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[9] τετριγυῖαι ‘squeaking,’ of the peculiar shrill note of the bat. The perfect is used of sustained sounds: cp. “μεμηκώς, λεληκώς, μεμυκώς, κεκληγώς”.

11-13. In this account of the way to Hades Aristarchus noticed that no heed is given to the fact that the slain Suitors were still unburied (cp. l. 187). In Il.23. 72-73 the shade of Patroclus asks for burial, because ‘the souls of the dead will not suffer him to join their company across the river.’ So too Elpenor, the companion left unburied in the island of Circe, is met at the entrance of Hades, and entreats Ulysses to grant him funeral rites, without which, as we may gather —though it is not expressly said—he will not be able to pass the gates of Hades. The contradiction is plain, and, considering that the direct agency of Hermes “ψυχοπομπός” is hardly consistent with stories like that of Elpenor, it clearly shows that the representation in the Second “Νέκυια” is inconsistent with the beliefs elsewhere to be traced in Homer.

Moreover, the localities mentioned in ll. 11-12 do not agree with other Homeric accounts, except perhaps in regard to the river “Ὠκεανός”. The notion that that river had to be passed appears in the former “νέκυια”, Od.11. 157-159. In these lines—which however were rejected by Aristarchus—the mother of Ulysses says it is hard for living men to see these regions; ‘for between are great rivers and fearsome streams, Oceanus first, which no man can pass on foot, but must have a good ship.’ In Il.23. 73 we hear of a river to be passed. In the Iliad generally, however, the souls go down, without delay or incident, beneath the earth. So Elpenor reaches at least the entrance of Hades quickly, Od.11.58“ἔφθης πεζὸς ἰὼν ἢ ἐγὼ σὺν νηῒ μελαίνῃ”. And nothing is said of his having still to pass the Oceanus, or any river. Commentators have attempted to reconcile these passages by supposing two ways to Hades: but they are better left unreconciled. It may be worth noticing, however, that a possible trace of two such ways is to be found in the Frogsof Aristophanes, where Dionysos crosses the ‘lake’ in Charon 's boat, while Xanthias goes round by land (“πεζός”).

The White Rock is only mentioned here; unless (as Van Leeuwen suggests) it appears in the Frogs, l. 194 “παρὰ τὸν Αὐαίνου λίθον” .

The Gates of the Sun doubtless belong to the conception of Hades which places it in the darkness of the extreme west (“ζόφος, ἔρεβος”). The gates are those which the sun enters at his setting, whereupon the veil of night hides him from the world.

The Land of Dreams is known from this place only. The notion which the phrase suggests is not inconsistent with the account in Od.19. 562 ff. of the two gates out of which dreams issue. At the same time there is no reason to combine the two pictures.

The land of the Cimmerians, described in Od.11. 14-19, does not re-appear in this “νέκυια”.

It has been already remarked, in the notes on Od. 15.295-298, that lines 11-12 closely resemble two lines in that passage. This is probably the result of imitation. Or there may have been a conventional formula for the land-marks passed on a voyage.

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

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