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[185] ἥδε, deictic, i. e. explained by a gesture = ‘here,’ ‘yonder.’

ἐπ᾽ ἀγροῦ is not a common expression for a ship drawn up on the beach, for “ἀγρός” is cultivated land, and there is nothing in the use of “ἐπί” to forbid our rendering it ‘beside,’ or ‘off;’ so that the ship might still be afloat. On the other hand, the parallel passage, Od.16. 324, is strong—“οἱ δ᾽ ὅτε δὴ λιμένος πολυβενθέος ἐντὸς ἵκοντο”,

“νῆα μὲν οἵ γε μέλαιναν ἐπ᾽ ἠπείροιο ἔρυσσαν”. Here “ἐπ᾽ ἠπείροιο” is an equally unusual expression with “ἐπ᾽ ἀγροῦ”, but of course the meaning is made perfectly clear by the use of “ἔρυσσαν”, and “ἐπί” must mean ‘upon.’ Again “ἤπειρος” is as distinct from the beach (see Il.1. 485) as “ἀγρός” is. We may perhaps explain the difficulty by supposing that the ship lay not on the open shore, but on the margin of the creek that served as a harbour, and so, well within the coast line. Such a spot as might be described as “ἤπειρος” or “ἀγρός”. In Od.16. 383 a person between the harbour and the town is said to be “ἐπ᾽ ἀγροῦ νόσφι πόληος”. The word “Ῥεῖθρον” seems to carry out this idea of the creek.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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