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Book Eleven
first to a series of slayings by different heroes. It is natural to begin such a
section with TTpcoTos, cf. 4.457, 5.38, 6.5, 13.170, 16.284. Here there is no
space for the exploits of a second or third warrior (see 67-9in.), and the
poet plunges forthwith into Agamemnon's aristeia. irpcoTOS has point, however;
Agamemnon is impetuous; he also jumps in first at 5.38 and 7.162.
92-100 Slaying of Bienor and Oileus. Aristarchus (Arn/A) read the
Attic form Bidvopa, for an unknown reason. Oileus is the name of the lesser
Aias' parent and an odd choice for a minor Trojan: it is unlikely that the
Ionian singer recognized that 'OIAEUS represented FIAEOS ([Hesiod] fr. 235
M-W etc., see 12.365^) and connected it with (F)IAios. The '0- is necessarily
vocalic in at least 13 of the 21 Iliadic occurrences of 'OIAEUS and
'OiAidBris. Both this Oileus and Bienor are otherwise unknown to the archaic
epic and their choice here seems arbitrary. Oileus is the charioteer,
not because of his epithet TrAf|£nTTros (a generic epithet used of Pelops and
two other fighting men in the Iliad), but because the regular sequence is to
slay the fighting man first and his driver second, e.g. 6.i2ff. Oileus, however,
shows more spirit than most fjvioxoi, who in present circumstances are
paralysed with fear, e.g. Asios' driver at 13.3946°. and Thestor at 16.4016°.
Note that even these minor figures are thought to have a chariot at hand.
The battle scenes are the stock scenes of the Iliad and presumably an
indispensable and ancient part of heroic poetry, see Introduction to vol. 11,
ch. 2, and Mueller, Iliad 78-83. Fenik, TBS passim (pp. 78-114 deal with
book 11), has supplied a masterly analysis of their thematic content which
it would be otiose to reproduce in detail. It may, however, be useful to
analyse the diction of 92-100 as an example of the way in which such scenes
are constructed at the formula level (ciphers refer to Iliadic occurrences):
92 TTpcoTos opoucj(e): also 11.217 (note the tendency to repeat a
phrase after a short interval).
EAE 6' (or EAOV) av8poc: 3X .
u-uu 7roi|i6va (-1) Aacov: 6x .
93 OCUTOV, ETTEITOC 5': only here, in spite of the hero's so frequently
pouncing without delay on his next victim.
u TrAf|£nT7rov: also at 4.327.
94 fjTOi 6 y': 7X .
E£ iTTTTCOv KaTETT&Auevos: only here, but cf. EirdAuEvos 6x before the
diaeresis, and E£ (KCCO', d