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[241] ἄμαξαι … ὀχλίσσειαν. Probably a hyperbolical parody of the proverbial expression in Il.12. 447“τὸν δ᾽ οὔ κε δὔ ἀνέρε δήμου ἀρίστω”

“ῥηιδίως ἐπ᾽ ἄμαξαν ἀπ᾽ οὔδεος ὀχλίσσειαν”. There seems to be something intentionally comic in the grave circumstantiality of the exact number twenty-two, and in the form of the expression; for it is not possible to conceive twenty-two waggons working together to lift a weight, and ὀχλίσσειαν can hardly express the sort of work done by a waggon, however accurately the word may be used for ‘pushing’ or ‘heaving’ a weight upon a waggon. In Il.13. 260 twenty-one is the number used to express a ‘good many’ spears; in Il.15. 678 a very long spear is “δυωκαιεικοσίπηχυ”, in Il.23. 264 a huge tripod is “δυωκαιεικοσίμετρος”. Cp. also Il.22. 349“δεκάκις τε καὶ εἰκοσινήριτ᾽ ἄποινα”, and Od.12. 78.From this passage may come the expression quoted in Bekk. Anecd. 24 “ἁμαξιαῖα χρήματα”, i. e. “μεγάλα ἃ φέροι ἂν ἅμαξα οὐκ ἄνθρωπος ἡ ὑποζύγιον”, cp. Xen. Anab.4. 2. 3; Xen. Hell.2. 4. 27.

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

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