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[45] χρεῖος … δοιά, ‘but [I speak of] my own business.’ The rendering of the next clause will depend upon the reading accepted. If with Aristoph. we read “κακά” and remove the comma from the end of the line, we get the simplest construction, ‘in that’ [“ὅ”=“ὅτι”, Lat. quod] ‘two evils have fallen upon my house.’ If with Aristarchus we prefer “κακόν”, then “δοιά” must have a semi-adverbial force (“Ἀρίσταρχος τὸ δοιὰ ἀντὶ τοῦ διχῶς” Schol. H.), or it must be considered as assimilated in number to the double trouble, described as “τὸ μέν” and “πολὺ μεῖζον” in vv. 46, 48. ‘Inasmuch as evil hath fallen upon my house—evils twain,’ etc.; others make “ὃ κακόν” equivalent to “κακὸν ὅ”=‘the evil which,’ etc. But the former way is preferable; cp. Il.1. 120“λεύσσετε γὰρ τό γε πάντες ὅ μοι γέρας ἔρχεται ἄλλῃ”, where “ὅ” without doubt means ‘that.’

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

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