Dathó his name’.^64 The subject need not of course be a king; the same struc-
ture appears in Od. 20. 287 f. 6ν δ τι $ν μνηστHρσιν α, ν^ρ α, θεμστια
ε!δ.,Κτ σιππο δ’Zνομ’#σκε, ‘There was among the suitors a man of
lawless character, and Ctesippus was his name’. But stories about kings are
universal, and the pattern is recurrent, subject naturally to slight variations.
Thus in Greek, Alcman, PMGF 74 6σκ τι Καφε7 fανα ́ σσων; Xeno-
phon of Ephesus 1. 1 6ν $ν’Εφσωι α, ν^ρ τ;ν τα` πρ;τα $κε4 δυναμνων,
Λυκομ δη Zνομα; in Latin, Ovid, Met. 14. 320 f. Picus in Ausoniis, proles
Saturnia, terris || rex fuit; Apuleius, Met. 4. 28. 1 erant in quadam ciuitate rex et
regina; in Lithuanian, bùvo karãlius; in Russian жил (or был)король (or
царь); in the Armenian oral epic, Sassountsy David 5 ‘There was an Armenian
king named Cakig’, cf. 113.
What is the narrator’s authority for the tale? As we saw in the last chapter,
he must ‘recall’ it to mind; but as it is always represented as true and not a
fiction, what he recalls must be knowledge derived either from sight or from
hearing. The Greek poet claims to have it from the Muses, and in Il. 2. 485 f.
the rationale is given: they are always present and witness events, whereas the
poets ‘only hear the fame of them’ (κλο). Other Indo-European traditions
have nothing corresponding to the Muses, but the poet sometimes says ‘I have
heard.. .’: Vedic s ́r
̇
n
̇omi, as ́ravam, s ́us ́rava, Old Irish ro-cúala, all from the
root *lu: RV 5. 32. 11 ‘I hear that you alone (Indra) were born as true lord of
thefive peoples’; 10. 88. 15 ‘I have heard from the fathers that there are two
paths, of gods and mortals’; cf. 1. 109. 2, 5; 2. 33. 4; 8. 2. 11; 10. 38. 5, 42. 3. The
Hildebrandslied begins ‘I have heard it said that (two) challengers met in
single combat.. .’, and similarly in the apocalyptic poem Muspilli (37) we
read ‘I heard it told by those learned in worldly wisdom, that the Antichrist
was to fight with Elias’. The ninth-century Norse poet Thiodolf in his Haust-
lo ̨ng (12) says ‘I have heard thus, that afterwards the trier of Hœnir’s mind
[Loki] by trickery won back the Æsir’s darling.. .’.^65
Occasionally the poet introduces a subject by asking a factual question,
which is immediately followed by the answer.
kás te ja ̄mír jána ̄naam, | Ágne? kó da ̄s ́úadhvarah
̇? | kó ha, kásminn asi s ́ritáh
̇?
tuvám
̇ja ̄mír jána ̄naam, | Ágne, mitró asi priyáh
̇, | sákha ̄ sákhibhya ı ̄diyah ́
̇.
Who of men is your kinsman, Agni? Who your sacrificer? Who is it, to whom do you
lean?(^64) Similarly in Togail bruidne Da Derga: buí rí amra airegda for Érinn, Eochaid Feidleach a
ainm, ‘There was a king, famous (and) noble in Erin, Echu Feidlech his name’. For the nomina-
tive interpretation of na ̄ma in the Sanskrit formula see Euler (as n. 62), 63, and compare the
Hittite text quoted above.
(^65) Cf. Watkins (1995), 187.
94 2. Phrase and Figure