Odyssey 14. 513-522; 528-533; 15.1-5

Description

Fragments from a column of the Odyssey, which contained the end of Book XIV and the first lines of Book XV;The Michigan text presents one variant reading unrecorded elsewhere (514). Its omission of ll. 14.515-517 is in agreement with parts of the tradition.;514: "paidi": vulg. "photi". The variant is unattested elsewhere. "paidi" and metrically equivalent forms as "pais" occur very frequently in Homer at this place in the line, but only once is a form of this word followed by a form of "ekastos" (Il. 23.350). But there the words are in different cases, and the place in the line is different. It seems likely then that the reading here is a true variant and not a reminiscence. However, it is clear that "photi" is the better reading, although it could be argued that "pais" here refers to the condition of the men in question. They are slaves, and Eumaios' reference to them as "paides" would be in accordance with later usage. Both Aeschylus and Aristophanes, among others, use "pais" to refer to a slave {cf. Aeschylus, Choephoroi 653; Aristophanes, Archanians 395; Clouds 132; also Epicrates, fr. 5.2, Demosthenes 33.8];515-517 om.: About two-thirds of the MSS of Od. omit these lines; cf. OCT, ap. crit., ad loc. The lines are repeated almost exactly at Od. 15.337-339. Aristarchus athetised the lines in Book 14, but apparentlynotin Book 15 [M. van der Valk defends the lines; op. cit. (Odyssey). 188]. The lines are clearly necessary at both places.;520: "katelekt{o} [ep]i: scriptio plena;533: "gl]aphure . . . ioge": reda "glaphurei . . . iogei".;post 533: The ink markson two levels below the title "ODUSSEIAS" are faint but definetely ink, not dirt. On the first level, there is a horizontal dash beneath the letters "eia". This corresponds to the dash above those letters. On the second level, there are two obliques, the first from bottom left to top right and the second from top left to bottom right; the first oblique is at such a wide angle from line-level as to be almost perpendicular; the second is at an angle of about 45 degress. The letter may be delta. A lacuna before it may have held iota. If this is correct, the letters identify the book which ends above the title, "i]d" (=14). It is also possible that the extant letter is epsilon. This would make the reading i]e (=15), identifying the book which begins below the title. But the shape of the letter does not fit epsilon well, and its angularity contrasts sharply nwith the roundness of epsilon in "Odusseias" above. Cf. P.Oxy. 15.1817 (Il. 18.617 ff.) for the book title following the last line of the book [see P.Cornell XII = P.Oxy. III 548, Il. 9.235-301, introd.);1 marg.: The coronis above and to left of line 1 marks the beginning of the book.;2. "ochet": read "oichet"; rec. "oichet". The use of the regular imperfect instead of the epic is common in both the papyri (cf. P.Ryl. 1.53 ad loc.) and the MSS. ;5: "e[udo]nt{e}: the second epsilon is very uncertain. Scriptio plena.