previous next

[168] The following ‘Catalogue’ of the Myrmidons is certainly a later addition. Phoinix (196), so far from being one of the characters of the original story, belongs only to the very latest developments of it; see note on 9.168. The other chiefs, Menesthios, Eudoros, Peisandros, in spite of the pomp and ceremony with which they are announced, are not so much as named again in the sequel. The speech of Achilles which concludes the passage contains several strange expressions; “ἕης” is a false archaism on the analogy of “ὅου” 2.325, which really stands for “ὅο”, and “χόλωι τρέφειν”, ‘to rear on bile’ instead of milk, is not like a Homeric phrase. We need therefore not hesitate to reject 168-211. πεντ́ηκοντα, the same number as in the Catalogue, 2.685, where see note.

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

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (2 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (2):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: