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[373] νὺξ δ᾽ ἥδε, ‘and the night before us (“ἥδε”) is long.’ To Odysseus, in his desire to go to bed, the night seemed far spent, and little time enough left for sleep. Alcinous, in his eagerness to hear more, would fain think it quite early still: he says, in a playful strain, that there is a ‘vast’ portion of the night still left. This is the simple meaning, and is better than the refinement of Eustath., “φθινόπωρον ἦν ἢ καὶ περαιτέρω τοιαύτης ὥρας”. It looks as if Alcinous intended to parody the words of Odysseus in sup. 330.

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

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