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Book Ten
For the contraction -|3co- (< -por|-) see 12.337. Odysseus and Diomedes
have finished the easy part of their business and have set themselves the
more dangerous task of attacking the Thracians. Odysseus naturally calls
on Athene for safe conduct (Treuyov, 464).
466 8eeAov 8 J em o-qud T' lOrjKe is virtually unintelligible but must conceal
the sense that Odysseus put some mark on the tamarisk so that they could
pick up the spoils on their return. Hsch. has a gloss SkAos* 8SCT|J6S, auucc,
which almost certainly recalls an attempt to interpret this passage: 8eeAov
would then be a noun ('bundle' of something) co-ordinated with crqua.
Am/A take 8eeAov as an uncontracted form of Sf^Aov, which would give
good sense were it not for the T\ SseAov could be a deliberate archaism based
on 6U8EI6AOS (3X Od.) and T J may be ejected despite the unusual hiatus that
would follow. Either that, or the verse has been the victim of deep and very
early corruption.
467 £piOr|A£as 6£ous looks as though it should be formular, cf. Tavuf)Keas
6£ous 16.768, but both are unique expressions. Hesiod has 8cc9vr|S epi0r|Aeos
6£ov {Theog. 30).
4^9~5 02 The Achaeans surprise the Thracians sleeping. Diomedes slays Rhesos and
twelve other Thracians while Odysseus makes off with the horses
For a scene with such graphic possibilities the death of Rhesos is poorly
represented in classical vase-painting, there being no certain examples in
Attic black and red figure, but cf. 454n. Virgil included the scene among
his decorations of the temple of Juno at Carthage, Aen. 1.469—73.
471 6C8T|K6T£S: see g8n.
473 Tpioroixi: 'in three rows', only here in the epic (and Hesiod, Theog.
727), but the formation is impeccable. 8i£uyes ITTTTOI: only in the phrase
TTCcpoc 8e oxpiv eK&orcp 8. 1. (2X //.) The horses are a matched pair, ready to
be yoked. The epithet is thus contextually significant, a 'marked' form, and
not a formular equivalent of the 'free' form, licbvux^S TTTTTOI, that immediately
follows.
475 ^ 67Ti8i9pid8os: hapax legomenon, but evidently the breastwork or
the chariot rail, like OCVTU£, see the many drawings in Arch. Horn, F 42-69
(J. Wiesner). It is not necessary to state what every ancient reader would
assume, that the horses were unyoked for the night (cf. 8.543-4, and see
4986°. with nn.). Truucrrns is difficult to understand precisely (the rail at the
back of the chariot?), and may have been influenced by the use of TruudTr)
with &VTU£ as part of a shield (6.118, 18.608). The &VTU£ of a chariot was
the natural place to fasten the reins, cf. the formula s£ dvTuyos f|Via Teivas
(2X //.). iuaai: as a specific term in connexion with horses \\xas means a
whiplash (23.363), but it has a wide application and here presumably
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