Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/367

 *

that both these ingredients are stirred up ([Greek: kykômena]) together and so drunk:—

The draught prescribed fair Hecamede prepares, Arsinous' daughter, graced with golden hairs (Whom to his aged arms a royal slave Greece, as the prize of Nestor's wisdom, gave): A table first with azure feet she placed, Whose ample orb a brazen charger graced; Honey, new press'd, the sacred flour of wheat, And wholesome garlic crown'd the savoury treat. Next her white hand a spacious goblet brings, A goblet sacred to the Pylian kings; Temper'd in this, the nymph of form divine Pours a large portion of the Pramnian wine; With goats'-milk cheese a flavorous taste bestows, And last with flour the smiling surface strows. This for the wounded prince the dame prepares; The cordial beverage reverend Nestor shares.

84. And as for the lines—

A massy weight, yet heav'd with ease by him, Though all too great for men of smaller limb;

we are not to understand this as referring only to Machaon and Nestor, as some people think, who refer [Greek: hos] to Machaon, taking it as if it were [Greek: ho], and say,

[Greek: All' hos men mogeôn apokinêsaske trapezês],—

thinking that "heaved with ease by him" is said of Machaon, as he was the person for whom the cup has been mixed, as he had been wounded; but we shall show hereafter that Machaon is never represented in Homer as wounded. But these men do not perceive, that when Homer says [Greek: allos], he is not speaking of Machaon and Nestor alone (for these two are drinking of the cup), for in that case he would have said [Greek: heteros]. For [Greek: heteros] is the proper word for the other of two, as in this line—

[Greek: oisete d' arn' heteron leukon, heterên de melainan],—

And bring two lambs, one male, with snow-white fleece, The other black, who shall the breed increase.

Besides, Homer never uses [Greek: hos] for the demonstrative pronoun [Greek: ho]; but, on the contrary, he sometimes uses the demonstrative [Greek: ho] for the relative [Greek: hos], as in the line—

[Greek: entha de Sisyphos esken ho kerdistos genet' andrôn],—

There Sisyphus, who of all men that lived Was the most crafty, held his safe abode.