[387]
[390] ποσίν, ‘for the feet.’
[392] ὧδε, ‘so,’ ‘as you are,’ with a gesture of hurry, nearly equivalent to ‘at once.’
[393] Hephaestus, in his workshop, very likely does not see Thetis, but shouts out the following reply to Charis.
[394] For δεινή τε καὶ αἰδοίη see 3.172.
ἔνδον, is ‘in my hall.’ 395-397. A different account from that given in A 591.[405] ἴσαν, here from “οἶδα”, not “εἶμι”.
[409] ὅπλα, ‘tools’ of a smith, here.
[410] πέλωρ, ‘monster’ because big and strange in looks.
[414] ἀμφί, adverb § 168), ‘on both sides.’
[416] θύραζε, ‘forth’ from his workshop into the hall (“μέγαρον”) where Thetis was; cf. ll. 393, 394.
[418] ζωῇσι νεήνισσιν ἐικυῖαι, ‘like living maidens.’ Yet there is no reason to believe that the poet was familiar with the sculptor's art; quite the contrary, for this had not yet been developed in Greece. (See E. A. Gardner's Handbook of Greek Sculpture, pp. 68, 69.) These golden maidens —like the gold and silver hounds, immortal, that guarded either side of the door of Alcinous's palace (Od. 7.91-94), or like the intelligent ships of the Phaeacians (Od. 8.556-563) that needed neither pilots nor rudders—are simply pictures of the poet's fancy. They belong in the same fairyland with the ‘automatic’ tripods (ll. 373 ff.) and bellows (ll. 468 ff.).
[420] ἀθανάτων δὲ θεῶν κτλ., ‘and they have knowledge of handiwork from the immortal gods.’
[421] ὕπαιθα, ‘at the side of,’ to support his tottering steps.
ἔρρων, not simply moving, but ‘limping,’ ‘moving with difficulty’ or pain. Cf. I 364, 377. 424, 425. The same words were used by Charis (ll. 385, 386).[427] εἰ τετελεσμένον ἐστίν, ‘if it can be accomplished.’
