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[558] The picture in this famous simile is that of an ass driven by boys along a high road, and turning for a while into the standing crops (this is always the meaning of λήϊον) at the side; so Aias, though he is obliged to retreat, takes his own time. It is noteworthy that the ass is nowhere else mentioned in H., though the mule, “ἡμίονος”, is of course familiar (see note on 2.851). Moreover, the knowledge of the animal is here confined to the simile, and is not attributed to the heroes. Even Hesiod does not name him. In connexion with this it is worth mentioning that there seems to have been in Greece, as among the Jews, a religious scruple about the breeding of mules, for it was forbidden in Elis; see Herod.iv. 30 and Paus.v. 5. 2 with Frazer's note. Yet, oddly enough, it is precisely in Elis that we hear of mulefoals in Od. 4.635. ἐβιήσατο, is more than a match for.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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hide References (3 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (3):
    • Herodotus, Histories, 4.30
    • Homer, Odyssey, 4.635
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.5.2
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