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[47] παρὲξ ἐλάαν and ἀλεῖψαι have both an imperatival force. Ameis extends this force to ἀκουέμεν as well, treating αἴ κ᾽ ἐθέλῃσθα as a parenthetical sentence ( Il.18. 457; 19. 147). This necessitates a colon or period after “ἐθέλῃσθα”, so that δησάντων begins a new sentence; the asyndeton being similar to Od.4. 667; inf. 429; Il.1. 179, etc. But it is simpler to begin the apodosis at δησάντων, as though the order of the words had been “αἴ κ᾽ ἐθέλῃσθα ἀκουέμεν”. Nitzsch quotes an allusion to this scene from Alcman, “καὶ τότ᾽ Ὀδυσσῆος ταλασίφρονος ὦτά θ᾽ ἑταίρων Κίρκη ἐπαλείψασα” . ., remarking that it is the earliest testimony extant to any special scene in the Odyssey.

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