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[7] ἀγορήνδε. The council of kings and chiefs was called “βουλή” or “θῶκος” (cp. infra 26); the chiefs (“γέροντες”) being the recognised heads, whether aged or not, of the noblest families. In the “ἀγορή” the people attended, expressing their assent or dissent upon the measures of the council. Cp. Il.2. 53“βουλὴν δὲ πρῶτον μεγαθύμων ἷζε γερόντων”, at which “βουλή” Agamemnon and Nestor speak; when the council breaks up, the people come flocking in “ἰλαδὸν εἰς ἀγορήν” (93). This relative position of chiefs and people resembles the account of the constitution of Crete given by Aristotle (Polit. 2. 10. 16) “ἐκκλησίας δὲ μετέχουσι πάντες: κυρία δ᾽ οὐδένος ἐστὶν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ συνεπιψηφίσαι τὰ δόξαντα τοῖς γέρουσι καὶ τοῖς κόσμοις”. Eustath. on Od. 3.127 gives a similar distinction, “ἀγορὰ μὲν γὰρ . . σύναξις κοινὴ, βουλὴ δὲ ἡ κατὰ σύγκλητον”.

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

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