previous next

[167] ἀνήλυθεν ἐκ δόρυ γαίης. There is a difficulty about this arrangement of words. As a rule, the preposition is not separated from its noun except by enclitic pronouns and particles, or other unemphatic words. And it is very doubtful if we can meet that difficulty by treating ἐκ as an adverb, for “ἐκ” and “ἐν” do not seem to be so used when standing unsupported by any particles. Nor can the arrangement be explained as a case of tmesis; for tmesis, with the preposition put after the verb, is only found with disyllabic prepositions. The line must be regarded as a case of licence unusual in Homer, and may be compared with “εὕροι δ᾽ ἐν πήματα οἴκῳ” Od.9. 535, “δήεις δ᾽ ἐν πήματα οἴκῳ” Od.11. 115, or Od.10. 290“βαλέει δ᾽ ἐν φάρμακα σίτῳ”, where, however, Bekker and Nauck read “ἐνί” with one or two MSS, which would enable the preposition to be regarded as in tmesis.

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

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (3 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (3):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: