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Book Eleven
without any numinous aura; consequently they are treated casually as
convenient landmarks (23.331), watchtowers (2.793), or fighting posts.
Verse 372 expands "lAou ... TraAaiou AapSaviSao (166) with a rearrangement
of the epithets. Brmoyepovros, 'elder of the people', is therefore not a
traditional description of Ilos, an ancestor of the royal line of Troy, for
whom it would be inappropriate if strictly interpreted.
373-5 The lines expand the formular phrase (KOC!) OCIVUTO T&jye* &K'
d)|icov (11.580, 13.550) with some resulting awkwardness: TravaioAov is
construed with 0copr|Ka pace Lattimore, cf. the formula ^coorfipa TravaioAov
(4.215, 11.236); &orn6a T' caucov is unparalleled.
375ff, There is a striking lack of any cross-reference to Diomedes' previous
injury from an arrow. In 5.95ff. he was hit by Pandaros, but prayed
at once to Athene and was healed. Except in the case of Menelaos' narrow
escape at 4.134-40, the Homeric arrow will not penetrate defensive armour,
cf. 12.401 where Teukros' arrow is stopped by the shield-strap and
leaves Sarpedon uninjured, and 13.586-7. The archer must therefore aim
at, or luckily hit, some part of his target that is (cf. 12.389) yu|avco06is.
(Diomedes was stooping over his victim.) So it is the right shoulder, exposed
by the shield, that is hit (5.98, 11.507), or the right thigh (11.583). Other
spots are the waist (4.134), the breast (8.303, 8.313), the arm (unspecified,
but hardly the shield-arm, 12.389), and the back of the neck (15.451).
Vase-painters, however, often depict arrow wounds in the lower leg, see
Lorimer, BSA 42 (1947) figs. 7, 9, n.
375 TT'nX uv: some fitment at the centre of the bow-stave is intended
by which the bow was held and the arrow guided, cf. Od. 21.419 (OICTTOV)
em TTTJXSI eAcov IAKEV V6upf]v yAuq>i8as xe.
376 = 5.18 = 16.480 (from 2nd foot). (3dA6V construes with Tapaov in
the following verse — 'let fly ... and hit'.
377 81a 6 s diiTTEpss: an unusual tmesis of the adverb Siauirepes, cf. IK 8'
6vouaKAf|5r|v {Od. 4.278).
379 Kai Euxopievos ETTOS r|05a is formular (6x ) but is elsewhere always
used of an Achaean boasting over a dead Trojan. The fact that this phrase
is used of Paris when Diomedes is not dead underlines the vanity of his
self-congratulation. The victor's boast and the disparaging response make
up a typical motif, see Fenik, TBS 32, and Sacks, Traditional Phrase, 12.
380 p£(3Ar|ai: the scansion is probably as a dactyl, with the -r|- shortened.
385-95 Diomedes' words are an eloquent expression of the aristocratic
spearman's contempt for those who fight at distance (and often anonymously)
with the bow. The sentiment is characteristic of the Iliad, where
among the heroes of some (relatively modest) distinction only Pandaros,
Paris, Teukros, and sometimes Meriones fight with the bow. Pandaros
explained it by his lack of a chariot (5.201-5). The attitude of the Odyssey,
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