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[420] 420-23 = 8.331-34. It seems unlikely that the lines are genuine in both places; and though the general character of “Θ” would lead us to suppose that they are borrowed there, in this case the presumption appears to be wrong. For here the words βαρέα στενάχοντα are out of place, as Hypsenor is clearly supposed to be dead on the spot. Deïphobos evidently thinks so (416), and it would be quite unlike the epic style to represent him as mistaken without explicitly saying so. It was evidently in order to avoid this difficulty that Ar. read “στενάχοντε”. But the phrase “βαρέα στενάχων” is used in the Il. only of wounded warriors (538, 14.432). On the other hand it is applied four times in the Od. to mental pain (Od. 5.420, etc.); and the same is the case in the Il. with the similar “βαρὺ στενάχων” (1.364, etc.). So this consideration alone is not decisive, as we are unable to say whether Ar.'s reading is a mere conjecture or not. But we have further to consider that it is not usual for Homeric heroes to detach two of their number to carry a dead body to the ships; when an important chief is wounded this is natural enough, but a corpse they merely draw within their line in order to prevent the enemy seizing it. The next three lines also contain unusual phrases; so that the balance of probabilities is decidedly in favour of regarding the whole passage, perhaps from 417 to 426, as a very late interpolation, later than “Θ”.

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

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