Sources and commentary

Campbell points out (on page 141/3) that 'this poem is quoted by Athenaeus 1.30f: "Archilochus compares the wine of Naxos with nectar."' He continues '...the μᾶζα might be a dough to which water was added before it was eaten uncooked; and if the Ismaric wine was particularly strong and could be much diluted both commodities would save space in the knapsack.' he reminds us that 'it was a potent Ismaric wine which Odysseus used to incapacitate the Cyclops: see Od. 9.196ff, 345ff... Ismarus was on the Thracian coast not far from Thasos and Ismaric wine may have been no more than vin du pays which Archilochus drank during campaigns against Thracian tribes.' This paragraph is a summary of Campbell's three pages all of which is worth reading.

Harris also comments at length on this poem. One of the most arresting paragraphs is at the bottom of page 24: 'Bringing it all together in that last 'en dori' phrase makes the picture real, as the eye of our mind roves from bread to wine and then to a camera freeze shot of HIM standing there in action, caught in the moment of imbibing. This is no simple elegiac distich, but a complex weaving of three disparate items into a composite image which represents "The Mercenary Soldier" seen for a split second before he moves away out of our sight.'