previous next

[24] δυσομένου. This is the participle of the form in use “δύσετο”, a weak aorist as a Thematic tense (Monro, H. G. § 41), Similarly “ἐπιβησόμενος”, Il.5. 46, should be referred to “ἐπεβησόμην” and not to “ἐπιβήσομαι”. It may be asked whether any difference in meaning can be noted between the aoristic participle and the present “ἀνιόντος” in the same line. Classen (Homerisch. Sprachgebr. Frankf. 1867) reminds us that the present tense is in common use when reference is made to sunrise, cp. “ἅμ᾽ ἠελίῳ ἀνιόντι” Od.12. 429, “ἅμ᾽ ἠοῖ φαινομένηφιν” 4. 407: the aorist, in describing sunset, “ἅμ᾽ ἠελίῳ καταδύντι” Od.16. 366, “ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα” Od.3. 138; 9. 161, 556, etc., the notion being that the action of sunset and the succeeding darkness is marked off by sharper limits—the last visible ray— than the growing light of dawn and sunrise.

The genitive is, probably, local, as “Ἄργεος” Od.3. 251, “τοίχου τοῦ ἑτέρου” Od.23. 90, but it may partly depend on the demonstrative “οἱ”, that is, those belonging to the Westward, etc.

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

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 (7 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (7):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: