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[365] ὁμάδησαν, ‘burst into uproar,’ expressing the sound of many voices together (“ὁμοῦ”). Schol. “ἐθορύβησαν κοινολογούμενοι περὶ τῆς Πηνελόπης, ὅτι συνετὴ γυνὴ, ὅτι εὔμορφος”. Cp. infra 369.

σκιόεντα. The exact meaning of the epithet is doubtful. The rule for the meaning and derivation of Homeric adjectives ending in “-εις”, is that they come directly from nouns substantive, and express the sense of ‘full of,’ like Lat. -osus. This seems to decide against the interpretation of Eustath. “τὰ σκιώδη, τὰ κωλυτικὰ καύσωνος καὶ χειμῶνος”. The epithet is used of clouds, cp. Od.8. 374; 11. 592, meaning only ‘dark,’ or ‘dun;’ and of mountains, Od.7. 268; Il.1. 157, in which last passage Aristarchus reads “σκιόωντα”, which would mean ‘shadow-casting,’ whereas “σκιόεντα” points rather to the grey misty colour of distant hills. As an attributive of “μέγαρα” here, it is a constant epithet, expressive of the faint light or rather gloom that is inseparable from large rooms only lighted at best through narrow apertures, either at the ends of the roof-beams (“ὀπαῖα”） or in the middle of the roof. The gloom of the interior of a house was all the more marked in contrast to the bright light of a Greek atmosphere.

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

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