Commentaries on Homer's Iliad iv

4.1 FROM THE RHO

That the rhapsody of rho is called the aristeia of Menelaus in prose. But the heroic inscription is this: Rho, the Danaans and Trojans joined hands around the corpse. (17.12) The beginning here is of similar form to that of xi. For there he said, “But the cry did not escape Nestor.” And here he says, “nor did it escape the son of Atreus, Menelaus dear to Ares, that Patroclus was slain by the Trojans in the strife.” In these lines it is possible to see that Menelaus is not remiss nor soft on critical occasions. (17.4-5) And so, grieving terribly, he strode about him “like a mother around her calf, who is bringing forth her first, wailing, not knowing childbirth before.” and being rekindled to courage, he kills the Dardanian Phorbas, the brother of Polydamas, who, as was written before, was the first to cast a dart at Patroclus. And he strides around Patroclus before the others, not only because he, being such a man himself, was kindly disposed toward him, but also because that man lies slain for the sake of his own honor, as he himself will say later on, and also because, according to the word of Homer's Athena, it will be a dejection and a reproach to Menelaus if the corpse of Patroclus is dishonored. Note that here too peribainein and amphibainein mean to protect and to help someone who is lying down, and that while amphibainein is constructed with the accusative, for example “you who have protected Chryse,” the separation of the preposition here seems to alter the syntax. For he says “and he strode about him,” and “around a calf,” and “he strode around Patroclus.” Yet, even without the separation, a little later he says “striding over Patroclus, he slew the best man.” And it must be known that not only with bainein are amphi and peri constructed with the dative, but also with histasthai, for example, “he stood about the son of Menoetius,” and “they stood about the son of Menoetius,” and “standing around Patroclus.” Further, it must be known that in “Menelaus dear to Ares,” which also occurs a little later, and wherever else the poet 4.2 calls a Greek man dear to Ares, it mythically indicates the fickle nature of Ares. For how is he not fickle who loves not only Trojans but also Greeks? See also that he did not compare Menelaus to some violent animal, but to a sympathetic one, doing this with a view to the present occasion, in which it was necessary only to pity, a mighty battle not yet having been arranged. Therefore he compares him neither to a bull nor indeed to a cow attacked by a wild beast, but to one who has given birth for the first time and for this reason is wailing, that is, with a piteous voice, because of her great affection. For such mothers stride more sympathetically about their calves. Ajax, however, in the following lines he will compare to a lion fighting for its cubs. And he will compare this same Menelaus to a lion a little later, when he kills Euphorbus while striding about Patroclus. That Menelaus is gentle is clear, since he was sympathetic even to his enemies. At least, having taken Adrastus alive in the passages before these, he would have saved him, if his brother the king had not prevented it. And that he is also zealous at the right moment, he showed both in that single combat in which his brother held him back, and by rising before his brother during the night-watch, and where, perceiving Odysseus was hard-pressed, he himself brings Ajax as a helper. And it is not unclear that the heifer, the newborn offspring of a cow, is also called a poris, for instance “field-dwelling heifers,” from poreia. For the heifer is skittish, and the same is also called portis with the addition of a ˉt, from which is also the phrase in Hesiod “a hireling under-a-heifer,” for example “of a calf or an ox,” and also portax as a diminutive, by analogy with leimax and meirax and mulax and lithax and pidax [and skulax. But if it does not seem to someone that portax [and mulax] and lithax and pidax and skulax are diminutives because Homer, in whom portax and the others are found, does not delight in diminutives, at least meirax (boy) and meirax (girl) and leimax are used as diminutives by later writers, and especially ploutax, which a certain parasite mentioned in the Deipnosophist.] (17.5) And it is also clear that first-born

Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem iv

4.1 ΕΚ ΤΗΣ ΡΩ

Ὅτι ἀριστεία Μενελάου λέγεται ἡ τοῦ ῥῶ ῥαψῳδία κατὰ τὸ πεζόν. ἡ δὲ ἡρωῒς ἐπιγραφὴ αὕτη· Ῥῶ, ∆αναοὶ Τρῶές τε νέκυν πέρι χεῖρας ἔμισγον. (ῃ. 12) Ὁμοιοσχήμων δὲ τῇ ξῖ καὶ ἡ ἐνταῦθα ἀρχή. ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ εἶπε «Νέστορα δ' οὐκ ἔλαθεν ἰαχή.» ἐνταῦθα δέ φησιν «οὐδ' ἔλαθ' Ἀτρέος υἱόν, ἀρηΐφιλον Μενέλαον, Πάτροκλος Τρώεσσι δαμεὶς ἐν δηϊοτῆτι». Ἐν οἷς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ὡς οὐ μεθήμων ὁ Μενέλαος οὐδὲ μαλθακὸς ἐν τοῖς καιρίοις. (ῃ. 4-5) ∆ιὸ καὶ δεινοπαθήσας ἀμφὶ αὐτῷ βαῖνεν «ὥς τις περὶ πόρτακι μήτηρ, πρωτοτόκος, κινυρή, οὐ πρὶν εἰδυῖα τόκοιο». καὶ ἀναθερμανθεὶς εἰς ἀνδρίαν ἀναιρεῖ τὸν ∆άρδανον Φόρβαντα, Πολυδάμαντος ἀδελφόν, ὃς πρῶτος τῷ Πατρόκλῳ βέλος, ὡς προεγράφη, ἐφῆκε. περὶ Πατρόκλῳ δὲ βαίνει πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων οὐ μόνον ὡς ἐνηῆ φιλῶν ἐκεῖνον τοιοῦτος ὢν καὶ αὐτός, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπειδὴ χάριν τῆς αὐτοῦ κεῖται τιμῆς ἐκεῖνος, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρεῖ προϊών, ἔτι δὲ καὶ διότι κατὰ τὸν τῆς Ὁμηρικῆς Ἀθηνᾶς λόγον τῷ Μενελάῳ κατηφείη καὶ ὄνειδος ἔσσεται, ἐὰν ὁ τοῦ Πατρόκλου ὑβρισθείη νεκρός. Σημείωσαι δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἐνταῦθα περιβαίνειν καὶ ἀμφιβαίνειν τὸ σκέπειν καὶ βοηθεῖν κειμένῳ τινί, καὶ ὅτι τοῦ ἀμφιβαίνειν αἰτιατικῇ συντασσομένου, οἷον «ὃς Χρύσην ἀμφιβέβηκας» δοκεῖ μὲν ἐνταῦθα ἡ διάλυσις ἀλλοιοῦν τὴν σύνταξιν. φησὶ γὰρ «ἀμφὶ δ' ἂρ αὐτῷ βαῖνε», καὶ «περὶ πόρτακι», καὶ «περὶ Πατρόκλῳ βαῖνε». πλὴν καὶ δίχα τῆς διαλύσεως μετ' ὀλίγα φησὶ «Πατρόκλῳ περιβὰς τὸν ἄριστον ἔπεφνεν». Ἰστέον δὲ καὶ ὅτι οὐ μόνον μετὰ τοῦ βαίνειν ἡ ˉἀˉμˉφˉι καὶ ἡ ˉπˉεˉρˉι δοτικῇ συντάσσεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τοῦ ἵστασθαι, οἷον «ἀμφὶ Μενοιτιάδῃ ἑστήκει», καὶ «ἔστασαν ἀμφὶ Μενοιτιάδῃ», καὶ «ἑσταότες περὶ Πατρόκλῳ». Ἔτι ἰστέον καὶ ὅτι ἐν τῷ «ἀρηΐφιλον Μενέλαον», ὃ καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα κεῖται, καὶ εἴ που δὲ ἀλλαχοῦ ὁ ποιη 4.2 τὴς ἄνδρα Ἕλληνα καλεῖ ἀρηΐφιλον, τὸ τοῦ Ἄρεος μυθικῶς δηλοῖ ἀλλοπρόσαλλον. πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἀλλοπρόσαλλος ὁ μὴ μόνον Τρῶας ἀλλὰ Ἕλληνας φιλῶν; Ὅρα δὲ καὶ ὅτι οὐ βιαίῳ τινὶ ζῴῳ τὸν Μενέλαον εἴκασεν, ἀλλὰ συμπαθεῖ, πρὸς τὸν ἐνεστῶτα τοῦτο ποιήσας καιρόν, ἐν ᾧ οἰκτίσασθαι μόνον ἔδει, μήπω κρατερᾶς μάχης ἀρτυνθείσης. ∆ιὸ οὔτε ταύρῳ παραβάλλει αὐτὸν οὐδὲ μὴν ὑπὸ θηρὸς πολεμουμένῃ βοΐ, πρωτοτόκῳ δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κινυρῇ, ὅ ἐστιν οἰκτροφώνῳ, διὰ τὸ πολὺ τῆς στοργῆς. αἱ γὰρ τοιαῦται συμπαθέστερον τοῖς μοσχαρίοις ἀμφιβαίνουσι. τὸν μέντοι Αἴαντα ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς λέοντι παρεικάσει τῶν τέκνων ὑπερμαχομένῳ. καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τοῦτον τὸν Μενέλαον μετ' ὀλίγα λέοντι παραβαλεῖ, ὅτε τὸν Εὔφορβον ἀναιρεῖ ἀμφὶ τῷ Πατρόκλῳ βαίνων. Ὅτι δὲ πρᾷος ὁ Μενέλαος, δῆλον, ὅσγε καὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἦν συμπαθής. τὸν γοῦν Ἄδραστον ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτων ζωγρήσας περιεσώσατο ἄν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀδελφὸς βασιλεὺς ἐκώλυσεν. ὡς δὲ καὶ σπουδαῖός ἐστιν ἐν καιρῷ, ἐδήλωσε καὶ ἐν μονομαχίᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐν ᾗ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτὸν ἐπέσχε, καὶ προεξαναστὰς δὲ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἐν τῇ νυκτεγερσίᾳ, καὶ ὅπου δὲ καταπονουμένου Ὀδυσσέως αὐτὸς αἰσθόμενος ἐπίκουρον ἄγει τὸν Αἴαντα. Οὐκ ἄδηλον δὲ οὐδ' ὅτι ἡ δάμαλις, τὸ νεογνὸν τῆς βοὸς γέννημα, πόρις τε λέγεται, οἷον «ἄγραυλοι πόριες», παρὰ τὴν πορείαν. σκιρτητικὴ γὰρ ἡ δάμαλις, ἡ δ' αὐτὴ καὶ πόρτις πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ˉτ, ἀφ' ἧς καὶ ἡ παρ' Ἡσιόδῳ «ὑπόπορτις ἔριθος», οἷον «πόρτιος ἠὲ βοός», ἔτι δὲ καὶ πόρταξ ὑποκοριστικῶς, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ λεῖμαξ καὶ μεῖραξ καὶ μύλαξ καὶ λίθαξ καὶ πῖδαξ [καὶ σκύλαξ. Εἰ δέ τῳ μὴ δοκεῖ τὴν πόρτακα [καὶ τὸν μύλακα] καὶ τὴν λίθακα καὶ τὴν πίδακα καὶ τὴν σκύλακα ὑποκεκορίσθαι διὰ τὸ μηδὲ χαίρειν ὑποκορισμοῖς τὸν Ὅμηρον, οὗπερ ἡ πόρταξ καὶ τἄλλα, ὁ γοῦν μεῖραξ καὶ ἡ μεῖραξ καὶ ὁ λεῖμαξ ὑποκεκόρισται παρὰ τοῖς ὕστερον, μάλιστα δὲ ὁ πλούταξ, ὃ δὴ παράσιτός τις ἔφη παρὰ τῷ ∆ειπνοσοφιστῇ.] (ῃ. 5) Εὔδηλον δὲ καὶ ὅτι πρωτότοκος