Homer, Iliad XXII 131-176

As Achilles approches, Hector runs away along a wagon track around the city. Achilles pursues, and they pass the site of a pair of hot and cold springs beneath the walls. As they complete a third circuit around the city Zeus expresses concern for Hector and asks the other gods to think about rescuing him.

Finally, Hector’s time has come. He is going to die soon. He knows it and we know it. Achilles has been looming on the edge of our vision while Hector pondered and now arrives as the elemental force that Priam first saw from the walls of Troy. [read full essay]

131: ὣς: “thus,” closing Hector’s interior monologue. ὃ δέ … Ἀχιλλεὺς: “but this one, Achilles.”  οἱ: “to him,” dat. obj. of σχεδόν (Monro 98).

133 Πηλιάδα: “of Mount Pelion.” Achilles’ spear is called “Pelian” because the centaur Chiron made it of wood from Mt. Pelion in Thessaly and gave it to Peleus at the occasion of his marriage to Thetis, just as the gods gave him armor (de Jong; see Iliad 16.140–144). κατὰ: “over” (Goodell 212.4).

134: ἀμφὶ δὲ: “around about,” adverbial. 

135: ἢ … ἢ: “either … or.” πυρὸς … ἀνιόντος: gen. qualifying αὐγῇ. ἀνιόντος: pres. ptc. > ἄν-ειμι.

136: ὡς: “as,” “when.” ἕλε: unaugmented aor. > αἱρέω. οὐδ᾽… ἔτ᾽: “and no longer,” “not still.” ἔτλη: "endured," aor. > τλάω (Goodell 366).

137: βῆ φοβηθείς: “he set off in flight.” In Homer the verb φοβέω means “to put to flight” (act.), “flee” (middle/passive), with the connotation of fear. βῆ: unaugmented root aor. > βαίνω (Goodell 366). φοβηθείς: nom. sg. aor. pass. ptc. 

138: πεποιθώς: “trusting completely in,” intensive perfect > πείθω (Monro 61).

139: ὄρεσφιν: “in the mountains,” -φι, the dative suffix, is here locative in force (Goodell 157). Mountains are associated with danger in Homer: this is the place where wild animals live, fire rages, and herdsmen fight in a continuous battle against predators (de Jong).

140: οἴμησε: “pounces,” gnomic aor. (Smyth 1931), as often in similes (Monro 78.2). “Swoops down” (Monro). μετὰ: “after,” “behind,” (Monro 195.1).

141: ἣ δέ θ᾽: = ἣ δέ τε, “and that one…,” the dove. φοβεῖται: see 22.137. ὃ δ᾽: “and this one,” the hawk. ὀξὺ λεληκὼς: “with a shrill cry.” ὀξὺ: neut. sg. adverbial acc. λεληκὼς: intensive perfect participle > λάσκω (Monro 61).

142: ταρφέ᾽: = ταρφέα, neut. pl. ἑλέειν: uncontracted 2nd aor. inf. > αἱρέω (Monro 85.2). τέ: “and.”

143: ὣς: “so,” closing the simile from 22.139. ὅ γ᾽: “this one,” Achilles. πέτετο: “began to fly,” unaugmented inchoative impf. (Monro 70).

144: τεῖχος ὕπο: = ὑπὸ τεῖχος.

145: οἳ δὲ: “and these,” demonstrative pronoun (Monro 256). σκοπιήν: “the lookout place,” not that of 2.792 ff., which was some way from the city (Monro).

146: τείχεος … ὑπ᾽ ἐκ: “a little way out from the wall,” gen. place from which. The road was not close enough for arrows to strike Achilles (de Jong). ὑπ’ ἐκ: “away from under,” getting further out as he went on (Monro). ἀμαξιτόν: “the wagon-track” leading to the washing place. ἐσσεύοντο: impf. mid. > σεύω, with σ duplicated after the augment. They ran along the wagon-road along the city wall; yet the road seems to have been somewhat distant from the wall (Benner).

147: κρουνὼ … καλλιρρόω: dual acc., acc. of direction without preposition. ἵκανον: 3rd pl. impf. > ἱκάνω (= ἵκω, = ἱκνέομαι).

148: Σκαμάνδρου: with πηγαί, two springs of the Scamander, i.e., two of the sources from which it fed (Monro).

149: ἣ μὲν … ἣ δ᾽: “one (spring) … other (spring)”. ὕδατι λιαρῷ: “with warm water,” specifying dative (Goodell 527.b). ἀμφὶ δὲ: “and round about it,” adverbial.

150: ἐξ αὐτῆς: “from it,” the spring. ὡς εἰ: “as if.” πυρὸς: supply ἐξ, gen. place from which.

151: ἣ δ᾽ ἑτέρη: “the other (spring).” θέρεϊ: “in summer,” dat. of time when (Goodell 527.c).

152: ἢ … ἢ: “or … or.”

153: ἔνθα δ᾽: “and there.” ἐπ᾽αὐτάων … ἐγγὺς: “near by them,” uncontracted gen. pl. > αὐτός. ἔασι: “there are,” 3rd pl. pres. epic > εἰμί, Att. εἰσίν. πλυνοί: “washing troughs,” cp. the description in the Odyssey, 7.85 ff. (Monro).

155: πλύνεσκον: “were accustomed to wash,” -σκ- indicates iterative impf. (Monro 48–9). τε: “and.”

156: τὸ πρὶν: “formerly,” adverb. ἐπ᾽εἰρήνης: “in peacetime,” gen. of time within which (Monro 200.4). υἷας: acc. pl. subject of infin.

157–166: παραδραμέτην … δινηθήτην: wedged in between two aorists, a series of imperfects (ἔφευγε, δίωκε, ἀρνύσθην, θέον) scenically paints the footrace.

157: τῇ: “in this (place),” “there,” dat. of place where with the fem. dat. sg. personal pronoun (Goodell 527.a). παραδραμέτην: dual 3rd pers. aor. > παρα-τρέχω. (ὃ μὲν) φεύγων, ὁ δ᾽: “(the one) fleeing, the other…”

158: μέγ᾽: = μέγα, “far,” “by far,” adverbial acc. adj. with ἀμείνων. μιν: “him,” Hector.

159: ἱερήιον: beast for sacrifice, “festal ox” (Monro).

160: ἀρνύσθην: “were trying to win,” dual 3rd pers. mid. conative impf. (Goodell 459.a). ἅ τε … ἀέθλια: “which are the prizes,” relative pronoun with an epic τε in generalizing statement (Monro 332.b). ποσσὶν ἀνδρῶν: “by the feet of men,” specifying dative (Goodell 527.b). ποσσὶν: “in the foot-race” (Benner); “for speed of foot” (Monro).

161: περὶ ψυχῆς: “for the life,” “about the life,” i.e., the prize for this race is Hector's life. θέον: unaugmented 3rd pl. impf. > θέω.

162: ὡς δ᾽ ὅτ᾽: “just as when,” begins the second of four similes in the context of the chase (de Jong). περὶ τέρματα: “round the turning posts,” likely boundary stones or landmarks such as trees (de Jong). μώνυχες ἵπποι: “one-nailed hourses,” i.e. “with unified hoof” (as opposed to cloven-hoofed animals) (de Jong).

163–164: τὸ δὲ μέγα κεῖται ἄεθλον / ἀνδρὸς κατατεθνηῶτος: “and it, a big prize, is set for (i.e. in honor of) a man who has died.” The allusion is to funeral games (Benner). κεῖται: “is set out,” supplies the perfect passive of τιθήμι (Goodell 387.c). 

164: ἢ … ἠὲ: “either … or,” in apposition to ἄεθλον. κατατεθνηῶτος: gen. sg. pf. act. ptc. 

165: ὣς: “so,” closing the simile from 162. τὼ: “these (two),” dual nom. demonstrative pronoun. δινηθήτην: “whirled about,” “circled,” 3rd pers. dual aor. pass. epic > δίννημι (= δινεύω = δινέω). Τhe aorist ending -θητην is intransitive rather than passive.

166: πόδεσσι: dat. pl. > πούς (= ποσίν = ποσσὶν) (Goodell 526.a). δ᾽ ἐς … ὁρῶντο: tmesis, “looked and at (them),” i.e. at the two men. ὁρῶντο: unaugmented 3rd pl. impf. mid. > ὁράω, the middle is used instead of the active, because the perception strongly affects the viewer (de Jong). 

167: τοῖσι δὲ: “and to these (gods),” dat. ind. object with verb of speaking. τε … τε: “both … and.” 

169: ὀφθαλμοῖσιν: dat. of means. ὁρῶμαι: = ὁράομαι, pres. indicative.

169–170: ὀλοφύρεται ... Ἕκτορος: “feel pity for” + gen. (Monro 151.c).

170: ὅς: “who…,” relative.  ἐπὶ … ἔκηεν: “burnt (on an altar),” aor. > ἐπικαίω, an abbreviated version of the full expression ἔκηε ἐπὶ βωμοῖς (de Jong). μοι: “for me,” dative of interest (Goodell 523). βοῶν: gen. pl. > βοῦς, partitive (Monro 147.2). μηρί᾽: = μηρία, neut. pl. 

171: for the altar of Zeus on Mt. Ida, see 8.48 (Monro).

173: ἄστυ πέρι: = περὶ ἄστυ. ποσὶν: dat. pl. of means (Goodell 526.a).

174: ἄγετε φράζεσθε: “but come consider,” ἄγετε, originally an imperative, is used as an exhoratory particle that lends weight to the two pres. mid. pl. imperatives that follow it (de Jong).

175: ἠέ … ἦέ: “whether…or,” alternative indirect questions (Goodell 655). σαώσομεν … δαμάσσομεν: “we are to save… we are to bring him low…,” deliberative aorist subjunctives > σαόω (= σῴζω), > δαμάζω (= δάμνημι).

176: Ἀχιλῆϊ: “by means of Achilles,” “via Achilles” dat. of means (Goodell 526.a). ἐόντα: “though,” concessive ptc. > εἰμί.