From: Ike Tennison (iket@flash.net)
Date: Fri Jul 21 2000 - 06:13:59 EDT
In reference to the posts on July 19 about the order of the participle
and finite verb in Homer's Iliad 1.311, one must remember that the Iliad
is in poetic meter (dactylic hexameter). For the bard to meet the
rules of poetry, a combination of long and short syllables, he sometimes
had to present the words in not "normal" order. Also, in regard to the
present participle, Homer more than once used such a participle to
complete the picture he was painting when the participle was not
necessary to the sense of the story. The explanation given for some
such word orders and word uses is called metri causa ("for the sake of
meter"). The two words under question begin a verse. They represent a
dactyl (the first foot) and the first long syllable of a spondee (first
half of second foot).
Thanks.
Ike Tennison, Ph.D.
President
Biblical Heritage Center
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