Orphica (Argonautica, Hymni, Lithica)

ON THE ARGONAUTICA.

In the Iliad, certainly, the word child original Greek: παῖς (pais) should always be pronounced as two short syllables Reading it as pa-ïs rather than the single-syllable pais.. For there are not only certain passages where child original Greek: παῖς contracted into a single syllable detracts from the elegance of the meter original Latin: numerorum, referring to the rhythmic flow of the poetic line, such as in Book 9, line 57; Book 11, line 389; and Book 13, line 54:

"Truly you are young; you might even be my own child," original: ἦ μὴν καὶ νέος ἐσσί, ἐμὸς δέ κε καὶ παῖς εἴης
"I care not, as if a woman or a foolish child had struck me," original: ἐκ ἀλέγω, ὡσεί με γυνὴ βάλοι ἢ παῖς ἄφρων
"Hector, who boasts that he is the child of mighty Zeus;" original: Ἕκτωρ, ὃς Διὸς εὔχετ’ ἐρισθενέος παῖς εἶναι·

but in such a great multitude of places in which this noun occurs, there is none that has child original: παῖς in the arsis arsis: the "lifting" or stressed part of a poetic foot; none that has it at the end of a verse; I might almost say there is none in which, if the whole word is in the thesis thesis: the "setting down" or unstressed part of a poetic foot, it is not followed by a vowel. Of this type I shall offer one example, from Book 8, line 271:

"But he, going back again, like a child to its mother, would duck [for cover]," original: αὐτὰρ ὁ αὖτις ἰών, παῖς ὣς ὑπὸ μητέρα, δύσκεν

lest anyone attribute more to this passage than is right: For even if it were permitted to pronounce child original: παῖς as one syllable, the poet would not have said like a child original: ὡς παῖς. Necessarily, the contracted form child original: παῖς is found only twice in the Iliad, in Book 7, line 44 and Book 21, line 216:

"Of these Helenus, the dear child of Priam, perceived in his spirit," original: τῶν δ’ Ἕλενος, Πριάμοιο φίλος παῖς, σύνθετο θυμῷ
"If the child of Kronos has granted you to destroy all the Trojans." original: εἴ τοι Τρῶας ἔδωκε Κρόνε παῖς πάντας ὀλέσσαι

To which perhaps may be added Book 14, line 346:

"He spoke, and the child of Kronos took his wife in his arms." original: ἦ ῥα, καὶ ἀγκὰς ἔμαρπτε Κρόνε παῖς ἣν παράκοιτιν

It is otherwise in the Odyssey, in which child original: παῖς is read as contracted not only in the thesis (Book 18, line 174; Book 19, line 86) but also in the arsis (Book 4, line 817; Book 7, line 300; Book 18, line 215; Book 19, line 530) and in the vocative case The form used when addressing someone directly. (Book 11, line 552). What then? Shall we grant so much to these passages which have the contracted child original: παῖς in the Iliad that we believe it to be as equally Homeric as the two-syllable child original: πάϊς? Or, just as the word good original Greek: ἐὺς (eus) is read as two short syllables in Iliad 13.246, 691; and 23.528, 860, 888, shall we instead approve of the phrase child of Kronos, son of crooked-counsel original: Κρόνε παῖς ἀγκυλομήτεω, and things similar to this example, as being more truly Homeric? Indeed, I lean toward this side, so that I think child original: πάϊς with both syllables shortened is to be preferred. For the authority of the few places that stand on the opposite side cannot be great—