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[199] ἐπεὶ οὔ τινα δείδιμεν ἔμπης. The same expression occurs in Il.7. 196.It is difficult to settle the question whether the meaning of “ἔμπης” (i. e. “ἐν πᾶσιν”) be really ‘altogether’ or ‘for all that.’ Most commentators lean to the latter as being the only true rendering in Homer. Bäumlein however (Griech. Partik. 115 foll.) insists on its primary meaning being ‘wholly,’ ‘quite,’ quoting the present passage, and comparing Il.5. 190 foll.; 7. 196; 14. 98 foll., 173; 17. 632; 19. 308; 24. 522. He would even assign this force to the word in Od.5. 205; 3.209; 15.214; especially claiming it for Od.19. 37 foll. He also compares Aesch. P. V.48; Aesch. Eum.229; Soph. Aj.122.Granting this then as the original and rightful meaning he allows that where the word stands as pointing a distinctly adversative relation to some previous statement, this primary sense easily passes into the secondary one of ‘notwithstanding,’ compare French toutefois. As instances of this he gives Il.1. 561; 8.32; 17.229; Od.11. 350; 14.214; 20.311; 23. 83: Pind. Pyth. 4. 86 foll.; 5. 55: Aesch. P. V.186 foll.: Eur. Alc.906; Eur. Cycl.535: Theocr. 10. 29; 22. 17. This adversative force is even more strongly exhibited in the combination of “περ ἔμπης” with the participle, Il.9. 517 foll.; 14. 1; 15. 399; Od.15. 361; 18.165; 19.356.

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

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