previous next

[549] ἐσσεύοντο, thematic aor.; an imperf. is of course not admissible in a simile. “οὕτως διὰ τοῦ ο ἐσσεύοντο” Did.; but in 15.272, where the line is repeated, “Ἀρίσταρχος ἐσσεύαντο διὰ τοῦ α καὶ ἅπασαι”. It is not likely that Ar. differed in the two places, so that we cannot say what his real reading was. Editors write “ἐσσεύαντο”, which is of course unobjectionable; but in the face of the co-existence in the tradition of double forms such as “ἐβήσετο, ἐδύσετο”, etc., beside “-σατο” there is no need to desert the unanimous tradition of MSS. here and in O. It may indeed be questioned if a pres. stem “σεύω” is not as much a figment for Homer as “ἀλεύομαι” (see on 5.444). The forms “ἔσσευα, ἔσσυτο”, on the analogy of “ἔχευα, κέχυτο”, point to a pres. * “σέ”（“ϝ”）“-ω”, which could become “σευ-” only in the sigmatic forms; “ἔσσευα” = “ἔσσεϝ-σα”, etc. (cf. Eust. 62. 42 “τὸ δὲ σόος” [e.g. “δορυ-σσόος”] .. “ἀπὸ τοῦ σέω τὸ ὁρμῶ ὃ προσλήψει τοῦ υ γίνεται σεύω”). There seems to be no instance of pres. “σεύω” earlier than Ap. Rhod. ( ii. 296 “σευέμεν” : fut.?), and the forms referred to the imperf. may nearly all be aorists. Beside “ἐπισσεύεσθαι” (“-έσθαι”) or “-εσθε,” 15.347, we find only “ἐσσεύοντο, ἐπ-, μετ-” “εσσεύοντο” (15 times), “σεῦε”（“ν”), “ἔσσευε”（“ν”) (10 times). But in 18.575, 22.146, the imperf. is required by the sense. Here we may compare “κατεβήσετο” used as imperf. in Od. 10.107; see H. G. § 41. Note that in H. the “ς” of this verb is invariably doubled, except when initial. Hence Zen.'s “ἐξεσύθη” in 5.293 is an impossible form. The variation between the trans. and intrans. sense is found in the mid. of non-thematic aor. as well as with “ἐσσεύοντο”, e.g. 20.148. “σεύωνται”, which may be referred to either aor., is trans. in 3.26 and probably intrans. in 11.415 (cf. 419).

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (10 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: