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[100] ἀρχῆς, the unprovoked aggression; a pregnant sense, for which compare Herod. viii. 142 “περὶ τῆς ὑμετέρης ἀρχῆς ὁ ἀγὼν ἐγένετο”. So “ἄρχειν” = to be the aggressor; “θανάτωι τίσας ἅπερ ἦρξεν” Aisch. Ag. 1529, Eur. Herc. 1169, Frag. 825; cf. Soph. El. 553. Zenod. “ἄτης”, to which Ar. objected “ἔσται ἀπολογούμενος Μενέλαος ὅτι ἄτηι περιέπεσεν ὁ Ἀλεξανδρος. ἄτη”, however, is often = sin, and regarded as deserving moral condemnation; see e.g. 9.510-2; and certainly Achilles is not ‘apologising’ for Agamemnon in 1.412. In 24.28 Ar. himself read “ἄτης” (though there was a variant “ἀρχῆς”), and so 6.356. A more serious objection is that “ἄτη” is for “ἀϝάτη”, and that the contracted form is found only in late passages, the first syllable being usually in thesis. See on 1.412.

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

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