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Book Ten
287 The pause at the Asopos river is mentioned at 4.383. (AITTE)
XaAKOxiTcovas 'Axoaous: the regular formula is 'Axocicov x^AKOxiTcbvcov.
Declension into the accusative case is no significance in itself; what is
remarkable is that the genitive is an exceptionally firmly fixed expression
(22 x //., 2 x Od.), which only here shows any modification. The poet could
have said Am' 'Axouous x a ^ K oX* TCOVa $> keeping the word order of the primary
formula; that he did not do so is probably a response to the localization
of case-forms of 'Axoaoi (u ), except in a few fixed formulas, at the
verse-end. The epithet itself, in the nominative case, is transferred to the
'ETTEIOI at 11.694. A literal bronze x iTC ^ v (like the Dendra cuirass, Arch.
Horn, E pi. VII?) would be an uncomfortable garment, and was perhaps
misunderstood in the later stages of the epic tradition, whence the gloss
XaAK8o0copr)KCov (4.448 = 8.62 and nn.). In all three allusions to the
Theban saga the Thebans are called KOCSUETOI or KOCSUEIGOVES, their attackers
'Axcaoi, as if the war of the Seven had been a national enterprise.
290 ^ Od. 13.391 which has TTOTVO Oed for 6Ta ded and £Trapf|yois for
TrapEorris. — Trpo9paaaa, also at 21.500 and 3 x Od., is an epic feminine of
TTp69pcov (which also serves as a feminine, e.g. at 244). The formation is
analogical after archaic feminines in -aaaa of vx-stems.
291 Trapiorao, imperative, is preserved by Zenodotus, Aristarchus
(Arn/A), and ai TTAEIOUS (i.e. the majority of the 'better' texts), and is
supported by udpvao 15.475. All the medieval MSS have Trapioraao, the
Attic and Koine form and, pace van der Valk, Textual Criticism of the Odyssey
(Leiden 1949) 165, clearly intrusive. — KCCI iropE K08OS (Zenodotus, Arn/A),
in place of KOU UE cpuAaaaE, is not a Homeric expression. The vulgate is
confirmed by TrapioTauai f|5E (puAdaoxo (Od. 13.301) and irapioTCCTai f|8'
EirapriyEi (23.783).
292-4 (= Od. 3.382-4): the vow is one of the formulas of prayer. Since
the narrative of the night's events ends before daybreak there is no notice
of Diomedes' having fulfilled his promise to the goddess. — fjviv is used only
in this formula; for the probable meaning 'yearling' see Frisk, GEW and
Chantraine, Diet. s.v. The properispomenon accentuation was approved by
Herodian in spite of the anomalous metrics in the fourth foot which that
accentuation implies. The toleration of a short syllable (-Tv) in the unstressed
part of the foot is more typical of the first foot (West, GM 39). The
suffix was probably originally in long T.
294 xputfov KEpaaiv TTEpixeuas is evidently a memory of ancient practice.
TTEprxa/Eiv is to spread gold leaf over an object. The poet of Od. 3.432-8
affects to describe the gilding process, but has no real knowledge of it and
represents the smith, in a highly inaccurate manner, as using a hammer to
apply the gold leaf, see D. H. F. Gray, JHS 74 (1954) 12-13.
297 The lion is the epic's favourite beast for illustrating the heroic
184