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[113] ἀγκλίνας must be in close subordination to “τανυσσάμενος”, but the exact meaning is not certain. It is commonly taken with ποτὶ γαίηι, he bent the bow by leaning it (the end to which the string was permanently attached) upon the ground. This is of course the way in which the modern long-bow is strung, but Reichel (Hom. Waffen p. 130) objects that the method is not suitable to the short bow. This was strung by placing the bow under the left and over the right knee and then bending it upward, the string passing over the left knee. He accordingly takes the words ποτὶ γαίηι with κατέθηκε, ‘he laid the bow on the ground after stringing it by bending it up. ’ This is no doubt possible; but if the preceding statement as to the length of the horns is to be taken literally, it would seem that even if the sixteen palms covered the entire length of the bow it would still be a long rather than a short bow, and it is open to question if it could be conveniently strung in this way. However, in view of the fact that there is no evidence for other than the short bow on the most ancient monuments, it is better to regard the length of the horns as a mere poetical fiction, and to hold that the author of the lines had in view only the short bow. As Reichel points out, the Mycenaean monuments always represent the archer as shooting in a crouching attitude, with one knee almost or quite on the ground. This is well seen in the well-known dagger-blade with the lion-hunt, and in the scene with the siege from the Mycenaean silver bowl. The attitude is of course particularly suitable for an archer who, like Pandaros, shoots from behind the shelter of his companions' shields. It plainly excludes the use of a long bow. εὖ κατέθηκε, laid carefully down; the great deliberation of Pandaros' movements, and the attention he gives to the selection of his arrow, a new one, ‘never yet shot,’ are insisted upon.

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

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