Homer, Iliad 24.761-775
“Among them then Helen was the third to take up the lament”
‘Hektor, you were by far the dearest of my in-laws—
My husband was actually godlike Alexandros,
The one who brought me to Troy. I wish I had died before that.
This is the twentieth years since I arrived from there
And I left my own homeland.
But I have never heard an evil or cruel word from you.
But if anyone else in our home would criticize me,
One of your brothers or sisters or one of their spouses
Or my mother in law—since your father was always as gentle as my own
Then you would hold them back by persuading them with words,
With your very kindness and your kind words.
So, I am weeping for you now and my unlucky self, aggrieved in my heart.
No one else in the wide land of Troy will be here for me,
As gentle and as dear, and everyone else is rough to me.’ ”
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20054056.
τῇσι δ’ ἔπειθ’ ῾Ελένη τριτάτη ἐξῆρχε γόοιο·
῞Εκτορ ἐμῷ θυμῷ δαέρων πολὺ φίλτατε πάντων,
ἦ μέν μοι πόσις ἐστὶν ᾿Αλέξανδρος θεοειδής,
ὅς μ’ ἄγαγε Τροίηνδ’· ὡς πρὶν ὤφελλον ὀλέσθαι.
ἤδη γὰρ νῦν μοι τόδε εἰκοστὸν ἔτος ἐστὶν
ἐξ οὗ κεῖθεν ἔβην καὶ ἐμῆς ἀπελήλυθα πάτρης·
ἀλλ’ οὔ πω σεῦ ἄκουσα κακὸν ἔπος οὐδ’ ἀσύφηλον·
ἀλλ’ εἴ τίς με καὶ ἄλλος ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἐνίπτοι
δαέρων ἢ γαλόων ἢ εἰνατέρων εὐπέπλων,
ἢ ἑκυρή, ἑκυρὸς δὲ πατὴρ ὣς ἤπιος αἰεί,
ἀλλὰ σὺ τὸν ἐπέεσσι παραιφάμενος κατέρυκες
σῇ τ’ ἀγανοφροσύνῃ καὶ σοῖς ἀγανοῖς ἐπέεσσι.
τὼ σέ θ’ ἅμα κλαίω καὶ ἔμ’ ἄμμορον ἀχνυμένη κῆρ·
οὐ γάρ τίς μοι ἔτ’ ἄλλος ἐνὶ Τροίῃ εὐρείῃ
ἤπιος οὐδὲ φίλος, πάντες δέ με πεφρίκασιν.
Schol bT A ad Hom, Il. 24.765b
“The twentieth year? Wrong. This can’t be the twentieth year. From the time Helen went to Troy it is established that the gathering of the army happened but that in the twentieth, Odysseus returned to Ithaka.
There was a lot of time wasted in wandering then too.
It is asserted that they spent ten years getting the army together and then they were slowed down by a storm on their own and then once they came to Aulis. So, now is the 20th year since the theft of Helen.
Ten years for the gathering of the army must be added to the Odyssey.”
εἰκοστὸν ἔτος: ψευδές· οὐ γὰρ εἰκοστὸν ἔτος δύναται εἶναι, ἐξ οὗ εἰς τὸ ῎Ιλιον ἦλθεν ῾Ελένη, εἴγε δεκαετὴς μὲν ἡ τοῦ πολέμου παρασκευὴ ὁμολογεῖται γεγονέναι, εἰκοστῷ δὲ ᾿Οδυσσεὺς ἐνιαυτῷ εἰς τὴν ᾿Ιθάκην ἐπανελήλυθε, A b (BCE4)T πολὺν ἐν τῇ πλάνῃ ἐνδιατρίψας χρόνον. AT ῥητέον δὲ ὅτι δέκα ἔτη ἐστρατολόγουν χειμάζοντες ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις καὶ θέρους εἰς Αὐλίδα ἀφικνούμενοι, νῦν δὲ εἰκοστὸν ἔτος ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς ῾Ελένης.
ἐπὶ δὲ ᾿Οδυσσέως τὰ δέκα ἔτη τῆς στρατολογίας ἀριθμητέον.
Schol. D ad Hom. Il. 24.765
“The army of the Greeks was gathered over ten years, and another ten years was spent on the siege of Troy.”
Δεκαετίᾳ γὰρ ἠθροίσθη ὁ στρατὸς τῶν ῾Ελλήνων, δεκαετίᾳ δὲ ἄλλῃ ἐπορθήθη ἡ Ιλιος.
“Twentieth year? Wrong.”
Damn, Scholiast. Tell us how you really feel