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[662] 662-63 are rejected by Peppmüller (as well as by Düntzer on other grounds), as giving a wrong reason for the length of time needed, viz. that it will take them so long to collect the wood; whereas really nine days of mourning were demanded by ancient custom — which he illustrates by Plutarch's statement that Lykurgos limited the days of mourning and the funeral to eleven. The interpolator, he thinks, being ignorant of this, held it necessary to supply an explanation of the length of time required. This is ingenious, and finds some support in the non-Homeric form δεδίασιν (“δείδ”for “δέδϝ”- being the only perf. stem elsewhere found). But it clearly is not necessary. The couplet may be explained as a touch of natural pride taking the form of an apology for accepting the offer at all. Virchow remarks that to this day all the wood required for Hissarlik and the lower Troad has to be brought by horses from the distant heights of Ida.

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

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