[254] ἀπ-αρξάμενος, cutting off as “ἀπαρχή”, the “first-fruits” of the victim: see note on 3.273, where the sense is clearly given. The constr. of “ἀπάρχεσθαι” with acc. is bold; in Od. 14.422 “τρίχας” is presumably to be taken with “βάλλεν”. In Od. 3.445, however, we have the similar “χέρνιβά τ᾽ οὐλοχύτας τε κατήρχετο”, though “κατάρχεσθαι” is regularly construed with gen. in later Greek. The ritual word is so intimately connected with the act implied in it that it becomes in sense equivalent to “ἀποτάμνειν”. The whole scene should be carefully compared with that in “Γ”, as well as with the ritual in Eur. El. 791 ff.
