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[241] ἅρπυιαι, lit. ‘the snatchers,’ i. e. ‘the spirits of the storm.’ Cp. Od.20. 66“ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε Πανδαρέου κούρας ἀνέλοντο θύελλαι” with ibid. 77 “τόφρα δὲ τὰς κούρας ἅρπυιαι ἀνηρείψαντο”. So also Od.4. 727“παῖδ᾽ ἀγαπητὸν ἀνηρείψαντο θύελλαι”, and Il.6. 346.These passages seem to exhibit the “ἅρπυιαι” as the impersonation of the storm-winds. Hesiod ( Hesiod Theog.267 foll.) thus gives their origin and names, “ Θαύμας δ᾽ Ὠκεανοῖο βαθυρρείταο θύγατρα
ἠγάγετ᾽ Ἠλέκτρην: ἡ δ᾽ ὠκεῖαν τέκεν Ἶριν,
ἠυκόμους δ᾽ Ἅρπυιας, Ἀελλώ τ᾽ Ὠκυπέτην τε,
αἵ ῥ᾽ ἀνέμων πνοιῇσι καὶ οἰωνοῖς ἅμ᾽ ἕπονται
ὠκείῃς πτερύγεσσι: μεταχρόνιαι γὰρ ἴαλλον

”. In Ap. Rhod.2. 289 they are called the ‘swift messengers of Zeus,’ and in Hesych. “Διὸς κύνες”. See also Il.16. 150.A later myth respecting them is found in Virg. Aen.3. 210. Similar personified, but non-mythological, conceptions in Homer are “Κλῶθες” Hom. Od.7. 197; “Κραταιίς” 12. 124; and even “Ἐρινύς” (see Curtius, Etym. s. v.) does not seem originally to be much more than the solemnly uttered evil wish of a deeply injured person, Hom. Od.2. 135, etc.; though we have “θεὰ δασπλῆτις Ἐ.” Hom. Od.15. 234.If the reading ἀνηρείψαντο be genuine, it gives a meaning unlike the usual force of “ἐρείπω”. Fick (die Hom. Odyssee, p. 2) thinks that “ἀνηρέψαντο” should be read. This he would connect with the root found in Ἅρπυιαι, for which he would read “Ἀρέπυιαι”.

ἀκλειῶς. ‘So that there are no tidings of him.’ “κλέος” in Homer has not in itself the meaning of ‘glory’ or ‘fame,’ but simply that of ‘report,’ ‘rumour,’ ‘tidings;’ agreeably with its etymological connection with “κλύω”. Thus, inf. 283 “ὄσσαν ἐκ Διὸς ἥ τε μάλιστα φέρει κλέος ἀνθρώποισι”, Od.16. 461“ἦλθες δἶ Εὔμαιε: τί δὴ κλέος ἔστ᾽ ἀνὰ ἄστυ”; 13. 415 “ᾤχετο πευσόμενος μετὰ σὸν κλέος ἤ που ἔτ᾽ εἴης”, Il.2. 325“τέρας . . ὅου κλέος οὔ ποτ᾽ ὀλεῖται”, Il.13. 364“ὅς ῥα νέον πολέμοιο μετὰ κλέος εἰληλούθει”, and (in special connection with the present passage), Od.4. 427“παῖδ᾽ ἀγαπητὸν ἀνηρείψαντο θύελλαι”

“ἀκλέα ἐκ μεγάρων”. In accordance with this must be interpreted Od.5. 311“καί μευ κλέος ἦγον Ἀχαιοί”, Il.22. 513“οὐδὲν σοί γ᾽ ὄφελος . . ἀλλὰ πρὸς Τρώων καὶ Τρωιάδων κλέος εἶναι” (‘to be much talked about by’). Similarly the plural in the expression “ἄειδε δ᾽ ἄρα κλέα ἀνδρῶν” Il.9. 189; Od.8. 73.Cp. Il.9. 524“οὕτω καὶ τῶν πρόσθεν ἐπευθόμεθα κλέα ἀνδρῶν κ.τ.λ.” Only in a few passages in the Iliad, where warlike achievements are referred to as the ground of “κλέος”, the meaning of ‘fame’ has supervened, as in Il.4. 197“τῷ μὲν κλέος, ἄμμι δὲ πένθος Il., 5. 171Πάνδαρε, ποῦ τοι τόξον ἰδὲ πτερόεντες οἰστοὶ καὶ κλέος”; ib. 532 “φευγόντων δ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἄρ᾽ κλέος ὄρνυται οὔτε τις ἀλκή”, and 7. 100 “ἀκλεὲς αὔτως”. Of course “κλέος” may gain the meaning of ‘fame’ from an epithet attached to it, such as “ἄσβεστον, ἐσθλόν, εὐρύ, μέγα, τόσον”, but then the meaning really resides in the epithet. The reason why the word occurs with a more advanced meaning in the Iliad, in connection with war, is that it had been far more used in this connection than in any other.

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

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