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[131] The difficulty alluded to in the Introd., the simile which presents the two heroes as rooted like oaks in front of the gate, followed by another (145) which portrays them as rushing through the gates, has long been felt, and the three possible explanations are all old. (1) 141-53 are to be transposed, so as immediately to follow 130 (so ‘some’ in the long scholion of Porphyrios on the passage). (2) 131-40 and 141-53 are a double recension, and one of them should be expelled (Hephaistion, ibid.). (3) The poet, after stating the main fact, turns back to the circumstances which led up to it; so that 141-53, though subsequent in order, are to be understood as precedent in time, as in 6.159 (where, however, there is no ambiguity), and 9.529 (where the confusion is even worse than here). This is Porphyrios' own explanation; but it seems to be equivalent to saying that the poet did not know how to tell a story. (2) is no doubt right, though we must not talk of ‘expelling’ either version till we consider ourselves in a position to reconstruct all the original elements of the Iliad.

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

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