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[73] οἷά τε ληιστῆρες refers to μαψιδίως ἀλάλησθε (‘idly rove’), on which “κατὰ πρῆξιν” depends also, but by a sort of zeugma, as ‘roving’ cannot properly be applied to a voyage ‘on business.’ Cp. Thuc.1. 5“οἱ παλαιοὶ τῶν ποιητῶν τὰς πύστεις τῶν καταπλεόντων πανταχοῦ ὁμοίως ἐρωτῶντες εἰ λῃσταί εἰσι”. This he adduces as evidence that piracy was a recognized employment in primitive Greece. See Grote's Greece, vol. ii. p. 152, foll. ed. 2, and cp. Caesar, Bell. Gall. 6. 23, speaking of the Germans, “‘latrocinia nullam habent infamiam, quae extra fines cuiusque civitatis fiunt.’”

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

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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.5
    • Caesar, Gallic War, 6.23
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