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[301] τοὺς ἄμφω. Cp. Il.3. 243“τοὺς δ᾽ ἤδη κάτεχεν φυσίζοος αἶα”

“ἐν Λακεδαίμονι αὖθι φίλῃ ἐν πατρίδι γαίῃ”. For the phrase “γαῖα” or “αἶα κατέχει” cp. Od.13. 427; 15.31; Il.16. 629, where the expression has the regular meaning of being dead and buried. It is difficult to reconcile this with ζωούς, unless we apply a sort of oxymoron to the effect that though dead, buried, and νέρθεν γῆς, they are ‘alive’ to a certain extent, the extent being limited by the words οἳ καὶ … τεθνᾶσιν. Nitzsch proposes to read “ἀμφιζωούς”, to which the following line would form the epexegesis. But only by straining the interpretation is it possible to harmonise the form of the story in the Iliad with that in the Odyssey.

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

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