previous next

[779] 779 = 258. The time indicated is not evening (we do not reach sunset till 18.239), but early afternoon; see Frazer in C. R. ii. p. 260. The time is fixed, at least for Attica, by Aves 1498 ff. where “βουλυτὸς ἢ περαιτέρω” is consistent with “σμικρόν τι μετὰ μεσημβρίαν”. It is common in many places, as Frazer shews, to stop the day's ploughing at or soon after midday; hence the German Morgen as a measure of land = a day's work (see on 10.351). For similar names for the time of day taken from agricultural or pastoral operations see note on 11.62, 11.86, Od. 12.439; and cf. Hesiod Opp. 581 “ἠὼς . . πολλοῖσιν ἐπὶ ζυγὰ βουσὶ τίθησιν”. Horace's “Sol ubi . . iuga demeret bobus fatigatis” （C. iii. 6. 41) and Milton's “What time the laboured ox In his loose traces from the furrow came”, are of course familiar.

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

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (5 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (5):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: