seneca2008 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2019 10:43 am
As I have said before I find this passage amusing and a parody of heroic action.
3.475-481 is a parallel passage describing the departure of Telemachus from Nestor's palace to Sparta.
“παῖδες ἐμοί, ἄγε Τηλεμάχῳ καλλίτριχας ἵππους
ζεύξαθ᾿ ὑφ᾿ ἅρματ᾿ ἄγοντες, ἵνα πρήσσῃσιν ὁδοῖο.”
ὣς ἔφαθ᾿, οἱ δ᾿ ἄρα τοῦ μάλα μὲν κλύον ἠδ᾿ ἐπίθοντο,
καρπαλίμως δ᾿ ἔζευξαν ὑφ᾿ ἅρμασιν ὠκέας ἵππους.
ἐν δὲ γυνὴ ταμίη σῖτον καὶ οἶνον ἔθηκεν
480 ὄψα τε, οἷα ἔδουσι διοτρεφέες βασιλῆες.
ἂν δ᾿ ἄρα Τηλέμαχος περικαλλέα βήσετο δίφρον·
I think I understand now what you mean, and I agree to a point, if by parody you don't necessarily mean something that's supposed to make one laugh. The medium in which these poems were composed – the traditional hexameter epic – dictates that certain traditional, inherited formulas and type-scenes are bound to be used, and when the poet was faced with untypical subject matter (e.g. girls doing the laundry instead of heroes fighting), he had to adapt traditional material to a new kind situation. This doesn't mean that was slave to his medium; I think we can say we confidence that he was in full control, and here I think you are right to see if not an outright parody of, at least an eye wink to heroic action. I think you're right it's supposed to be amusing, but it's also supposed to be charming at the same time. But soon enough I think we will encounter a couple of double entendres in the Nausicaa story that were really supposed to make the male audience laugh.
A fine example of an outright parody of a traditional type scene, I think, is when Odysseus' companions butcher the cattle of the Sun - they don't have barley, so they replace it with leaves, and they replace libations of wine with libations of water. No wonder they were soon going to die miserably! (book 12 line 352 ff.)
ὣς ἔφατ᾽ Εὐρύλοχος, ἐπὶ δ᾽ ᾔνεον ἄλλοι ἑταῖροι.
αὐτίκα δ᾽ Ἠελίοιο βοῶν ἐλάσαντες ἀρίστας
ἐγγύθεν, οὐ γὰρ τῆλε νεὸς κυανοπρῴροιο
βοσκέσκονθ᾽ ἕλικες καλαὶ βόες εὐρυμέτωποι:
τὰς δὲ περίστησάν τε καὶ εὐχετόωντο θεοῖσιν,
φύλλα δρεψάμενοι τέρενα δρυὸς ὑψικόμοιο:
οὐ γὰρ ἔχον κρῖ λευκὸν ἐυσσέλμου ἐπὶ νηός.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥ᾽ εὔξαντο καὶ ἔσφαξαν καὶ ἔδειραν,
μηρούς τ᾽ ἐξέταμον κατά τε κνίσῃ ἐκάλυψαν
δίπτυχα ποιήσαντες, ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν δ᾽ ὠμοθέτησαν.
οὐδ᾽ εἶχον μέθυ λεῖψαι ἐπ᾽ αἰθομένοις ἱεροῖσιν,
ἀλλ᾽ ὕδατι σπένδοντες ἐπώπτων ἔγκατα πάντα.