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[236] ὄφελος, a word which both in H. and Attic can almost always be translated by our idiomatic ‘good,’ and is almost invariably found in combination with a neuter pronoun, rarely with a neuter adj. (see Lexx.). Here “ὄφελός τι” = if perchance we may be any good, 22.513 “οὐδὲν σοί γ᾽ ὄφελος”, no good to thee. But from 17.152 “ὅς τοι πόλλ᾽ ὄφελος γένετο” we see that the appended adj. or pronoun was originally an acc. of relation, though in later Greek it evidently came to be regarded as agreeing with the noun. Cf. 8.282 “αἴ κέν τι φόως Δαναοῖσι γένηαι”, where “τι” is probably an acc., ‘in any way.’

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

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