[122] χρυσηλακάτῳ. The other passages in which this epithet is found are Il.16. 183“ἐν χορῷ Ἀρτέμιδος χρυσηλακάτου κελαδεινῆς”, Il.20. 70“χρυσηλάκατος κελαδεινὴ”
“Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα”. The combination of epithets seems to necessitate the rendering of “χρυσηλάκατος” ‘with golden arrows,’ although the general meaning of “ἠλακάτη” is ‘distaff,’ inf. 131; Il.6. 491, etc. The introduction of the distaff into the description of the huntress Artemis would confuse the whole scene. To the objection that arrows are not made of gold, the answer may be given that the distaff is not made of gold either, and that ‘gold-tipped’ or ‘gold-ornamented’ is all that is meant, as in “χρυσήνιος”, another epithet of Artemis, Il.6. 205.The point of comparison is this; a distaff is a long straight rod, so is an arrow; when Helen appears, distaff in hand, you might have thought it was Artemis holding one of her gold-tipped arrows. That both meanings were assigned to “ἠλακάτη” we gather from the Schol. “ἠλακάτην γὰρ καλοῦσι καὶ τὸ βέλος καὶ τὸ γυναικεῖον ἐργαλεῖον ἐξ οὗ τὸ νῆμα ἕλκουσι”. The word “ἠλακάτη” is generally taken as a derivative from “ἕλκω”, but Curtius refers it to a root ark, seen in “ἄρκ-υον” and perhaps in “ἀράχνη”. Helen, whose graceless flight had caused the war and brought bereavement into so many families—her hus band's among them—appears once more as the “ἀκασκαῖον ἄγαλμα πλούτου” ( Aesch. Ag.741), devoted to domestic duties; and now and then with a luxury of gentlest self-reproach recalling complacently the memories of Troy.
