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Book Nine
editors, is an incorrect orthography of the same form), cf. TiufjvTa (18.475),
Texv'noxrai {Od. 7.110), so Arn/A. It is scarcely possible, in spite of the
support of Aristarchus (Hrd/A), to construe Ti[xf\s as genitive of price, in
spite of Tiu-qs (genitive) in direct reference to this line at 608.
In its primary function as a model for Akhilleus to act upon the parable of
Meleagros not only fails but is also encumbered with several superfluous
features: the prominence of Kleopatre, her role in bringing pressure on
Meleagros, and his implied death. The presence of these features helps to
establish a secondary function of the paradigm by means of which the poet
constructs a mirror of the action of his poem and communicates to his
audience an interpretation of Akhilleus' lifjvis OUAOUEVTJ.
606-1 g Akhilleus replies with impatience to Phoinix' sermon. He acknowledges the
moral pressure brought to bear on him and warns Phoinix to cease, but keeps the old
man with him in case he should decide {now an open question) to return to Phthie
607 = 17.561, see n. ad loc. The form aria, always in the vocative, conveys
affectionate regard. It is used 6x in Od. by Telemakhos in addressing old
family servants, orrra is an old Indo-European expression surviving in
Greek only in the epic (and reportedly in Thessalian, Eust. 777.54). Its
function here is to define the tone of Akhilleus' words, which is otherwise
obscured by the epic style. yepociE Sioxpecpss is formular (11.648 and
653)-
608-9 Like much of Akhilleus' rhetoric, 'being honoured by the alaa of
Zeus' is more impressive than clear. Taken with the preceding verse (ou TI
UE TCCUTris I XP £< k Til^fis) the implication may be that Akhilleus now has no
use for the earthbound conceptions of Agamemnon: 'he will risk all in the
belief that nobility is not a mutual exchange of vain compliments among
men whose lives are as evanescent as leaves, but an organic and inevitable
part of the universe, independent of social contract' (Whitman, HHT 183).
Agamemnon, however, made a similar and obviously petulant remark at
1.173-5, O06E CT' lycoye | Aia