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[726] ἀμ́ηχανος, intractable, as 10.167, 16.29. For the addition of the infin. cf. H. G. § 232; ‘you are intractable for listening to ’ = you cannot be induced to listen to. παραρρητοῖσι, persuasive things, a neut. pl. used in a vague sense, like the ‘impersonal’ neuter subject of a verb (as “οὐκέτι φυκτὰ πέλωνται”, see H. G. § 161), and approximating to the abstract sense “παράρρησις”: cf. “λεῖα δ᾽ ἐποίησεν”, 12.30, with note. So also we may explain phrases like “μειλιχίοισι προσηύδα”, etc., where the supposed ‘ellipse of “ἐπέεσσι”’ can hardly be called a scientific explanation. The adj. recurs only in 9.526 in the sense open to persuasion, and so we might possibly explain ‘you cannot be brought to listen to men who are open to conviction.’ But this is not Homeric either in thought or expression. The line is generally printed with a full stop at the end, and a comma at the end of 727; the punctuation adopted is that recommended by Lehrs, on the ground that “οὕνεκα” regularly follows the clause of which it gives the explanation (see note on 3.400-5). The sense is equally good in either case.

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

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