Book 3
12.4
It is the same with asyndeta: I came, I met, I entreated. For here delivery is needed, and the words should not be pronounced with the same tone and character, as if there was only one clause. Further, asyndeta have a special characteristic; for in an equal space of time many things appear to be said, because the connecting particle makes many things one, so that, if it be removed, it is clear that the contrary will be the case, and that the one will become many. Therefore an asyndeton produces amplification: thus, in I came, I conversed, I besought, the hearer seems to be surveying many things, all that the speaker said.Spengel's reading here is: πολλὰ δοκεῖ· ὑπερεῖδεν ὅσα εἶπον, πολλὰ δοκεῖ being parenthetical, and ὑπερεῖδον ὅσα εἶπον part of the quotation. Jebb translates: I came, I spoke to him, I besought (these seem many things); he disregarded all I said (which certainly gives a more natural sense to ὑπερεῖδον). This also is Homer's intention in the passage Nireus, again, from Syme . . ., Nireus son of Aglaia . . ., Nireus, the most beautiful . . . ; Hom. Il. 2.671 ff. for it is necessary that one of whom much has been said should be often mentioned; if then the name is often mentioned, it seems as if much has been saidCope translates: they think that, if the name is often repeated, there must be a great deal to say about its owner; but can this be got out of the Greek ( εἰρῆσθαι)?; so that, by means of this fallacy, Homer has increased the reputation of Nireus, though he only mentions him in one passage; he has perpetuated his memory, though he never speaks of him again.
