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Book Twelve
externalization of his conviction that behind the events he describes was a
guiding force. Neither mode of description implies that the action is in any
way morally different from action that is merely stated: see Adkins, Merit
and Responsibility 10-17, Dodds, Greeks and the Irrational 8-18. Figurative
language should imply that the action is vigorous or resolute enough to call
for an elaborated description, but is easily devalued; Ouuos dvf)KE is a formula
(8x with variants), stronger than Ouuds dvcoyei (15X in //. with
variants).
292 Sarpedon (unlike Glaukos) has a possible Lycian name, cf. J.
Sundvall, Die einheimischen JVamen der Lykier, 2nd edn (Aalen 1963) 29, 251,
and 5.663n., and is clearly conceived as ruling in the area known classically
as Lycia, cf. the exploits of his ancestor Bellerophon (6.171-90), improbable
as that might seem for an ally of the Trojans. The classical Lycians
preferred to call themselves TepuiAcci; it is possible that the Greek name
unwittingly preserves the second-millennium designation of the Lukka
lands, uncertainly located somewhere in western Anatolia.
293 AEOV0 S obs (3OUCTIV iAi^iv is an unusually extended 'short simile' with
ambivalent syntax; understand 2apTrf|6ova (£7r)6p|JiEvov with AEOVO' rather
than Zeus copasv. The brief simile anticipates the longer lion simile that
follows at 299: for this narrative pattern see 13.298—3O3n. and Moulton,
Simile 19-22. Another instance is the repetition of the whirlwind motif at
11.297 and 11.305—8. The short comparison may serve to prompt its subsequent
elaboration, but at the same time the recurrent image has a cumulative
effect on the imagination of the audience. — EAI^I, 'twisted', sc. with
respect to the horns, puzzled the scholiasts who took it for a colour term
('black'), see 9.466—9n.
294—6 For the action of the charging warrior — and the construction of
his shield cf. 13.803-4. The short description of Sarpedon's equipment is an
instance of what the scholia call ocu£r|