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[126] ‘By no means may I now chat with him, “beginning at the oak or rock,” as a maid and a lad gossip.’

ἀπὸ δρυὸς οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ πέτρης ὀαριζέμεναι is a gnomic expression (“παροιμία”) which seems to allude to old folk-stories (e. g. how the first men grew out of trees and rocks). A scholiast interprets it, “ληρῶδες ἀρχαιολογίας διηγεῖσθαι”, which amounts pretty nearly to ‘make silly gossip over ancient stories.’ Some prefer to interpret the words literally of a maid and a young shepherd talking ‘from an oak or rock’ where they are sitting.

Selections from Homer's Iliad, with an introduction, notes, a short Homeric grammar, and a vocabulary. Allen Rogers Benner. New York. Irvington Publishers, Inc. 1903.

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