_a._ Copper in Il. ix. 365. _b._ Nectar, Il. xix. 38. _c._ Wine, Od. v. 93. _d._ Blood: in ἐρυθαίνω, Il. x. 484. 3. πορφύρεος again is the Latin _purpura_, and our ‘purple,’ as well as our ‘porphyry.’ In the uses of this word we shall find for the first time a startling amount of obvious discrepancy: and it will require to be considered in the proper place, whether this discrepancy is to be referred to a bold exercise of the Poet’s art, or to an undeveloped knowledge and a consequently defective standard of colour. The word πορφύρεος is employed as follows for objects of sense: _a._ Blood, Il. xvii. 361. _b._ Dark cloud, ibid. 551. _c._ Wave of a river when disturbed, Il. xxi. 326. _d._ Wave of the sea, Il. i. 482; and the disturbed sea, Il. xvi. 391. _e._ The ball with which the Phæacian dancers played, Od. viii. 373. _f._ Garments, as Il. viii. 221; Od. iv. 115. _g._ Carpets, as Od. xxi. 151; Il. xxiv. 645. _h._ The rainbow, Il. xvii. 547. _i._ Metaphorically it is applied to Death, Il. v. 83: and, as it would appear, to bloody death only. Further, the verb πορφύρω is applied _a._ to the sea darkening, Il. xiv. 16. _b._ to the mind brooding, Il. xx. 551. Again, the compound ἁλιπόρφυρος is applied _a._ to wool, Od. vi. 53. _b._ to garments woven of it, Od. xiii. 108. In this epithet we have the additional idea of the sea introduced; and it literally means ‘sea-purple.’ But I postpone any remark with respect to Homer’s particular intention in the use of the word, until we come to the epithets derived from ἴον, a violet. Three forms of colour at least seem to be comprehended under this group of words; 1. The redness of blood. 2. The purple proper, as of the sea in Il. i. 482. To this also probably belongs the rainbow, of whose seven colours three may be said to belong to the family of blue: and which is termed blue by Shakespeare. 3. The grey and leaden colour of a dark cloud when about to burst in storm, and of a river when disturbed. We shall hereafter see reason to suppose that the word may also and often mean what is tawny or brown. ~_Of κύανος and κυάνεος._~ 4. The word κυάνεος is very important in this inquiry; and unfortunately it is not less obscure. It at once throws us back on the prior question, what was κύανος? But this question remains almost wholly undetermined[842]; so that we must follow, as well as we can, the Homeric applications of the word itself, together with its adjective and its compounds. These are very numerous. First we have the substantive κύανος introduced in three places: in each of which it evidently belongs to a combination of colours as well as of substances. [842] See note at the end of the Section. _a._ Once it is κύανος simply. The interior wall of the hall of Alcinous is covered with sheets of copper[843]; and round the top is a θριγκὸς or fringe of κύανος. Od. vii. 87. [843] Ibid.