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[152] εἰπεῖν (so Ar. ), sc. “χαίρειν”.

156-158. αἲ γὰρ ἐγὼν ὣςὡς . . ., lit. ‘would that I may tell it on returning to Ithaca and finding Ulysses in the house, even as I go on my way after receiving all hospitality from you,’ i.e. ‘my debt to you for hospitality is as great and sure as my desire to see my father again in Ithaca.’ This is the only interpretation consistent with the idiomatic use of “ὣςὡς” in wishes. The commentators take the first “ὣς” as=‘as surely as I shall tell it to Nestor,’ and “ὡς παρὰ σεῖο κτλ.” as an object clause, so that the sense is ‘would that I may be equally sure of telling my father of your hospitality.’ But this does not lay due stress on “ὡς παρὰ κτλ.”, which is the main assertion of the sentence. Cp. 3. 218., 18. 236., 21. 402, Il.8. 538. Il., 13. 825. Il., 18. 464.

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