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[647] φάει: the contraction of the dat. of stems in -“ες” (and -“ας”) is as rare in H. as that of the gen.; see on 573, and H. G. § 105. 1. Here we can read “ἐν φάεϊ καὶ ὄλεσσον”. The asyndeton is not only excusable, inasmuch as “ἐν φάεϊ” takes up and repeats the thought of the preceding line, but actually adds to the force and effectiveness of the phrase. For καί compare 5.685, 21.274, Od. 7.224, where it is used, as here, of death which is accepted if one thing be granted first — ‘(so it be but) in light, even slay us.’ εὔαδεν, also 14.340. It is generally regarded as = “ἔϝαδε”, the vocalization of “ϝ” between vowels being an Aiolic peculiarity, e.g. Lesb. “εὔιδον” = “ἔϝιδον”. Schulze however (Q. E. p. 55 after Wackernagel) prefers to derive it from “ἔ-σϝαδ-ε”, with assimilation of “ς” to “ϝ”, through the forms “ἔϝϜαδε, εὔϝαδε”. It cannot be said, in the absence of clear evidence of such assimilation of “σϝ”, that this is more satisfactory than the ordinary explanation. — οὕτωξ, sc. to destroy us.

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

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