previous next

prior . . . veni. By the advice of Ulysses, who was among their number, Tyndareus made all the suitors of Helen swear jointly and severally to avenge any outrage done on her account to the one who should be successful (cf. 50). When the fulfilment of the oath was required by Agamemnon and Menelaus, Ulysses, whether from affection for his wife (301) or because he had learned what misfortunes and long wanderings would be his lot if he went to Troy (“cui erat responsum si ad Troiam isset, post vicesimum annum solum, sociis perditis, eyentem domum rediturum”, Hygin. f. 95), resolved not to join the expedition. He accordingly feigned madness, ploughing the sea-shore with an ox and an ass yoked together. Palamedes, who accompanied the Atridae, detected the cheat by taking the child Telemachus from the cradle and laying him in the track of the plough, which the father immediately turned aside. Cf. Od.XXIV. 116-9, Aesch. Ag. 841, and six lines from an early tragedian quoted in de Off. III. xxvi. 97-8, where Ulysses' conduct is discussed and condemned. This incident was the cause of Ulysses' hostility to Palamedes.

nullo sub indice. For sub introducing a condition or attendant circumstance see Roby § 2133, and cf. Ibis 403, “duo . . . sub eodem vindice caesi”, Liv.ii. XXXVII. 8, “cum ad patres rem dubiam sub auctore certo detulissent”. So it is used in expressing accompanying sound, for which see Munro on Lucr.iv. 545, and cf. the similar use of “ὑπό”, as in Soph. El. 711,χαλκῆς ὑπαὶ σάλπιγγος”.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (5 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (5):
    • Homer, Odyssey, 24.116
    • Sophocles, Electra, 711
    • Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 841
    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 4.545
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 2, 37.8
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: