Homer, Iliad XXII 38-76

Seeing his son below on the plain, Priam begs Hector to come inside the walls.

Here, as often in this episode, the painful exchange between Hector and Andromache in Book Six echoes in our ears. Like Andromache, Priam hopes to keep Hector close by appealing to his sense of responsibility to those who depend on him. [read full essay]

38: μή … μίμνε: “don’t wait for” + acc. neg. imperative; the verb is transitive. μοι: so-called ethical dative, which gives expression to the speaker’s involvement. Its force is captured by “please” (de Jong). φίλον τέκος: vocative. ἀνέρα: acc. sg. > ἀνήρ, Att. ἄνδρα.

39: ἵνα μὴ ἐπίσπῃς: “so that you may not meet,” negative purpose clause, 2nd sg. aor. subj. > ἐφ-έπω (Goodell 642.a).

40: Πηλεΐωνι: dat. of agent. δαμείς: nom. sg. aor. passive ptc. > δαμνάω (= δάμνημι = δαμάζω). πολὺ: “by far,” “far.”

41: σχέτλιος: “hard,” “relentless one,” said of Hector. Most commentators refer it to Achilles, both here and in line 86, where it is similarly used. But σχέτλιος is especially a word of friendly complaint: Achilles uses it of Patroclus (18.13), Diomedes of Nestor (10.164), etc. (Monro). αἴθε … γένοιτο: “would that…,” opt. of wish introduced by αἴθε (= εἴθε), aor. opt. > γίγνομαι. θεοῖσι φίλος τοσσόνδε … ὅσσον ἐμοί: “may he become so very dear to the gods as he is to me,” i.e. so little, correlative adjectives, adverbial accusatives of extent modifying φίλος (de Jong).

42: ἐμοί: supply φίλος. ἑ: “him,” = αὐτόν, 3rd sg. acc. personal pronoun (Monro 99). κέν … ἔδοιεν: “would eat,” potential opt. elaborating on the wish in the previous line.

43: κείμενον: “lying (dead),” pres. dep. mid. ptc. μοι: either dat. of reference (“grief would be gone for me from the heart”) or dat. possession (“grief would be gone from my heart”) (de Jong). The dative of the personal pronoun is often used in place of a possessive (Monro 143.1). κέ … ἔλθοι: “would go,” i.e. “depart,” not “arrive,” potential opt. > ἔρχομαι.

44: ὅς: “he,” “this man,” Achilles, demonstrative pronoun (see 22.1). ἔθηκε: “made (x) (y)” aor. > τίθημι + double acc. (Goodell 534).

45: νήσων ἔπι: “upon islands,” = ἐπὶ νήσων.

46: παῖδε: dual acc.

47: ἰδέειν: aor. inf. > εἶδον (which supplies the aorist of ὁράω), artificially lengthened to fit the meter (Goodell 391). Τρώων: “among the Trojans,” partitive genitive (Monro).  ἀλέντων: “being hemmed in,” gen. absolute, aor. pass. ptc. > εἴλω.

48: τούς: “whom,” relative. μοι: dat. of interest (Goodell 523). τέκετο: unaugmented aor. mid. > τίκτω.

49: μετὰ στρατῷ: i.e., in the hands of the Greeks. ἦ τ᾽: “certainly, undoubtedly, indeed.” But ἄν introduces an element of doubt. τε underlines the close connection between protasis and apodosis but is left untranslated (de Jong).

50: ἂν … ἀπολυσόμεθα: “we will perhaps ransom,” either fut. mid. indicative (Monro 326) or aor. prospective subjunctive with short thematic vowel (Att. ἀπολυσώμεθα) (Monro 275.a). χαλκοῦ … χρυσοῦ: gen. of price (Goodell 513). ἔστι: “it is…,” i.e. the gold and bronze.

51: πολλὰ: “many (gifts),” a large dowry. ὤπασε: “gave with” (Monro). παιδὶ: “his daughter” Laothoe, fem. dat. indirect object.

52: εἰ δ᾽: “but if,” compare εἰ μὲν in line 49. τεθνᾶσι: “have died,” “are dead,” 3rd pl. pf. > θνήσκω. εἰν Ἀΐδαο δόμοισιν: supply εἰσί. εἰν: = ἐν. Ἀΐδαο: gen. sg.

53: ἐμῷ θυμῷ καὶ μητέρι: datives of interest (Goodell 523). τοὶ: “who,” relative. τεκόμεσθα: “bore” > τίκτω. The aor. mid. is used in pl. of both parents.

54: λαοῖσιν: dat. of interest (Goodell 523).

55: ἔσσεται: = ἔσται, fut. dep. mid. > εἰμί. ἢν … θάνῃς: future-more-vivid condition (ἢν/ἐάν + aor. subj., fut. indic.). θάνῃς: 2nd sg. aor. subj. > θνήσκω. δαμασθείς: nom. sg. aor. pass. ptc. > δαμνάω (= δάμνημι = δαμάζω), here with dat. of agent (see line 40).

56: εἰσέρχεο: = εἰσέρχε(σ)ο, 2nd sg. imperative. ὄφρα σαώσῃς: “so that…,” ὄφρα + aor. subj. > σαόω (= σῴζω) without κεν/ἄν in pure purpose clause (Monro 287.1.b).

57: Τρῶας καὶ Τρῳάς: 3rd decl. masc. and 1st decl. fem. adj. μὴ ... ὀρέξῃς: “you should not offer,” “do not grant,” prohibitive subjunctive (μή + 2nd sg. aor. subj. > ὀρέγω).

58: φίλης αἰῶνος: “of your dear life,” “from your dear life,” gen. of separation with ἀμερθῇς. ἀμερθῇς: “you should not be bereft of,” supply μὴ, another prohibitive subj., aor. pass subj. > ἀμέρδω.

59: πρὸς δ’: “and in addition,” “and besides,” adverbial. ἐμἐ τὸν δύστηνον: “me, this wretched man.” φρονέοντα: “while I still have my senses,” an emphatic variant for “while I am still alive” (de Jong); “alive and therefore knowing what evils are impending” (Monro). ἐλέησον: aor. act. imper. > ἐλεέω.

60: ὅν: “whom,” relative. ἐπὶ γήραος οὐδῷ: not “at the threshold of old age” (i.e. entering old age), but “at the threshold (between life and death), which is formed by old age,” a defining genitive (de Jong; see Monro 147).

60–61: πατὴρ Κρονίδης … αἴσῃ ἐν ἀργαλέῃ φθίσει: “(whom) father Zeus will destroy with a cruel fate.” ἐν expresses the circumstances under which something happens (de Jong).

61: κακὰ: “evils,” object of ἐπιδόντα. The accusatives of line 62 and following are in apposition to κακὰ. ἐπιδόντα: acc. sg. aor. ptc. > ἐπ- + εἶδον (see 22.25).

62: ἑλκηθείσας: “dragged away,” aor. pass. ptc. > ἑλκέω (= ἕλκω).

64: βαλλόμενα: pres. pass. ptc. > βάλλω. προτὶ: “against,” “near” + dat., = πρός (Monro 206).

65: ὀλοῇς: modifies χερσὶν, fem. dat. pl. > χείρ. ὑπὸ: “under (the power of)” + dat. (Monro 204.3).

66: αὐτὸν … με: “me myself,” intensive pronoun. πρώτῃσι θύρῃσιν: “just outside the door,” cp. 8.411 (Monro).

66–67: ἂν … ἐρύουσιν: “(perhaps) will drag,” fut. indicative + ἂν, which has a conditional force (see lines 49–50) (Monro 326).

67: ἐπεὶ κέ τις … ἕληται: “when someone takes,” subjunctive + κε/ἄν in a general temporal clause (kindred with a future-more-vivid condition) (Monro 296), aor. mid. subj. > αἱρέω.

68: τύψας, βαλὼν: nom. sg. aor. act. ptc. > τύπτω and βάλλω. Priam imagines death by sword thrust or spear cast. ῥεθέων ἐκ: = ἐκ ῥεθέων, “from my limbs.”

69: οὓς: “which,” dogs. τραπεζῆας: “eating from the table,” domesticated (Monro).

70: οἵ: “these,” demonstrative (22.1). πιόντες: aor. ptc. > πίνω. περὶ θυμῷ: “very much in their heart,” περί is adverbial; “to the fullness of their hearts,” cp. 21.65 (Monro).

71: νέῳ: “for a young man,” dat. interest (Goodell 523). τε: epic τε in generalizing statement (Monro 332.b). πάντ᾽ ἐπέοικεν: “everything looks well,” neuter plural subject of singular verb.

72: ἄρηϊ: “in war,” dat. means or, if personified, dat. of agent “by Ares.” κταμένῳ: “killed,” aor. mid. ptc. with pass. sense > κτείνω, predicative after κεῖσθαι (“to lie killed”). δεδαϊγμένῳ: pf. pass. ptc. > δαίζω, also predicative after κεῖσθαι. ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ: dat. of means.

73: κεῖσθαι: “to lie (dead),” epexegetical infinitive explaining πάντα in line 71 (Monro 242). πάντα … ὅττι φανήῃ: “Everything of him is beautiful even though he is dead, whatever part of his body is visible” (de Jong); “whatever may present itself, befall him in the sight of men” (Monro).  πάντα: subject, supply ἐστί. θανόντι περ: “though dead,” dat. aor. ptc. > θνήσκω. περ suggests the ptc. is concessive. ὅττι: singular in number with plural antecedent πάντα, in a distributive construction (“everything … whatever individual part”).

74: κάρη: neut. sg., modified by πολιόν.

75: αἰδῶ: “nakedness,” i.e., the shameful parts, acc. sg. αἰσχύνωσι: “defile” by eating. κταμένοιο γέροντος: “an old man being killed,” aor. mid. ptc., which in Homer still may have a passive meaning (de Jong).

76: τοῦτο δὴ: “this very thing,” i.e. the death of an old man. πέλεται: “turns out to be,” “is.” οἴκτιστον: “the most pitiable thing,” closing off the speech with a repetition of its key idea.