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[658] κε κάμηιξι or “κεκάμηισι”? See on A 168. The two relatives ὅς τ᾽ ἐπεί are followed by only one verb. The apodosis is indeed given by ἔβη in 664, but it is too far off to be felt as such. Similarly constructed sentences will be found in 18.55, 24.42. In considering them we must keep in view first, cases where “ἐπεί” alone is not succeeded by any apodosis, such as Z 333 (see the references there); as Schol. T (An.?) on 18.101 remarks, “εἴωθε τῶι ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐπαγαγεῖν ἀνταπόδοσιν”. Secondly we have other sentences containing only one verb to two relatives, see note on “ἃς ὁπότε8.230. The Epic poet, always intolerant of long subordinate clauses, seems to use his two relatives at the beginning to indicate the general drift of his sentence and then does not attempt to follow out the details. Here ὅξ is the necessary copula introducing the working out of the simile, and ἐπεί proclaims that the clause headed by it is preliminary and does not contain the real comparison. Having thus announced its subordinate character, the clause can proceed in its (borrowed) development as though it had begun (as in 11.548-49) without any parade of relatives. It is natural to compare “ὡς ὅτε” in similes; but there is an important difference in that the “ὅτε” is to all intents and purposes redundant — so far as can be seen “ὡς ὅτε” = “ὡς”, while “ἐπεί” has an essential function here and in 18.55. But in 24.42 the “ἐπεί” seems to have lost even this, and to be as otiose as “ὅτε”. It seems therefore that the frequent elliptical use of “ἐπεί” in independent sentences weakened the sense of the relative use till in connexion with another relative it came to be felt merely as a notice that its clause was secondary, so that we can translate by first; and finally, on the analogy of “ὡς ὅτε”, was regarded as part of a single relative phrase “ὅς τ᾽ ἐπεί” = “ὅς”. — A few MSS. omit 659-60 so that “ἰθύει” can be taken as the principal verb; but this is a mere copyist's error due to the fact that 658 and 660 both end in -“ίζων”.

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