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[354] ἀπέλεθρον, an unmeasured, i.e. very great, distance; as in 5.245 “ἶν᾽ ἀπέλεθρον ἔχοντε,” 7.269. We are at liberty to divide the words “ὦκα πέλεθρον”, and so Tzetzes read them, in the sense ‘he ran back the distance of a “πέλεθρον”.’ This is preferred by Ridgeway (J. H. S. vi. 325) on the ground that “πλέθρον” is properly a measure of distance; and that it became a measure of area only in combination with the unit ‘furrow-length’ (see on 10.351), as representing the unit distance between the “οὖρα”, i.e. the breadth of a piece of ground which a team could plough in a day's work. This suits the other passages (21.407, Od. 11.577) in which “πέλεθρον” occurs; in both of these it is better to take it as a measure of length than as one of area. Either reading is therefore possible, but the analogy of “ἶν᾽ ἀπέλεθρον” strongly supports the adjectival form.

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

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