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Book Eleven
etc. (12X ), Oeiou |3., etc. (3X in Od.), and UTrepiJevecov (3., etc. (3X ). Contrast
the behaviour of 6cva£, on which see Ruijgh, UElement acheen 112-16.
Only in this verse is (3a 2I -9°>
a word of uncertain meaning, irponaxoi according to an old suggestion of
Hermann's, 'en masse' in later poets, perhaps 'on foot' here and at 12.77,
as Arn/A suggests and as Eustathius (893.32) thought on the strength of the
word's occurrence in Cretan; not, as LSJ s.v. propose, common soldiers
'opp. to chiefs fighting from chariots', at least not here. (The TrpuAees have
a f|ye|icov at 15.517.) Verses 47-8 = 12.84-5, where ETTI Tc&ppco refers to the
outer side of the ditch. The iTrTrqES at 52 are then those in charge of the
chariots, the fjvioxoi. Verses 48-9 are repeated with grammatical changes
to introduce the imperative mood at 12.76-7, but there it is Pouludamas
recommending these same tactics to the Trojans.
50 The noise of the Achaean advance seems to be an inadvertence;
cf. 3.8-9, 4.429-31. fjcoOi Trpo: here and 2X Od.; for the shape of the
formula cf. 'IAi68i Trpo (3X //., 1 x Od.) and the isolated oupavoOi Trpo 3.3.
The syntax is unclear (from an archetype 'lAioo Trpo?), cf. 3-3n.
51-2 UETEKIOCOOV: the chariotry follow in the approved manner at a short
distance. UETEKIOCOOV (with I by metrical lengthening) is an obsolescent verb
(5X //., 1 x Od., not in Hesiod) beside the simplex (E)KIOV. Both forms are
aorists. The root is evidently *kiH- with laryngeal, cf. the factitive KTVECO.
The proper function of the -0- suffix is to indicate 'que l'aboutissement de
l'action est envisage' (Chantraine, GH 1 326), a function most evident at
16.685 Tpcoas KOCI AUKIOUS HETEKIOOE.
53—4 The symbolism of the bloody rain is obvious, cf. the bloody raindrops
at 16.459-61, Aspis 384.
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