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[272] οἷος κεῖνος ἔην, ‘seeing what a man he was.’

τελέσαι ἔργον τε ἔπος τε, ‘to make good both word and work,’ may be explained in more than one way. It may be taken as a sort of proverbial expression, meaning, to ‘say all that has to be said, and to do all that has to be done.’ In short, not to fall short of a hero's duties, “μύθων τε ῥητῆρ᾽ ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων” Il.9. 443, translated by Cicero (de Orator. 3. 15) “oratorem verborum actoremque rerum.” Or again, the phrase may be considered as a true “ἓν διὰ δυοῖν”=‘to make good the wordforeshadowed act,’ “ἔργον τε ἔπος τε” thus signifying both the act-determining word, and the word-expressing act. The phrase in Hdt.3. 135“ἅμα ἔπος τε καὶ ἔργον ἐποίεε” is a paraphrase rather than a reproduction of the present passage. Cp. Il.15. 234“κεῖθεν δ᾽ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ φράσομαι ἔργον τε ἔπος τε”, also inf. 304. For the disjunctive form “ἢ ἔπος ἢ ἔργον” see Od.3. 99 note.

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

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