[237] ῥεῖ: the hiatus is very awkward (cf. Eberhard Metr. Beob. ii. p. 9); “ῥέει” (Wolf and others) would avoid the difficulty. The editors have raised objections to the verb, and Hermann (followed by Abel) would read “τρεῖ ἄσπετον”, comparing Il. 17.332. But “ῥεῖ ἄσπετος” is no doubt correct, being borrowed from Il. 18.403 “ ῥέεν ἄσπετος” (of Ocean). Gemoll points out the debt of the writer to “Σ”; cf. on 86, 87. The meaning of “ῥεῖ”, however, is disputed. In Il. 1.249 “ ῥέεν αὐδή” is used of a “flow of speech”; cf. Theog. 39 “ἀκάματος ῥέει αὐδὴ”
“ἐκ στομάτων ἡδεῖα”, and ibid. 84 “τοῦ δ᾽ ἔπἐ ἐκ στόματος ῥεῖ μείλιχα”. The sense seems therefore to be “his voice flows on ceaselessly” (like that of a garrulous old man). Ernesti's vox fluit immensa and Ilgen's vox fluit tam demissa ut aegre eam sequi et quid dicatur percipere possis are not satisfactory explanations.This text is part of:
The Homeric Hymns, edited, with preface, apparatus criticus, notes, and appendices. Thomas W. Allen. E. E. Sikes. London. Macmillan. 1904.
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