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[204] Join οἴσουσι εὐρύ, ‘shall spread far and wide.’

ἐσσομένοισι πυθέσθαι, ‘for men that shall hereafter be born, that they may hear of it.’ Most modern editors, with the exception of La Roche, accept this reading, which Wolf introduced from Eustath. For the formula cp. Od.11. 76; 21.255; 24.433; Il.2. 119; 22.305. There is sufficient analogy for the reading of the MSS. “καὶ ἐσσομένοισιν ἀοιδήν”, e. g. Od.8. 579; 24.197. Nitzsch declares in favour of “πυθέσθαι” because the infinitive is better suited than the noun to introduce a new stage in the thought. “πυθέσθαι”, he remarks, refers to the whole sentence, and “ἀοιδήν” must needs be limited to a mere apposition to “κλέος”. But this is hardly accurate, as “κλέος” may well serve to express the approval of the then present generation, and “ἀοιδή” the praise of posterity.

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

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