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[205] αἲ γάρ. This wish is in response to the allusion Nestor makes to the circumstances of Telemachus in the five [? three] last lines of his speech, 196-200 [?—198].

τοσσήνδε and not “τοσαύτην” is used, because Telemachus means ‘so great now, and in my person.’ So Aesch. Agam.520“φαιδροῖσι τοισίδ᾽ ὄμμασι”, ‘with eyes now as bright;’ ib. 1396 “τάδ᾽ ἂν δικαίως ἦν”, ‘libation by me would have been fitting.’ The correlative clause to “τοσσήνδε” would be “ὅσην Ὀρέστης εἶχε”, and not “τίσασθαι κ.τ.λ.” which is epexegetic of “δύναμιν”, sc. ‘power, so as to avenge.’

περιθεῖεν. For the metaphor, Ameis compares “ἐπιειμένος ἀλκήν” Od.9. 214, “δύσεαι ἀλκήν” Il.9. 231, “μένος ἀμφιβαλόντες” Il.17. 742, “περιέθηκε τὸ κράτος” Hdt.1. 129.Cp. also Thuc.6. 89“ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀτιμίαν περιέθετε”. Translate, ‘invest me with power as great as his.’

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

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