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[435] The reading of Zen. given in the text is the only one consistent with Homeric usage; cf. 13.275, 292, 20.244, etc. Ar. explained the vulg. “δήθ᾽ αὖθι” thus: “δηθὰ πολὺν χρόνον, αὖθι αὐτοῦ, λεγώμεθα συναθροιζώμεθα”, ‘let us not now long remain gathered here,’ which is unsatisfactory enough, though it takes account of the fact that “λέγεσθαι” is never used absolutely in H. = to converse. The difficulty in the text, which led to the alteration and this strained interpretation, is obvious; how can Nestor talk about ‘continuing this conversation’ — for this the words must mean — when no conversation has been mentioned? Epic practice forbids us to understand it of the conversation ‘which had naturally taken place at the table, though the poet does not mention it’ (Buttmann). And though it is true that “μηκέτι” does not necessarily imply that the conversation has begun (Gildersleeve in A.J.P. vii. p. 271), yet “ταῦτα” clearly does so. The key to the whole crux is to be found in the fact, which seems obvious when pointed out, that the words of Nestor here really belong to his former speech, in place of 362-8, which are condemned on so many grounds, and that they have been displaced to make room for that awkward interpolation. The only question is whether we should simply replace 435-40 after 361, omitting the formal 434 and making some little alteration in 441, so that it may follow directly on 432, or whether 362-433 are not an interpolation altogether. Either alternative seems admissible.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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