[95]
[98] Thetis's words of remonstrance, with the warning of death, serve but to inflame Achilles the more.
ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἄρ᾽ ἔμελλον, ‘since I was not destined, it seems.’
[100] ἐμεῦ δὲ δέησεν κτλ., ‘and he needed me to keep from him calamity.’
ἀρῆς ἀλκτῆρα, literally ‘a warder against calamity.’
[101] The conclusion is found in l. 114, as the punctuation indicates. Achilles's mood is seen in the passionate, disconnected utterance.
[103] Ἕκτορι, in Attic prose, “ὑφ᾽ Ἕκτορος”.
[105] οἷος, for quantity of penult see § 28.
[106] δέ, ‘although.’
[107] ὡς, in force like “εἴθε”, with “ἀπόλοιτο”, optative of wish.
[109] καταλειβομένοιο, ‘trickling’ into the throat, or perhaps ‘dripping’ from the rocks or trees where wild bees have their hives.
[110] ἠύτε καπνός, i. e. as smoke from a little fire increases to an immense volume. Cf. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” St. James iii. 5.
[112] Cf. 16.60.
[113] θυμόν, ‘anger.’
[114] κεφαλῆς, ‘soul,’ ‘comrade.’
[117] οὐδὲ ... οὐδέ, ‘no, not even.’
βίη Ἡρακλῆος, cf. O 640. Zeus could not keep his own son Heracles alive, says Achilles; how then may you hope to save me?
122-124. ‘And may I bring many a deep-bosomed Trojan and Darda nian woman to wipe the tears from her tender cheeks with her two hands and to sob bitterly.’
[124] ἁδινόν, cf. note on B 87.
[125] γνοῖεν, also optative of wish; its final force is so strongly felt, however, that the scholiasts interpreted it as “ἵνα γνοῖεν.”
δηρόν, the sixteen days (as reckoned by Faesi) that have elapsed since Achilles retired from active warfare seem a long time, indeed, to the warrior.
