I come with less questions, proportionally, than the other times, but you won't note it, because the fourth Book is much larger
20. τὼ δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἐν προθύροισι δόμων αὐτώ τε καὶ ἵππω,
21. Τηλέμαχός θ᾽ ἥρως καὶ Νέστορος ἀγλαὸς υἱός,
A) Which does αὖτε mean here? They have just arrived at Menelaus for the first time, so "again/back" doesn't make sense. Is there any other read that I am missing?
24. βῆ δ᾽ ἴμεν ἀγγελέων διὰ δώματα ποιμένι λαῶν,
B) I've seen βῆν + inf. many times and I have always treated it as if it were an "inchoative imperfect". I wonder whether the meaning would be the same if I replace it with the imperfect εἶσιν: εἶσιν ἀγγελέων διὰ δώματα ποιμένι λαῶν.
EDIT: not εἶσιν, I meant ἦιε.
I ask this because one of the things that confussed me most for a long time about the imperfect was it's inchoative use, because in Spanish the imperfect is very similar in many aspects to the Greek imperfect, but differs in that it hasn't any inchoative force: instead, a periphrastic form is used, just like "began to + inf." in English. So, I wonder if the Greek βῆν + inf. is the periphastic form with which I am more familiarized to express the inchoative aspect.
36. ξείνων, ἐς δ᾽ αὐτοὺς προτέρω ἄγε θοινηθῆναι.
C) There are two ways in which I can take it:
1) αὐτούς is the object of ἄγε and ἐς is in tmesis: "lead them into the house that they may eat".
2) [τινα] θοινηθῆναι is the object and ἐς δ᾽ αὐτούς is expressing to which the food must be carried: "lead to them [something] to eat".
I'd like to know if the "ambiguity" exists or if there is some grammar mark that I'm missing which makes only one of these reads possible.
57. δαιτρὸς δὲ κρειῶν πίνακας παρέθηκεν ἀείρας
D) Should I take κρειῶν with δαιτρός (as the caesura might suggest?) or with πίνακας?
I am not sure if δαιτρός means just "a carver" (of anything) or has the specific meaning of "carver of meat", and then κρειῶν would be redundant and should be read κρειῶν πίνακας.
78. τέκνα φίλ᾽, ἦ τοι Ζηνὶ βροτῶν οὐκ ἄν τις ἐρίζοι:
79. ἀθάνατοι γὰρ τοῦ γε δόμοι καὶ κτήματ᾽ ἔασιν:
80. ἀνδρῶν δ᾽ ἤ κέν τίς μοι ἐρίσσεται, ἠὲ καὶ οὐκί,
E) I couldn't figure out the meaning of the last verse until I saw a translation, so now I'd like to know to which construction of the subjunctive + κεν would this sentence belong.
85. καὶ Λιβύην, ἵνα τ᾽ ἄρνες ἄφαρ κεραοὶ τελέθουσι.
86. τρὶς γὰρ τίκτει μῆλα τελεσφόρον εἰς ἐνιαυτόν.
F) Maybe my ignorance regarding to farm issues is joined here to my ignorance in Greek. The lambs become horned quickly, which means that they are strong, I suppose. But I don't see how the second verse with γάρ explains this.
203. τὸν δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη ξανθὸς Μενέλαος:
204. ‘ὦ φίλ᾽, ἐπεὶ τόσα εἶπες, ὅσ᾽ ἂν πεπνυμένος ἀνὴρ
205. εἴποι καὶ ῥέξειε, καὶ ὃς προγενέστερος εἴη:
206. τοίου γὰρ καὶ πατρός, ὃ καὶ πεπνυμένα βάζεις,
207. ῥεῖα δ᾽ ἀρίγνωτος γόνος ἀνέρος ᾧ τε Κρονίων
208. ὄλβον ἐπικλώσῃ γαμέοντί τε γεινομένῳ τε,
209. ὡς νῦν Νέστορι δῶκε διαμπερὲς ἤματα πάντα
210. αὐτὸν μὲν λιπαρῶς γηρασκέμεν ἐν μεγάροισιν,
211. υἱέας αὖ πινυτούς τε καὶ ἔγχεσιν εἶναι ἀρίστους.
212. ἡμεῖς δὲ κλαυθμὸν μὲν ἐάσομεν, ὃς πρὶν ἐτύχθη,
213. δόρπου δ᾽ ἐξαῦτις μνησώμεθα, χερσὶ δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕδωρ
214. χευάντων. μῦθοι δὲ καὶ ἠῶθέν περ ἔσονται
215. Τηλεμάχῳ καὶ ἐμοὶ διαειπέμεν ἀλλήλοισιν.'
G) What is explaining ἐπεί at 204? One explanation I found is that ἐπεί is parenthetical and explains the addressing ὦ φίλε: "O dear (I call you dear because you spoke thus...)", but I'm not sure.
208. ὄλβον ἐπικλώσῃ γαμέοντί τε γεινομένῳ τε,
H) Is γεινομένῳ referring to his fortune as a father (because he beget good children) or as a son (because of his good birth)? I'm not sure if γείνομαι could be causative here and mean "to beget", which could have sense here after γαμέοντι.
343. ἐξ ἔριδος Φιλομηλεΐδῃ ἐπάλαισεν ἀναστάς,
I) How would you translate ἐξ ἔριδος here? I don't know which use of ἐκ is this.
359. ἐς πόντον βάλλουσιν, ἀφυσσάμενοι μέλαν ὕδωρ.
J) Which is the meaning of ἀφυσσάμενοι μέλαν ὕδωρ?
LSJ gives the meaning of "to draw water for oneself" (middle). Should I understand then that they carried water for themselves to drink? But if it is water to drink, then the adjective μέλας wouldn't make sense, does it?
367. ἥ μ᾽ οἴῳ ἔρροντι συνήντετο νόσφιν ἑταίρων:
K) I couldn't explain this imperfect.
420. ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε κεν δή σ᾽ αὐτὸς ἀνείρηται ἐπέεσσι,
421. τοῖος ἐὼν οἷόν κε κατευνηθέντα ἴδησθε,
422. καὶ τότε δὴ σχέσθαι τε βίης λῦσαί τε γέροντα,
423. ἥρως, εἴρεσθαι δέ, θεῶν ὅς τίς σε χαλέπτει,
424. νόστον θ᾽, ὡς ἐπὶ πόντον ἐλεύσεαι ἰχθυόεντα.
L) I'm not sure about how should be expressed an action which is complete in the future, as it is the case of ἴδησθε at 421. Eidothea is giving the instructions to Menelaus of how he should approach Proteus. She explains him that he must wait until Proteus returns to his original form, the form in which he will see him first. She refers to an action A that will occur prior to a future action B. Is the subjunctive always used for this kind of construction? I didn't find anything about this application of the subjunctive in Smyth's grammar.
Just for my own clarification:
A = to see Proteus the first time
B = to see Proteus the second time
You must wait until you see (B) him in the form in which you will have seen (A) him first.
Where A and B are actions that will occur both in the future.
I don't know if I am using the proper tense in English, "will have". In Latin I would expect the future perfect.
ἢ γάρ μιν ζωόν γε κιχήσεαι, ἤ κεν Ὀρέστης
κτεῖνεν ὑποφθάμενος, σὺ δέ κεν τάφου ἀντιβολήσαις.
M) Which construction is this? Is here the same question as in L? κτεῖνεν is referring to an action complete in the future. But instead of the subjunctive as in L, here is used an indicative past tense with κε. "You'll find him alive, or Orestes may have slain him by this time".
597. αἰνῶς γὰρ μύθοισιν ἔπεσσί τε σοῖσιν ἀκούων
N) Which would be the difference between ἔπος and μῦθος?
611. αἵματός εἰς ἀγαθοῖο, φίλον τέκος, οἷ᾽ ἀγορεύεις:
O) How is οἷ᾽ ἀγορεύεις connected with the rest of the sentence?
625. μνηστῆρες δὲ πάροιθεν Ὀδυσσῆος μεγάροιο
626. δίσκοισιν τέρποντο καὶ αἰγανέῃσιν ἱέντες
627. ἐν τυκτῷ δαπέδῳ, ὅθι περ πάρος, ὕβριν ἔχοντες.
P) What does ὅθι περ πάρος means? "Where they [were] before"? Before what?
659. μνηστῆρας δ᾽ ἄμυδις κάθισαν καὶ παῦσαν ἀέθλων.
Q) Should not be μνηστῆρες in the nominative? If not, which is the subject?
667. ἄρξει καὶ προτέρω κακὸν ἔμμεναι: ἀλλά οἱ αὐτῷ
R) One of the suitors said that about Telemachus. Because, contrary to their expectations, Telemachus had sailed away in search of his father. What does καὶ προτέρω means?
672. ὡς ἂν ἐπισμυγερῶς ναυτίλλεται εἵνεκα πατρός.
S) Which construction is this with the present indicative + ἄν?
684. μὴ μνηστεύσαντες μηδ᾽ ἄλλοθ᾽ ὁμιλήσαντες
685. ὕστατα καὶ πύματα νῦν ἐνθάδε δειπνήσειαν:
T) How should I take the participles with the optative of wish? "May they take their last meal, without courting or gathering together [any more]"?
U) Is there any difference between ὕστατα and πύματα?
690. οὔτε τινὰ ῥέξας ἐξαίσιον οὔτε τι εἰπὼν
691. ἐν δήμῳ, ἥ τ᾽ ἐστὶ δίκη θείων βασιλήων:
V) ἥ at 691 is referring to a sentence (690) as if it were any other noun. Usually, this sentence should be referred with a neuter pronoun, not feminine, right? But in this case, there is a noun in apposition, δίκη, which is feminine. Is in these situations the genre of the pronoun assimilated by the noun in apposition, as it seems to happen here?
692. ἄλλον κ᾽ ἐχθαίρῃσι βροτῶν, ἄλλον κε φιλοίη.
W) I didn't understand the sense of this verse at all.
693. κεῖνος δ᾽ οὔ ποτε πάμπαν ἀτάσθαλον ἄνδρα ἐώργει.
X) Is there any reason for using the pluperfect instead of the aorist here? If I replace it with an aorist, would I be modifying the sense in any way?
710. ἦ ἵνα μηδ᾽ ὄνομ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀνθρώποισι λίπηται;
Y) Is this an elliptical purpose clause? ἦ [ἔσσεται] ἵνα... "Or things will be that not even his name will remain?".
747. μὴ πρὶν σοὶ ἐρέειν, πρὶν δωδεκάτην γε γενέσθαι
The nurse excuses herself with Penelope for not saying her anything about the depart of Telemachus, explaining that he bid her to not tell nothing to her mother until the twefth [day?] should come. But δωδεκάτην is feminine, and ἦμαρ neuter. Is there any other implicit noun that could be go with δωδεκάτην here?
Z) number of verse. doubtful form => expected form
112. γεγαῶτα => γεγῶτα
237. διδοῖ (pres. ind.) => δίδωσι
314. ἐνίσπες (imperat.) => ἐνίσπε
350. μεμαῶτα => μεμαότα
721. γόοωσα => γόωσα
758. σχέθε => ἔσχε
806. ἀκάχησθαι => ἀκάχεσθαι (as in 2nd. aor: ἰδέσθαι)