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[778] All MSS. give αἱ δέ, but “τὼ δέ” is found quoted three times by scholiasts (Soph. El. 977, Soph. O. C. 1676, Eur. Alc. 902); there can be little doubt therefore that this rare feminine form is the original, and was excluded because unfamiliar. So in 8.378, 455 we have feminine duals identical in form with masculine; and also Hes. Opp. 198-9. The word ἴθματα does not seem to recur (before Kallimachos) except in Hymn. Apoll. 114 “βὰν δὲ” (Iris and Eileithyia) “ποσὶ τρήρωσι πελειάσιν ἴθμαθ᾽ ὁμοῖαι”, which is the passage quoted by Aristophanes Av. 575 “Ἶριν δέ γ᾽ Ὅμηρος ἔφασκ᾽ ἰκέλην εἶναι τρήρωνι πελείηι” . There is perhaps a touch of the humour which is so often associated with the gods of Homer in the vivid comparison of the short and quick yet would-be stately steps of the two goddesses to the strutting of a pigeon, so unlike a hero “μακρὰ βιβάς”. But the word “ἴθμα”, a verbal subst. from root “ἰ”, go, is vague enough to enable those who think this undignified to translate the flight of doves; cf. schol. “τὴν ὁρμὴν καὶ τὴν πτῆσιν”.

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

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hide References (6 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (6):
    • Aristophanes, Birds, 575
    • Euripides, Alcestis, 902
    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 198
    • Homer, Iliad, 8.378
    • Sophocles, Electra, 977
    • Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 1676
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