Book 13 (ν）
[5] 5-6. The words here are taken from Il.1. 59“νῦν ἄμμε παλιμπλαγχθέντας ὀΐω ἂψ ἀπονοστήσειν εἴ κεν θάνατόν γε φύγοιμεν”, but with a change of application which has made them somewhat obscure. In the Iliad “ἂψ ἀπονοστήσειν” refers to returning disappointed to Greece, and thus carries on the idea expressed by “παλιμπλαγχθέντας”. Here a return home is not a disappointment, and cannot be described by such a phrase as “παλιμπλαγχθέντα”. Some commentators meet the difficulty by confining the negative to that phrase: ‘I think that, not having been driven from your course, you will return home.’ But, apart from other objections, an interpretation by which “ἂψ ἀπονοστήσειν” and “παλιμπλαγχθέντα” are made to express contrasted things is surely excluded by Il.1. 59.The necessity for such an interpretation only arises from taking “ἂψ ἀπονοστήσειν” of return to Ithaca. The meaning is simply that Ulysses will not return driven back from the house of Alcinous, but will have his desire. So Naegelsbach, Anmerk. zur Ilias^{3} (on Il.1. 59).
τῶ. There seems to be enough evidence in Homer for an adverbial “τῶ”, distinct from the dative “τῷ”.[9] ἀκουάζεσθε ‘please yourselves with listening’ ( Il.4. 343). Verbs of this formation have an ampliative and often unfavourable meaning: cp. “μίμνω” and “μιμνάζω, μίγνυμι” and “μιγάζομαι, ῥίπτω” and “ῥιπτάζω, ἡγέομαι” and “ἡγηλάζω” (17. 217), “ἀβροτάζω, ἀεκάζομαι, οἰνοποτάζω, πτωσκάζω, νευστάζω, ῥυστάζω”.
[15] τισόμεθα ‘will repay ourselves.’
προικός ‘as a free gift,’ without such repayment; originally a partitive gen., ‘of his bounty’ (cp. “χαριζομένη παρεόντων”), but used as an adverb, like the Attic “προῖκα”, = gratis, impune. The Homeric form is probably “πρόϊξ, προϊκός” (or rather “πρόϊκος”, since “προικός” is so accented on the analogy of monosyllabic nouns): so “προΐκτης” ‘a gift-man,’ ‘one who lives on doles,’ and the Ionic fut. “καταπροΐξομαι”. The word is evidently a compound of “πρό”. See also 17. 413. The adverbial use of the gen. “προικός” is found in Attic inscriptions: also the dat. “προικί”=‘for a free gift,’ i.e. ‘as dowry’ (Meisterhans^{3}, p. 210).[18] Morning of the 34th day of the action of the poem.
[21] ὑπὸ ζυγά, with “κατέθηκε”.
[24] On the play of language see 144, 14. 69, 371., 15. 10., 16. 2., 17. 332.
[27] Cp. 4. 17. On “μέλπεσθαι” of singing see Lehrs, Arist.p. 138.
[30] δῦναι ἐπειγόμενος ‘in haste, eager for (his) setting.’
[32] πηκτόν ‘put together,’ an epithet describing the workmanship of a plough. So “ποιητός” of a house (13. 306), “δινωτός” of a bed (19. 56), “τυκτός” of a floor (17. 169), &c. We need not translate ‘well made,’ though that may be implied. The point is that the object (whatever it is) is a work of mechanical skill.
[33] ἀσπασίως. Cobet and Nauck would get rid of this adverb by substituting the adj. Here e. g. Cobet would read “ἀσπασίῳ” (cp. “ἀσμένῳ μοί ἐστι”), and Nauck “ἀσπάσιον”, as “ἀσπαστόν” in l. 35. But cp. Il.7. 118. Il., 11. 327.
[34] δόρπον ἐποίχεσθαι ‘for going about his supper,’ i.e. ‘in that he can now go about his supper.’
[45] ἀρετήν ‘good’: not restricted, as in later Greek, to ‘merit’ or ‘excellence.’ Cp. 14. 402 “ἐϋκλείη τ᾽ ἀρετή τε”, and the verb “ἀρετάω” ‘to prosper’ (19. 114); also 12. 211., 14. 212., 18. 251.
[54] ἐπισταδόν: see 12. 392., 18. 425.
[56] αὐτόθεν ‘in their places,’ ‘even as they sat’: cp. Il.19. 77“αὐτόθεν ἐξ ἕδρης οὐδ᾽ ἐν μέσσοισιν ἀναστάς”.
[62] παισί. The dat. is instrumental, with a partly ‘comitative’ sense: cp. Il.21. 45, Od.14. 244.
[69] ἡ δ᾽ ἄλλη. The article marks contrast, ‘another again,’ H. G. § 260.
[75] The accentuation of πρυμνή is a matter of difficulty. There is an adj. “πρυμνός”, found chiefly in poetry, and a substantive “πρύμνα”, common in Attic prose. But we also find “πρυμνή”, sc. “ναῦς”; that is to say, “πρυμνή” is used as a substantive because the substantive “ναῦς” is understood. In this case the word should properly be oxytone.
[78] ἀνακλινθέντες ‘swinging back’: the aorist describing the movement, H. G. § 77.
πηδῷ, the sing. used distributively.[79] νήδυμος, an early corruption of “ϝήδυμος”: see the note on Od. 4.793.
[81] “ἡ δ̓ κτλ.” The sentence is taken up again in l. 84 “ὣς ἄρα τῆς κτλ.” The harshness of the anacoluthon is softened by the nom. “ἵπποι” in the next clause: cp. 14. 85, Il.4. 433. Il., 17. 755.
τετρα_ορος, contr. for “τετρα-ήορος”: cp. “συν-ήορος, παρ-ήορος” (“ἀείρω” of yoking horses, cp. Il.10. 499. Il., 15. 680).[84] For “πρύμνη” some read “πρῴρη”, as giving a truer picture. But how could “πρύμνη” have crept into the text?
[86] ἴρηξ κίρκος. In combinations of this kind the second term is usually the specific one: cp. “βοῦς ταῦρος, σῦς κάπρος, ὄφις δράκων” ( Hes. Theog.321).
[89] θεοῖς ἐναλίγκια, a brachylogy, ‘like the (counsels of the) gods’: cp. Il.17. 51“κόμαι Χαρίτεσσιν ὁμοῖαι”, Od.2. 121. Od., 4. 279.
[91] πτολέμους and κύματα carry on the construction of “πολλὰ πάθ᾽ ἄλγεα”, while πείρων, ‘passing through them,’ belongs only to “κύματα”. Thus it is not properly an instance of zeugma.
[93] ὑπερέσχε is intrans., ‘rises.’ This is the dawn of the 35th day.
[98] ποτιπεπτηυῖαι lit. ‘crouching towards,’ ‘sinking down in front of the harbour,’ and so closing it in. “ποτι-” with the gen. is used like “πρός” in l. 110, of direction or aspect.
[99] ἀνέμων κῦμα ‘the waves raised by the winds,’ cp. Il.2. 396. Il., 11. 305.
δυσαήων, by metrical licence, “δυσαέων” being impossible in the hexameter.[101] ὅρμου μέτρον ‘the measure of anchorage,’ i. e. the distance at which ships are fastened by a cable to the shore (if fastening is needed).
[108] φάρεα ‘webs,’ cp. 19. 138.
[111] θεώτεραι, not ‘more divine,’ but ‘divine’ in contrast to the human door: cp. 15. 422, H. G. § 122.
[114] ὅσον τ᾽ ἐπὶ ἥμισυ = “ἐφ ὅσον τὸ ἥμισυ γίγνεται”, ‘to half its length.’ Cp. Il.10. 351“ὅσον τ᾽ ἐπὶ οὖρα πέλονται Il., 21. 251 ὅσον τ̓ ἐπὶ δουρὸς ἐρωή”.
[118] αὐτῷ σύν τε λίνῳ ‘with the linen cloth as it was.’
[121] διά ‘by the agency of.’
[123] Ar. read “μή πώ τις” ‘that no one yet, before Ulysses should wake, might &c.’ But this use of “πω” can hardly be defended.
[127] πρῶτον ‘once,’ as in l. 133.
[130] ‘Who after all (“τοι”) are sprung from me.’
[142] ἀτιμίῃσιν ἰάλλειν ‘to fling into dishonour,’ or (better) ‘to fling at, assail, with acts of dishonour.’ Elsewhere “ἰάλλω” is only found with an acc. of the thing thrown: but cp. “βάλλω”.
[143] εἴκων ‘giving way to,’ ‘allowing himself to be moved by’: cp. 14. 157., 22. 288.
[144] There is a play of words between τίει ‘pays honour,’ and τίσις ‘payment,’ in the sense of ‘vengeance.’
[152] ἀμφικαλύψαι is rather far from the governing verb, “ἐθέλω” in l. 149. It seems from the scholia that there was an ancient variant, probably the fut. indic. “ἀμφικαλύψω”.
154-158. The infinitives θεῖναι and ἀμφικαλύψαι are construed as an epexegesis of δοκεῖ εἶναι ἄριστα, so that there is no grammatical apodosis to “ὡς μέν”: ‘as seems best to me, viz. to turn their ship into stone, &c. (so I say).’ A small island near the entrance of the old harbour of Corfu is pointed out as the Phaeacian ship, and perhaps is sufficiently ‘like a swift ship’ to have give rise to the story ( N. H. iv. 53). It is not, however, the only claimant. ‘A rock outside the harbour of Trapani (in Sicily) is said to have been a Turkish war vessel, turned into stone by the Madonna’ (Mr. Lang A. in Longman's Magazine, Jan. 1898, quoting Mr. Butler's Authoress of the Odyssey).[158] For μέγα δέ Aristophanes read μηδέ, no doubt in view of the prayers of the Phaeacian elders (l. 183). But these need not affect what Zeus says now.
[162] διωκομένη ‘coursing along’: cp. the phrase “ἅρμα διώκειν”.
[173] ἀγάσασθαι ‘had been surprised,’ i.e. ‘offended,’ ‘made jealous.’ Notice the difference between “ἔφασκε” ‘alleged,’ and “φῆ” ‘said.’ The prophecy begins at “φῆ”, and with it the necessity for a future inf. A few MSS. have “ἀγάασθαι”, and this was probably an ancient variant. The present is perhaps the more suitable tense, as not implying that his jealousy had reached its height. The form “ἀγάσεσθαι”, given in modern editions, has little support, external or otherwise.
[189] ἤδη δὴν ἀπεών belongs to “εὕδων ἐν γαίῃ πατρωΐῃ”, while “περὶ γὰρ κτλ.” gives the reason of “οὐδέ μιν ἔγνω”. Cp. the relation of the clauses in 4. 191-192., 8. 477-478.
[190] αὐτόν ‘himself,’ i. e. his person: cp. l. 313 “σὲ γὰρ αὐτὴν παντὶ ἐΐσκεις”.
[191] “ἄγνωστον κτλ.” The meaning is, not that the mist was to make Ulysses invisible, but that Athene wished to prepare him for the work before him by consultation, and by changing his appearance, as she does in ll. 429-438. Evidently “ἄγνωστον τεύξειεν” here refers to the same process as “ἄγνωστον τεύξω” in l. 397. If Athene had not taken these measures, Ulysses would have gone straight to his palace, and all would have been lost. Chronologically the conversation (“ἕκαστά τε μυθήσαιτο”) comes before the change: so that there is a prothysteron, due to the tendency to put the more definite act first.
[194] ἀλλοειδἔ ἐφαίνετο. The MSS. are divided pretty equally between “φαίνετο” and “φαινέσκετο”. The latter involves scanning “ἀλλοειδέα” in three long syllables—which Buttmann ( “ λεχ.θεουδής”) rightly rejected—or else writing “ἀλλοϊδέα”, a form which is against analogy. On the other hand, a metrical lengthening of the “ο” in “ἀλλοειδέα” is not a greater licence than the poet admits when it is necessary (cp. “δυσαήων” in l. 99, and instances given in H. G. § 386: see Knös, Dig. p. 121 note; Schulze, Quaest. Ep. p. 288). Again, the frequentative “φαινέσκετο” is out of place here, as Buttmann observed. The history of the matter probably is that “ἀλλοειδέα” came to be scanned - - -, as would be the case in Attic, and then “φαινέσκετο” was adopted for the metre. The slight change of “φαίνετο” to “ἐφαίνετο” does not need MS. support: it is called for by the need of a caesura.
201-202. ἤ … ἦε, a double question —‘are they savage or hospitable?’ So l. 234. The strangeness of Ithaca as Ulysses sees it after his long absence may be only the exaggeration of a natural effect. There is a parallel (as a friend has pointed out to me) in Wordsworth's poem The Brothers: “ But, as he gazed, there grewSuch a confusion in his memory
That he began to doubt. …
… He had lost his path,
As up the vale, that afternoon, he walked
Through fields which once had been well known to him.
… He lifted up his eyes
And, looking round, imagined that he saw
Strange alteration wrought on every side
Among the woods and fields, and that the rocks
And everlasting hills themselves were changed.
”
[203] φέρω appears to be indicative, like πλάζομαι: ‘where am I with all this wealth in my hands?’ But possibly we should read “pla/gcomai” or “πλάζωμ̓”, and take both verbs as deliberative subjunctives.
[205] The reading τιν̓ for κεν is perhaps defensible, the aor. indic. carrying on the (unfulfilled) wish: cp. Il.6. 348“ἔνθα με κῦμ᾽ ἀπόερσε”.
[209] οὐκ ἄρα ἦσαν ‘they are not, as I thought they were.’
[212] εὐδείελον, see l. 234.
[216] μὴ οἴχωνται ‘to see whether they have not gone’: cp. 24. 491 “ἐξελθών τις ἴδοι μὴ δὴ σχεδὸν ὦσι”.
[230] σάω, unless it is a mere mistake for “σάου” (see Cobet, Misc. Crit. p. 293), points to a non-thematic contracted form: cp. “ἐπέπλων”.
[234] εὐδείελος ‘shining’: Hom. Od.1. 14. 19‘nitentes Cycladas.’
[235] ἁλὶ κεκλιμένη, cp. 4. 608. Join “ἀκτὴ ἠπείροιο”.
[238] The vulg. “τήνδε τε” is impossible; it is not supported by the similar form given by MSS. in 15. 484. The reading τήνδε γε (if you ask about this land), is found in one of the best MSS.
[241] μετόπισθε, i. e. westwards: the west being the end, as the east is the beginning, of the day.
[254] ‘Took back his speech,’ i. e. left unsaid what he would have said if he had spoken the truth.
[255] νωμῶν ‘turning about,’ ‘revolving.’ πολυκερδέα ‘very cunning,’ cp. l. 291.
[258] ἔτι τοσαῦτα ‘as much more.’
[262] τῆς ληΐδος. The art. is perhaps used in a possessive sense, “με τῆς” = “τῆς ἐμῆς”, cp. 8. 195., 18. 380., 19. 535.
[265] θεράπευον ‘served as “θεραπων”.’ The negative applies also to “χαριζόμενος”, ‘I did not court his favour by serving.’
[268] ἀγρόθεν (“κατιόντα”): cp. 15. 428.
[274] Πύλονδε καταστῆσαι, a pregnant construction, ‘to bring to Pylos and set down there’: cp. 14. 295., 15. 367.
ἐφέσσαι ‘to put me on board’ cp. 15. 277 “νηὸς ἔφεσσαι”, and 14. 295 “ἐπὶ νηὸς ἐέσσατο”. The prothysteron is of a common type—the main action is put first: cp. 14. 209, 526., 15. 81, 548.[281] αὔτως ‘as we were,’ without attempting more.
[291] κερδαλέος ‘crafty,’ cp. “πολυκερδής” in l. 255, and so “κέρδεα” in ll. 297, 299.
[292] ‘Even if a god presented himself,’ ‘even were it a god’: cp. l. 312.
[293] σχέτλιε ‘hard,’ said in a friendly and admiring tone: cp. Il.22. 41 Il., 86.
[295] πεδόθεν, cp. funditus: but probably the notion is that of constancy, as in “ἔμπεδος”. The variant “παιδόθεν” is easily explained by itacism. Schulze (Quaest. Ep. p. 86, n. 1) conjectures that the original word was “πάϊθεν”. But the substitution in all MSS. of a modern equivalent for an archaic word like “πάϊθεν” must have taken place, if at all, at a relatively early time—too early to produce the unmetrical “παιδόθεν”.
[309] οὕνεκα ‘that,’ a meaning confined in Homer to the Odyssey.
320-323. These lines are generally condemned as spurious. As regards the first two there can be little doubt. The clause “πρίν γ̓ ὅτε κτλ.” does not fit ll. 320-321, but is construed with “οὐ σέ γ᾽ ἔπειτα ἴδον” (l. 318). Hence ll. 320321 must be interpolated. A parenthesis such as they form is quite unHomeric. The case against ll. 322-323 is not so clear. The ancients argued that Ulysses could not know of the presence of Athene in Phaeacia, since the goddess did not reveal herself to him there. The objection supposes a degree of accuracy that is hardly to be expected in a poem. But it may be admitted that ll. 322323 have in some degree the air of an insertion intended to reconcile the present speech with the Phaeacian episode (esp. 7. 12-81). The four lines are rejected by Nitzsch, Sagenpoesie, p. 173.[326] κερτομέουσαν ‘seeking to vex.’
[332] ἐπητής ‘charming,’ ‘polite’: cp. “ἐπητύς” ‘civility,’ 21. 306.
[336] πειρήσεαι, i.e. ‘observe for yourself’—not trusting to report (“πυθέσθαι”): while any other man would have made for his home without even enquiring.
347-348. Repeated wrongly in some MSS. from ll. 103-104. The cave is first mentioned in l. 349, and with the deictic “τοῦτο”: ‘and there &c.’[357] εὐχωλῇς ‘with my prayers,’ ‘now that you again hear my prayers.’ “χαίρετε” is hardly more than a form of greeting, but it is construed with the dative “εὐχωλῇς” as though it had the literal meaning ‘be gladdened.’
[358] διδώσομεν. Ulysses associates Telemachus with himself, as we see from l. 360. For the form cp. 24. 314.
[360] ἀέξῃ, an anacoluthon; cp. 16. 6.
[364] ἵνα ‘where,’=‘so that there —.’
σόα. The form “σόος” is probably postHomeric, for “σάος”: see on 19. 300., 22. 28, and cp. the Attic neut. pl. “σᾶ”, which points to σάα.[377] κοιρανέουσι, ironically, ‘are lording it.’
[379] ‘Lamenting about thy return,’ i.e. crying for it: cp. Il.2. 290“ὀδύρονται οἶκόνδε νέεσθαι”.
[381] ἀγγελίας ‘messages.’ No passage in Homer obliges us to assume the existence of a masc. “ἀγγελίης”: see Buttmann, Lexil. s. v.
[386] ὅπως ἀποτίσομαι αὐτούς. The pronoun is perhaps emphatic, ‘Now I shall take vengeance on the men in their turn (who sought to kill me).’
[388] κρήδεμνα ‘the diadem of towers’: from Il.16. 100“ὄφρ᾽ οἶοι Τροίης ἱερὰ κρήδεμνα λύωμεν”. This picturesque phrase is a sort of refinement upon the more ordinary metaphor by which the battlements of a town are called its ‘head’: as in Il.2. 117“ὃς δὴ πολλάων πολίων κατέλυσε κάρηνα”.
[400] The common reading is “ὅ κε στυγέῃσιν ἰδὼν ἄνθρωπος ἔχοντα” ‘which any man who should see thee wearing would loathe.’ This is unsatisfactory, because (as was pointed out by Nitzsch, Sagenpoesie der Griechen, p. 176) “ἄνθρωπος” would not be used by Homer in the indefinite sense required,=‘any man,’ “τις”. On the other hand the participle “ἰδών” may be = “ἰδών τις” ‘any one that sees’: cp. “ὅσον τε γέγωνε βοήσας” ‘as far as one is heard when he shouts,’ and the other places quoted in H. G. § 243, 3, e. Hence it seems best to adopt ἄνθρωπον from the variant mentioned by Eustathius. Of course “στυγέει τις ἰδών”, which Eustathius gives with “ἄνθρωπον”, is impossible, and is only due to the failure to see that “ἰδών” has the indefinite force required.
It is curious that the word “ἄνθρωπος” is very rare in Homer in the singular. This is the only place in the Odyssey in which it occurs.[405] 405 = 15. 39. The pronoun τοι is generally construed with ἤπια οἶδε ‘he is of friendly mind to thee.’ With regard to ὁμῶς opinions differ. Ameis refers it to ὑῶν ἐπίουρος: Eumaeus was as much devoted to Ulysses himself as to his possessions, the swine. Others refer forwards to the words “παῖδά τε κτλ.” ‘equally to thee’=‘even as he is towards thy son and Penelope.’ This, however, will not suit 15. 39, where the line “παῖδά τε κτλ.” does not follow. It seems much too harsh to separate “ὁμῶς τοι”. The difficulty is really logical, arising from a certain blending of the ideas of friendship or loyalty, given in “ἤπια οἶδε”, with that of agreement, expressed by “ὁμῶς”. Eumaeus was ‘at one with Ulysses in the loyalty of his heart.’ So Il.4. 360“ὥς τοι θυμὸς . . . ἤπια δήνεα οἶδε: τὰ γὰρ φρονέεις ἅ τ᾽ ἐγώ περ”. And so in prose, Thuc. iii. 9 “ἴσοι τῇ γνώμῃ ὄντες καὶ εὐνοίᾳ” . In such passages we see the endeavour to express the complex notion of sympathy.
[407] παρήμενον ‘abiding with,’ as Il.1. 421“νηυσὶ παρήμενος ὠκυπόροισιν”.
[415] ‘After thy story,’ i. e. seeking what was told, what he could hear, of Ulysses. Bekker reads “ἤ που”: but “ἤ” is only used = ‘if’ in the disjunctive “ἤ—ἤ”.
[419] ἔδουσι=‘while others devour.’
[431] Ulysses is here supposed to be “ξανθός”: but see 16. 176 (with the note), also 6. 231.
[434] ἄλλο ‘other’ (than his own).
[437] ψιλόν ‘bare,’ the wool worn off.
[440] The book ends in the middle of a sentence: “ἡ μὲν . . . αὐτὰρ ὁ κτλ.” ‘she went to Sparta, while he &c.’
