Homer, Iliad VI 232-262

After Glaucus and Diomedes exchange armor, the scene shifts to Hector, who enters Troy. He is beset by Trojans keen for news, but soon proceeds to the house of Priam, where he meets his mother Hecuba. She offers wine, both to offer to Zeus and to restore himself, and asks Hector why he has left the field.

The rest of Book Six will be Homer’s full-length portrait of Hector, building on material from Book Three. It is also, we discover, the hero’s farewell to his people. We might wonder why these scenes appear where they do, why in particular Homer put the poignant exchange between Hector and Andromache here and not closer to the final duel with Achilles. The answer is that all of this pain must be in our minds as we see Hector make his way toward death. [read full essay]

232-3 φωνήσαντε … ἀΐξαντε: dual aor. ptc. λαβέτην: 3rd pers. dual aor. act. > λαμβάνω. πιστώσαντο: “made a commitment to one another,” 3rd pl. aor. mid. > πιστόω. The middle denotes reciprocity.

232: καθ᾽: “down from,” = κατὰ, elision before aspiration, gen. of place from which (Monro 213.1).

234: ἐξέλετο: “stole away the wits,” aor. mid. > ἐξαιρέω.

234: Γλαύκῳ: “(took away the wits) from Glaucus,” a rare use of dat. of person with ἐξ-αιρέω, though it may also serve as possessive dat. personal pronoun with φρένας (Monro 143.1). 

235: πρὸς Τυδεΐδην Διομήδεα: “with Diomedes, son of Tydeus,” the preposition is an alternative of the dative of person used in 6.230.

236: χαλκείων, ἐννεαβοίων: gen. of price or value (Goodell 513). χρύσεα, ἑκατόμβοι᾽: acc. direct objects.

237: ὡς: “when.” Σκαιάς τε πύλας καὶ φηγὸν: accusative of direction without a preposition

238: θέον: unaugmented 3rd pl. impf. > θέω, not to be confused with θεόν, “god.”

239: εἰρόμεναι: pres. mid. dep. ptc. > εἴρομαι

240: πόσιας: 3rd declension acc. pl. > πόσις. ὃ δ᾽: “but he….” Τhe article functions here (as often in Homer) as a demonstrative pronoun (Monro 265).

241: πάσας: “all (the Trojan women).” ἑξείης: i.e. he asks each one after another. πολλῇσι κήδε’ ἐφῆπτο: “suffering was imposed upon many.” πολλῇσι: dat. governed by ἐπί of ἐφ-άπτω (Monro 145.6). ἐφῆπτο: 3rd sg. plpf. mid. > ἐφ-άπτω, with neut. pl. κήδεα as subject.

242: ὅτε δὴ: “just when.” δὴ implies exactness. περικαλλέ’: uncontracted acc. sg. with elision of α.

243: τετυγμένον: pf. pass. ptc. > τεύχω. αὐτῷ: the δόμος.

244: ἔν-εσαν: “were within,” 3rd pl. impf. act.> ἔνειμι (Monro 12).

245: δεδμημένοι: pf. pass. ptc. > δέμω. ἔνθα: “there.”

246: ἐναντίοι: supply θάλαμοι from line 244.

248: ἔσαν: 3rd pl. impf. > εἰμί, Attic ἦσαν (Monro 12).

249: δεδμημένοι: see note for line 245 above.

251: οἱ: “his,” = αὐτῷ, dat. with ἐναντίη. ἤλυθε: = ἦλθε, aor. act. > ἔρχομαι.

252: ἐσ-άγουσα: nom. sg. pres ptc. > εἰσ-άγω. εἶδος: "in appearance," acc. of respect.

253: ἔν τ᾽ ἄρα οἱ φῦ χειρὶ: “firmly clasped his hand,” literally “grew into his hand.” ἐν … φῦ: 3rd sg. root aorist > ἐμφύω. ἔπος τ᾽ ἔφατ᾽: “began to speak a word,” impf. mid. with no difference in meaning from the active. ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνόμαζε: “called (him) out by name,” understand Hecabe as subject.

254: τίπτε: = τί ποτε, “why ever?” λιπὼν: nom. sg. aor. ptc. > λείπω. εἰλήλουθας: pf. act. > ἔρχομαι.

255: ἦ μάλα δὴ: “no doubt” (Graziosi-Haubold).

256: ἀνῆκεν: 3rd sg. 1st aor. > ἀν-ίημι (Goodell 374).

257: ἐλθόντα: aor. ptc. > ἔρχομαι with σὲ. ἀνασχεῖν: aor. infin. of purpose > ἀν-έχω (Goodell 565.a).

258: μέν᾽: = μένε, 2nd sg. imperative > μένω. ὄφρά κέ ... ἐνείκω: “while I bring” or “so that I may bring” (see 6.113). The basic sense is temporal, but ὄφρα κε also conveys purpose (Graziosi-Haubold, see Monro 287.1.b). ἐνείκω: 1st sg. aor. subj. > φέρω, Attic ἐνέγκω. τοι: “to you,” = σοι, dat. indirect object.

259: ὡς σπείσῃς: “so that…,” purpose clause, 2nd sg. aor. subj. > σπένδω.

260: πρῶτον: adverbial acc. καὐτὸς: “you yourself as well,” crasis (contraction of vowels across parts of compounds; see Smyth 62–69, Goodell 35) for καὶ αὐτὸς. ὀνήσε(σ)αι: “you help yourself,” either 2nd sg. aor. mid. subj. > ὀνίνημι, continuing the purpose clause of 6.259 (Stoevesandt, see Monro 80), or 2nd sg. fut. mid. indic., introducing a new main clause and forming the protasis of a future-more-vivid condition (Graziosi-Haubold). αἴ κε: = ἐάν. πίῃσθα: 2nd sg. aor. subj. > πίνω. A condition with subj. + κε/ἄν indicates that a particular future occasion is contemplated (Monro 292.b).

261: κεκμηῶτι: “being weary,” dat. sg. pf. ptc. > κάμνω, modifying ἀνδρὶ, dat of interest (Goodell 523). μέγα: adverbial acc. ἀέξει: = αὐξάνει.

262: ὡς … κέκμηκας: “since you are weary,” 2nd sg. pf. > κάμνω. τύνη: = σύ, emphatic.