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[69] τραπεζ̂ηας, 23.173. θυραωρούς, not “πυλαωρούς” as vulg. because “πυλη” = city-gate, while the sense requires housedoor, “θύρη”. — The connexion of the line with the context is none too clear. The text is punctuated so that οὕς refers forward, “οἱ” being the demonstrative, not the relative. But it is equally possible to remove the colon at the end of 68 so that “οὕς” may refer backwards, and to take “οἵ” as relative and co-ordinate with “οὕς”. In any case the sequence is awkward, and is one of various difficulties which lead us to suspect this line at least, if not the whole passage 69-76. Though to be devoured by dogs (i.e. the half wild pariahs of an Eastern town) is the common fate of the heroic dead, yet that a man should be eaten by his own house-dogs is an exaggeration of horror unlike the true Epic style. This may be remedied by excising 69; but much the same may be said of the details in 75, and of the over-violent “ἀλύσσοντες”. There is too a neglect of “ϝ” in “ἐπέοικεν” (cf., however, 1.126 etc.). Now this passage closely resembles a well-known fragment of Tyrtaios (x. 21-28): “ αἰσχρὸν γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο, μετὰ προμάχοισι πεσόντα
κεῖσθαι πρόσθε νέων ἄνδρα παλαιότερον,
ἤδη λευκὸν ἔχοντα κάρη πολιόν τε γένειον,
θυμὸν ἀποπνείοντ᾽ ἄλκιμον ἐν κονίηι,
αἱματόεντ᾽ αἰδοῖα φίληις ἐν χερσὶν ἔχοντα —
αἰσχρὰ τά γ; ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶνεμεσητὸν ἰδεῖν —
καὶ χρόα γυμνωθέντα: νέοισι δὲ πάντ᾽ ἐπέοικεν,
ὄφρ᾽ ἐρατῆς ἥβης ἀγλαὸν ἄνθος ἔχηι.

”

This is commonly supposed to be copied by Tyrtaios from H.; but the opposite theory, that the interpolator of 69-76 copied from Tyrtaios, is more probable; the lines of Tyrtaios certainly run more smoothly than those of ‘Homer,’ and they are in all probability older than the Attic redaction.

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

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