Untitled - Get a Free Blog

Book Nine
although the Erinues were accustomed to terrify their victims by their horrendous
appearance. The Erinus 'that walks in darkness' (also 19.87) thus
enhances her menace by the obscurity of her epithet. It is possible, though
weak, that fjepo- denotes simply the lower air, so that the Erinus is thought
to fly, like a bird-daimon or Ate at 19.92-3. bT at 19.87, however, note
a variant siapomoTis, 'blood-drinking' (cf. eTap, 'blood', a Cypriot (i.e.
Mycenaean?) word according to Hsch.), which may conceivably be the
primary version of this formula before it became unintelligible and was
reshaped. — 'Epe|3saq>iv: because the Erinues, like Hades and Persephone,
dwell below ground, cf. 19.259-60 'Epivues, oci 0' OTTO ycclctv | &v6pd>Trous
TivvvTCU. — The Erinus hearkened, as it should, to the parent's prayer
and, since the action of such a being cannot be ineffective, the death of
Meleagros is implied. Phoinix, of course, cannot mention it explicitly to
Akhilleus, but an alert audience would notice that their return to battle
sealed the fate of both heroes. For the Erinues supporting a mother against
a son, see 21.412, Od. 2.135, 11.280.
574J 5& 1 * 585* 59° The suppliants - priests and elders, father, mother
and sisters, comrades, wife - must represent an ascending intensity of moral
pressure. Kakridis, Researches 20, pointed out that the scale: citizens,
parents/brothers, husband/wife is a traditional scale of affection into which
ETOtTpoi, who correspond to Odysseus and Aias, are inserted at the highest
possible point before the successful petition of Kleopatre. Lohmann's thesis,
Reden 258-63, is that the suppliants of the paradigm exactly mirror those of
the embassy - Odysseus representing the army, Phoinix the father, Aias the
comrades. Dramatic effect forms the pattern in each case. For those who
knew the story of the Iliad (among whom must be included Homer's later
audiences) there is irony in the fact that Kleopatre's plea succeeds, as will
the different plea of Patroklos.
574 AicKTOVTO yepovTes is probably formular and enters into a very similar
sentence at 18.448-9 (where yspovTES includes Odysseus and Aias).
575 Arn/A allege that this line induced Sophocles to make the chorus of
his Meleager priests. It is in fact not easy to guess what 'the noblest priests'
are doing in this context, except as an exemplification of yepovTes.
577 ireSiov: Kaludon commands the coastal plain and lower valley of
the Euenos river, see HSL Catalogue 109. ipccvvfjs: elsewhere aiireivri and
TTETprieacra are the epithets of Kaludon, a typical acropolis site.
578 For the TEUEVOS, the private estate of kings, see nn. to 12.313, 14.122-
5, and 18.550-1. TT6VTT|KOVT6yuov: a very handsome offer. Alkinoos' fruit
garden (opxorros) at Od. 7.113, which seems to be identical with his
-reuevos, was merely TETpayuos. bT, however, take the offer to be on the
low side, in order to magnify what has been offered to Akhilleus. The yurj
is a 'heroic' measure popular with the tragedians. Its actual extent is
138