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[161] Transl. ‘But to such an one as plies with a many-benched ship, captain of a crew that are traders, and is either in charge of a freight or vigilant over a home - cargo of greedily gotten gains; no athlete's mould is thine.’

162-164. For πρηκτῆρες cp. Od.3. 72“κατὰ πρῆξιν”. It is quite needless to adopt Cobet's conjecture “πρητῆρες”. In φόρτου τε … καί the conjunctions are disjunctive. Compare for similar instances Il.15. 273“τὸν μέν τ᾽ ἠλίβατος πέτρη καὶ δάσκιος ὕλη εἰρύσατο”, ib. 634 “ἦ τοι ὁ μὲν πρώτῃσι καὶ ὑστατίῃσι βόεσσιν”

“αἰὲν ὁμοστιχάει”, and see Od.2. 374.φόρτος is the freight which a merchant takes out with him, to exchange for the “ὁδαῖα” which he wishes to bring back: this meaning will be very appropriate to “ὁδαῖα”, which properly means that which is connected with, the object of, a voyage. Eustath. merely interprets the word by “ἐφόδια”, which would mean the necessaries for the journey. The signification of homecargo is further established by Od.15. 415 foll., where the Phoenicians are represented as landing on the Syrian isle, with a rich cargo, “μυρἴ ἄγοντες ἀθύρματα” 416; they abide there a whole year 455, getting together a cargo, “ὦνον ὁδαίων” 445, till the ship was laded “ἤχθετο” 457. According to this rendering κερδέων θ᾽ ἁρπ. makes the natural epexegesis to ὁδαίων, the profit gained by the homecargo. On φόρτου μνήμων cp. Wolf, Proll.in Homer, § 89 ‘nullus usus scripti in rebus domesticis et mercatura;’ with note, ibid. ‘At Odyss. “θ.” 163 in navi commemoratur “φόρτου μνήμων”. Jam conferat aliquis, si poterit, Romanos homines a memoria. Nos antiquum usum sequimur Odyss. “φ.” 95. Neque curamus Eustathii explic., “ὁ γραμματεὺς ἤτοι ἀποσημάντωρ διὰ γραμμάτων: ἢ καὶ ἄλλως, λογιστὴς, ἐπιμελητής”. Tametsi haec satis produnt veterum Interpp. sententiam. Ceterum riderent si hoc legerent institores et propolae nostri. Ex quo ordine ego ipse aliquando audivi mulierem quandam illiteratissimam nec cetera valentem ingenio, cum enumerationem faceret mercium, quas variis in oppidis conditas haberet, adeo longam ut fortasse cum “μνήμονι” Phoeniciae navis certare potuisset.’ Nitzsch reminds us of the political meaning of “μνήμων” and its compounds, quoting Aristot. Pol. 7. 8. 7 “καλοῦνται δὲ ἱερομνήμονες καὶ ἐπιστάται καὶ μνήμονες καὶ τούτοις ἄλλα ὀνόματα συνεγγύς”. The Amphictyonic “ἱερομνήμονες” were those who ‘had charge’ of the religious ceremonies connected with the League. “μεμνῆσθαι” is to keep in mind not necessarily a thing past, but sometimes a thing present; Il.23. 361“παρὰ δὲ σκοπὸν εἷσεν . . ὡς μεμνέῳτο δρόμου καὶ ἀληθείην ἀποείποι”. According to Curtius, “αἰσυμνήτης” Il., i. e. “αἰσο-μνή-τη-ς”, contains the same root.

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

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