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[135] καταείνυον, clothed, a hyperbolical expression. The variant “καταείλυον” wrapped up comes to the same thing, cf. 21.319 “εἰλύσω ψαμάθοισιν”. The form “εἰνυ-” for “ἕννυ-” (“ϝεσ-νυ”) is late Ionic (“ἐπείνυσθαι” Herod.) and is not found again in H., though “εἱμένος” is very near. The long stem in fact occurs only in “ἕννυσθαι, ἕννυτο”, three times and twice respectively in As Hom. Od. between the thematic -“είνυον” and non-thematic -“είνυσαν” there seems to be little choice; but in the similar “ὀμνυ-” we have the non-thematic “ἀπώμνυ” once only (Od. 2.377) against six instances of thematic forms (“ὤμνυε, -ον”); while “ὄρνυμι” takes thematic forms in the imperf. active non-thematic in the mid. For the custom of cutting off locks of hair and laying them on the corpse cf. 141 and Od. 4.198. The women of Albania still cut off their hair at the death of a near relative — but not, it would seem, the men (von Hahn, Alb. Stud. i. 150). A part cut straight from the living body represents the whole man, who thus offers himself as an escort to the shades. So when the witch got possession of a fresh-cut hair or nailparing she had the victim in her power. For other instances of the custom see Tylor, Prim. Culture ii. 364; Rohde, Psyche, p. 16; Frazer, Paus. iv. p. 136.

In 135-39 and 166-70 we have two sequences of five purely dactylic lines, the longest in the Iliad. If any effect is consciously aimed at, it is that of the marching, not the galloping or dancing, rhythm. See on 6.511.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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