The speaker and the question put by him are learned from the labourer's answer, l. 7 sqq.
[4] εἰνοδίοιο, 'the god of the roads.' For this attribute of Hermes, cf. Soph. Philoct. 133 ᾿Ερμῆς ὁ πέμπων δόλιος ἡγήσαιτο νῷν: hence the erection of the statues of Hermes at the street corners.
[5] κεχολῶσθαι. Hiller quotes Diphilus (in Athenaeus, 238 F) ἀγνοεῖς ἐν ταῖς ἀραῖς ὅ, τι ἐστὶν εἴ τις μὴ φράσει᾽ ὀρθῶς ὁδόν.
[9] νάοντος…᾿Ελισοῦντος, 'of the flowing Elisus.' This was a river of Pisatis (Elis). ἀμφί adverbial; 'on either side.' Βουπρασίου (l. 11) is in N. Elis. Μήνιου (l. 15) is the stream which Heracles diverted into the stables of Augeas to clean them.
[12] χωρὶς…σηκοί. The sheepfolds are scattered in the different districts of Elis where the flocks are; the cattle stalls (l. 18) are all together and the herds are massed in one place.
[16] θαλέθουσι ποίην. The verb is not causal, but intransitive; and μελ. ποίην is cognate accusative: cf. v. 154; Nonnus, Dion. vii. 346 δροσεροῦ λειμῶνος ἀνέβρυον ἄνθεα τοῖχοι ('burst into flower'); Herond. i. 52 ἴουλον ἀνθεῦντας: Pind. Ol. iii. 23 καλὰ δένδρε᾽ ἔθαλλεν χῶρος.
εἰαμεναί, 'meadows.'[18] ἐπὶ δεξιὰ χειρός, 'on thy right'; Isocr. 65 b ἐπὶ τάδε Φασήλιδος, 'on this side of Phaselis.'
[19] εὖ μάλα πᾶσα xxiv. 94. The stable is all in one place not divided like the sheepfolds.
[20] ἐπηεταναί, 'in close groves.'
[23] εὐθύς, 'hard by' of place; cf. Thucyd. vi. 96; vii. 22.
[24] πολὺν καὶ ἀθέσφατον conjoined like μακρὸς καὶ ἀναρίθμητος, Soph. Ajax 646; πολλὴ ἀπείρων, Odyss. xv. 81; πολὺς ὄμβρος ἀθέσφατος. Iliad x. 6. See Lobeck in Ajax, loc. cit.; and cf. Idyll vii. 15, note.
[25] τριπόλοις see xvi. 94, note.
[27] οὔρους = ὅρους: the boundaries of the domain. The labourer has been describing the various divisions of Augeas' domain: the sheep lands, the cattle pastures, the corn lands (l. 25), and labourers' cottages. The sense of the present line, 'the boundaries are known by the gardeners (? vine-dressers),' seems to be 'the fourth part of the domain--on the hills about hollow Elis (l. 31) is vineland, with which we here have nothing to do, but only see the labourers when they come to annual festival and wine-treading (ληνοί, cf. vii. 25).' οὔρους ἴσασι therefore is equivalent to ἐν ὅροις οἰκοῦσιν. Meineke gives this sense but reads ναίουσι. Hiller's translation, 'si scire cupis ubi tandem termini ditionis sint interroga fossores, hoc est, "latissime patent fines,"' seems greatly forced and unnatural.
[38] κακῶν ἔξ cf. xxii. 56, note. The line echoes Iliad xiv. 472 οὐ μέν μοι κακὸς εἴδεται οὐδὲ κακῶν ἔξ, κ.τ.λ.
[40]
οἷον not exclamatory, but = ἐπεὶ τοῖον: cf. xv. 146; Odyss. xviii. 74:
“
ἦ τάχα ̂̓Ιρος ῎Αϊρος ἐπίσπαστον κακὸν ἕξει,
οἵην ἐκ ῥακέων ὁ γέρων ἐπιγουνίδα φαίνει.
”
Odyss. iv. 611 αἵματός εἰς ἀγαθοῖο, φίλον τέκος, οἷ᾽ ἀγορεύεις.
[44] ἤγαγεν χρειώ cf. Odyss. iv. 312.
[46] κρίνουσι Iliad xvi. 387 εἰν ἀγορῇ σκολιὰς κρίνωσι θέμιστας. The king with the elders of the people sits in judgement (in Ap. Rhod. iv. 1175 Alcinous ἐν χειρὶ σκῆπτρον ἔχεν χρυσοῖο δικασπόλον ᾧ ὕπο λαοὶ ἰθείας ἀνὰ ἄστυ διεκρίνοντο θέμιστασ--διεκρίνοντο is passive--were judged with righteous judgment). In the Homeric age the king would hardly have coadjutors; cf. Hesiod, Theog. 85 πάντες ἐς αὐτὸν ὁρῶσι διακρίνοντα θέμιστας. 'These θέμιστες refer to men's rights which may have become a subject of dispute and require the decision of an authorized judge' (Paley).
[50]
ἄλλον, 'for God makes man dependent upon man.' (Eurip.) Rhesus 106:
“
ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ αὑτὸς πάντ᾽ ἐπίστασθαι βροτῶν
πέφυκεν: ἄλλῳ δ᾽ ἄλλο πρόσκειται γέρας.
”
[51] δῖος Odyss. xiv. 413 δῖος ὑφορβός.
[55] βίῃ Φυλῆος a well known Homeric periphrasis, ἰερὴ ἲς Τηλεμάχοιο: ἲς ᾿Οδυσῆος (Iliad xxiii. 720); βίη ῾Ηρακληείη, l. 154 of this Idyll; Odyss. xi. 601, etc.
[56] ἤμασι πολλοῖς, 'after many days'; as χρόνῳ: διὰ χρόνου, 'after long time.'
[58] ὥς που, 'since even kings I take it think their household will be surer for their own care.'
[61] ἵνα, 'where.' κεν belongs to the verb.
τέτμοιμεν, 'find.'[66] μή τί οἱ, 'lest perchance his word should be out of season, in his fellow's haste.'
[67] σπερχομένου genit. absol. without subject after dative. Vid. Index.
οἱ cf. vii. 25.
[68]
κύνες cf. Odyss. xiv. 29:
“
ἐξαπίνης δ᾽ ᾿Οδυσῆα ἴδον κύνες ὑλακόμωροι.
οἱ μὲν κεκλήγοντες ἐπέδραμον…
ἀλλὰ συβώτης ὦκα ποσὶ κραιπνοῖσι μετασπὼν
ἔσσυτ᾽ ἀνὰ πρόθυρον,…
τοὺς μὲν ὁμοκλήσας σεῦεν κύνας ἄλλυδις ἄλλον
πυκνῇσιν λιθάδεσσιν.
”
[71] τὸν δὲ γέροντα, 'but fawned about the old man with aimless yelping.'
[72] ἀχρεῖον because the dogs are barking not at any one, as is their proper work, but out of sheer high spirits; cf. Odyss. xviii. 163 ἀχρεῖον δ᾽ ἐγέλασσε.
περίσσαινον cf. Odyss. xvi. 4 Τηλέμαχον δὲ περίσσαινον κύνες ὑλακόμωροι. κλάζοντε dual participle with plural subject and verb (more than two being meant); cf. xxv. 137. This use becomes not uncommon in late authors, Oppian, Cynes. ii. 165: “ οἷά τε λαχνήεντες ἀριπρεπὲς εἶδος ἔχουσιξανθόκομοι βλοσυροὶ θηρῶν μεδέοντε λέοντες.
” Aratus, 1023 ὀψὲ βοῶντε κολοιοί. The instances quoted from Homer are all doubtful, Iliad i. 567; v. 487 (a couple are addressed); vid. Monro, Hom. Gram. 170, 173.
[73] ἀπὸ χθονὸς ὅσσον, 'just lifting from the ground'; cf. xxii. 195, note.
[76]
Cf. Odyss. xiv. 527:
“
χαῖρε δ᾽ ᾿Οδυσσεὺς
ὅττι ῥά οἱ βιότου περικήδετο νόσφιν ἐόντος.
”
Odyss. xvii. 200:
“
τὼ βήτην, σταθμὸν δὲ κύνες καὶ βώτορες ἄνδρες
ῥύατ᾽ ὄπισθε μένοντες.
”
[79] ὡς ἐπιμηθές Liddell and Scott give 'thoughtful,' but this does not suit the context and is doubtful; the word naturally suggests ᾿Επιμηθεύς, 'the man who thought when it was too late.' In Herondas, iii. 94 (the only other place where the word is used), Metrotima, after having her boy thrashed, says ἐρέω ἐπιμηθέως τῷ γέροντι, Λάμπρισκε, ἐλθοῦσ᾽ ἐς οἶκον ταῦτα. Buecheler translates 'de industria,' but a better sense is got if we take it to mean 'I will get the boy thrashed first, and tell the old man about it casually afterwards.' Here then it will mean 'the dog is quick to fly at any one (l. 80 sqq.), but slow to think whether it be friend or foe.' Recent editors 'emend': ἐπιπειθές, Ahrens; ἐπικηδές, J. A. Hartung; but we evidently want something in contrast to εἰ φρένες ἦσαν of l. 80, cf. Plato, Rep. 376 a ὃν ἂν ἴδῃ ἀγνῶτα χαλεπαίνει οὐδὲν δὲ κακὸν προπεπονθώς.
[83] ζάκοτον, 'savage.'
ἀρρηνές --apparently an onomatopoeic word--'snarling.'[85] The second episode begins here. Heracles is come to the stalls; the cattle are described coming in thousands over the plain, like the clouds packed and driven by the south-west storm.
[87] μετ᾽ αὐλία τε_ for scansion cf. Iliad xi. 10 μέγα τε δεινόν τε.
μετά, 'into'; cf. vii. 24; h. hymn Demet. 338 μετὰ δαίμονας, 'to be among the gods.'[93] ἀριθμὸς οὐδ᾽ ἄνυσις, 'no count nor end.'
ἄνυσις, 'power of ending'; cf. πρῆξις, Odyss. x. 202 οὐ πρῆξις ἐγίγνετο μυρομένοισιν. μετά cf. i. 39.[97] στείνοντο δέ, 'the rich fields were too narrow for the host.'
[98] μυκηθμῷ goes with ἐρχομένης, 'as they wound along lowing.' For the structure of the line cf. Hesiod, Theog. 157 πάντας ἀποκρύπτασκε （καὶ ἐς φάος οὐκ ἀνίεσκε） γαίης ἐν κευθμῶνι: Odyss. viii. 475 νώτου ἀποπροταμὼν （ἐπὶ δὲ πλεῖον ἐλέλειπτο） ἀργιόδοντος ὑός.
[100] ἕκηλος, 'idle'; a post-Homeric meaning.
[103] κωλοπέδας, 'clogs' or 'thongs about the leg' to keep the cow from kicking the pail over.
περισταδὸν ἐγγύς an instance of the same redundancy of expression as was noted in vii. 142 περὶ πίδακας ἀμφί: xiii. 24 ἀφ᾽ ὧ τότε: cf. xxv. 147, 126 συνάμα: xi. 65.[105] γάλακτος partit. genit. after πινέμεναι, cf. ii. 152.
[110] βαρύφρονος, 'deeply pondering.'
[112] 112, 113 θυμὸν…ἀρηρότα a modification of the Homeric φρεσὶν ᾗσιν ἀρηρώς (Odyss. x. 553).
[115]
οὐ γάρ κεν, 'for none had counted or thought that so great would be the spoil of one man, no nor of ten besides'; cf. Odyss. xiv. 96:
“
οὔτινι τόσση （ζωὴ）
ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων οὔτ᾽ ἠπείροιο μελαίνης
οὔτ᾽ αὐτῆς ᾿Ιθάκης. οὐδὲ ξυνεείκοσι φωτῶν
ἔστ᾽ ἄφενος τοσσοῦτον.
”
[117] πολύρρηνες the wealth is counted in sheep according to the practice of the patriarchal age.
πάντων ἐκ βασιλήων, 'from a line of kings.'[119] περὶ πάντων, 'surpassing all men'; a Homeric use of the preposition; cf. Iliad v. 325 Δηιπύλῳ…περὶ πάσης τῖεν ὁμηλικίης, etc.
[121] 121, 122 νοῦσος…αἵτ᾽ the relative is here used in the generic plural after singular noun; cf. Eurip. Orest. 918 αὐτουργὸς οἵπερ καὶ μόνοι σώζουσι γῆν: Id. Supp. 867 φίλοις ἀληθὴς ἦν φίλος παροῦσί τε καὶ μὴ παροῦσιν, ὧν ἀριθμὸς οὐ πολύς: Odyss. v. 438 κύματος ἐξαναδύς, τά τ᾽ ἐρεύγεται ἤπειρόνδε.
[127] κνήμαργοι, 'white-legged.' ἕλικες, generally taken here to mean 'black' on the strength of Hesychius' assurance ἕλιξ μέλας. In Homer ἕλικες βοῦς means either 'with rolling gait' or 'with twisted horns.' In Hesiod, Theog. 298 ἑλικώπιδα νύμφην may be 'black-eyed maiden.' Black obviously suits the context here.
[131] ἀργησταί, 'white'; cf. Ap. Rhod. iv. 974 of the oxen of Helios, οὐδέ τις ἦεν κυανέη μετὰ τῇσι δέμας, πᾶσαι δὲ γάλακτι εἰδόμεναι χρυσέοισι κεράασι κυδιάασκον.
[134] προγενοίατο （προγένοιντο） : optative of general time in historic sequence.
[137] λεύσσοντε dual for plural; see above, l. 72. For the phrase cf. Odyss. ii. 152 ὄσσοντο δ᾽ ὄλεθρον: Eurip. Alcest. 773 τί σεμνὸν καὶ πεφροντικὸς βλέπεις;
[138] σθένεϊ ᾧ Iliad v. 71 πόσεϊ ᾧ: xvi. 542 σθένεϊ ᾧ, etc.
[142] χαροποῖο, 'tawny.'
[145] ἐδράξατο…κέραος, 'gripped him by the left horn'; cf. iv. 36.
[148] ὤμῳ, 'throwing the weight of his shoulder on the thrust'; cf. xxii. 124.
[149]
μυών, 'the muscle'; cf. xxii. 48. The passage seems to be imitated by Quint. Smyrn. vi. 236:
“
ἀπόπροθι δ᾽ ἔπλετο ταῦρος
πύρπνοος ὅν ῥα καὶ αὐτὸν ἀμαιμάκετόν περ ἐόντα
γνάμπτε βίῃ κρατεροῖο κεράατος: οἷ δέ οἱ ἄμφω
ἀκάματοι μυῶνες ἐρειδομένοιο τέταντο.
”
[153] Here the poet passes to the third episode. Phyleus tells Heracles how a man of Achaea had come among them with a wondrous tale of the killing of the Nemean lion by an unknown hero; surely the unknown can be no one than Phyleus' present companion. Is it so, and will he tell how the deed was done? Heracles acknowledges his identity, and tells in a modest but spirited narrative how he slew the beast. The transition is as abrupt as at 84, and we are left to supply a number of details at our pleasure.
[154] ἐστιχέτην note that while in Homer the dual never has the augment, later Epic adds it.
[155] The two had left the stalls by a narrow path through the vineyards where there was not room for both to walk abreast. Phyleus therefore defers his questioning until they reach the broader road (λαοφόρος κέλευθος).
ὅθι is answered by τῇ μιν ἄρα, 159.[156] -158. ἐξανύσαντες, 'when they had reached the end.'
ἀμπελεών a rarer form for ἀμπελών. χλωρὰ θέουσα, 'a line of green among the trees.' χλωρά is cognate accus. (= adverb). So Hesiod, Scut. 147 ὀδόντες λευκὰ θέοντες: ποίην λευκὰ θέουσαν, Herod. Att. v. 24: ποταμοὶ κελαδεινὰ ῥέοντες, Ap. Rhod. iii. 532 (see Lobeck on Ajax, p. 71 sqq.). I have altered Meineke's θεούσῃ to θέουσα since the greenness of the wood would not make the path less clear. Theocritus surely means a narrow grass-grown path, scarcely distinguishable in the green wood. Ap. Rhod. i. 546 ἐλευκαίνοντο κέλευθοι ἀτραπὸς ὣς χλοεροῖο διειδομένη πεδίοιο.[162] 162, 163 The reading of these lines as it stands in the MSS., though awkward, is not incapable of defence. Tr. 'But now, as it were, am I giving mind to a tale which long time since I heard of thee' (lit. having heard a tale of thee long ago I am now as it were giving mind to it). ὡσεί περ qualifies ἐνὶ φρεσὶ βάλλομαι, and gives a hesitating tone to the assertion. He is not quite certain yet of the correctness of his conclusion; ὡσεί περ therefore = 'quasi,' and βάλλομαι remains the main verb. In 162 join πάλαι πάγχυ. σφετέρῃσι here = ἐμαῖς.
ἐνὶ φρεσί cf. Iliad i. 297 ἄλλο δέ τοι ἐρέω, σὺ δ᾽ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ βάλλεο σῇσι.[164] ὡς μέσος ἀκμῆς, 'in the middle of his prime.' For the genitive cf. Herod. i. 170 Τέων γὰρ εἶναι μέσον τῆς ᾿Ιωνίης: St. Matt. xiv. 24 τὸ δὲ πλοῖον ἤδη μέσον τῆς θαλάσσης ἦν, 'in the midst of the sea.' More usually the genitive denotes the extremes between which a thing lies, not the whole in which a central point is taken. [Similar are Anacreont. xii. 16 μέσος δὲ καρδίης μευ ἔδυνε: Iliad vi. 118 πυμάτη θέεν ἀσπίδος ὀμφαλοέσσης.]
[168] αἰνολέοντα = αἰνὸν λέοντα: cf. xxiv. 73, note. So μουνολέων (Leonidas, 65) = μόνος λέων: μονόλυκος, Aratus; αἰνόλυκος, A. Pal. vii. 550.
[178] εἴτ᾽ ἐτύμως. This clause depends on ἵνα γνώω. The following εἰ σύγ᾽ ἐκεῖνος depends on εἴπ᾽ ἄγε.
[179] ἀκουόντεσσιν = ἀκούουσι: cf. v. 16; Odyss. i. 352; xii. 311 κλαιόντεσσι. The form is especially common in Pindar.
[180] οὑξ ῾Ελίκηθεν cf. xxii. 11. Note that Theocritus even in the Epic idylls uses the article in the post-Homeric manner.
[183] ᾿Απίδα Peloponnesus; ᾿Απία γῆ, Aesch. Ag. 257.
[187] 187, 188 'And some said he told them traveller's tales, scattering the words of an idle tongue among the throng.'
χαριζόμενον cf. Eurip. Orest. 1514 δειλίᾳ γλώσσῃ χαρίζει τἄνδον οὐχ οὕτω φρονῶν: Hesiod, Op. 709 ψεύδεσθαι γλώσσης χάριν: Odyss. xiv. 365 μαψιδίως ψεύδεσθαι.[194] κατὰ στάθμην, 'aright,' Odyss. v. 245 ἐπὶ στάθμην ἴθυνεν.
[195] τὰ ἕκαστα Iliad xi. 706 and often.
τοῦδε πελώρου the genitive depends loosely on τὰ ἕκαστα, all the circumstance concerning this monster.[196] λελίησαι. Homer has the participle only λελιημένος: we find not infrequently in the Alexandrians verbs used in parts in which they are defective in earlier writers. Thus Ap. Rhod. i. 765 has ἀκέοις (as if from ἀκέω, cf. Homeric ἀκέων): Nicand. Alex. 13 πνυθείης (akin to πεπνυμένος).
[197] νόσφίν γ᾽ ἤ, 'save only whence he came.' νοσφὶν ἤ does not occur elsewhere.
[200] ἱρῶν μηνίσαντα, 'in wrath with us for (neglect of) sacrifice.' The genitive stands after verbs expressing emotion--anger, envy, or the like.
Φορωνείδῃσιν Meineke quotes Steph. Byzant. λέγονται δὲ ᾿Αργεῖοι πατρωνυμικῶσ-?̔Ηρακλεῖδαι, πρὸ δ᾽ ῾Ηρακλέους Περσεῖδαι, πρὸ Περσέως δὲ Λυγκεῖδαι, πρὸ δὲ Λυγκέως Δαναΐδαι πρὸ δὲ Δαναοῦ καὶ Φορωνεῖδαι.[201] ποταμὸς ὥς the syllable before ὥς is lengthened in Epic verse, Callim. Del. 193 ἀνθέρικος ὥς, etc.
πισῆας （πισεύς）, 'dwellers in the meadows,' 'lowlanders.' The word is a new formation from πῖσος: cf. σταδιεύς （στάδιον）, ἀλωεύς (Alexandrian writers) from ἀλωά.[202] Βεμβιναίους Βεμβῖνα κώμη τῆς Νεμέας, ὁ πολίτης Βεμβινίτης…Πανύασις ἐν ῾Ηρακλείας πρώτῃ δέρμα δὲ θήρειον Βεμβινήταο λέοντος, Steph. Byzant.
[203] ἀγχόμοροι (governing ἕθεν), 'nigh on his borders.' The word is simply a more picturesque form for ἄγχι, being formed from ἄγχι and ὅμορος: cf. ἄγχουρος, προσόμουρος, ἀγχίδομοι (see Hiller, Beiträge, p. 81). In the MS. reading the lengthening of the syllable (ναῖον) in the fourth arsis is unusual except when the verse has weak caesura.
For παθόντες we should have πάσχοντες.[206] ὑγρόν, 'supple'; cf. i. 55.
[208] αὐτόφλοιον, 'with its bark complete'; = αὐτῷ τῷ φλοίῳ, a good example of the flexibility of the Greek compound adjective. Cf. the word αὐτοβοεί: αὐτόξυλον, Soph. Phil. 35 (= made of wood alone).
[211] ὅθι_ λῖς the ι_ is lengthened before the liquid -λ- according to Epic use; cf. xxii. 121; xxv. 241, 73, 257; xi. 45; Odyss. i. 56 αἰεὶ δὲ μαλακοῖσι, etc.
[213] νευρειήν a collateral form for νευρή: cf. ἐγχείη. Oppian has οὐραίῃ for οὐρῇ (Hal. v. 479). So we find καρχαρόδων (xxiv. 87); μελεδωνεύς (xxiv. 106); ἀμυχμόν (xxiv. 126); κηδεμονεύς (Ap. Rhod.) for κηδεμών, etc.
[215] εἴ…ἐσαθρήσαιμι, 'if haply I might see him'; cf. Iliad xiii. 760 φοίτα…διζήμενος εἴ που ἐφεύροι: Ap. Rhod. iii. 113 “βῆ ῥ᾽ ἴμεν εἴ μιν ἐφεύροι”, etc.: Sonnenschein, Syntax, § 357.
[216] ἤματος, 'it was now midday, and nowhere could I mark his tracks nor hear his roar.' οὐδέ πῃ ἀθρῆσαι δυνάμην, Odyss. xii. 232. The reading οὐδ᾽ ὅπῃ is indefensible here, pace Meineke. The sense so yielded, 'I could not mark where his tracks were,' is clumsy, and the order would naturally be φρασθῆναι ἴχνια ὅπῃ.
[219] ὅντιν᾽ ἐροίμην, 'whom I could ask.' This use of the optative is Homeric; Iliad ii. 687 οὐ γὰρ ἔην ὅστις σφιν ἐπὶ στίχας ἡγήσαιτο. In primary sequence Homer uses subjunctive with or without κεν: Iliad ix. 165 κλητοὺς ὀτρύνομεν οἵ κε τάχιστα ἔλθωσι: ib. xxi. 103 οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅστις θάνατον φύγῃ. In Attic we should here have the aorist indic. with ἄν: ὅντινα ἠρώτησα ἄν. Cf. Plato, Phaedo, ad init. οὐδεὶς ἀφῖκται ὅστις ἂν ἡμῖν ἀγγεῖλαι οἷός τ᾽ ἦν. The abnormal instances in Soph. Philoct. 691, 280 ὁρῶν οὐδένα ὅστις ἀρκέσειε, are due to the influence of the deliberative construction οὐχ εἶχον ὅστις ἀρκέσειε.
[220] χλωρόν Odyss. xi. 43 ἐμὲ δὲ χλωρὸν δέος ᾕρει: ib. xxii. 42.
[224]
sqq. Imitated from Odyss. xxii. 401:
“
εὗρεν ἔπειτ᾽ ᾿Οδυσῆα μετὰ κταμένοισι νέκυσσιν,
αἵματι καὶ λύθρῳ πεπαλαγμένον ὥς τε λέοντα,
ὅς ῥά τε βεβρωκὼς βοὸς ἔρχεται ἀγραύλοιο:
πᾶν δ᾽ ἄρα οἱ στῆθός τε παρήϊά τ᾽ ἀμφοτέρωθεν
αἱματόεντα πέλει, δεινὸς δ᾽ εἰς ὦπα ἰδέσθαι.
”
[228] δεδεγμένος ὁππόθε, 'waiting for his coming.' Theocritus uses δεδεγμένος for the Homeric δέγμενος: Iliad ii. 794 δέγμενος ὁππότε ναῦφιν ἀφορμηθεῖεν ᾿Αχαιοί. The clause ὁππόθ᾽ ἵκοιτο is a prospective time clause (Sonnenschein, Syntax, 347).
[230] τηϋσίως, 'in vain'; Bacchyl. v. 81 μὴ ταΰσιον προίει τραχὺν ἐκ χειρῶν ὀϊστὸν ψυχαῖσιν ἔπι φθιμένων: ib. xiii. 17 οὐ γὰρ δαμασίμβροτος αἴθων χαλκὸς ἀπλάτου θέλει πείρειν διὰ σώματος: ἐστρέφθη δ᾽ ὀπίσσω φάσγανον refers like Theocritus to the impossibility of killing the bear with ordinary weapons.
[239] ἀνεμώλιος αὔτως see v. 40 (note).
[242]
περ᾽ ἰγνύῃσιν, 'and lashed his tail about his flanks'; Iliad xx. 170, of a lion:
“
οὐρῇ δὲ πλευράς τε καὶ ἰσχία ἀμφοτέρωθεν
μαστίεται, ἑὲ δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐποτρύνει μαχέσασθαι,
γλαυκιόων δ᾽ ἰθὺς φέρεται μένει, ἤν τινα πέφνῃ
ἀνδρῶν, ἢ αὐτὸς φθίεται πρώτῳ ἐν ὁμίλῳ.
”
Note the elision of περ（ι）, cf. Pind. Pyth. iv. 265 διδοῖ ψᾶφον περ᾽ αὐτᾶς, and the verbs περίαχε, περοίχεται.
[246] 'And his back bent like a bow as he gathered himself together, sides and flanks, for his spring.'
[250] ἔφυγεν gnomic aorist; 'flies from his hand.'
[251] σὺν ὁρμῇ, 'with one bound.' The use of the preposition makes the phrase more picturesque; cf. ii. 136: Soph. Antig. 135 μαινομένᾳ σὺν ὁρμᾷ: Pind. N. x. 48 δρόμῳ σὺν ποδῶν χειρῶν τε νικᾶσαι σθένει.
[252] ἀθρόος cf. xiii. 51.
[255] κόρσης, 'swinging the seasoned club over my head'; cf. Eurip. H. F. 992 ὑπὲρ κάρα βαλὼν ξύλον καθῆκε παιδὸς ἐς ξανθὸν κάρα, ἔρρηξε δ᾽ ὀστᾶ.
[258] πρὶν ἔμ᾽ ἱκέσθαι, 'before he reached me.'
[260]
νευστάζων κεφαλῇ cf. Odyss. xviii. 239:
“
̂̓Ιρος…
ἧσται νευστάζων κεφαλῇ, μεθύοντι ἐοικώς,
οὐδ᾽ ὀρθὸς στῆναι δύι αται.
”
Theocr. xxii. 98.
[264] ἰνίον the back of the neck.
ἤλασα with his broken club or with his fist? The reading is however doubtful: ἤλασα is given by Π, but Φ has ἔφθασα προφθάς, and it is possible that προφθάς is wrong, not ἔφθασα: and we should substitute such a word as πνίξας, or χρίμψας. C. Hartung conjectures ἔσπασα προφθάς which is attractive.[268] πρὸς δ᾽ οὖδας, 'and I pinned his hind legs (πόδας οὐραίους) firmly to the earth with my heels, and held down his sides with my thighs' (not 'guarded against,' this would require ἐφυλασσόμην). Heracles gets behind the lion, gripping his throat and throttling him, while he holds his back firmly with his knees, and treads on the beast's hind legs.
For οὐραίους cf. Aratus, 145 οὐραίοις ὑπὸ γούνασι.[270] μέχρι, 'until I had stretched out his fore-limbs (βραχίονας ) and lifted him lifeless.'
[275] τμητή the syllable remains long in hiatus, as in Iliad xxiv. 52 ἕλκει: οὐ μήν, etc.
οὐδὲ μὲν ἄλλῃ, 'nor in any way besides.' This is Wordsworth's conjecture for the meaningless ὕλῃ of the MSS., but is weak and unsatisfactory. Meineke's ἥλῳ is not likely to find supporters. The corruption probably goes deeper than the single word.[276] ἐπὶ φρεσί, 'set the thought in my mind'; Odyss. xviii. 158 τῇ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐπὶ φρεσὶ θῆκε θεὰ…μνηστήρεσσι φανῆναι.
[277] αὐτοῖς…ὀνύχεσσι, 'with my nails unaided.'
[279] ἰωχμοῖο here = 'battle,' a new sense of the word; cf. ὀξείας ἀΰτας, Pind. N. 9. 84. The Π reading ὄφρα μοι εἴη is hardly right. The rare ἰωχμοῖο would never have been substituted for it.