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[567] Ζεφύροιο … ἀήτας. The presence of Zephyrus shows that the Elysian plain belongs to the land of the living. Cp. Pind. Ol.2. 70“ἔνθα μακάρων νάσος ὠκεανίδες αὖραι περιπνέοισιν”. It is the same refreshing breeze that brings Proteus at midday out of the water for his siesta, sup. 402, and helps the ripening of Phaeacian fruits, Od.7. 119.But his soft wind is unknown in Tartarus, where Iapetus and Cronus “οὔτ᾽ αὐγῇς ἠελίοιο”

“τέρποντ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἀνέμοισι” Il.8. 480.A curiously similar passage describes the city of the gods in Arjunasamāyana (Bopp, Five Episodes of the Mahābhāratā Il., 4. 44); ‘non illic torret sol: non calore nec frigore laboratur; non vexat pulvis:—frigidus flat ventus, suavem odorem diffundens, vitam largiens.’

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

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hide References (4 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (4):
    • Homer, Iliad, 4.44
    • Homer, Iliad, 8.480
    • Homer, Odyssey, 7.119
    • Pindar, Olympian, 2
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