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[573] τότε γε has no very clear reference; taken with the context it seems to mean ‘at the moment’ when Achilles was leaving for Troy. Epeigeus, like Phoinix and Patroklos, is a ‘retainer’ who gives his services in return for protection against the avengers of blood. These ‘broken men’ are an important factor in early nation-making. It will be noticed that the blood shed is a kinsman's, and therefore cannot be commuted; the homicide must save himself by flight, as 2.662. 9.632-34 implies a later stage; see on 18.498 (App. I, § 24). Ar. remarked “ὅτι οὐκ ἀπολελοίπει ἡ Θέτις τὸν Πηλέως οἶκον, ὡς οἱ νεώτεροι, ἀλλὰ συνώικει αὐτῶι”.

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

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