use of οἱ in Iliad 4:254

Greek Homeric Greek and Early Greek Poetry
1

Μηριόνης δ᾽ ἄρα οἱ πυμάτας ὄτρυνε φάλαγγας.

I can’t figure out how οἱ functions. It could be either nom, pl of ὁ (which I doubt, since it wouldn’t agree with anything in the sentence) or it could be dat, 3rd, sg of ἕ, which doesn’t seem to fit, unless it’s saying that “Meriones urged the last battle lines to him.” But that, contextually, doesn’t seem to make sense. None of the translations I’ve consulted seem to account for it.

Thanks for any insights.

2

I think this is the so called ethical dative which is not always easy to translate. The dative can represent the interest or advantage of a person who is involved in the action described. So the sense here is M. urging the last battalions for him or “in his own interest”, ie to provide some aid to him (and the rest of the Greeks at the front line). The “true dative” (the other datives can be described as Instrumental and Locative) always has the meaning “to/for”. The ethical dative is a variety of “true dative” (see Monro Homeric grammar 143.).

This frοm the Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek might be helpful:

30.53 Difficult to translate is the use of the so-called ethical dative (‘of feeling’): personal pronouns of the first or second person (μοι, ήμῖν, ύμῖν) can loosely express the involvement of the speaker or addressee in the action:

(98) ὦ μῆτερ, ὡς καλός μοι ὁ πάππος. (Xen. Cyr. 1.3.2)
Mother, how handsome is my grandfather!

(99) Τοιοῦτο…ὑμῖν ἐστὶ ἡ τυραννίς (Hdt. 5.92η.4)
There’s tyranny for you.

(100) σύντεμνέ μοι τὰς ἀποκρίσεις καὶ βραχυτέρας ποίει (Pl. Prt. 334d)
Please cut your answers short, and make them more succinct. With an imperative, μοι may often appropriately be translated ‘please’.

I particularly like the last example.

Edit: removed doubled σ.

3

Thanks for your thorough reply!

4

I hope you forgive my going off topic. I know this is a forum about Greek, but there’s a similar ethical dative in French as well - in substandard language even a double ethical dative, as illustrated by Obélix here! I think it expresses his impatience and exasperation. Both “me” and “te” are ethical datives"! “You can be sure that I’ll sure make them disperse” might be a way to translate this.

5

Μηριόνης δ᾽ ἄρα οἱ πυμάτας ὄτρυνε φάλαγγας

This line could be a dirty joke, taken out of context.

Compare Rufinus:

Ἤρισαν ἀλλήλαις Ῥοδόπη, Μελίτη, Ῥοδόκλεια,
τῶν τρισσῶν τίς ἔχει κρείσσονα μηριόνην…

(It probably helps to know the original sense of φάλαγξ, log.)