[724]
[727] Κεβριόνῃ, Hector's charioteer.
[735] τόν οἱ περὶ χεὶρ ἐκάλυψεν = “χειροπληθῆ” (cf. Xen. Anab. III, 3, 17), ‘filling the hand,’ ‘as large as his hand could hold.’
οὐδὲ δὴν χάζετο φωτός, a somewhat obscure parenthesis: ‘nor long did he hold back from his man’ (probably Hector), i. e. ‘no laggard was he in the attack.’[738] ἀγακλῆος, like “Πατροκλῆος”, § 102.
[740] οὐδέ ... ἔσχεν ὀστέον, ‘nor did the bone hold,’ i. e. ‘stay fast.’
[742] αὐτοῦ, ‘there.’
[743] εὐεργέος, three syllables, § 43.
[745] The speech of Patroclus is of course ironical.
ὡς, ‘how,’ introducing an exclamation.[747] Perhaps additional point is given to Patroclus's sarcasm by picturing Cebriones in the act of seeking what was to the Homeric Greeks an ignoble food. Homeric warriors eat beef and pork, but no shellfish; neither in the diet of the luxurious Phaeacians nor in that of the suitors of Penelope are shellfish included. The companions of Odysseus ate shellfish when half-starved only.
