[244] οἷα … πατρῶν, ‘what prowess Zeus bestoweth on us, from our fathers' times right on.’ This use of ἐπί with the dative may be illustrated by Od.13. 60“γῆρας . . καὶ θάνατος τά τ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀνθρώποισι πέλονται Od., 8. 554 ἐπὶ πᾶσι τίθενται . . τοκῆες [ὄνομα”]. But most apposite to the sense is Od.14. 227“αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ τὰ φίλ᾽ ἔσκε τά που θεὸς ἐν φρεσὶ θῆκεν”,
“ἄλλος γάρ τ᾽ ἄλλοισιν ἀνὴρ ἐπιτέρπεται ἔργοις”. Nitzsch considers that the idea which the following description is intended to convey is that of a people devoted to peace. So the Schol. “τὸν εἰρηνικὸν βίον δηλοῖ διὰ τούτων τὸν τῶν Φαιάκων”. But there is a certain colour of luxury in it all, which was a common theme of the Sophists. Heracleides of Pontus is quoted by Schol. H. Q. on Od. 13.119, as giving a very severe estimate of the character of the Phaeacians, whose one quality, according to him, was an absorbing selfishness, “συνειδότας γὰρ ἑαυτοῖς φιληδονίαν καὶ ἀπολαυστικὸν τρόπον, καὶ δεδιότας μή τις αὐτοὺς ἄλλος ἐπελθὼν ἐκβάλῃ ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας, δύο ταῦτα ὑποκρίνασθαι, φιλοξενίαν τε πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας ταχεῖάν τε ἀπόπεμψιν πρὸς τοὺς ἐλθόντας κ.τ.λ.” We have of course a reflection of this feeling in Horace's ‘pinguis Phaeaxque’ Ep.1. 15. 24; and (ib. 2. 28-31) ‘Alcinoiquein cute curanda plus aequo operata iuventus,
cui pulcrum fuit in medios dormire dies, et
ad strepitum citharae cessatum ducere curam.’ Bothe, in defending the genuineness of the passage which has been called in question, gives a very sensible view of the conditions of Phaeacian life: ‘terram illi beatam incolentes, tutique ab hostium incursionibus, nihil habent quod serio agant praeter rem nauticam, eamque ipsam facillimam. Igitur tempus epulis continuis transigunt, citharoedos requirunt, saltatione delectantur; denique molli vestitu gaudent, balneisque et somno vel, si mavis, amori operam dant. Tales profecto describere Phaeaces debuit poeta si modo sibi constare voluit, cum praesertim famam de illis acceptam antiquissimam referat, neque eos exemplar nobis virtutis ac temperantiae exponat . . . . Apage igitur Catones qui luxum serioris temporis hisce verbis commendari putant.’
