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[65] νῶτα. For allusions to the chine as the portion of honour compare Od.8. 475, where Odysseus sends down to Demodocus a portion “νώτου ἀποπροταμὼν, ἔτι δὲ πλεῖον ἐλέλειπτο Od., 14. 437 νώτοισιν δ̓ Ὀδυσῆα διηνεκέεσσι γέραιρεν”, also Il.7. 321; 9.207. Menelaus, in accordance with the custom which survived in the case of the kings of Sparta, had this portion assigned to him from the public table; τά ῥα … αὐτῷ, ‘the portion of honour which they had set before himself.’ He does not join in the repast here, having presumably dined already, but (as in Od.8. 475, quoted above) he gives his guests the remains of his portion of meat.

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

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