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[238] οἱ χ᾽ ἡμεῖς, i.e. “καί”. Some read “οἵ χ᾽” (i.e. “κε”). But προσαμύνομεν must be the pres. indic.; if it were aor. subj. it would mean ‘if we shall help him,’ a sense clearly precluded by the nature of Thersites' proposition. There is no clear case of “κε” with pres. indic. in H. καί must be taken closely with ἡμεῖς, we also of the common sort, as well as great chiefs like Achilles. So 8.111 “εἴσεται, εἰ καὶ ἐμὸν δόρυ μαίνεται”. The second “καί” is that commonly used to give emphasis to one of two alternatives in an indirect disjunctive question, e.g. 300. On the question of crasis or elision see 6.260

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

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