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[46] When we last heard of the Telamonian Aias he was separated from his Oïlean namesake (12.366). Hence Wackernagel has proposed to take Αἴαντε here in the sense of Aias and his brother Teukros, on the analogy of a well-established Sanskrit use, by which two ideas belonging to one another, though having different names, can be expressed by the name of one only in the dual (see Delbrück Gr. iii. p. 137); for instance, pitArau, ‘two fathers’ means ‘father and mother,’ AhanI, ‘two days’ means ‘day and night.’ Wackernagel appeals especially to 7.164, where it is said that the “Αἴαντες” cast lots, whereas in the sequel “Αἴας” is spoken of as though there were no ambiguity of name; hence he argues that “Αἴαντες” must there also mean Aias and Teukros. But this is of course very uncertain. In many ways the position of the leading heroes in this book cannot be made to tally with the statements of M, so that no great stress can be laid upon the discrepancy. πρώτω is here as often used in a clause added asyndetically, as 91, 20.215, 24.710, Od. 3.36 etc.

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

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