previous next

[201] οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἀνὴρ διερὸς βροτός. If “διερός” means, as Schol. P.Q.V. interprets it, “ζῶν ἐρρωμένως καὶ ἰκμάδος μετέχων”, it is probably to be referred to “διαίνω” and “δεύω”, the connection of the ideas of ‘moisture’ and ‘flexibility’ or ‘activity’ being the same as in the word “ὑγρός” Pind. Pyth.1. 17, etc. Compare also the use of “ἀλίβαντες”, the ‘sapless,’ as a synonym for “θανόντες”, as in Plato, Rep.787C. And “διερῷ ποδί” in Od.9. 43 seems to mean ‘with nimble foot.’ In later Greek, ‘moist’ is the regular meaning assigned to “διερός”, as “διερὸν αἷμα” Aesch. Eum.263, “αὔην καὶ διερήν” Hes. Opp. 460, “νότιον θέρος ὕδατι ζακότῳ διερόν” Pind. Frag. 74. 11. Following this line of interpretation, διερὸς βροτός stands here as the predicate, and the whole sentence may be rendered, ‘That man exists not as a living mortal, nor ever will be born, who shall come as a foeman to the Phaeacians' land.’ This is substantially the interpretation of Schol. “β. οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ἄρτι ζῶν, οὐδὲ γεννηθήσεται, ὃς μέλλει τολμῆσαι ἀγαγεῖν ἐς τὴν χώραν ἡμῶν πόλεμον. οὗτος” does not specifically refer to Odysseus, but serves to introduce a general statement, as in Hdt.3. 155“οὐκ ἔστι οὗτος ἀνὴρ, ὅτι μὴ σὺ, τῷ ἔστι δύναμις”, Hom. Od.16. 437“οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἀνὴρ οὐδ᾽ ἔσσεται οὐδὲ γένηται”

“ὅς κεν . . ἐποίσει”, Hom. Il.21. 103“νῦν δ᾽ οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅς τις θάνατον φύγῃ”. Other commentators refer διερός to “δίεσθαι” and “δέος” (cp. Lat. di-rus), and translate it ‘timid’ or ‘fleeing,’ in direct apposition to “οὗτος ἀνήρ”, ‘that man—poor creature that he is.’ The Gloss. in Cod. Pal.gives as an interpretation of “διερός”, the words “βλαπτικός, πειρατικός, πειρατής”, and this, according to Lehrs ( Aristarch.56), was the view of Aristarchus; ‘non est iste vir fugator homo, h. e. non est quem fugere opus sit;’ this rendering necessitates a colon after “βροτός”, and the whole sentence would mean, ‘this man’ (referring to Odysseus) ‘is not a creature to scare us’ (taking up “πόσε φεύγετε”; sup. 199), ‘nor will any one be born who shall come,’ etc. But the first rendering is far preferable. With οὐδὲ γένηται compare Il.1. 262“οὐδὲ ἴδωμαι”.

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 (8 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (8):
    • Aeschylus, Eumenides, 263
    • Herodotus, Histories, 3.155
    • Hesiod, Works and Days, 460
    • Homer, Iliad, 1.262
    • Homer, Iliad, 21.103
    • Homer, Odyssey, 16.437
    • Homer, Odyssey, 9.43
    • Pindar, Pythian, 1
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: