ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας ἀπέβη κορυθαίολος Ἕκτωρ:
αἶψα δ᾽ ἔπειθ᾽ ἵκανε δόμους εὖ ναιετάοντας,370
οὐδ᾽ εὗρ᾽ Ἀνδρομάχην λευκώλενον ἐν μεγάροισιν,
ἀλλ᾽ ἥ γε ξὺν παιδὶ καὶ ἀμφιπόλῳ ἐϋπέπλῳ
πύργῳ ἐφεστήκει γοόωσά τε μυρομένη τε.
Ἕκτωρ δ᾽ ὡς οὐκ ἔνδον ἀμύμονα τέτμεν ἄκοιτιν
ἔστη ἐπ᾽ οὐδὸν ἰών, μετὰ δὲ δμῳῇσιν ἔειπεν:375
εἰ δ᾽ ἄγε μοι δμῳαὶ νημερτέα μυθήσασθε:
πῇ ἔβη Ἀνδρομάχη λευκώλενος ἐκ μεγάροιο;
ἠέ πῃ ἐς γαλόων ἢ εἰνατέρων ἐϋπέπλων
ἢ ἐς Ἀθηναίης ἐξοίχεται, ἔνθά περ ἄλλαι
Τρῳαὶ ἐϋπλόκαμοι δεινὴν θεὸν ἱλάσκονται;380
τὸν δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ὀτρηρὴ ταμίη πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπεν:
Ἕκτορ ἐπεὶ μάλ᾽ ἄνωγας ἀληθέα μυθήσασθαι,
οὔτέ πῃ ἐς γαλόων οὔτ᾽ εἰνατέρων ἐϋπέπλων
οὔτ᾽ ἐς Ἀθηναίης ἐξοίχεται, ἔνθά περ ἄλλαι
Τρῳαὶ ἐϋπλόκαμοι δεινὴν θεὸν ἱλάσκονται,385
ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ πύργον ἔβη μέγαν Ἰλίου, οὕνεκ᾽ ἄκουσε
τείρεσθαι Τρῶας, μέγα δὲ κράτος εἶναι Ἀχαιῶν.
ἣ μὲν δὴ πρὸς τεῖχος ἐπειγομένη ἀφικάνει
μαινομένῃ ἐϊκυῖα: φέρει δ᾽ ἅμα παῖδα τιθήνη.
390
ἦ ῥα γυνὴ ταμίη, ὃ δ᾽ ἀπέσσυτο δώματος Ἕκτωρ
τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν αὖτις ἐϋκτιμένας κατ᾽ ἀγυιάς.
εὖτε πύλας ἵκανε διερχόμενος μέγα ἄστυ
Σκαιάς, τῇ ἄρ᾽ ἔμελλε διεξίμεναι πεδίον δέ,
ἔνθ᾽ ἄλοχος πολύδωρος ἐναντίη ἦλθε θέουσα
Ἀνδρομάχη θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος Ἠετίωνος,395
Ἠετίων ὃς ἔναιεν ὑπὸ Πλάκῳ ὑληέσσῃ
Θήβῃ Ὑποπλακίῃ Κιλίκεσσ᾽ ἄνδρεσσιν ἀνάσσων:
τοῦ περ δὴ θυγάτηρ ἔχεθ᾽ Ἕκτορι χαλκοκορυστῇ.
ἥ οἱ ἔπειτ᾽ ἤντησ᾽, ἅμα δ᾽ ἀμφίπολος κίεν αὐτῇ
παῖδ᾽ ἐπὶ κόλπῳ ἔχουσ᾽ ἀταλάφρονα νήπιον αὔτως400
Ἑκτορίδην ἀγαπητὸν ἀλίγκιον ἀστέρι καλῷ,
τόν ῥ᾽ Ἕκτωρ καλέεσκε Σκαμάνδριον, αὐτὰρ οἱ ἄλλοι
Ἀστυάνακτ᾽: οἶος γὰρ ἐρύετο Ἴλιον Ἕκτωρ.
ἤτοι ὃ μὲν μείδησεν ἰδὼν ἐς παῖδα σιωπῇ:
Ἀνδρομάχη δέ οἱ ἄγχι παρίστατο δάκρυ χέουσα,405
ἔν τ᾽ ἄρα οἱ φῦ χειρὶ ἔπος τ᾽ ἔφατ᾽ ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνόμαζε:
δαιμόνιε φθίσει σε τὸ σὸν μένος, οὐδ᾽ ἐλεαίρεις
παῖδά τε νηπίαχον καὶ ἔμ᾽ ἄμμορον, ἣ τάχα χήρη
σεῦ ἔσομαι: τάχα γάρ σε κατακτανέουσιν Ἀχαιοὶ
πάντες ἐφορμηθέντες: ἐμοὶ δέ κε κέρδιον εἴη410
σεῦ ἀφαμαρτούσῃ χθόνα δύμεναι: οὐ γὰρ ἔτ᾽ ἄλλη
ἔσται θαλπωρὴ ἐπεὶ ἂν σύ γε πότμον ἐπίσπῃς
ἀλλ᾽ ἄχε᾽: οὐδέ μοι ἔστι πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ.
notes
Hector does not find Andromache at home and instead meets their housekeeper, who informs him that she has gone in a panic to a part of the wall overlooking the battlefield. Hector heads back the way he came, and just as he is about to exit through the Skaian gate Andromache, attended by a handmaiden holding their child, comes down to meet him. She begs him to think of her and the child, and not to return to the battle.
Having failed again to penetrate the barrier of his brother’s narcissism, Hector hurries off toward his own house to find Andromache. Not finding her at home, he questions her maid and hears that she has not gone to visit relatives or to the temple with Hecabe and the other Trojan matrons.
read full essay
She has heard bad news from the battlefield and has rushed off, μαινομένῃ ἐϊκυῖα, “like a madwoman” (389) toward the city walls with their son and his nurse. Even before she meets Hector, we see the destructive power of the war he brings with him into to the city engulfing Andromache, separating her from her family and neighbors, driving her mad.
He goes after her, along the wide streets, past impressive buildings, through the great city to the Skaian Gates. Homer has been leading Hector and us toward the meeting with Andromache since the beginning of Book 6, and he makes the most of it:
When he went through the great city and came to the gates,
the Skaian gates, right where he was about to go back out to the plain,
there his richly-giving wife came running to meet him,
Andromache…
Iliad 6.392–95
When Hector and Andromache meet, at the last possible moment, builds up the tension in what we already know will be a highly-charged meeting; where they meet is just as important, right on the boundary between the beautiful, civilized spaces of Troy and the grinding chaos of the battlefield. We have seen Hector lingering near the threshold before, when he goes to see Paris and when he looks for Andromache, as if he were reluctant to give himself over to the comforts of the palace. Drinking the wine his mother offers, putting down the long spear and sitting down in Paris’s bedroom, entering his own house to wash off the filth: all this would sap him of his will to fight. We have said that the consolation motif seems to portend the loss of everyone he loves. We may go further: by giving in and fully inhabiting the city, he would, in his mind at least, be giving in to the unavoidable, ultimate necessity, his own death.
During his increasingly poignant visit to Troy, Hector has become a “liminal” figure, from the Latin, līmes, “boundary.” Suspended between two worlds, he cannot fully give himself over to either. Isolated and increasingly alienated from the people and places he loves, he and his family keep reaching across boundaries, but cannot connect. Hecabe is “sweetly giving” (251), Andromache is “richly giving,” (394), but finally Hector cannot receive comfort from either of them. From the poet’s perspective, such a figure is a potent resource for storytelling. By drawing our attention to fundamental boundaries that define our existence as humans, heroes remind us where those boundaries are, and prompt further thought about the nature of reality. In the last six books of the poem, Achilles will continually push against the limits of human existence, upward toward the gods, and downward toward the savagery of wild animals. But whereas Achilles’ excesses make him a repellent if fascinating character, Hector is pulled apart by his own decency and deep sense of responsibility, sacrificed to the relentless masculine imperative to define himself through action, which inevitably separates him from those he would protect.
As husband and wife reunite, Homer deepens the pathos by inviting us to contemplate the very beginning of their life together, when Eëtion, Andromache’s father, gave her to Hector in marriage. That happy day in turn gives way in the poet’s vision to their child, Astyanax, whose name leads us to the most important of his father’s qualities, his role as protector of Troy. Here we arrive at what is most dear to Hector, the two people he must protect. The rest of the encounter shows us how brutally difficult that assignment will be.
Andromache gets to the heart of her husband’s dilemma immediately: δαιμόνιε φθίσει σε τὸ σὸν μένος, “strange man, your own strength will destroy you” (407). His mother has asked him to rest, but he has refused, because wine will rob him of his μένος (265). Now the other of the two most important women in his life tells him that very strength will be his undoing. Her use of δαιμόνιε highlights his continued alienation, from her, from his mother, from Paris. He is mysterious to his own wife, made strange by his need to be out on the battlefield. She would have him protect his family from close by and now she turns up the pressure yet further: does he not pity his infant son? Looking into a bleak future, she sees herself widowed as the Greeks swarm over his dead body. Better for her to “go under the earth” (411) than to lose him, since there will be no comfort for her once he is gone, only pain. Her parents are gone and she, like Hector, will be utterly alone.
It is the nature of heroes in Greek literature to be a mixed blessing to their city, their family, their friends. Because Achilles is such a brutally effective fighter, he is of great value to his fellow Greek warriors. But his outsized appetites and excessive self-regard eventually make him an agent of death and destruction to the army. Sophocles’ Oedipus comes to Thebes and defeats the Sphinx, saving the citizens and becoming their king. But his ignorance about his true identity and arrogant dependence on his own flawed judgment bring sickness and death to his subjects. For all his great-hearted solicitude and virtue, Hector too becomes just such an ambivalent force in his own city and family.
Further Reading
Edwards, M. 1987. Homer: Poet of the Iliad, 208–210. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Graziosi, B. and Haubold, J. ed. 2010. Homer: Iliad, Book VI, 5–6; 41–44. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Owen, E.T. 1946. The Story of the Iliad, 65–67. Toronto: Clark and Irwin.
Redfield, J. 1975. Nature and Culture in the Iliad, 122–127. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
369: φωνήσας: nom. sg. aor. ptc. > φωνέω. ἀπέβη: 3rd sg. aor. > ἀπο-βαίνω.
370: εὖ ναιετάοντας: “well-peopled,” “well-built.”
372: ἥ γε: “she in fact,” demonstrative pronoun, γε draws attention to the poet’s knowledge of the situation (Graziosi-Haubold).
373: ἐφεστήκει: “had stopped upon” + dat., thus “was standing upon,” intransitive plpf. > ἐφ-ίστημι. γοόωσά τε μυρομένη τε: the two present participles have similar meaning and often occur together (Graziosi-Haubold).
374: ὡς: “when.” τέτμεν: “came across,” reduplicated root aorist from unknown present.
376: εἰ δ᾽ ἄγε: “now come,” εἰ with an imperative (usually in connection with ἄγε, which can be used when addressing more than one person) functions as an interjection (Stoevesandt). μυθήσασθε: aor. dep. mid. imper. > μυθέομαι.
378: ἠέ … ἤ … ἤ: “either … or … or.” ἐς γαλόων … εἰνατέρων: “to (the houses) of … (to the houses) of…,” as often when a genitive follows the preposition εἰς (Goodell 507.a).
379: ἐς Ἀθηναίης: “to (the temple) of…” (Goodell 507.a). ἐξοίχεται: “has gone out,” pres. with perfect sense. ἔνθά περ: “just where,” “the very place where,” the particle intensifies the relative adverb.
380: θεὸν: “goddess,” the noun can be feminine or masculine, evident in the adj. δεινὴν.
381: τὸν δ᾽: “this one,” Hector. πρὸς … ἔειπεν: “addressed a speech to.” The verb governs two accusative objects, τὸν and μῦθον.
382: ἄνωγας: pf. with pres. sense. ἀληθέα: “the truth,” “true things,” neut. pl. adj. used substantively (Goodell 544).
386: οὕνεκα: “because,” “since,” crasis for οὗ ἕνεκα, “for the sake of which.”
387: Τρῶας: “that the Trojans,” acc. subject. κράτος: “that the power,” acc. subject with inf. > εἰμί. μέγα is predicate acc.
388: ἥ μὲν δὴ: “she in fact…,” μὲν δὴ points forward to Astyanax, who is mentioned in the next line. ἐπειγομένη: “rushing.”
389: μαινομένῃ ἐϊκυῖα: “like a raging woman,” dat. sg. pres. mid. ptc., dat. after ἐϊκυῖα.
390: ἦ: “spoke,” 3rd sg impf. > ἠμί (Goodell 383). ἀπέσσυτο: root aor. > ἀποσεύομαι.
391: τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν: “over this same route,” inner accusative or acc. of extent of space (common with ὁδόν) (see 6.292).
393: τῇ: “in which (place),” “where.” διεξίμεναι: pres. inf. > δι-έξ-ειμι, Attic διεξιέναι. πεδίονδε: -δε expresses place to which (Monro 335.2).
394: ἔνθα: “there,” correlative with εὖτε, “where.”
396: Ἠετίων ὃς: “the Eetion who ….”
397: Θήβῃ Ὑποπλακίῃ: “at Thebe below Mount Placus,” locative dat. without preposition. Thebe, modern Edremit, (not to be confused with either Egyptian or Boeotian Thebes), was a city in the so-called Plain of Thebe, south of Troy. As Andromache goes on to say, it was one of the many cities around Troy that Achilles and the Greeks sacked while besieging Troy. Κιλίκεσσ᾽ ἄνδρεσσιν: dat. pl. governed by ptc. ἀνάσσων. It is unclear what, if any, connection these Cilicians have to those in the similarly named region of southern Asia Minor.
398: τοῦ περ δὴ θυγάτηρ: “and the daughter of this man, then” (Graziosi-Haubold). ἔχεθ᾽ Ἕκτορι: “was held by Hector,” “was married to Hector,” = ἔχεται, pres. pass. > ἔχω. Ἕκτορι: dat. with passive ἔχεται.
399: οἱ: “this one,” = αὐτῷ, dat. obj. of ἀντάω. αὐτῇ: “herself,” Andromache, governed by ἅμα.
400: παῖδ: = παῖδα. ἔχουσα: fem. nom. sg. ptc. νήπιον αὔτως: “still an infant,” “just an infant.”
402: τόν: “whom,” relative pronoun. καλέεσκε: “was accustomed to call (x) (y),” the verb governs a double acc. (2nd acc. is the predicate), the iterative form -σκ-, evokes family usage (Goodell 534). οἱ ἄλλοι: “others (were accustomed to call him),” supply καλέεσκον.
403: ἐρύετο: “was drawing (from danger),” “was rescuing,” impf. mid. > ἐρύομαι (compare Lat. ēripiō), see 22.303 for a similar use.
404: ἤτοι: this word is similar in grammatical function to μέν, but more emphatic (Graziosi-Haubold). σιωπῇ: dat. of manner, which can often be translated as an adverb (Goodell 526.b).
405: οἱ: “him,” dat. governed by παρ- in compound παρ-ίστημι (Monro 145.6). δάκρυ: poetic for δάκρυον, translate as pl.
406: ἔν τ᾽ ἄρα οἱ φῦ χειρὶ: “firmly clasped his hand,” literally “grew into his hand.” ἐν … φῦ: 3rd sg. root aorist > ἐμφύω, with tmesis. ἔπος τ᾽ ἔφατ᾽… ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνόμαζε: see 6.253; Andromache is subject.
407: φθίσει: fut. > epic φθίνω, Attic φθίω. τὸ σὸν μένος: “this courage of yours.” τό is demonstrative.
408: ἥ: “who…,” relative pronoun.
409: σεῦ: “from you,” = σοῦ, gen. of separation with χήρη. ἔσομαι: dep. fut. > εἰμί. κατακτανέουσιν: uncontracted fut. > κατακτείνω.
410: πάντες ἐφορμηθέντες: “attacking together,” aor. pass. ptc. > ἐφορμάω (Graziosi-Haubold). κε … εἴη: “it would be,” κε/ἄν + potential opt. > εἰμί; the subject is the infin. in 411.
411: σεῦ: “(from) you,” = σοῦ, gen. of separation with ἀπο- in ἀφαμαρτούσῃ. χθόνα δύμεναι: “sink beneath the earth,” χθόνα is acc. of direction without preposition, δύμεναι is aor. infin. > δύω, subject of the sentence (Goodell 574). οὐ … ἔτι: “no longer,” “not still.”
412: ἔσται: 3rd sg. dep. fut. > εἰμί, supply μοι. ἐπεὶ ἄν: “whenever…,” ἄν + subj. (here 2nd aor. > ἐφ-έπω) in a general temporal clause (see 6.225) (Goodell 627).
413: ἄχε’: ἄχεα, neut. pl. subject, parallel to θαλπωρὴ, supply ἔσται. μοι: dat. of possession with ἔστι.
vocabulary
ἄρα, ῥά (enclit.), ἄρ, ῥ᾿: so, then, as you know, you know, it seems. Very often it marks an action as natural, or reminds of something recently said. It also marks transitions.
φωνέω, aor. φώνησεν: to speak
ἀποβαίνω, aor. ἀπεβήσετο or ἀπέβη: to go away, dismount
κορυθαίολος: crest-waving, gleaming-crested
Ἕκτωρ ‑ορος ὁ: Hector
αἶψα: quickly, at once370
ἱκάνω: to come, arrive
δόμος -ου ὁ: a house, home
ναιετάω: to dwell
Ἀνδρομάχη: Andromache, wife of Hector, daughter of Eetion. Her father and brothers were slain by Achilles.
λευκώλενος: white-armed
μέγαρον -ου τό: large room, main hall (in the center) of the house; (pl.) dwelling, house, palace.
ἀμφίπολος -ου, ἡ: female attendant, handmaid
εὔπεπλος: beautifully robed
πύργος -ου ὁ : tower, turreted surrounding wall; (fig.) rampart, defense, defender
ἐφίστημι, plpf. ἐφεστήκει and ἐφέστασαν: to place upon; (plpf.) to stand upon
γοάω: to wail, groan, weep
μύρομαι: to weep, grieve, lament
ἔνδον: in, within, in the house, at home
ἀμύμων -ονος: blameless, noble, excellent
τέτμεν: came across (aor. from an unknown present)
ἄκοιτις: wife, spouse
οὐδός: a threshold375
δμῳή -ῆς ἡ: female slave, maid
ἄγε: come! come on! well!
νημερτής -ές: unfailing, true
μυθέομαι: speak or talk of, describe, explain, relate
πῇ (interrog.): by what path? where to? where?; how? in what way?
πῃ (enclitic): in any way, in any direction, perhaps
γάλοως, dat. γαλόῳ: a husband's sister, sister-in-law
εἰνάτερες: husband's brothers' wives
Ἀθήνη and Ἀθηναίη: Athena
ἐξοίχομαι: to be gone
Τρώϊος: Trojan380
εὐπλόκαμος: having lovely locks, curled (usu. of goddesses and women)
ἱλάσκομαι, aor. subj. ἱλάσσεαι [ἱλάσῃ] and ἱλασόμεσθα [ἱλασώμεθα]: to propitiate, appease
αὖτε: again, on the other hand, however, but
ὀτρηρός: nimble, prompt, ready
ταμίη: a housekeeper
μῦθος -ου ὁ: word, utterance, saying, proposition, plan, thought, injunction
ἄνωγα (perf. as pres.), impf. ἄνωγον, plpf. as impf. ἠνώγει or ἀνώγειν: to command, order, bid
Ἴλιος -ου ἡ: Ilius or Ilium, the city of Ilus, Troy
386
οὕνεκα: on which account, wherefore
τείρω: to oppress, press hard, weigh heavily upon, distress
Τρῶες: Trojans
κράτος -εος τό: strength, might, victory
Ἀχαιός: Achaian
ἐπείγω: to hurry, urge; (mid.) to hasten, be in haste, be eager
ἀφικάνω: to come
μαίνομαι ἔμηνα μέμηνα ἐμάνην: to rage, be furious, be frantic, rave
τιθήνη: a nurse
ἠμί, impf. ἦ: to say, speak. ἦ καί is used after a speech that is reported, where the same subject is continued for the following verb.390
ἀποσεύω: to chase away
δῶμα -ατος τό: a house
αὖθις: back, back again
ἐυκτίμενος: well-built
ἄγυια: street, way
εὖτε: when, at the time when
πύλη -ης ἡ: one wing of a pair of double gates; (pl.) gate
διέρχομαι διελεύσομαι διῆλθον διελήλυθα: to go through, pass through
ἄστυ ἄστεος τό: a city, town
διέξειμι, inf. διεξίμεναι: to go forth
πεδίον -ου τό: a plain
ἄλοχος -ου ἡ: wife
πολύδωρος: richly dowered
θέω θεύσομαι: to run
μεγαλήτωρ -ορος: great-hearted, heroic395
Ἠετίων -ωνος: Eetion, king of Hypoplacian Theba near Troy, father of Hector's wife Andromache; slain by Achilles on the capture of Theba.
ναίω or ναιετάω: to dwell, inhabit
Πλάκος: a mountain above the city of Theba
ὑλήεις: woody, wooded
Θήβη: Theba, a Cilician town in the Troad (at the foot of Mt. Placus, an eastern spur of Mt. Ida), under the rule of Andromache's father Eetion; it was sacked by Achilles.
ὑποπλάκιος: under mount Placus
Κίλιξ ‑ικος ὁ: (pl.) Cilicians, but not the historical nation of that name. In Homer they live in Greater Phrygia near Troy, in two nations. One king, Eetion, Andromache's father, reigned at Theba. Another, Mynes, at Lyrnessus.
ἀνάσσω: to be lord or master, dominate, rule
χαλκοκορυστής: helmeted with bronze, in bronze armor
οἱ (enclitic, dat. 3rd pers. pron.): (to) him, (to) her
ἀντάω: to come opposite to, meet face to face, meet with
ἀμφίπολος -ον: servant, handmaid
κίω: to go
κόλπος -ου ὁ: bosom400
ἀταλάφρων -ον: gentle-spirited, guileless
νήπιος -α -ον: infant, childish
αὔτως: in this very manner, even so, just so, as it is, merely; νήπιον αὔτως 'merely a child'
Ἑκτορίδης -ου ὁ: son of Hector, Ascanius
ἀγαπητός: beloved
ἀλίγκιος: resembling, like
ἀστήρ -έρος ὁ: star
Σκαμάνδριος: Scamandrius, Hector's son, whom the people called Astyanax
ἀτάρ: but, yet
Ἀστυάναξ -ακτος: Astyanax, Hector's son, also known as Ascanius
οἷος -α -ον: of what sort, what kind of, what, such as, as
ἐρύομαι, εἰρύομαι, ἔρυμαι, or εἴρυμαι, impf. ἔρυτο, aor. εἰρύσατο and ἐρύσσατο, aor. inf. εἰρύσσασθαι: to protect, preserve, save, defend, observe, ward off
Ἴλιος -ου ἡ: Ilius or Ilium, the city of Ilus, Troy
ἤτοι: now surely, truly, = μέν
μειδάω, aor. μείδησε: to smile
σιωπή ‑ῆς ἡ: silence
ἄγχι: near, close405
παρίσταμαι, aor. ptc. παραστάς: stand beside, stand near, stand by, assist
δάκρυον ‑ου τό, also δάκρυ ‑υος τό: tear
χέω, aor. ἔχεεν or ἔχευε, χύντο, perf. κέχυνται, plpf. κέχυτο: to pour, heap (of a funeral mound), throw into a heap; σὺν ὅρκια ἔχευαν, broke (threw into a disorderly heap) the oaths; ἀμφὶ υἱὸν ἐχεύατο πήχεα, threw (her) arms about (her) son; δάκρυ χέων, weeping
δαιμόνιος: supernatural, marvelous, extraordinary; excellent, admirable; striken by (adverse) fate, miserable, unfortunate
φθίνω, fut. φθίσει, plpf. ἐφθίατο: to waste away, perish, die; (fut.) destroy, kill
μένος -εος τό: might, force, strength, prowess, courage
ἐλεαίρω: to pity
νηπίαχος: young, helpless
ἄμμορος: ill fated, unhappy
τάχα: quickly, presently; perhaps
χήρη: bereft of a husband, widow
κατακτείνω: to kill, slay, murder
ἐφορμάω, aor. ἐφώρμησαν, aor. pass. partic. ἐφορμηθέντες: to urge upon; (pass.) to rush upon, attack410
κερδίων -ον: more profitable, more advantageous, better; (superl.) κέρδιστος, the slyest
ἀφαμαρτάνω, aor. partic. ἀφαμαρτούσῃ: miss the target, fail to reach the mark; to lose, be bereft (+ gen.)
χθών χθονός ἡ: the earth, ground
δύω, fut. δύσω, aor. inf. δῦσαι, aor. mid. (ἐ)δύσετο, aor. ἔδυ, perf. δέδυκεν: to enter, go into, put on; πρὶν ἠέλιον δῦναι, before the sun set; γαῖαν ἐδύτην, (their souls) entered the earth
θαλπωρή: comfort, joy
πότμος: fate, death
ἐφέπω, aor. subj. ἐπίσπῃ: to meet; πότμον ἐπισπεῖν, meet one's fate, fulfill one's destiny
ἄχος -εος τό: grief, sadness
πότνια: mistress, honored