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Formulas
(MHV 42-55). Localization steers a word to a particular part of the verse;
the sentence pattern simultaneously builds it into the expression of a complete
thought.
The opening verses of book 1 illustrate points ii-iv:
Mf^viv aei5e, 6ea, | ITnAr|'ia8Eco 'A
oOAoueVnv, | f\ laupi' | 'AxcuoTs | aAys' e6r|Ke
There is an unusual break in the second foot of the first verse of //. 1;
otherwise the phrases into which the sentence falls fill the cola (marked
by |) into which the normal verse falls. Light enjambment, with completion
of the clause in the first or second foot of the second verse, is characteristic
of the Homeric sentence (seven instances, for example, in the first twenty
verses of book 11).
nr|Ar|id8£co 'AxiAfps occurs 6 x , by virtual necessity always between caesura
and verse-end, in each case preceded by the noun on which the genitive
depends. Similar name-epithet formulas in the genitive case are used in the
same way (MHV 61). It is a trite summary of these data to describe the
pattern of the clause as noun ... + noun-epithet formula in the genitive
case at the verse-end. Does the summary describe a reality or a mere
accident? The reality of a pattern in the use of the relatively infrequent
genitive case is borne out by the data cited by Parry for the use of nameepithet
formulas in the nominative case, where, of course, it is the verb that
precedes the formula. In these clause-patterns any noun-phrase and any verb
of suitable shape may be combined. The clause will come more naturally
together if the noun or verb is a common one, but all that is required is the
appropriate metrics. In the syntagma (verb u-uu) + (name-epithet subject
expression -uu-x) in the second half most verbs and expressions are
quite usual and doubtless came together without much effort on the composer's
part, but E91A0CTO rfaAAds 'A0f|vr|, 5.61, happens to be unique. Only
in that verse, in the Iliad, does flaAAds 'A0f|vr| enter this clause-pattern and
the augmented first aorist form ecpiAorro is unique in Homer. But icpiAorro
occupies not only the position of the verb in this clause-pattern but also the
slot reserved in the verse for words of shape u-uu.
The sentence of 1.1-2 is formally completed within the first verse but
is extended with progressive enjambment by the addition of an epithet,
ouAoueVnv, which in its turn is explicated by a relative clause. This type of
sentence structure has many parallels, e.g. Zeus • • • I CTXETAIOS, 6S ..., 9.19;
yuvaiKocs ... | Aeo"|M8as, as ..., 9.129; pouAfjs . •. | K6p5aAgr|s, f\ TIS KEV
IpuaaeTai f|Se aacoaei, 10.43-4.
The most important clause and sentence boundary is the verse-end, for
about two out of five Homeric verses are unenjambed; subsidiary boundaries
coincide with those of the metrical cola. In the middle or second half
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