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[389] ἷζεν ἀπ᾽ ἐσχαρόφιν ‘sat away from the fire-place.’ Ulysses had to seat himself for the purpose of the washing, and as he did so he bethought him of the wound. He therefore kept away from the fire-light, and turned his back upon it. After the washing (506) he drew his seat nearer to the fire again (“αὖτις”).

There is also a reading “ἐπ᾽ ἐσχαρόφιν”, which may perhaps be explained by pressing the tenses of “ἷζεν” and “ἐτράπετο”: ‘as he sat by the fire, he suddenly turned away.’ But this does not account for the evidently significant “αὖτις” of. l. 506. Probably, too, ἐσχαρόφιν is meant as a gen., used instead of the unmetrical “ἐσχάρης”: and “ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάρης” would not be said of a person sitting at or by the fire-place (only of the fire on the fireplace, as 5. 59).

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