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Formulas
construe are real enough. Every member of the genus 'god', 'hero', or
whatever, must if possible furnish an expression to fit the larger formula.
The effects are readily seen in speech-formulas. 23 TOV 8* fmeipET* ETreiTa
requires a half-verse subject phrase. That is no great problem, since personal
names are often long and epithets may be cumulated; but what about
the monosyllable Zeus? To fill the second half of the verse the &01801 paraphrased:
TraTrjp dvSpcov T6 GEGOV TE and 'OAOumos &OTepo7rnTf)s. ZsOs is
awkward in another way; it begins with a double consonant. No masculine
adjective in the nominative case can be placed before it without creating an
inelegantly overlengthened syllable and in many cases an awkward grouping
of consonantal sounds (-os/-r|s Z-, i.e. -s sd- or ~s ds-)\ hence vocatives
ur|Ti6Ta and V69sAr|y£pHTa (this seems the best explanation of these forms)
and even an accusative eupuofra are pressed into service to complete the set.
i-TTTroTOc and brrniA&Ta combine with names of heroes scanning and
beginning with a consonant. True vocatives are also used: (irpocjecpris)
rTorrpoKAsHS ITTTTEO, Euuccie ou^GOTa. All these turns of phrase are an essential
part of the formular system, whatever artistic value they may also possess
in a particular context. XP^^ ^poShri (22.470 and HyAphr 23) tolerates
a hiatus to complete the goddess's set of formulas, but in this instance the
nominative is not the primary form of the formula; 'golden Aphrodite' is so
called nine times in the oblique cases.
(xiv) Economy
Economy implies that for each shape in a set of formulas there is normally
only one expression. Economy of diction is probably specific to the ancient
Greek epic tradition, and is so because the noun-epithet formula has been
developed in Greek as an important element in the technique of versification.
Economy is pervasive. The same epithet is used in all case-forms
permitted by metre; the same idea runs through a formular set. Economy
is evident also at the level of grammar, within the Kunstsprache, and to some
extent at least at the thematic level. Dialect, archaic and artificial forms
enter the Kunstsprache only where they differ from the corresponding Ionic
forms, cf. vol. iv, 12-19; typical scenes have a fixed pattern.
Generally, the more reason there is to believe that an expression is a.
formula, the less likely it is to have a competitor. A formula comes readymade,
not as the product of some generative process. Where the latter
operates, because a formula does not exist or does not come to mind,
the results may not always be the same: sO^eorco EVI 6i9pco (and gen.) -
EUTTAEKTCO E. 8., luTpoxov apucc (2X //.) - EU£OOV a. (1 x //.), (OTTOC) yEpaiE
23 Edwards. CPh 64 (1969) 81-7 and HSCP 74 (1970) 1-36.
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