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[347] αὐτοδίδακτος is a word which implies that the art of the “ἀοιδός” was becoming, or had become, a regular profession, in which teaching might take the place of inspiration.

οἴμας ‘lays,’ ‘poems.’ Cp. 8. 74 “οἴμης τῆς τότ᾽ ἄρα κλέος οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἵκανε, νεῖκος Ὀδυσσῆος καὶ Πηλεΐδεω Ἀχιλῆος” ‘a song whose fame then rose to heaven, namely the strife of Ulysses and Achilles’ (as the Iliad might be called the strife of Agamemnon and Achilles). The word οἴμη may mean ‘going, course,’ cp. “οἶμος” and “οἶμα”, also the fine imitation in Tennyson's Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington, ‘and ever-ringing avenues of song.’

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

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