[322] ὅσσον θ᾽ ἱστόν, cp. inf. 325 “ὅσον τ᾽ ὄργυιαν”. This is a brachylogical attraction for “τόσσον εἶναι ὅσσος θ᾽ ἱστός ἐστι”. So in Od.10. 112“τὴν δὲ γυναῖκα”
“εὗρον ὅσην τ᾽ ὄρεος κορυφήν”. Compare also Od.11. 25.Milton has imitated this simile in his description of Satan's spear,‘To which the tallest pine, Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand.’ It is doubtful whether any limb of an olive could have been found long enough and straight enough to make such a staff for the Cyclops; and some have therefore proposed to read “εἰλάτινον” for ἐλαΐνεον, but this would only introduce the new physical difficulty, that fresh pinewood blazes instead of smouldering or becoming charred in the fire. Cp. also inf. 394. In ἐεικοσ-όροιο we have the root “-ερ”, as in “ἐρέσσω”. It more often appears as “-ηρ” as in “τρι-ήρης”.
