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[404b] in their drinking water, their food, and in exposure to the heat of the sun and to storms,1 without disturbance of their health.” “I think so.” “Would not, then, the best gymnastics be akin to the music that we were just now describing?” “What do you mean?” “It would be a simple and flexible2 gymnastic, and especially so in the training for war.” “In what way?” “One could learn that,” said I, “even from Homer.3 For you are aware that in the banqueting of the heroes on campaign he does not

1 Perhaps in the context “cold.”

2 Literally “equitable,” if we translate ἐπιεικής by its later meaning, that is, not over-precise or rigid in conformity to rule. Adam is mistaken in saying that ἐπιεικής is practically synonymous with ἀγαθή. It sometimes is, but not here. Cf. Plutarch, De san. 13ἀκριβὴς . . . καὶ δι᾽ ὄνυχος.

3 So Laws 706 D. The καί is perhaps merely idiomatic in quotation.

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    • W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886), 4.368
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