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[387] 387-88. There are many reasons for thinking this couplet spurious. It entirely spoils the balance of the simile by laying weight on a point which is far removed from the required picture. The phrase κρίνειν θέμιστας for “δίκας” is not Homeric in expression or thought; to H. the “θέμιστες” are rather laws or principles than judgments to be given, and they are in the keeping of the kings, not, as seems here to be implied, in the power of the community. ὄπιν is a word occurring elsewhere only in the Od. (twice in “ξ”, once each in “υ” and “φ”), and in Hesiod, Pindar, etc. (see L. and S., s.v.). The couplet is evidently made up from Hesiod Opp., cf. 221 “σκολιῆις δὲ δίκηις κρίνωσι θέμισταςHesiod Opp., 223(“Δίκη”) “κακὸν ἀνθρώποισι φέρουσα οἴ τέ μιν ἐξελάσωσι καὶ οὐκ ἰθεῖαν ἔνειμαν”, and the following passage concerning the blessings given by Zeus to men who give righteous judgments. Again in 250 we find “ὅσοι σκολιῆισι δίκηισιν ἀλλήλους τρίβουσι, θεῶν ὄπιν οὐκ ἀλέγοντες”. The excellent opportunity for a sententious interpolation was evidently too much for a poet of the Hesiodean school.

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    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 223
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