Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns

[3] The editors read “φέρει”; if this is original the dative to be supplied is “βροτοῖσι”, although Matthiae and Gemoll understand “φέρει” as=“bears” (on herself). Gemoll thinks that “ἄνθος” is literally a flower, and, objecting to the collective singular, proposes “ἔσθος”. But “ἄνθος” is here “bloom,” “beauty,” as in h. Dem. 107, h. Herm. 375 and often. The reading of M “θέει” is more appropriate than “φέρει” to “ἄνθος”; for the metaphorical use cf. Il. 6.45 “ λευκὴ δ᾽ ἐπιδέδρομεν αἴγλη”.