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[504] εἰ is better than the non-Homeric “ἤν”; the constr. is that which ‘is naturally employed by a speaker who does not wish to imply that the occasion will actually arise,’ H. G. § 292 a (12.223, 22.86 etc.). There is no need for the “ϝέλπεσθ᾽, εἴ κεν νῆας” of Brandreth and van L. ἕκαστος in the next line without “ϝ” is suspicious; “ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν ἅπαντες” Bentley, while Fick rejects the whole couplet as ‘absurd.’

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

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