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[390] πειρᾶι for “πειράεαι” is an impossible contraction in H. P. Knight ingeniously suggests “πείρα” (“πείρα᾽”) and “εἴρεο” test me and ask. But this does not suit 433. It would be better, at least in the latter place, to read “πείρασ᾽”（“αι”) as a nonthematic form, or, to keep closer to the letters, “πείρα᾽”（“αι”), the same with the older omission of the “ς”. (See 21.459 and note on “δαμνᾶι” 14.199.) The imperative certainly gives a better sense; with the text καὶ εἴρεαι must be taken as = “εἰρόμενος”, ‘you ask me only to test me.’

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

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