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[383] δύσομαι … φαείνω. Schol. H. says, “τὸ φαείνω ἐνεστῶτός ἐστιν ἀντὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος”. It is just possible that φαείνω is the indic. present, and that the graphic touch given by it is ‘I will dive into Hades, and, there am I giving light among the dead!’ Cp. “ἐριδαίνομεν” followed by “ἐρχόμεθα” Od.2. 206.But the Homeric usage certainly points to a subjunctive mood here; cp. the formula “καί ποτέ τις εἴπῃσιν” Il.6. 459; 7.87; Od.6. 275; “οὐ γάρ τίς με βίῃ γε ἑκὼν ἀέκοντα δίηται” Il.7. 197, “οὐκ ἴδον οὐδὲ ἴδωμαι” Il.1. 262, “περικλυτὰ δῶρ᾽ ὀνομήνω” Il.9. 121; and for a subjunctive following, as here, upon a future indicative cp. “οὐκ ἔσσεται οὐδὲ γένηται” Od.16. 437.See Monro, H. G. § 275, who notes this passage as illustrating the force of the 1st pers. of the subj., expressing what the speaker resolves or insists upon doing. If we could venture to take δύσομαι as a subjunctive mood, the force of the threat in both words would be the same.

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

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