To the
note on Text p. 245, ‘[Homer’s] sentences
tend to be very straightforward grammatically’, append the rider that his
syntax often does not conform to what have so far been ‘the rules’, which can
make translation tricky.
The English introduction on Text p. 246 illustrates the
problems of transliteration - ‘Cyclopes’ and ‘Kirke’ in the same line! It is
an insoluble problem, made worse by the very familiarity of
Latinized/Anglicized forms; Aiskhylos may seem grotesque, but v6poc navrrav PaaiAevc;.
Section Twenty A
Background
Homer 8.1
Homer’s
gods 3.2, 8-11; 8.13
Dreams 3.14-16 Performance 5.40
Display, competition and reputation 4.1-7 Grammar
Homeric
dialect, syntax and respelling Homeric hexameters Verse quantity
Section
20d-f is recorded on CD 2 tracks
55-7.
p.
246 line
1
£vOa: Odysseus is sleeping under a pair of olive bushes, having scooped
out a hollow in the earth and covered himself with dead leaves (Odyssey v.482-5).
no^VT^a;: elicit from the stems and mention
as a stock epithet in the Odyssey.
2
As mentioned in the English note (Text p. 243), gods and heroes mix easily;
mention Athene as Odysseus’ staunchest supporter, regularly appearing to help
him.
3
Note the absence of augment - already met in Herodotus (p. 233.3) and
very common in Homer. Note also the relaxed pace which is one of the delights
of Homer - never in too much of a hurry to include ‘ irrelevant’ background
details. Compare Penelope crossing the threshold (Odyssey xxi.43-5) - even at that crucial stage
Homer can devote some two and a half lines to a doorway! Note also the ‘ring
composition’ technique: having established that Athene goes to the Phaiakians,
Homer digresses, then returns to the theme in line 13.
p.
247 line
20
dv£^ou: cf. anemometer. rcvoi^: nvsu- as in pneumatic etc.
8£^via: met in Section 15 (p. 187.1), but it
will need recall here.
21
‘stood above her head’ - cf. Text p. 230.2-3.
rcpo; ... &irav: tmesis, taking a
double accusative (piv, pv0ov).
22
vauoiK^vroio: the Phaiakians were famed for their nautical skills, see Text p. 264. 271-3.
p.
248 line
24
Almost ‘How come your mother has such a lazy daughter?’
25
The evpara which should be aiYaloevra are in fact axnSea.
26
iva + indicative ‘where’, cf. ut in Latin. avT^v: ae is implied = ‘you
yourself’.
27
£vvuo0ai:
ap^ievvv; (p. 218.2) may be recalled, otherwise elicit this from the context.
ayrovTai:
the bride’s father clearly had the responsibility for organizing the procession
to the new home.
K€ (= av)
+ subjunctive - indefinite.
28
toi is so common in Homer that it sometimes seems to have
lost its meaning as an ethic dative - here perhaps ‘from such things, you know
...’ with almost as little meaning as the English colloquial, parenthetical
‘you know’.
29
noTvia: a stock epithet, usually translated ‘lady’, with p^rnp.
30
io^v: note the form of this subjunctive.
rcZuv£ouoai:
ask which tense; those who remember l-p-v-p verbs may spot that -e- indicates a
future tense and may deduce the sense of purpose.
n®;: often
poSoSaxrulo; - though this beautiful epithet does not occur in our extract.
Note also the -0i/-^i termination for some datives (n®0inpo, line 36, e.g.). 33
£vTW€ai: second person singular aorist subjunctive - mention this if asked
(Reference Grammar p. 38l, 351 (iii) (b)). NB: do not use this line to test
scansion - with synizesis (twice), correption (twice) and irrational
lengthening, it is an unfair example!
35
navTrov Oai^Krov: partitive genitive, probably with apiar^e; rather
than S^pov.
50i: the
antecedent is either apiar^e; (i.e. your peers) or Oai^Krav (i.e. your
compatriots).
36
£rc6Tpuvov: aorist imperative
l-p-v-p verbs have no -a- in the weak aorist.
37
^iovow;: has not appeared since p. 134.20; apa^a (as apa^a) since p.
86.17; for e^onlvaai cf. ranli^e, p. 216.7. xe(v) (= av) + subjunctive in Homer
often = future.
40
£px€O0ai: note how Homer uses moods of epxopai rather than evpi (ibo):
infinitive here, a participle in line 54, an imperative in line 69.
rcZuvou
hollows of some kind, either natural rock-pools or man-made basins lined with
stone.
43-5 Closely imitated by
Lucretius in De rerum natura iii.18-24 (cf. Claudian, De Nupt. Hon. et Mar. 52-5) and by Tennyson:
Where falls
not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind
blows loudly.
(Idylls of the King 1.428-9)
45
avfi^Zoi;: cf. Nephelokokkugia.
teuK^: cf.
leukaemia (excess of leukocytes, i.e. white blood corpuscles).
47
‘Ring composition’ again, the first three words picking up directly
from line 41.
p. 250 line
48
^iv: object with Nausikaa in the next line in apposition to it.
50
8’ i^vai: note the otiose infinitive, a very common
idiom.
51
to be taken with both, almost a stock epithet, cf. lines 56, 67.
Shakespeare plays with stock epithets, Hamlet ii.2.33-4:
king Thanks, Rosencrantz and
gentle Guildenstern. queen Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz.
52
a^irco^oioi yuvai^v: another very common stylistic feature; two nouns
in apposition, forming the second half of the hexameter.
53
Give first three words; emphasize the contrast ^ pev (line 52) with t® Ss here.
54
paoi^a;: ‘chieftains’, ‘nobles’, as often in Homer.
57 nanna 9&’: ‘Daddy dear’. Note,
in this speech and throughout the rest of the book, the extraordinary clarity
of character in Nausikaa - she is in some respects a more vivid character than
even Odysseus himself. ‘No-one else is drawn with like livingness and
enthusiasm, and no other episode is written with the same, or nearly the same,
buoyancy of spirits and resilience of pulse and movement, or brings the scene
before us with anything approaching the same freshness, as that in which
Nausikaa takes the family linen to the washing cisterns. The whole of Book vi
can only have been written by one who was throwing herself into it heart and
soul’ (Samuel Butler, The Authoress of the Odyssey). Butler’s book still makes
fresh and amusing reading in spite of Butler’s pet theories (feminine
authorship, all adventures taking place around the coast of Sicily etc.);
Butler knew the Odyssey inside out. Robert Graves in Homer’s Daughter retells the Odyssey with Nausikaa as the
first-person narrator.
arc^vn: synonymous
with apa^a.
59
^oi: ideal for an explanation of the ethic dative: ‘(and this is a
matter of some concern) to me’.
60
Note the non-agreement of the participle EovTa with ctov: grammarians
will refer to a constructio ad sensum.
62
yeyaaoiv = yEyovaaiv.
63
‘three are blooming bachelors’.
66 ai8€To: note Vocabulary p. 251,
‘felt reticent about’ rather than ‘was ashamed’. Much is made of Nausikaa’s
impending nuptials, though the matter of her intended has not yet been decided
...
OaA^pov:
possibly a stock epithet of marriage: ‘first, it was ordained for the
procreation of children’ (The Book of Common Prayer: Form of the Solemnization of
Matrimony), possibly wishful.
£^ovo^vai:
note how this verb moved from its original meaning of ‘call/ mention by name’
and is used (e.g. Odyssey vi.254, Text p. 264.254) when the name is not
mentioned.
70
tft€pT€pifl: some sort of awning.
71
£k£kA^to: formed from KsAopai by augment + reduplication
(reduplicated aorist, cf. line 47) + syncopation (of kEA-).
Section Twenty C
Commentary
p. 252 line
110 almost
‘it was time to’, as they do not start packing up until line 252
(Text p. 264), just after our
extract ends.
112 aAA’:
emphasize in reading, noting the accent.
114 ^..
.^y^oavro: the relative + optative for purpose; cf. Latin. Note that there is
only one dactyl in this line.
116 Nausikaa is the subject
of both verbs. Perhaps cf. Text p. 239.4-5, in a totally different tone.
p. 253 line
121
^iAo^ivoi: cf. Text
p. 101.18!
123
vu^awv: in apposition to Kouparav, defining it more closely.
Note the
Homeric usage of E%ra = ‘I inhabit’, viz. ‘I have (as my home)’.
126
ft€ip^oo^ai: for neipnarapai, aorist subjunctive (not future indicative
as it may appear).
Section Twenty D
Background
Supplication 3.35-6
p. 254 line
127
tn€8vo€To: cf. Text p. 127.2. The basic meaning of Svra is to put clothes
on (cf. Latin induo), so vrcoSvra is to put underclothes on. Here, with ‘genitive of
separation’, it means the opposite (as EKSvopai, viz. get oneself out from
under).
128
rcuKiv^: cf. rcuKvaTc; (p. 218.2).
v^n^: the
basic meaning is ‘wood’, but it is also used for material generally, cf. Latin materia.
K^ao€: cf.
iconoclasm.
rca^ifl:
cf. pachyderm. Definitions help in these two lines (127-8) to avoid giving
every other word!
129
^vZZrov: not to be confused with ^ul- compounds - cf. numerous ^ull-
words, and chlorophyl(l).
Xpoi: cf. Text p. 186.4.
9MT6^: beware of confusion
arising over the two words ^ra; ‘man’, and ^ra; ‘ light'.
130
op€ovrpo9o<;:
both roots should be known. Note the savagery as the metaphor develops.
131
t6^vo<;: ‘Tramp up Snowdon, With your woad on, Never mind if you get
rained or snowed on' provides an example of a personal passive use of an
impersonal verb.
5oo€: the
exhaustive note on duals given on p. 188.19 in these Notes should ensure that this is
recognized.
133
K£Z€Tai: not easily recognized from eKeKlero (line 7l) unless the latter has
been explained.
yaor^p:
various gastro- compounds in English should elicit the meaning.
135
The savagery of the simile should have been emphasized (this image is
used in Iliad xii of Sarpedon advancing to
battle) - then the sudden contrast with xovp'flaiv evTCloxdpoiaiv will have its
effect. How closely is the simile tied to the narrative?
136
^€o0ai: used (also) of sexual intercourse. yu^v6<;: explain why
gymnasium derives from Yupvo;.
137
o^p8aZ£o<;: sounds more evocative to us than it probably did to
Greeks, but the triple k in xexaxrapevo; is deliberately harsh.
9av^: that
was how he looked to the girls: it was not intentional.
140
Note the Greek idiom: ‘took the fear from her limbs’, because when a
person is afraid the limbs start trembling.
141
o/o^£vn: difficult to translate literally; perhaps simply ‘halting’, or
‘checking herself'.
142
yowrov: for the case, cf. regular usage of lapPavopai + genitive.
143
avTro^: Vocabulary p. 255 ‘simply’, or ‘as he was’, viz. at a distance.
^i/iXioioi: Vocabulary p. 255 ‘winning, soothing’, but point out the possible
derivation
from peli; ‘honey-tongued’ is a Greek metaphorical expression also used in
English, so here ‘with honeyed words’ conveys the sense exactly.
144
€i: cf. on ev xra; (p. 234.13-14); ‘(to see) if she would ...’
145
K£p8iov: note the profit-minded motive, nicely picked up in xepSaleov
(line 148), an ambiguous word meaning ‘shrewd’ or ‘crafty’, depending upon the
motive behind the xepSo;.
147 9p£va: accusative of respect.
Section Twenty E
Commentary
p. 256 line
151ff. Take this speech carefully - it is full of wonderful touches,
truly KepSaAsov, starting with youvovpai - ‘I seize your knees!’ - though he
does not! 151 vv ktL: a good bit of flattery to
start with - Odysseus’ knowledge of
psychology
is faultless: ‘flattery will get you everywhere’. It is also practical - one
does not rape (cf. p^ECT0ai above, line 136) a goddess (surely Nausikaa’s main
fear):
oti
Pio0&Apio; avqp
ylyvsTai o; te 0eai; stivaZexai a0avaTflai. (Homeric Hymn Aphrodite 189-90)
150
tou a plural relative pronoun after a singular antecedent;
constructio
ad sensum
again.
^Xouoiv:
cf. on line 123.
151
’ApT£^i8i: a shrewd choice of deity, the goddess of chastity and
maidenly modesty, not like the three who stripped off for Paris (Lucian, Dial. deorum 20). Also note the ‘awe’
mentioned in the English introduction to section 20 e (picked up again in lines
161, 168).
152
^£y€0o;: Vocabulary p. 257 ‘size’ is hardly flattering! ‘Stature’ fits
better, but that is given for ^u^. Rieu translates ‘beauty, grace and stature’.
155-7
Homer appears to ‘ break the rules’ with the genitive plural participle Aeuctctovt®v as if ct^®v had been used instead of the
possessive dative ct^ictv. A sense-construction, presenting no problem of
understanding - particularly when one bears in mind that Homer is oral poetry.
158-9 A
final touch of opening flattery - ‘how lucky your future husband’ - but also
highly soothing for Nausikaa. One is not normally raped by people who confess
admiration for chastity, parents, family and marriage.
159
££8voioi: Vocabulary p. 257 ‘bridal gifts’- the regular gifts to the
father (to win acceptance, as he gave the bride away).
ayaynTai:
cf. on p. 230.7.
160
toiovtov: perhaps not too flattering - ‘no such thing’!
161
o£pa;: Vocabulary p. 257 ‘respect’, but also with the sense of ‘awe,
reverence’ noted above, and cf. on p. 46.21. This is the feeling Odysseus has in
front of Nausikaa - not, e.g., lust.
162
A^ro: presumably on the way to Troy, as we know (Od. iii. 169ff.) that
the return route was through the western islands. On Delos, Leto gave birth to
Apollo and Artemis; in honour of this, their father Zeus created the palm and
the bay tree. Euripides, Hekabe 458 refers to the npraToyovo; ^otvi^ on Delos (see
Illustrations, Text
p. 257).
163
This may not seem to be a very flattering comparison - ‘You remind me
of a date palm I once saw’; the point of the metaphor is the sanctity of the
particular epvoc;, its slender beauty and its young freshness.
164
noAw; ... Aao^: the ‘hint at his own importance’, as he must be a
person of considerable power if he has a large company following him - not just
another grubby, naked wretch that the sea has washed up.
166-7
Another point to the metaphor: so taken was he by the beauty of the plant that
he stood for a long while awe-struck; it was unique. This is how he is behaving
now, of course.
168-9 Note the mixture of emotions Odysseus
claims are troubling him. p. 258 line
170 x6iZ6S:
an adjective with adverbial sense.
^ikootm:
a silent
tribute to his heroic endurance - twenty days without sustenance.
172
KdppaX^: Greek expressions relating to the shore seem to visualize the
shore as lowest point:
sea inland
\ / shore
So to go
inland or out to sea has an ava compound, to go down to the sea or reach land a
Kara compound.
173
Kai t^8€: ‘here too’, hoping to evoke a protective response.
oiro: active form of a known middle verb.
174
rcapoi0€v: i.e. before the kok6v comes to an end, there is plenty more in
store.
175
o£: the emphatic word, widely separated from the
preposition governing it and the adjective qualifying it.
178 paKo^:
almost ‘any old rag’, more specifically in next line ‘the old sheet in which
the clothing was wrapped’ to bring it for washing.
ap9ipaW:o0ai:
an infinitive expressing purpose (not uncommon in Homer),
i.
e. ‘a rag to put round me’.
180
After his own appeal for help come his pious wishes for everything good
for Nausikaa.
181
Note what his priorities are for her: a husband, a home - and harmony.
orcdo€iav: ensure that this is taken as an optative - there is a tendency to
assume
that it is
a first-declension adjective agreeing with opo^poavvnv.
183 ^ 50’:
defines what he means by harmony.
opo9pov£ovT€: the exhaustive note
on duals in these Notes (on p. 188.19) should ensure that this too is
recognized as a dual; add a note on the verbal dual endings at discretion.
184-5 Note
again the pre-Christian attitude that it is right to benefit one’s friends and
harm one’s enemies: cf. Text p. 146.11ff. and note at the end of Section 14.
185
£k/uov: Vocabulary p. 258 neatly ducks the problem of the
exact meaning by giving ‘be respected’; it seems to be more literally ‘they
hear (nice things about them from their friends, words of grudging envy from
their enemies)', understanding quite a lot from the previous sentence!
Section Twenty F
Background
Suppliants’ rights 3.25, 35-6
p. 260 line
186
/£UKro/€vo^: most people had tanned skin, and therefore white was a
sign of beauty (as on p. 184.10).
187
emi: the apodosis follows at vuv Se (line l9l).
i«/kio
: nicely
ambiguous, referring either to his hints at importance and nobility above, or
to the possibility of his having malicious intent.
188
v£^i 5/pov: cf. Iliad xxiv.527ff., describing how Zeus dispenses happiness
and misery to mortals: to some, a mixture, to others unmixed misery, to none
unmixed happiness.
189
£KaoTro: in loose apposition (as often) to ea0loi; nSe xaxovaiv. Note
how the sentence ungrammatically tails off - is Nausikaa trying to sound
‘grown-up’ here - and failing?
191 A
compressed phrase (not much helped by Vocabulary p. 26l eneoixe + dative when
there is no dative in sight!). It is better to take eneoixe as governing an
accusative + infinitive, so rav (governed by pn Seuea0ai understood) eneoixe
ixernv ralan^piov avTiaaavra [sc. ‘anyone who could help him’] pn Seuea0ai.
197
£k governs rou: ‘on him the power and might of the
Phaiakians depend’.
198
^ pa: first occurrence of this extremely common formulaic phrase - make
sure that it is understood from the start by reference to n (met in n S’ o; in
Section 7d etc.) and by pointing out
that pa = apa.
199
ot^t£ ^oi: not ‘stand by me’, but ‘stop’ and then the dative
of advantage.
200
9ao0’: as very often, more ‘consider’ or ‘think’ than ‘say’.
201
This may cause a laugh. Merry translates ‘That man exists not as a
creature of flesh and blood, nor ever will be born, who shall come as a foeman
to the Phaeacians’ land.’
204
drcav€u0€: Phaiakia, as other places in the Odyssey, is regarded as towards the
extremities of the known world - yet strangely homely for all that! Cf.
Nausikaa's wheedling in line 57.
207-8
Quoted in the Text
p. 48.31-2. npo; + genitive = ‘under the protection of’: cf. the very common
use of npo; + genitive in apostrophes.
208 ^ivoi:
‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained
angels unawares’ (Hebrews 13:2).
oMyn T€
T€: a good example of Homeric parataxis where English would probably
subordinate: ‘a gift, though small, is welcome’.
210
^ovoaT€: note the active - Nausikaa tells her servants to wash Odysseus, not
just take him to a convenient place and let him wash himself.
£m: adverbial, ‘also’, ‘in
addition’. Alternatively, as Vocabulary p. 261, tmesis era ... ecttv.
Section Twenty G
Commentary
p. 261 line
212 Ka8
... €ioav: note KaS = KaTa; the root of eZ» = eSo;. They escorted Odysseus to the
sheltered spot and sat him down there.
214 nap =
napa (to be learnt in this section): note the common Homeric shortening of disyllabic
prepositions to monosyllables - KaS has just occurred, and recurs in line 230.
€i^aTa (cf. ipaTiov): in
apposition, ‘as clothing’.
p. 262 line
218
Odysseus clearly differs from Nausikaa in his views on the propriety of
being washed by her maidservants! Cf. on line 210.
219-20
arco^ovoo^ai... xpfoo^ai: both are actually aorist subjunctives (-opai for
-®pai), though they never present any problems of translation, even if they are
taken as future indicatives.
219
&^oi‘iv: note the dual here, but even in Homer’s time ordinary
plurals may replace the dual - see line 225.
220
£otw: note that English uses a perfect here, where Greek
uses a present. a^oi^: cf. aAe^ou (p. 129.43). Also aAeiyev below (line 227).
221
a!8£o^ai: Odysseus’ strange coyness has already been noted. Or does it
have a purpose?
225 a^nv:
note (a) the double accusative (xpoa, aApnv) after v^ZeTo; (b) that as above
(lines 137 and 219) and %voov below (line 226), aApnv probably refers to the
scum of caked salt.
228
a8^;: the root Spa- always has sense of ‘tame’ or ‘conquer’; here
‘unmarried’.
229
€Ky€yauia: in the Hesiodic version (Theogony 886ff.) she was born from Zeus’s skull after
he had swallowed Metis.
230
^i^ova ... €ioi8£€iv: ‘greater to look upon’ - an epexegetic
infinitive.
231
Presumably thick-clustering curls suggest the hyacinth flower.
232
Presumably golden hair encircling a paler face suggests this simile.
233
naAAa^: the ancient epithet of Athene. Tzetzes (On Lycophron 355) makes him her father,
whom she killed and flayed to make her aegis. The latter part of this version
(but with the Hesiodic version of her paternity) is now also known from a
papyrus fragment of Epicharmus (Koln 5604).
Hephaistos
and Athene are here linked, as in the Protagoras extract (Section 18c).
235 tm: indirect object ‘on him’,
with ‘on his head and shoulders’ in loose apposition.
240 Cf. non sine numine diuum
(Aeneid
11.777); note also the emphasis once again placed upon Odysseus and Nausikaa
together - hence Butler’s and Graves’ conclusions (see on p. 250.57).
244
‘I wish some such man would be (called) my husband’ - ‘called’ is
rather otiose in English.
245
Invert the order of clauses for translation: ‘and that he might be
pleased to remain here and live among us’.
246
n6oiv: Vocabulary p. 263 avoids the problem of having two words spelt
and accented identically by not including rc6aic; = husband.
250 aprcaW:ro<;: elicit
from the context, or by reference to the Harpies - the general sense of the
last clause should then follow.
On
concluding this section, apart from asking students to read the rest of the
book in translation, try to provoke some discussion about the whole episode in
its own context, drawing attention to the very valid point made by Butler about
the extraordinary charm of the episode, its vivid life-like quality - and (he
claims) its virtual irrelevance in the context of what follows. One should
point out against this view that Odysseus is subject to varying kinds of ^evva,
carrying different challenges, during his travels home (Calypso, Nausikaa,
Phaiakians, Cyclops, Kirke etc.), and that the climax of the Odyssey is the ultimate challenge -
the reestablishment of his rightful lordship in his own home, from which he
has been rejected by villains who know nothing of these human institutions. In
the charming, rather tongue-tied modesty of Nausikaa we may also like to see a
parallel with Telemakhos; in Odysseus’ dealings with her, a prefiguring of the
subtle relationship he will develop with Penelope, and an elegant counterpoint
to his relationship with Calypso in Book v (e.g. their differing attitudes to
baths, food and bed).
After his
entertainment in Phaiakia, Odysseus is invited to tell his story at the evening
banquet: he does so in Books ix-xii, so we then hear his full adventures from the sack of
Troy onwards. After that, Books xiii-xxiv deal with his homecoming to Ithaca: apart from the
petrification of the ship taking him back to Ithaca, the Phaiakians are no
longer mentioned. What became of this charming princess whom we had assumed
would be for ever romantically linked with Odysseus?
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