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Book Twelve
(= 16.418 = 8.277 *f genuine), made all the grimmer by the epithet
TrouAu(3oT6ipr). It is to be noted that the pathetic combination of creation
and destruction is enshrined in the traditional diction of the epic, cf. 3.243-
4 and n.
igj-28g Hektor is about to launch an attack when an omen appears. It is cautiously
interpreted by Pouludamas. Hektor angrily rejects the omen and leads his men in an
attempt to make a breach in the wall. The Aiantes stiffen the defence as both sides
shower each other with missiles
The poet returns to the pattern of the previous episode: a cautionary
speech from Pouludamas, Hektor's reaction, Trojan attack, and successful
Achaean defence. Though arguing that the structure of this Book is a
repetition of a basic thematic pattern, Fenik, Homer and the Nibelungenlied
28-33, has a somewhat different analysis, making the first episode consist
of A: Trojan charge (34-59), B: Pouludamas and reaction (60-107),
C: Asios attacks (108-94), balanced by A': Trojan charge (195-9), B':
Pouludamas and reaction (200-89), C!': Sarpedon attacks (290-436). The
length of the constituent parts, the distribution of similes, and the device of
the catalogue (which must represent a starting-point) argue for the analysis
here adopted.
In the event the attack is the Trojans' collectively rather than Hektor's
personally and the narrative of fighting is cast in general terms. The simile
of the snowflakes (278-86) links this episode to that of Asios (108-74), °fthe
simile at 156-58, so that the two passages should be viewed as a whole
and the ill-tempered exchange of Pouludamas and Hektor (210-50) and
the defence of the Aiantes (265—76) subsumed within it. The appearance of
the Aiantes anticipates their more elaborate defence at 329—377.
195-9 A rather rambling sentence, a product of the cumulative 'speaker's
style'; the 01 p' of 199 is the antecedent of the relative clause 01 ...
ETTOVTO at 196, to which a further relative clause, 197-8, is appended.
Verses 197-8 = 89-90 with verbal variation at the end of the second line.
199 £Ti marks the linear form of the narrative. It is of course implausible
that the crack force under Hektor and Pouludamas should spend the whole
time of Asios' assault and repulse in contemplation of the ditch. The epic
narrative moves forward in time, sometimes sideways, but never backwards.
So here the account of Hektor's attack reverts to the point at which
it was left at 109, but is made to follow that of Asios.
200-50 The point of the omen of the snake and the eagle, Pouludamas'
interpretation, and Hektor's response lies in its clarification of Hektor's
attitude at this critical moment. He has put his trust in Zeus and this not
only spurs him on but blinds him to the significance of every warning.
339