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Book Ten
226 = 23.590. PP&CTCTCOV (< ppdx-^cov) is an archaic comparative of
Ppax^s found only here in the epic corpus, and so to be taken as an archaism
on the part of the composer. Arn/A toy with the idea of the participle of
PP&CTCTCO, 'shake violently'. AeTrrf] 8E T6 nfJTis = 23.590.
228-31 The fivefold anaphora of f)66AeTr)v/f|8eAe is paralleled by the less
emphatic TCO 8 s Im/Tolai 8 s 6TT' in the list of volunteers at 7.i63ff.
231-2 TAT|UGOV ... ETOAUOC: the couplet reads like a schema etymologicum,
although this cannot be as TAT)|JCOV is usually understood (= TTOAU-TACCS or
UTro|i6vr|TiK6s (Arn/A)). For TAf)|icov = 'daring' see 21.430 and Theognis
196. Except for TATJUCOV in this book the epithets of Odysseus are the same
in both epics, though more appropriate to the hero of the Odyssey than to
an Iliadic fighting hero. — 6 TAT||JGOV 'O8UCT6US is found only here and at
498, though similar language is used at 5.670 'OSuaeus ... TATJUOVOC OUUOV
Ixcov. For the article see 363^ — (KCCTa)80vai 6|iiAov is formular (6x //.,
1 x Od.) but elsewhere in the Iliad always of troops in the field. Aristarchus
accordingly wished ouiAos to mean 'army' (Arn/A at 338 and 499), whereas
here it signifies TrAf^Oos KOC! aOpoicjua. Both the sharp observation and the
excessively precise inference are characteristically Aristarchan. 6|iiAos takes
its sense from its context, and is used at Od. 15.328, etc. of the company of
Penelope's suitors.
234 epico K6xocpia|ieve Ouuco: Agamemnon (who has no conspicuous affection
for Diomedes, cf. 9.32ft 0 .) uses a formular verse put more naturally into
the mouth of Athene at 5.243 and 5.826. The hemistich occurs also at
11.608 and Od. 4.71.
236 90CIVOIJ6VCOV: 'those who have come forward', 'the volunteers', is
clearly what the poet wants, but his choice of word has puzzled commentators
as to its precise sense, e.g. 'as they present themselves' (Leaf,
Schadewaldt).
237-9 ai86[i6vos: in the heroic system of values ai8cos denotes sensitivity
to disapproval. It can therefore be a spur to action if the disapproved
behaviour is e.g. cowardice, hence the cry oclScbs, 'Apyeioi, KOK' iAeyxeoc,
eT8os &ytyroi (5.787 = 8.228), or as here it can restrain a hero from showing
disrespect, cf. Od. 3.24 oci8cbs 8' aO VEOV dv8pa yepaiTspov e£spsea6ai
(Telemakhos to 'Mentor'). Diomedes was a young man and sometimes at
least (4.411-18, though not at 9.31-49) deferential towards seniority and
rank. That a man can be yzxp&v but pacriAsuTepos is implicit in the wrath
of Akhilleus, but as an arcanum imperii it is not usually so candidly revealed
as it is here. — al8oT EIKCOV < ai86'i pekcov, ultimately that is, but preserved
with hiatus by formular conservatism.
240 This verse was certainly missing from Zenodotus' text (Did/AT),
and was probably athetized by his successors as violating heroic standards
of courage. Modern taste would tend to think the text stronger if
175