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[155] A very similar comparison recurs in 20.490-2. Various explanations of ἄξυλος are offered by the scholia. (1) “θρυώδης”, i.e. full of undergrowth only, with no timber trees. (2) “πολύξυλον”, with ‘“ἀ-” intensive.’ (3) untimbered in the sense “ἀφ᾽ ἧς οὐδεὶς ἐξυλίσατο”, incaeduus, for which sense Hes. is quoted (fr. 227 Rzach “τῆιδε γὰρ ἀξυλίηι κατεπύθετο κήλεα” (?) “νηῶν”). The word is used by Herodotos in the sense of ‘timberless,’ which is in favour of (1). But Schulze suggests that “ἀ-” = “ἄμα”, so that “ἄξυλος” = “σύνδενδρος”, thickly wooded, which seems the most satisfactory (Q. E. p. 497).

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

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