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[474] ἕπονθ᾽ is the unanimous reading of the MSS. and scholia, but it is certainly wrong. “ἕπον” is absolutely required by the sense; cf. 483 below, where the influence of this line has actually brought the impossible “ἕποντο” into several MSS. The corruption is clearly due to the greater familiarity of the mid. combined with a wish to mend the metre. The correction is due to Heyne and P. Knight. The compound “ἀμφέπειν” means to beset by surrounding, as “ἐφέπειν” to drive by pursuit. So 483, and cf. Od. 3.118 “εἰνάετες γάρ σφιν κακὰ ῥάπτομεν ἀμφιέποντες”, of the siege of Troy (J. P. xiv. 239). “ἀμφιέπεσθαι” occurs only once in Greek, Qu. Sm. i. 47, in the correct sense accompanied round about.

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

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