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[62] τῇ μέν τ᾽ οὐδέ, ‘there, not even can bird pass by, no! not the timorous doves that carry ambrosia for Father Zeus: but even of them the sheer rock ever steals away one [suppl. “τινά”], and the Father sends in another one to make up the tale.’ These words can have no connection with the later story of the feeding of Zeus by doves, when he was concealed in Crete from his father Cronus (Athen. 11. 80, 491 B). There is probably some allusion to the Pleiads ( Od.5. 272 and note); at whose rising in May the harvest begins (Hesiod, Opp. et Di. 381), which fact may be veiled under the story of the ambrosia.

The words ἀφαιρεῖται λὶς πέτρη possibly contain the astronomical fact that of the seven Pleiads, six only are ordinarily visible; “ἑπτάποροι δὴ ταίγε μετ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ὑδέονται”,

“ἓξ οἷαί περ ἐοῦσαι ἐπόψιοι ὀφθαλμοῖσιν” Phaen.257.Cp. Schol. H. Q. “τινὲς φυσικῶς ἀναλύοντές φασιν ὡς κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνο γινομένης τῆς Πλειάδος εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀστέρων ἀφανὴς ἐγένετο ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ” (inf. 202).

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 381
    • Homer, Odyssey, 5.272
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