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Theocritus uses the words  (47) to describe this gesture, clearly a variation of  , the Homeric formula for a handshake, invariably followed by:  . In Homer it is almost always used to indicate a friendly gesture of greeting, but here, according to Mastronarde (1968: 279, note 9), ''the phrase is shifted to a forceful seizure (Eust. 142438 gives the clinging of an octopus as one of several associations of  ; such a connotation might add a sinister note here.)" Yet I doubt whether this is meant as a "forceful seizure". Hylas is not a powerful man, and as he 'held out his jug in the direction of the water' (46) he was in a position in which it is not easy to hold one's balance; the nymphs seem to have no difficulty in carrying out their plan. |
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There is one case in which the Homeric handshake is not particularly friendly. Antinous grasps Telemachus' hand, and holds onto it during the entire eighteen verses of what is in effect a quite hostile conversation between them. Telemachus ultimately withdraws ( ) his hand from that of the other (Od. 2.302321). In two cases there is an erotic context. In Od. 8.291 the formulary verse is preliminary to Ares' proposition to Aphrodite about sharing her bed. In Od. 11.247 Poseidon clasps the hand of Tyro, when he takes his leave of her with the announcement that within the year she will give birth to twins. But in principle the handclasp has no erotic connotations whatsoever. Hecuba presses the hand of Hector (Il. 6.253), and Thetis that of Achilles (Il. 19.7) when she finds him weeping. Perhaps all these combined associations were precisely what Theocritus was aiming for. For although we are told that the nymphs are quite beside themselves with love (4849a), once they have captured Hylas, they take him upon their knees and comfort him (5354) as if he were their child. The role of Heracles, who brought him up as a father would have done, now seems to have been taken over by three mothers. The fact that in Theocritus' poem the second half of the formulary verse is absent may serve to underline the mysterious nature of these events. Not a word is spoken. |
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In vv. 4849a the love of the nymphs is described as follows:  ('for love of the Argive boy had frightened the tender hearts of them all'). Although this is not a specific reference to Homer or any other author, and strictly speaking there is no question of intertextuality, I would like to look more closely at the verb  . This, too, Gow finds "odd", pointing out that here Apollonius uses  (Arg. 1.12323). But why then is  odd? Initially means 'to frighten'; in Homer  means 'to drive away', and later on again 'to frighten'. The difference is, however, that had already been used by Sappho (31.6) and Alcaeus (283.3) to convey overwhelming emotions of love, and the metaphor had probably lost some of its force by the time Apollonius used it. Theocritus was apparently reaching for a verb with a comparable |
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