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[208] γαμέοντί τε γεινομένῳ τε, ‘at bridal and birth.’ The prothysteron is necessitated by the metre. Compare “τράφεν ἠδ᾽ ἐγένοντο” Il.1. 251; Od.4. 273; 10.417; 14. 201, “θρέψασα τεκοῦσα τε” Od.12. 134.In Soph. O. T.827“Πόλυβον ὃς ἐξέφυσε κἀξέθρεψέ με”, one MS. (Ambros. M) reads “ἐξέθρεψε κἀξέφυσέ με”. Eustath. attempts to explain “γεινομένῳ” as “γεννῶντι”, but compare Il.10. 71; Od.20. 202; Od.8. 312; and especially Hesiod. Theog.219“αἵ τε βροτοῖσι”

“γεινομένοισι διδοῦσιν ἔχειν ἀγαθόν τε κακόν τε”. Bekker, Fäsi, Bäuml., and Nauck read unnecessarily “γι[γ]νομένῳ”. The prothysteron, perhaps, has here this shade of meaning, that Menelaus, speaking of a man's offspring, naturally dwells particularly on the fact of his fortunate marriage, and then remembering that the same good fortune has been the man's constant attendant from the moment of his birth, expresses this conviction by the addition of “γεινομένῳ”.

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

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