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[272] Bekker, Nauck, Christ, and others have adopted the variant “μήστωρι” in preference to the vulg. μήστωρε: it was read by Plato Lach. 191B; “καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Αἰνείαν κατὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἐνεκωμίασε, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ φόβου ἐπιστήμην, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτὸν εἶναι μήστωρα φόβοιο”. There can be no doubt that Homeric usage is on the same side, for “μήστωρ φόβοιο” is always used of heroes (6.97, 278, 12.39, 23.16, cf. “μήστωρ ἀυτῆς” 13.93, etc.), except in the parallel passage 8.108, where the MS. authority is more evenly divided. The nearest Homeric analogy is in the late passage 2.767 “φόβον Ἄρηος φορεούσας”, of the horses of Eumelos. We may, however, accept the phrase here as an unusually exaggerated encomium; the horses in virtue of their divine descent are actually put on a level with human beings.

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

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