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[484] ἔσπετε: either a redupl. aor. for “σέ-σπ-ετε”, or more probably for “ἐν-σπ-ετε” (which some read, v. supra), root “σεπ” = sek, our say. The pres. “ἔννεπε” = “ἔνσεπε”, Lat. insece (“virum mihi, Camena, insece versutum” is Livius Andronicus's translation of Od. 1.1 “ἄνδρά μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα” ). The other aor. forms all take the full form of the prep. “ἐνι-σπ-εῖν”, etc. Observe the rime “μοῦσαι — ἔχουσαι. πάρεστε”, either ‘are present at all that happens,’ or ‘stand at the poet's side.’ The Muses are particularly appropriate in such a place as this, for they are goddesses of Memory (“Μοῦσα” = “Μοντjα”, root men; see Curt. Et. no. 429), though the legend which made them daughters of Mnemosyne is post-Homeric. Cf. Virg. Aen. vii. 641.

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

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hide References (2 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Homer, Odyssey, 1.1
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 7.641
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