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Book Eleven
Apisaon, and was then wounded. He withdrew within the defensive
'hedgehog' of his companions. Aias followed, shield doubtless over his
shoulders and therefore facing the Achaeans (TCOV OCVTIOS, 594). Received
into their ranks he then turned to face the enemy (595). At this point we
leave the battlefield until the beginning of book 12.
593-4 cr&Ke' GOUOICTI KAIVOCVTES | 5oupaT J dvaax6|ievoi: what is this posture?
See 22.411., and Leaf ad locc. The context requires it to be some sort
of defensive formation to cover the wounded Eurupulos and into whose
protection Aias can withdraw, but it is difficult to imagine a satisfactory
posture for a man 'leaning his shield on his shoulders' while 'holding up his
spear (or spears)'. Perhaps he held a spear in each hand, letting the shield
hang by its strap. It has been thought that cr&Ke' obuoicji KAIVOCVTES may
mean that the lower edges of these (tower?) shields rested on the ground
(Lorimer, HM 188). — Verse 593 = 13.488 and (from (JOCKE') 22.4. Soupon'
dvaax6|i6voi is also formular (3X ).
$g6-6ij Not without a feeling of satisfaction, mixed with curiosity, Akhilleus observes
the wounded brought back to the ships. He sends Patroklos to investigate
It is the poet's practice, in those battle Books from which Akhilleus is
absent, to remind his audience as he does here of the hero's reputation and
brooding presence, cf. 2.241, 4.512, 5.788, 6.414ft 0 ., 7.113, 8.225, etc -
596 (=13.673, 18.1, and without ocidouEvoio 17.366): a formular verse
marking a transition to a new episode. Fire is the type of something that,
like war, rages (19X //., ix Od.).
597 Nestor left the battlefield at 520. Nr|Af|'iai ITTTTOI: Homeric horses,
unlike those of most later Greek poetry, are usually masculine where the
gender is clear. Mares are specifically so designated (6f|Aeioa, 2.767, 5.269,
11.680, 20.222, cf. 23.376), or given feminine forms of their epithets (COKEI&GOV,
4.500, 7.15, 7.240). Nestor's steeds are curiously epicene, masculine at
8.81, 8.104, feminine at 8.113 and here, masculine again at 23.310, for no
rational purpose. It is pure surmise that a feminine nrrroi has replaced a
descendant of the Myc. i-qi-ja (so Lee, BICS 6 (1959) 8-17).
598 !5pcbaai: a rare contraction, cf. iSpcboucra (11.119); £COVTOS (1.88)
is the nearest other analogue. Meister, Kunstsprache 90-2 discusses these
forms.
599 TOV 8E i5cbv EVOTJCTE seems prolix but results from the interplay of
formulas: TOV 8E iScbv uu-u (9X ) + EVOT|