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[330] κατὰ σπείους, ‘adown the cave,’ that is, from the mouth to the inmost part, so in Od.12. 93 we have “κατὰ σπείους δέδυκεν”. See note on Od. 2.337.

If “μεγάλ̓ [α”] be the right meaning it must be taken adverbially with κέχυτο; but it seems an unnecessary addition to ἤλιθα πολλή. An easy change would be to write “κατὰ σπείους μεγάλου κέχυτ᾽”, or, with Ahrens, “κατὰ σπεῖος κέχυτο μέγα. μεγάλα” is used twenty-seven times adverbially in Homer, and is almost invariably joined with verbs expressing sound, as “ἰάχειν, κτυπεῖν, βρέμειν, στενάχειν, εὔχεσθαι, ἀπύειν”, or “κλάζειν”. There are only two exceptions to this usage, “μεγάλ᾽ ἀσπίδας ἐστυφέλιξαν” Il.16. 774; and “κραδίη μεγάλα στέρνοισι πατάσσει” Il.13. 282, where the tumultuous thumping of the heart contains a notion of sound no less than of movement. Such a consistent usage makes the employment of μεγάλα here very suspicious.

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

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