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[229] εὐχωλαί, boastings, not in a bad sense, which is only given by “κενεαυχέες”. For the phrase πῆι ἔβαν cf. 5.472, 24.201. The following relative clause is evidently imperfect, as there is a verb wanting either after ἅς or ὁπότ᾽ according as we punctuate. If we put a comma after “Λήμνωι”, we must assume an ellipse of “ἦτε”, as in our idiomatic ‘you boasted when in Lemnos.’ We may compare “ὅς τ᾽ ἐπεί” followed by one verb only in 24.42 (where see note), and “ὡς ὅτε” in similes without a verb. It is common enough for the substantive verb to be omitted in relative clauses (H. G. § 271), and an instance after a temporal adverb will be found in Od. 10.176 “ὄφρ᾽ ἐν νηῒ θοῆι βρῶσίς τε πόσις τε”: but here the omission is harsh, because the subject of the verb is not expressed. Hence some join “ὁπότε” with “ἠγοράασθε”, and hold that there is an anacoluthon, the verb governing “ἅς” being forgotten after the interposed relative clause. Bentley conj. “ἅσσά ποτ᾽”, van L. “ἃς τότ᾽ ἐνί”. Von Christ thinks that the confused construction indicates interpolation from the Kypria, which may from the abstract have given some such story of a feast on the journey to Troy. But this is hardly probable. There is an evident allusion to the wines of Lemnos; see 7.467. κενεαυχέες, only here and in late imitators. The verb “αὐχεῖν” does not reappear in H.

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

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