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Book Twelve
the undergrowth' (Rise 247). bT affirm reasonably enough that the oak
represents firmness (as 135—6 indicate) and the boar firmness 4- aggression.
But between the two similes the narrative moves on; at 131 the Lapithai are
awaiting the onslaught, at 145 they move to repel it. At 151, however, it is
made clear that the tertium comparationis of the second simile is the noise of
gnashing teeth and clashing armour. For the gnashing teeth cf. 11.416,
13474-5-
132 uyiK&pr|VOi is a hapax legomenon, apparently a variation of uvyiKopios,
the regular epithet of the oak (2X //., 4X Od., and 2X in Hesiod).
134 An impressive four-word verse. pi£ncri ... 6irjv6K86a' dpapuTai is a
formula under-represented in the Iliad; it recurs, with dprjpcos, at Hesiod,
Theog. 812, where the roots are metaphorical.
137-8 TSTXOS is used loosely, for Asios is attacking the gate, cf. 443
(TEIXOS) with 445ft 0 . (TTUAOCI). The action of holding up the shield is natural
in the circumstances, cf. the posture of the figures on the Silver Siege Vase
from Shaft Grave iv at Mycenae (Lorimer, HM 142, fig. 4). No particular
formation, like the Roman testudo, seems to be intended, for which
dpapioxeiv would be the appropriate verb. The Siege Vase draws attention
to an omission from the Homeric account, the absence of covering 'fire'
from archers. For sophisticated Near Eastern siege methods see the silver
bowl from Amathous (Arch. Horn N 10) and the discussion in Lawrence,
Fortification 13-30. — For poOs in the sense of '(leather) shield' see 105 and
7.238. On the evidence of the Iliad poas auas is not formular as a wordgroup,
but the idea that the shield requires cured and toughened hide recurs
in pcov I