Cf. Tacitus, Germ. 7: quodque praecipuum fortitudinis incitamentum est, non casus nec fortuita conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit sed familiae et propinquitates. But the context shows that the conditions here are of a totally different character from those in the Iliad.
[526] But cf. Il. IX 63, where the word ἀφρήτωρ occurs, apparently with reference to the same institution.
[527] The meaning of the word ἔμφυλον in Od. XV 273 seems to be quite ambiguous.
[528] Cf. Frazer, Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship, p. 238 ff. The story of Peleus and Eurytion bears rather a close resemblance to that of Bellerophon.
[529] It is to be borne in mind that the Epizephyrian Locrians were one of the first, if not the very first, of all Greek communities to obtain a codification of their laws—probably indeed within half a century of the establishment of the colony. This fact may perhaps account for the survival of primitive institutions among them.
[530] Except perhaps in Cos; but the evidence here is ambiguous.
[531] Cf. Ridgeway, The Origin of Tragedy, p. 190 ff.
[532] The nature of Agamemnon's proposal to Achilles in Il. IX 144 ff. (286 ff.) is not quite clear. Achilles is to choose one of Agamemnon's daughters and take her to Peleus' home. But with her Agamemnon is to give seven cities, situated apparently in Messenia, which in future are to be subject to Achilles. Possibly v. 149 is to be understood as introducing a new (alternative) proposal.
[533] Cf. Cauer, Grundfragen d. Homerkritik2, p. 292 ff.
[534] We may compare Beow. 2369 ff., where—in a situation somewhat analogous to that of the Odyssey—Hygelac's widowed queen offers both treasury and kingdom to the chief surviving prince, distrusting the ability of her young son to hold his own.