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[291] The obvious sense of this line, if it stood alone, would be, ‘Verily it is a trouble even to return home in grief.’ But this does not cohere with what follows, and the only interpretation which really suits the sense is that given by Lehrs (Ar. p. 74), and probably by Aristarchos (who noted that “πόνος” is used in the true Homeric sense of labour, not grief): ‘truly here is toil to make a man return disheartened.’ “ἦ μὴν καί” thus introduces an excuse, just as in 9.57. The difficulty is the very bare use of the acc. and infin. with a violent change of subject. Lehrs compares Od. 2.284 “οὐδέ τι ἴσασιν θάνατον καὶ κῆρα μέλαιναν”

“ὃς δή σφι σχεδόν ἐστιν, ἐπ᾽ ἤματι πάντας ὀλέσθαι”, a not very satisfactory parallel. Monro (Journ. Phil. xi. 129, H. G. § 233) adds “μοῖρ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀλύξαι, ὥρη εὕδειν”, and other similar phrases, and we may add 4.510, 7.239, and the infin. after “τοῖος”, etc.; but none are really quite parallel. Various emendations have been proposed; the most attractive is van L.'s “ἀνίη τ᾽ ἔνθ᾽ ἀνέχεσθαι” (after Mehler's “ἀνιηθέντ᾽ ἀνέχεσθαι”, where the aor. part. will not do); for “ἀνίη” cf. Od. 7.192, Od. 20.52. The only alterations are the interchange of “θ” and “τ” and the insertion of “χ”, and the corruption is easily accounted for by “νέεσθαι” in the previous line.

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

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