[639] ἀλλά που αὐτοῦ ἀγρῶν, ‘but was somewhere about on the farm.’ “που” adds a touch of vagueness to αὐτοῦ. Some make “ἀγρῶν” depend directly on “αὐτοῦ”, comparing “ἄλλοθι γαίης” Od.2. 131, “πῃ πολίων” Il.3. 400.It is better perhaps to take “ἀγρῶν” as a true local genitive, as “Ἄργεος” Od.3. 251, and to regard it as the epexegesis of “αὐτοῦ” (see note on 416 sup.)—‘there, on the farm.’ Cp. Il.23. 460“αἱ δέ που αὐτοῦ”
“ἔβλαβεν ἐν πεδίῳ”.643, 644. There is much doubt about the punctuation of these lines. Bothe and Düntzer put a mark of interrogation after ἐξαίρετοι, so as not to include “θῆτες” and “δμῶες” under “κοῦροι”, which Nitzsch approves of, considering that the meaning of “κοῦροι” is always limited to ‘free-men.’ It is more common to put the question after ἕποντ᾽, so that “κοῦροι”, in the general sense of ‘youths,’ are divided into “Ἰθάκης ἐξαίρετοι” and “ἑοὶ αὐτοῦ θῆτές τε δμῶές τε”. This is the view of the Schol. (see critical note); and on the same authority we write ἦ, as introducing the second clause of the question. With ἑοὶ αὐτοῦ cp. “ἐμὸν αὐτοῦ” Od.2. 45.
