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[410] χερμαδίωι, the construction is altered in the next line, as often, after the parenthesis. τά, (of those） which, virtually = “οἷα”. Cf. Od. 5.422 “κῆτος . . οἷά τε πολλὰ τρέφει,” Od. 6.150 “εἰ μέν τις θεός ἐσσι τοὶ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν,” Od. 12.97 “κῆτος ἃ μυρία βόσκει ἀγάστονος Ἀμφιτρίτη. ἔχματα,” a word which recurs only in 12.260, 13.139, 21.259, in different senses. It is most natural to regard it as = “ἕρματα”, 1.486, 2.154, stones used as shores to keep the ships upright; cf. Hes. Opp. 624 “νῆα δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἠπείρου ἐρύσαι, πυκάσαι τε λίθοισι πάντοθεν”. The only difficulty is to see how such stones could have been lying about in numbers unemployed. Dr. Hayman (Odyssey i. App. p. cxiv.) plausibly suggests that the word may mean stones used for ballast. These would naturally be thrown out when the ships were drawn up on land, in order to avoid straining the hulls; but into the sea rather than on the land. The imperf. ἐκυλίνδετο seems to imply that they were being used as missiles by others also.

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

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