_a._ To human hair in connection with old age, Il. xxii. 74 _et alibi_.
_b._ To the sea, Il. i. 350 _et passim_. It remains to inquire, whether
this refers to the sea, or to the foam upon it.
_c._ To iron, Il. ix. 366. xx. 261. Od. xxi. 3, 81. xxiv. 167.
_d._ To the hide of a wolf, which Dolon put on for his nocturnal
expedition, Il. x. 334. The meaning of the word here appears to be not
‘gray’ but ‘white.’ It is Homer’s evident intention to exhibit Dolon as
a sort of simpleton[844] (x. 316, 17); and accordingly he takes a white
covering, which makes him visible to the eye by night, so that Ulysses
saw him (φράσατο, 339).
[844] The celebrated Hunter noticed that Homer had made Dolon an
only son with five sisters, as a proof of the Poet’s sagacity in
observation: having himself found, that youths under such circumstances
are generally more or less effeminate. I owe this information to one of
the most distinguished living members of the profession, which Hunter
himself adorned. It was also a favourite remark, I believe, with Mr.
Rogers.
The last, then, of these four uses is _white_. The first clearly
inclines to the same idea. The second might bear either of two senses.
But iron cannot be brought nearer to white, even if we assume it to
be always polished, than a bluish grey; which, in truth, is somewhat
distant from white. It will, moreover, be seen, that Homer also
describes iron as αἴθων, and as ἰόεις.
~_The quasi-adjectives of colour._~
I now come to the class of words, in dealing with which it will be
shown that they have not in general even the pretensions of those that
have preceded to be treated as adjectives of definite colour.