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[40] “ἀθετεῖται ὅτι καὶ ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων νοοῦμεν ὅτι Νέστωρ ἐστὶν ὁ γεραιός. καὶ τὸ πτῆξε ἄκυρον: ἐπὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀπολελυμένων τῆι ἀγωνίαι καὶ τῶι τῆς ψυχῆς παλμῶι ἁρμόζει” (i.e. the verb is properly used not of him who causes, but of him who suffers, dejection). The line may well be omitted. There is no reason why the appearance of Nestor should cause dismay, as he is not even wounded; and the use of the verb is quite without parallel. The former objection applies also to the variants “πῆξε” and “πλῆξε”. The difficulties may be, however, evaded by Ernesti's conj. “πτῆξε δὲ θυμός”, or still better by reading “ἀχεύων” for “Ἀχαιῶν”, when “πτῆξε θυμόν” will refer to Nestor's own state of mind. “Ἀχαιῶν” as applied to the three chiefs can hardly be right. “πτήσσειν” in H. means elsewhere only cower (Od. 8.190, Od. 14.354, Od. 14.474, Od. 22.362), but comes to mean fear in later Greek (e.g. Soph. O. C. 1466 “ἔπτηξα θυμόν”, Theognis 1015 “ἐχθροὺς πτῆξαι”). The line does not look like a mere interpolation for the sake of bringing in Nestor's name, as Ar. thought.

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

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