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[23] Cf. 1.591 “ῥῖψε ποδὸς τεταγὼν ἀπὸ βηλοῦ θεσπεσίοιο”, whence this line has evidently been adapted, for “βηλοῦ” without the epithet is less clear. But Schol. A on 1.591 says “Παρμενίων ὁ γλωσσογράφος φησὶν Ἀχαιοὺς καὶ Δρύοπας καλεῖν τὸν οὐρανὸν βηλόν”. So Qu. Smyrn. understood the word when he wrote “ἀστερόεις βηλός” (xiii. 483). Perhaps this contains a genuine tradition, and “βηλός” is really an old Achaian word distinct from “βηλός”=threshold, 23.202, which certainly is not particularly appropriate here. ῥίπτασκον is a wrong form, it should be either “ῥίπτεσκον” or “ῥίψασκον”, as the Homeric iteratives are formed either with the stem-vowel or thematic “ε” of the present stem, or the sigmatic aorist stem in -“σα”. The mistake is perhaps due to a reminiscence of “ῥιπτάζων” in the similar passage, 14.257. “νικάσκομεν” (Od. 11.512) and “τρωπάσκετο” (11.568 if right) are of course different, being contracted forms from “α”-stems. The hiatus after βηλοῦ is defensible in the bucolic diaeresis. ἵκηται, the subj. is thoroughly un-Homeric; see H. G. § 298. We must either read “ἵκοιτο” or regard the mood as positive evidence of the lateness of the passage.

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

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