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[159] ὧδ᾽ ἐλθὼν τὸ πρῶτον, ‘having come on his first visit as you see.’

ἐπεσβολίας is rendered by Eustath. “φλυαρίας”. But the allusion is not so much to the quality of the remarks, as to their seasonable or unseasonable introduction. Translate, ‘to make show of much talking uninvited;’ or, ‘to throw in his word.’ With the plural cp. “νηπιάας” Od.1. 297.The formation of the word “ἐπεσβόλος” ( Il.2. 275) is analogous to “σακεσφόρος, ἐγχέσπαλος”, etc., where the older grammarians imagined the introduction of a sigma, whereas the syllable “ες” shows the true stem of this division of the consonant declension. With the sentiment cp. Job 32. 6 ‘I am young and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid and durst not show you my opinion.’ νῶι= Peisistratus and Telemachus.

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

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