θοὴν διὰ νύκτα μέλαιναν
We find this phrase also at Iliad 10.468, 24.366, and 24.653. In Iliad 24, the formula is used during Priam’s infiltration of the Achaean camp, and is associated particularly with the danger of his mission. Thus this formula as a whole seems to be connected with the ambush theme. (See “The Poetics of Ambush” and the commentary above on 10.1ff. on how Priam’s mission to retrieve the body of Hektor shares in the ambush theme.) Night is also “swift” at Iliad 12.463 and 14.261 and Odyssey 12.284. Hainsworth (1993 ad loc.) has tentatively suggested that the phrase may have been composed by analogy with θοὴν ἐπὶ νῆα μέλαιναν (which also occurs in the dative with other prepositions). Certainly these examples suggest that the structure of the phrase is deeply ingrained in the traditional diction and that the adjectives “swift” and “black” go naturally together. But what about night is swift? And is “swift” even the correct definition of θοός? The scholia in the Venetus A, Venetus B, and Townley (T) manuscripts on these lines offer possible associations, such as how quickly the sky becomes black after the sun has set. The T scholia here also note several other possible meanings of θοός besides “swift,” including “pointed” (see Chantraine 1968/1999 s.v. θοός), and discuss the angle of the earth in relation to the sun, which results in shadows with angles that are “sharp” and make night “cone-shaped.” Another possible definition of θοή offered by the B and T scholia is “the placer”: τὴν θετικήν—ἀποτίθησι γὰρ ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀνάπαυλαν (“the placer—for it places us into a state of repose”). This definition associates θοή with the verb τίθημι. The question was considered from a cosmological perspective by the ancient Homeric scholar and philosopher Crates of Mallos, who accepted “swift” (see Eustathius ad 10.394 and Mette 1952:55ff.) and related it to the speed of the sun and the night.