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[374] ἐξιέναι is better taken, not as infinitive with imperatival force, but as infinitive epexegetic of “μῦθον”, ‘my bidding, viz. that you go.’ For the transition in the same line to the imperative in “ἄλλας δ᾽ ἀλεγύνετε δαῖτας” cp. Il.15. 665

“τῶν ὕπερ ἐνθάδ᾽ ἐγὼ γουνάζομαι οὐ παρεόντων”

“ἑστάμεναι κρατερῶς: μηδὲ τρωπᾶσθε φόβονδε”.

Il.17. 30

“ἀλλά σ᾽ ἐγώ γ᾽ ἀναχωρήσαντα κελεύω”

“ἐς πληθὺν ἰέναι: μηδ᾽ ἀντίος ἵστασ᾽ ἐμεῖο”.

But these passages are hardly parallel, and do not really shew a similar harshness of construction. Perhaps, as Kirchhoff holds, the lines here are only an awkward imitation of the passage 2. 139, etc.

ἀλεγύνετε, literally, ‘provide,’ (connected, perhaps, with “λέγω”=‘reckon’) refers to the custom by which all the company, except the invited guests, helped to prepare the viands. Cp. Od.2. 300, etc. The phrase therefore represents the suitors ‘making themselves at home.’

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

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