[195] 195-96 = 18.426-27, Od. 5.89-90. τετελεσμένον, capable of accomplishment. The ideas ‘done’ and ‘doable’ are closely allied, as is seen in the verbal adjectives in -“τος”, which themselves are almost participles (compare “τυκτῆισι βόεσσι” 12.105 with “σάκος τετυγμένον” 14.9); “κτητός” = gainable, “ῥηκτός” = vulnerable, “φυκτά” 16.128, “πιστά” Od. 11.456, “οὐκ ἐξιτόν”, there is no getting out, Hes. Theog. 732(see H. G. § 246 *). Here this pregnant sense has been imported into the participle, so that “τετελεσμένον” = * “τελεστός”, cf. “ἀτέλεστος”, that cannot be accomplished (so van L. Ench. p. 326: ‘participium pro gerundio’ Brandreth). The phrase is commonly explained to mean ‘if it is a thing that has been accomplished and therefore may be done again,’ which is not satisfactory. Others take it to mean ‘if it is a thing already accomplished in the designs of fate,’ i.e. destined to be done. But such fatalism is not Homeric either in expression or thought.
