, Phaedr. 277 D ; and even more strikingly, Il.1. 70 “τά τ᾽ ἐόντα τά: τ᾽ ἐσσόμενα πρό τ᾽ ἐόντα” .

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

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W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886)

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