Homer, Iliad XXII 437-472

Andromache hears the wailing from the city walls while at home weaving and preparing a bath for Hector. Greatly disturbed, she asks two servants to investigate the cause. In a state of frenzy she rushes out to the tower with them and sees Hector's lifeless body being dragged behind Achilles' chariot. As she collapses she throws off her elaborate headdress.

The poet uses language often found in battle scenes to describe the brutal impact of Hector’s death on his wife. This kind of metaphor surfaces in her characterization first in Book Six, when Homer uses the participle ἐντροπαλιζομένη, “turning around again and again,” otherwise reserved for retreating warriors or hunted animals, to describe Andromache as she reluctantly leaves Hector at the city gates (6.496). [read full essay]

437: κλαίουσ᾽: = κλαίουσα nom. fem. pres. ptc. οὔ πώ τι: “not yet at all,” τι is adverbial (de Jong). πέπυστο: plpf. mid. > πυνθάνομαι, here used absolutely.

438: Ἕκτορος: “Hector’s (wife),” it seems best to connect the genitive Ἕκτορος with ἄλοχος rather than with πέπυστο, which usually introduces a genitive + participle, and ἄλοχος Ἕκτορος is a highly effective circumlocution. οἵ: “to her,” ind. object of ἤγγειλε, with accent from enclitic τις. ἐτήτυμος ἄγγελος ἐλθὼν: “coming as a truth-telling messenger.” ἄγγελος is used predicatively in Homer. ἐτήτυμος: “sure,” i.e. authentic. She first heard only the wailing (line 447), and feared the worst (455 ff.) (Monro).

439: ἤγγειλ᾽: = ἤγγειλε, 3rd sg aor. > ἀγγέλλω. ὅττι: = ὅτι, “that…,” introducing indirect discourse (Goodell 622). οἱ: “her,” possessive dative personal pronoun (Monro 143.1).

440: μυχῷ: “in an inner room” + gen., locative dative without preposition.

441: ἐν δὲ θρόνα ποικίλ’ ἔπασσε: “and she wove colorful flowery decorations in it,” (de Jong).

442: κέκλετο: “urged,” “commanded,” “exhorted” + dat. and inf., reduplicated aor. dep. mid > κέλομαι (Monro 36).

443: ἀμφὶ πυρὶ: “about the fire,” place where. στῆσαι: transitive aor. inf. > ἵστημι.

443–446: ὄφρα πέλοιτο: “so that there might be,” purpose clause, with optative (aor. dep. mid. > πέλομαι) after past tense κέκλετο (Monro 307).

444: Ἕκτορι: “for Hector,” dat. of interest (Goodell 523). μάχης ἐκ: = ἐκ μάχης, anastrophe.

445: ὅ: “that…,” = ὅτι, introducing ind. discourse (LSJ s.v. ὅς IV.1; Goodell 622). λοετρῶν: gen. of separation with τῆλε (Goodell 509.a).

446: χερσὶν: dat. pl. of means > χείρ.

447: κωκυτοῦ καὶ οἰμωγῆς: gen. with verb of hearing (Monro 151.d), see lines 407–409. δ᾽ ἤκουσε: “but she began to hear,” a strong adversative, perhaps an inceptive aorist (Goodell 464).

448: τῆς δ’ ἐλελίχθη γυῖα: “her limbs quivered.” ἐλέλιχθη: 3rd sg. aor. pass. > ἐλελίζω, plural subject. οἱ: either possessive dat. personal pronoun with κερκίς, or dat. of interest with ἔκπεσε. ἔκπεσε: aor. > ἐκπίπτω.

449: ἣ δ᾽: “and this one,” Andromache. μετηύδα: “addressed” + dat., 3rd sg. impf. > μεταυδάω.

450: δεῦτε: “come on,” this is originally an imperative (“come here”), but has weakened to a particle. ἕπεσθον: “you two follow,” dual 2nd pl. imperative, δύω is voc. direct address. ἴδωμ’: = ἴδωμαι, “let me see,” 1st sg. hortatory subj. Note the asyndeton. ὅτιν’ ἔργα τέτυκται: “what deeds have been done,” i.e. “what’s happened,” pf. pass. > τεύχω, 3rd sg. with neut. pl. subject.

451: ὀπὸς: “voice,” gen. (> unattested nom.) with verb of hearing (Monro 151.d). ἔκλυον: 1st sg. impf. with aorist sense. ἐμοὶ αὐτῇ/στήθεσι: “in me myself, in my chest,” i.e. “in my own chest,” intensified both by ἐμοὶ (vs. enclitic μοι) and by the intensive pronoun αὐτή.

452: πάλλεται ἦτορ ἀνὰ στόμα: “my heart is leaping up to my mouth.” ἀνὰ στόμα: i.e. as though it would come out at my mouth (Monro). νέρθε = ἔνερθε, “up from below.”

453: πήγνυται: “are frozen,” “are locked,” pres. pass. γοῦνα is the neuter pl. subject. ἐγγὺς … τέκεσσιν: “near the children.”

454: αἲ γὰρ ἀπ' οὔατος εἴη ἐμεῦ ἔπος: “may my word be away from my ear,” i.e. “may what I now say not become true,” εἰ/αἴ γάρ + opt. of wish (Goodell 476).

455–456: μὴ … δίηται: “lest … put to flight,” clause of fearing, aor. mid. subj. > δίω (Goodell 610). μοι: ethical dative (Goodell 523).

456: ἀποτμήξας: “cutting off from” + gen., nom. sg. aor. ptc. πόλιος: gen. governed by ἀπο- of ἀποτμήξας.

457: καὶ δή: “and indeed (also),” introduces something similar in kind to what has preceded, but stronger in degree, and marks a kind of climax (de Jong). μιν καταπαύσῃ: “made him cease from” + gen., continuing the fearing clause, 3rd sg. aor. subj. Achilles is still subject. ἀλεγεινῆς: “unhappy,” because the cause of his death (Monro); “that causes me distress,” because it carries Hector into battle (Benner, following scholia).

458: ἥ: “which…,” relative, i.e. ἀγηνορίης.

458–459: ἔχεσκ᾽, προθέεσκε: iterative impf. > ἔχω (= ἔχεσκε) and > προθέω, note that Andromache already uses a past tense to describe Hector. ἐπεὶ: “(I say this) since…”

459: πολὺ: “often,” “much,” adverbial acc. τὸ ὃν μένος οὐδενὶ εἴκων: “yielding in that mighty spirit of his to no one” (Benner). τὸ ὃν μένος: acc. of specification. εἴκων: “retiring before,” “yielding to” + dat., nom. sg. pres. ptc.

460: μεγάροιο διέσσυτο: “she rushed through the palace,” μεγάροιο is a genitive governed by the διά- of διέσσυτο, impf. dep. mid. > διασεύομαι.

461: κραδίην: “in her heart,” acc. of respect with παλλομένη, “vibrating, palpitating, quivering.” See LSJ s.v. πάλλω II. ἄμα … αύτῇ: “along with (her) herself.”

462: πύργον, ὅμιλον: acc. of direction without preposition. ἷξεν: aor. > ἵκω.

463: ἔστη: 3rd sg. root aor. > ἵστημι. τὸν δὲ: “and … this one,” Hector.

464: πόλιος: gen. > πόλις, Att. πόλεως, obj. of πρόσθεν.

466: κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμῶν: “down over her eyes,” (Monro 213.2).

467: ἤριπε: “crashed down,” aor. > ἐρείπω, an expressive verb used of the fall of dead warriors and trees. ἀπὸ … ἐκάπυσσε: “breathed out (her ψυχή),” > ἀποκαπύω in so-called tmesis.

468: κρατὸς: gen. > κάρη. βάλε: unaugmented aor. > βάλλω. δέσματα: “headgear” (Monro); a general word, to which ἄμπυκα (line 469), etc., are in apposition. Apparently the poet gives here the complete head-dress of a Homeric woman (Benner).

469: ἄμπυκα seems to indicate the same as στεφάνη, a metal diadem, especially of gold (Benner); a “diadem” of metal, hence the epithet χρυσάμπυκες, applied to the Muses (Hesiod, Theogony 916) and Seasons (Homeric Hymn 6.5) (Monro). τε ἰδὲ: “both … and.” πλεκτὴν ἀναδέσμην: “plaited band,” probably a thick band passing round the head behind the ears, represented on some Etruscan monuments of the archaic style (Monro, following Helbig).

470: θ᾽: = τε, “and.” ὅ: “which,” neuter acc. sg. οἱ: = αὐτῇ, dat. sg. ind. obj., 3rd pers. pronoun > ἑ.

471: ἤματι τῷ: “on that day,” = ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἤματι, dat. of time when (Goodell 527.c). μιν: Andromache, = αὐτήν. ἠγάγεθ᾽: “led her (in matrimony),” aor. mid. > ἄγω, the verb with middle voice often describes when men marry women and lead them home (LSJ s.v. ἄγω B.2).

472: πόρε:  “gave, furnished” 3rd sg. aor. > *πόρω, assumed present of the aor. act. ἔπορον and pf. pass. πέπρωμαι.