Lessons LXXIV to LXXVII

The pronouns σε, σοί, τῇ and ἐμοὶ

Hera speaks to Zeus, so this passage has many pronouns for you and me.

σε is the accusative of you. μή σε παρείπῃ: that she has won you over.

σοί means to you. Pharr labels it dative. ἠερίη γὰρ σοί γε παρέζετο: for early this morning she sat beside you. τῇ σ’ ὀίω κατανεῦσαι ἐτήτυμον: to her, I believe, you truly bowed your head in assent. τῇ means to her. It is also dative.

Zeus answers with ἐμοὶ, to me. ἐμοὶ μέλλει φίλον εἶναι: it is as I wish it to be.

The Iliad: Hera and Zeus quarrel

Ox-eyed queenly Hera answers Zeus. Most dread son of Cronos, what a word you have spoken. Before now I have not asked or questioned you. But now I greatly fear that Thetis has won you over. She sat beside you early this morning and clasped your knees. I believe you truly bowed your head to her.

Zeus answers. Strange one, you are always suspecting, and I cannot escape you. You will accomplish nothing by it. You will only be further from my heart. Sit down in silence and obey my word. Otherwise the gods will not protect you when I lay my hands upon you.

The Iliad: Hera is afraid

Hera is afraid. She sits in silence and controls her heart. The gods are troubled throughout the house of Zeus. Then Hephaestus begins to speak among them, to please his dear mother.

βοῶπις πότνια Ἥρη, ox-eyed queenly Hera, begins her speech. The phrase returns when she is afraid: ἔδεισεν δὲ βοῶπις πότνια Ἥρη.

The pronouns ἐγὼ, σὺ and ἡμῖν

The verb ending shows the person, so Greek often omits the words for I and you. In this passage they are present.

μητρὶ δ’ ἐγὼ παράφημι: I counsel my mother. Pharr labels ἐγὼ nominative or vocative singular.

ἀλλὰ σὺ τόν γ’ ἐπέεσσι καθάπτεσθαι μαλακοῖσιν: but you must address him with gentle words. Pharr gives σὺ the same label.

ἡμῖν is dative plural: to us. αὐτίκ’ ἔπειθ’ ἵλαος Ὀλύμπιος ἔσσεται ἡμῖν: then at once the Olympian will be gracious to us.

The Iliad: Hephaestus speaks to his mother

A son speaks to calm his mother, and he speaks of his father too. This will be ruinous and no longer bearable, he says, if you two quarrel so for mortals. You stir up uproar among the gods. There will be no joy in the good feast, since the worse is winning.

He counsels his mother, though she knows it herself, to please their dear father Zeus. Then Zeus will not rebuke her and throw the feast into confusion. The Olympian might wish to hurl them from their seats, and he is by far the strongest. Address him with gentle words, and he will be gracious to them.

The Iliad: Hephaestus gives his mother a cup

Then he springs up and sets a two-handled cup in his mother's hand. Endure it, mother, and bear up, grieved though you are. If I saw you struck before my eyes, I could not help you. The Olympian is hard to stand against.

The opening lines have you two: εἰ δὴ σφὼ ἕνεκα θνητῶν ἐριδαίνετον ὧδε. The English is if you two quarrel so for the sake of mortals. He is speaking to a pair.

Participles

These lines have several participles. English participles include smiling, falling and drawing.

μείδησεν δὲ θεά: and the goddess smiled. Then comes μειδήσασα δὲ παιδὸς ἐδέξατο χειρὶ κύπελλον: and smiling, she took the cup from her son's hand. The word list gives one verb for both, μειδά-ω, smile. μείδησεν states the action. μειδήσασα is a participle.

ἔνθα με Σίντιες ἄνδρες ἄφαρ κομίσαντο πεσόντα: there the Sintian men at once took me up as I fell. πεσόντα, falling, describes με, me.

The last line has another. οἰνοχόει γλυκὺ νέκταρ, ἀπὸ κρητῆρος ἀφύσσων: he poured sweet nectar, drawing it from the mixing bowl. ἀφύσσων means drawing.

The Iliad: the fall to Lemnos

He tells a story about himself. Once before, he says, I was eager to defend you. He seized me by the foot and hurled me from the divine threshold. I fell all day. At sunset I came down on Lemnos, with little life left in me. There the Sintian men took me up.

So he spoke, and the goddess, white-armed Hera, smiled. Smiling, she took the cup from her son's hand. Then he poured sweet nectar for all the other gods in turn, going to the right. He drew it from the mixing bowl.

ἐνδέξια means going to the right. The word list prints it as ἐν-δέξιος, toward the right.

Review: the end of the first book

This is the last passage of the first book. It has no new forms.

ὀπὶ καλῇ: with a beautiful voice. Pharr labels καλῇ dative singular. The noun beside it has the same ending. Μουσάων θ’, αἳ ἄειδον: of the Muses, who sang. Pharr labels αἳ nominative plural. It is the relative pronoun.

The Iliad: the gods feast on Olympus

Pharr says the first book ends with the laughter of the blessed gods, feasting happily on Olympus. Unquenchable laughter rises among them as they see Hephaestus bustling through the halls.

All day long, until the sun goes down, they feast, and no heart lacks its share. Apollo holds the beautiful lyre, and the Muses sing in turn with beautiful voice.

When the bright light of the sun has set, each god goes to his own house to lie down and sleep. Hephaestus, renowned and lame in both legs, built each house with cunning skill. Zeus goes to his own bed, where he always slept before, and sleeps there. Golden-throned Hera lies beside him.

The last line is ἔνθα καθεῦδ’ ἀναβάς, παρὰ δὲ χρυσόθρονος Ἥρη. The book ends with Zeus asleep and golden-throned Hera beside him.