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[366] 366-92 were condemned by Ar. as superfluous, and contradictory of 365. The real objection is, of course, that they are not required, at least from 368, for the sake of the hearer. But the frequent verbal repetition of messages shews what the Epic poet and his hearers liked. For Θήβη see notes on 37, 2.690, 6.397. Why Chryseis was taken here instead of in her own home we are not told.

ἱερός, holy, because a city is an institution to which men submit without asking why; it is a bond imposed by a higher power, and is hence dedicated to a deity. So “ἱερὸν τέλος” 10.56, of a dignity. ‘The impersonal and inanimate, when it exercises power, is divine .. Sea, river, and night are divine as well as “ἱερόν” .. The fish that breathes in water where men die is “ἱερός” .. Human power and soul, ascribed to an indefinite godhead, are the “ἱερὸν μένος”, kings are “διογενεῖς”. The official, as his insignia denote, is dedicated; he belongs not to himself but to his office, the impersonal divine which we call duty ’ (W.-M. H. U. p. 106). But it must be admitted that this is not satisfactory as regards the fish; it is tempting to seek, with Frazer, a less subtle explanation in a ‘taboo’ or religious scruple against the eating of fish, which agrees with the well-known fact that Homeric heroes do not eat fish except as a last resource (see ‘Taboo’ in Encycl. Brit.). Some would recur to the supposed primitive sense of “ἱερός”, strong (Skt. is/iras); but in Greek any such meaning, if it ever existed, must have long died out, for all the derivative forms (cf. “ἱερεύω”) are entirely restricted to the sense sacred. Those who are not satisfied with this explanation will find ample discussion from other points of view in Schulze Q. E. 207 ff., Mulvany J. P. xxv. 131 ff.

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

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