3. But we come down to the time of Tydeus, who was lord of Argos during the epoch of the Pelopid sovereigns. And now we find that his subjects cease to be called Ἀργεῖοι (see Il. v. 803. iv. 384) in the legends, where Homer observes a peculiar nicety in the application of these important words.
Local sense of the former name retained.
4. Still the Argeian name continues to preserve its local application to the inhabitants of Argos and its district, or of Achaic Argos.
At the games on the death of Patroclus, Idomeneus thinks he discerns Diomed coming in as the winner, and he describes him thus:
δοκέει δέ μοι ἔμμεναι ἀνὴρ
Αἴτωλος γενέην, μετὰ δ’ Ἀργείοισιν ἀνάσσει[687].
It is plain that here Idomeneus means among Argives, and not among Greeks.
1. Because not Diomed was lord among the Greeks, but Agamemnon.
2. Because Diomed was lord over a part of the Argives.
3. Because the word is used in evident contradistinction to, and correspondence with, the foregoing word Αἴτωλος, which is undoubtedly local.