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Book Nine
206-21 The theme of the entertainment of guests takes over the narrative
and requires Odysseus and his companions to eat, although they have
already enjoyed a uevoeiKEa Sccnra in Agamemnon's hut (90-1) before
setting out. Aristarchus was embarrassed at this supposed hint of heroic
gluttony and thought of changing e£ epov IVTO (222) to dy e-rrdaavTO,
on which Didymus commented aXK oucos UTTO 7T£piTTf)s euAa|36ias OU5EV
U6T66r)K6v (Did/A). As Leaf observes, this does not show Aristarchus at
his best. The present passage is the most elaborate description of a nonsacrificial
meal in Homer, cf. 24.621-7 (Akhilleus' entertainment of
Priam). Such retardation at a crucial moment is in the epic manner; further
by incorporating such details as the personal attentions of Akhilleus the poet
creates an atmosphere of amity that is soon to be cruelly betrayed. Aias
makes this very point (640-2), that the claims of 91A10C, renewed by this
shared meal, have been ignored. As usual the meal scene is not expanded
by the ornamentation of one of its components (as arming scenes are) but
by piling up one element on another. Whole-verse sentences express each
step, but not many of the elements of this exceptional scene are demonstrably
formular (210 from KOCI duq>' = 1.465, etc., 212 to 6Kdr| = 1.464, etc.,
with m)p for |xnp', 216-17 = 24.625-6, with Automedon for Patroklos, 221
= 9.991, etc.). The standard scene (Arend, Scenen 68-70) is cast in the 3rd
person plural, not in the singular as here, and is much more formalized in
the Odyssey (six examples). — One result of the elaboration of the scene
is the appearance of several hapax legomena: dvOpocKir), 'embers', lAeov,
'side-table', OvnAai, 'parts burnt as sacrifice', KpcrrEUTCci, 'fire-dogs', Kpelov,
'carving dish'.
206 sv m/pos ocuyfj is formular (2X Od.). The fire is as much for light as
for heat, cf. Od. 19.64 of the fire in Odysseus' megaron, 90GOS euev "H^e OepeaOai.
207-8 The VCOTOV and the pdxiS are the best cuts of the Homeric butcher,
cf. 7.321 and n., Od. 4.65, 8.475, I 4437- At 217 (= 24.626, Akhilleus'
entertainment of Priam) the hero must be understood to carve off a portion
for each of his guests, as Odysseus did (VCOTOU dTTOTrpoTaucbv) for the
singer Demodokos (Od. 8.475). — TeOaAuiav dAouprj is by 'declension' of
OaAsOovTes dAouprj (2X), and well illustrates the equivalence of the perfective
aspect of the verb and the -8- formant, cf. Chantraine, GHi, 326-7.
Te8aAuTocv dAoupfiv Od. 13.410 is another variant.
209 For Automedon see 16.145-8. He is third in the hierarchy of the
Myrmidons and serves as Akhilleus' charioteer.
212 The verse is clearly derived from the whole-verse formula aCrrdp ITTEI
Korrd lif^p' 6Kar| KCC! orrAdyxva irdaavTo (1.464, 2.427). The v.ll., euapfivcrro,
TraOaccTO 6e 9A6£ and m/pos dvOos, dTTETrraTO 6e 9A6£, are probably inspired
by the slight awkwardness of KonraKaiouai with irup (not the burned
object) as subject, a construction that is more readily understood than