[301]
[306] ἐν = ‘before.’
[310] Why did Priam take away with him the two lambs that he had contributed to the sacrifice? A scholium says, ‘to bury them; for it was usual for citizens of the land to bury their oath-victims, and for strangers to cast theirs into the sea.’ (Cf. T 267 f.)
[315] χῶρον ... διεμέτρεον, cf. l. 344, which means, ‘and they [the combatants] stood near each other in the measured space.’ It is suggested in the scholia that certain bounds were determined for the contestants, retreat beyond which was an acknowledgment of defeat. These limits may well have served also to keep the spectators from crowding in. How far the contestants were separated at the beginning of the struggle, the reader is not told.
[316] ‘They shook the lots,’ says the poet; then after repeating the people's prayer, which is made while the shaking takes place, he recurs to the thought more definitely (l. 324) and adds, ‘Hector shook’ the lots.
[317] ἀφείη, construction, § 209.
[322] ‘Grant that he die and enter the house of Hades.’
[323] δός is to be understood before “φιλότητα ... γενέσθαι”. If this line stood by itself, apart from the preceding verse, it could be brought under § 213, as equivalent to “φιλότης ... γενέσθω”.
[324] 324, 325. The man whose lot jumped out of the helmet first was chosen —in this instance—to hurl the spear first. As it was an advantage under the present circumstances to have this first chance, Hector looked away, in shaking the helmet, to avoid any charge of unfair play.
[327] ἔκειτο (in meaning, passive of “τίθημι”), ‘were placed,’ conforms to its neuter plural subject “τεύχεα”. Its connection with the former subject, “ἵπποι”, is so loose that in translating “ἵπποι” another predicate, “ἕστασαν”, had better be supplied.
[328] Paris came light-armed, to fight as a bowman (cf. ll. 17 f.). Now in preparing for the duel, he arms as for a hand-to-hand contest.
[333] He puts on his brother's breastplate, for apparently he had not brought his own, as the duel was unexpected. He had one at home, however (Z 322).
ἥρμοσε, if intransitive (cf. P 210, T 385), has “θώρηξ” under stood as subject; if transitive (cf. Od. 5.162, 247), has ‘he’ (Paris) as subject and “θώρηκα” understood as object.[334] His sword and shield were suspended by straps passing over his shoulders, the sword strap probably over the right shoulder, the shield strap probably over the left. Cf. A 190.
