Homer, Iliad 6.467-481
“So he spoke, and then Hektor reached out to his son.
But the child shrank back to well-belted his nurse
with a cry, afraid of his father’s appearance,
Stunned by the horse-hair crest at the top of his helmet,
When he noticed it nodding awfully from the peak.
His father and queen mother let out a laugh and
Hektor immediately took the helmet from his head
And put it down where it continued shining on the ground.
Then he took his dear son into his hands and he kissed him
And prayed to Zeus and the rest of the gods:
“Zeus and the other gods, grant that this child of mine
Become as great and conspicuous among the Trojans as I am,
In his force and valor, and that he rule Troy with strength.
And may someone someday say he is better than his father
As he returns from war. And may he carry off the bloody weapons
From an enemy he has killed and may he bring joy to his mother.”
So he spoke and placed the child back in his dear wife’s hands
And she welcomed him into her perfumed bosom,
Crying after she laughed. But her husband noticed and pitied her…”
῝Ως εἰπὼν οὗ παιδὸς ὀρέξατο φαίδιμος ῞Εκτωρ·
ἂψ δ’ ὃ πάϊς πρὸς κόλπον ἐϋζώνοιο τιθήνης
ἐκλίνθη ἰάχων πατρὸς φίλου ὄψιν ἀτυχθεὶς
ταρβήσας χαλκόν τε ἰδὲ λόφον ἱππιοχαίτην,
δεινὸν ἀπ’ ἀκροτάτης κόρυθος νεύοντα νοήσας.
ἐκ δ’ ἐγέλασσε πατήρ τε φίλος καὶ πότνια μήτηρ·
αὐτίκ’ ἀπὸ κρατὸς κόρυθ’ εἵλετο φαίδιμος ῞Εκτωρ,
καὶ τὴν μὲν κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ παμφανόωσαν·
αὐτὰρ ὅ γ’ ὃν φίλον υἱὸν ἐπεὶ κύσε πῆλέ τε χερσὶν
εἶπε δ’ ἐπευξάμενος Διί τ’ ἄλλοισίν τε θεοῖσι·
Ζεῦ ἄλλοι τε θεοὶ δότε δὴ καὶ τόνδε γενέσθαι
παῖδ’ ἐμὸν ὡς καὶ ἐγώ περ ἀριπρεπέα Τρώεσσιν,
ὧδε βίην τ’ ἀγαθόν, καὶ ᾿Ιλίου ἶφι ἀνάσσειν·
καί ποτέ τις εἴποι πατρός γ’ ὅδε πολλὸν ἀμείνων
ἐκ πολέμου ἀνιόντα· φέροι δ’ ἔναρα βροτόεντα
κτείνας δήϊον ἄνδρα, χαρείη δὲ φρένα μήτηρ.
῝Ως εἰπὼν ἀλόχοιο φίλης ἐν χερσὶν ἔθηκε
παῖδ’ ἑόν· ἣ δ’ ἄρα μιν κηώδεϊ δέξατο κόλπῳ
δακρυόεν γελάσασα· πόσις δ’ ἐλέησε νοήσα,
Schol. bT Ad Hom. Il. 6.467
“These verses are so full of vividness—not only do they make us hear the actions, but we see them too. The poet has sublimely taken this from life to add to the fiction.”
ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ἔπη οὕτως ἐστὶν ἐναργείας μεστά, ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἀκούεται τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁρᾶται. λαβὼν δὲ τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ βίου ὁ ποιητὴς ἄκρως περιεγένετο τῇ μιμήσει. b(BCE3E4)T
Schol A ad Hom. Il. 6.484
“She cried, after laughing”: what is articulated powerfully here cannot [easily] be explained. For the feeling is not simple, but composed from opposite feelings, pleasure and grief. She produces a laugh in response to her child, but a tear comes for Hektor’s struggles.”
ex. δακρυόεν γελάσασα: δυνατῶς ῥηθὲν ἀνερμήνευτόν ἐστιν·
οὐ γὰρ ἁπλοῦν τὸ πάθος, ἀλλὰ σύνθετον ἐξ ἐναντίων παθῶν, ἡδονῆς
καὶ λύπης· εἰς γέλωτα μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴν προήγαγε τὸ βρέφος, εἰς δάκρυον δὲ ἡ περὶ τοῦ ῞Εκτορος ἀγωνία.
