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[102] οἵη δ᾽ Ἄρτεμις. This passage is imitated by Virgil in his description of Dido, Aen.1. 502 foll., ‘qualis in Eurotae ripis,’ etc., which passage is thus criticised by Valerius Probus (quoted by Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. 9. 9), “‘nihil quicquam tam improspere Vergilium ex Homero vertisse quam versus hos amoenissimos, quos de Nausicaa Homerus fecit. Primum omnium id visum esse dicebant Probo, quod apud Homerum quidem virgo Nausicaa, ludibunda inter familiares puellas in locis solis, recte atque commode confertur cum Diana venante in iugis montium inter agrestes deas: nequaquam autem conveniens Vergilium fecisse, quoniam Dido in media urbe ingrediens inter Tyrios principes, cultu atque incessu serio, “instans operi,” sicut ipse ait, “regnisque futuris,” nihil eius similitudinis capere possit, quae lusibus atque venatibus Dianae congruat. Tum postea quod Homerus studia atque oblectamenta in venando Dianae honeste aperteque dicit; Vergilius autem cum de venatu deae nihil dixisset pharetram tantum facit eam ferre in humero, tanquam sit onus et sarcina . . praeter ista omnia florem ipsum totius loci Vergilium videri omisisse, quod hunc Homeri versum exigue secutus sit, “ῥεῖα δ᾽ ἀριγνώτη πέλεται: καλαὶ δέ τε πᾶσαι”, quando nulla maior cumulatiorque pulcritudinis laus dici potuerit quam quod una inter omnes pulcras excelleret, una facile et ex omnibus nosceretur.’”

κατ᾽ οὔρεος. See critical note. We may suppose that Artemis descends from some peak, and then travels along the ridges of the hills, “ἢ κατὰ Τηΰγετον κ.τ.λ.” Taygetus (the ‘huge’ mountain, from “ταΰς”, see on Od. 4.11） was also called Pentadactylus, from its five peaks. It is a mountain range in the western portion of Lacedaemon, running from north to south, and ending in the promontory of Taenarus, after a course of nearly seventy miles. The sides of Taygetus were covered with pine forest, and the region round the principal summit Taletum was called Theras, ‘the hunting-grounds,’ Paus. 3. 20. §§ 4, 5. Erymanthus is a lofty range between Arcadia, Achaia, and Elis. As Erymanthus was the fabled haunt of the great Erymanthian boar slain by Heracles, κάπροι has a peculiar appropriateness here.

ἰοχέαιρα, not from “ἰός” and “χαίρω”, but originally “ἰοχέϝαιρα”, from “χέω”. See Schol. on Il.16. 465, comparing “νείαιρα”, from “νέος”. For the word “χέω” used of shooting cp. “βέλεα χέοντο” Il.15. 590, “ἐκχεύατ᾽ ὀιστούς” Od.22. 3.

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

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