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Book Nine<br />

modern reading which preserves the digamma of pi8uia. Hoekstra (on Od.<br />

13.417) and West (on Od. 1.428) are inclined to accept s!5- at least for the<br />

Odyssey. It is impossible to say in such a case which would prevail in the<br />

poet's time, the conservatism of the Kunstsprache or his vernacular speech.<br />

300-6 Odysseus returns, by way of ring-composition, to his opening<br />

theme, the present peril. (Hektor is nearby cf. lyyus vrjcbv 232, he is berserk<br />

cf. AucTcra 239.) He anticipates Akhilleus' reaction to their overtures. His<br />

loathing of Agamemnon may be beyond remedy; in that case let him ignore<br />

the King of Men and think of himself and his friends. As Sarpedon explained<br />

(12.310-28 and n.) heroism is a social and personal obligation that<br />

underpins the Homeric idea of kingship: the king protects the people, the<br />

people give him honour. Odysseus, of course, is speaking rhetorically: the<br />

Panakhaioi are not Akhilleus' subjects and Odysseus cannot claim that they<br />

have honoured him and so created an obligation on his part, only that they<br />

will do so (Tsi

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