[316] πειρήσω ὥς κε, i. e. ‘I will try how I may.’ Cp. “πεῖραν ὥς κε . . ἄρξωσι” Il.4. 66, “πείρα ὅπως κεν ἵκηαι” Od.4. 545.
ἐπὶ … ἰήλω. Curtius refers “ἰάλλω” to root ar, Sanskrit ij-ar-mi, ‘to hasten.’ The same root appears in “ἔρ-χ-ο-μαι, ἤλ-υ-θον”, the initial iota being the residuum of a reduplication, as in “ἰαύω”, etc. Göbel regards it as equivalent to “σισάλλω”, i. e. “σι-σαλ-ιω”, and so a reduplicated form from “ἅλλω”, salio. κῆρας Curtius connects with root “κερ”, seen in “κείρω, κεραΐζω”, etc. Nägelsbach (Hom. Theol. 147) remarks that “κήρ” represents the special form of death in contrast to “ὁμοίη μοῖρα”, or “θάνατος ὁμοίιος” Od.3. 236.So Sarpedon, Il.12. 326 foll., complains that he is threatened by “κῆρες θανάτοιο” “μυρίαι, ἃς οὐκ ἔστι φυγεῖν βροτὸν οὐδ᾽ ὑπαλύξαι”. Cp. Od.11. 171, where Odysseus asks his mother “τίς νύ σε κὴρ ἐδάμασσε τανηλεγέος θανάτοιο”;“ἦ δολιχὴ νοῦσος ἦ Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα”
“οἷς ἀγανοῖς βελέεσσιν ἐποιχομένη κατέπεφνεν”; When “κῆρες” are personified, their action is to carry off their victims as a wild beast takes its prey; cp. “κῆρες ἄγον” Il.2. 834, “φορέουσι” Il.8. 528, “φέρουσαι” Od.14. 207.At the birth of each mortal, his special “κήρ” is assigned him; cp. Il.23. 78“ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ μὲν κὴρ”
“ἀμφέχανε στυγερὴ, ἥ περ λάχε γεινόμενόν περ”. And thus it is the “μοῖρα” of a man, that his particular “κήρ” should find him at last, Il.18. 117, 119“οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ βίη Ἡρακλῆος φύγε κῆρα . . ἀλλά ἑ μοῖρα δάμασσε”. The personality of the “κῆρες” appears only in one passage, Il.18. 535 foll., where “ὀλοὴ κήρ” appears on the shield of Achilles. The Hesiodic conception of the “κῆρες” is quite different; they are described ( Theog.220) “αἵ τ᾽ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε παραιβασίας ἐφέπουσαι”,
“οὐδέποτε λήγουσι θεαὶ δεινοῖο χόλοιο”
“πρίν γ᾽ ἀπὸ τῷ δώωσι κακὴν ὄπιν ὅστις ἁμάρτῃ”.
