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[289] The “ἢ .. τε” of MSS. is an obvious difficulty. Bentley proposed “εἰ” for “ἤ”, so that “ὥς τε γὰρ εἰ” = “ὣς εἴ τε”: but “ὡς εἰ” are never separated in H. Nauck writes “ἠύτε γάρ” for “ὥστε γὰρ ἤ”, Ameis, after Bekker, “ἦ”, as Od. 3.348 “ὥς τέ τευ ἦ παρὰ πάμπαν ἀνείμονος ἠδὲ πενιχροῦ”, and Od. 19.109 “ὥς τέ τευ ἦ βασιλῆος”, in both which passages the MSS. have “ἤ”, though it is clearly out of place (in the former passage MSS. also have “ἠέ”, not “ἠδέ”). But there does not seem to be any certain case of this use of “ἦ” in a simile — where indeed so strongly affirmative a particle seems out of place. Still it is adopted in the text as an only resource, better than taking the sequence “ἢ .. τε” as a very violent anacoluthon.

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

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