[35] The apodosis seems, by comparison with Od.10. 527, to begin at τὰ δὲ μῆλα, otherwise the change of scene more naturally suggests its commencement at αἱ δ᾽ ἀγέροντο. We may parallel ἀπεδειροτόμησα ἐς βόθρον by “εἰς Ἔρεβος στρέψας” 10. 528, where see note. Translate, ‘I cut their throats over the pit;’ the preposition εἰς seems to include the notion of the heads bent down in the direction of the pit, and of the blood from the throats flowing into it. Cp. Il.23. 147“μῆλ᾽ ἱερεύσειν ἐς πηγάς”.
38-43. These verses were rejected by the Alexandrine critics. “Οἱ ἓξ παρὰ Ζηνοδότῳ καὶ Ἀριστοφάνει ἠθετοῦντο ὡς ἀσύμφωνοι πρὸς τὰ ἑξῆς. οὐ γὰρ μεμιγμέναι παραγίγνονται αἱ ψυχαί: νῦν δὲ ὁμοῦ νύμφαι, ἠίθεοι, γέροντες, παρθένοι. καὶ ἄλλως οὐδὲ τὰ τραύματα ἐπὶ τῶν εἰδώλων ὁρᾶται. ὅθεν ἐρωτᾷ, τίς νύ σε κὴρ ἐδάμασσε; τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα” [inf. 398] Schol. H. Q., and similarly Schol. V. Eustath. too says, “ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι τὰ ῥηθέντα Ὁμηρικὰ ἓξ ἔπη ἀθετοῦσιν οἱ παλαιοί”. But, says Eustath., those who sought to solve the difficulty (“οἱ λυτικοί”) answered the first objection, (viz. that really the shades came up separately) by describing the whole scene as an ‘anticipated summary’ (“προανακεφαλαίωσις”); and replied to the second one, that the shades did appear in the very same condition which characterised them when alive— Orion is seen with his club, still hunting; Agamemnon with the comrades who fell round him; Ajax with his haughty mien. So it is but natural that brides should be recognisable by their nuptial dress, and warriors by their armour and their wounds. Wolf rejected the lines as a later interpolation, and while Montbel D. and Bothe advocate their retention, the latest editors, Bekker, Düntzer, and Ameis bracket them, but Nauck retains them in his text. The reasons for rejection seem hardly conclusive; but if the description of the mixed multitude be really incompatible with the narrative that follows, we may perhaps save the lines, by transferring them (with Bergk. Griech. Lit. i. 692) to the end of the book, and making them follow directly upon v. 632 “ἀλλὰ πρὶν ἐπὶ ἔθνἐ ἀγείρετο μυρία νεκρῶν”, “νυμφαί τ᾽ ἠίθεοί τε κ.τ.λ. . . θεσπεσίῃ ἰαχῇ [ἠχῇ θεσπεσίῃ], ἐμὲ δὲ χλωρὸν δέος ᾕρει”“μή μοι κ.τ.λ.” About the intrinsic beauty of the lines there is no question; and Virgil's imitation of them is wellknown ( Verg. Georg.4. 471) ‘at cantu commotae Erebi de sedibus imis
umbrae ibant tenues, simulacraque luce carentum:
matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita
magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae,
impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum,’ cp. Verg. Aen.6. 306.
