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Book Nine
expected him to be his main opponent when the fight was renewed (8.530—
38). But Diomedes is alone in regarding the situation as a merely temporary
setback; Nestor, Odysseus, Phoinix, Aias (by implication), and Menelaos
(in book 10), all concur with Agamemnon's appreciation. His moral collapse,
therefore, should not be scored too heavily against him.
46-7 el (TrocpocKeAeuoTiKov) intensifies the imperative cpsuyovTcov, cf. 262,
and the common idiom si 8' dye.
48-9 The language recalls that of 7.30-1 (Apollo to Athene) UOCXTJO-OVT'
EIS 6 KE TEKucop I MAiou EUpcocnv, and the sentiment that of Akhilleus at
16.97—100. We are free to subsume the Argive Aaos under Sthenelos and
Diomedes. But the Aaos is of so little consequence in the heroic tradition that
it regularly slips out of view, cf. Herakles' taking of Oikhalia and (with
Telamon) Troy, and Akhilleus' own proposal to take Troy with Patroklos
(16.97-100) - his prayer on that occasion that all the rest on both sides
perish is pure hyperbole, ovv ydp deep: the Achaeans believed that they had
right on their side because of the crime of Paris, see Agamemnon's violent
outburst at 6.55-60. Oracles at Aulis (2.308-19) and Delos had forecast
their ultimate success. — EiArjAouOuEv: the first person now includes all
present. For the form cf. Od. 3.81 and Chantraine, GH 1 425. Although
dAfjAuOuEV would have long 0 by position in Ionic metrics, the zero grade
has been almost eliminated from the perfect conjugation in the epic (but
&7T£Af)Au8a 24.766 and 2X Od.). The initial long vowel si- is the product of
the normal treatment of antispastic (u u) words, and is regular at the
verse-end (5.204 etc.).
50 = 7.403. For the form EirTaxov see Chantraine, GH1 140, 393. The
forms transmitted with long! (i8x //., 2X Od.) are all 3rd person indicative
and ignore the p attested in the participle (with T) and the compound
auiaxos (13.41). An aorist is often required and always possible. Schulze,
approved by Chantraine, GH 1 139-40, suggested that a root aorist pdxov
( < erf-) lay behind these forms, how far behind it is impossible to say. They
are practically confined to formular phrases.
52-78 For Nestor's tactical discourses see nn. to 2.360-8. Diomedes
had begun impetuously and ended with hyperbole (cf. his reaction at
697-709 to the embassy's failure), but then these were vices of youth and
Diomedes was the youngest of the Achaean leaders (14.112) and younger
than any of Nestor's sons (57-8), cf. Akhilleus' hyperbole at 1.90 and
his impetuosity at 19.199-214. The older and wiser man (Nestor here,
Odysseus at 19.2 i6ff.), brings him back to earth and the immediate requirements
of the situation. Nestor's speech, like his contribution at 1.254—84, is
a masterpiece in the tactful management of impetuous firebrands. Everything
that Diomedes had said was quite beside the point (dTdp ou TEAOS IKEO
UUOGOV 56), but Nestor showers the speech with praise, excuses it, and then
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