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[207] The point of this fine simile lies in the words ἄμ᾽ ἠελίωι καταδύντι, 210. The beacons are only fire by night, and only smoke by day; but as the sun sets the fire flames out, and both smoke and fire are visible together for a time; in like manner while the cloud is dark over Achilles' head the fire shines to heaven. Van L. adopts Ar.'s variant on the grounds given by Schol. T “καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπόν φησι” (sc. “Ἀρίσταρχος”) “πῦρ εἰκάζεσθαι καπνῶι”. It must be confessed (in spite of Ludwich Ar. ii. 92-94) that this alteration looks very like a con jecture — whether Ar.'s own or one which he found in one of his MSS. we are not in a position to say. Nor apparently was Did., whose scholion gives important evidence as to the uncertainty respecting Ar.'s criticism which already prevailed in his day. The difficulty as to the comparison of smoke to fire is partly met by the objection given above, though the parallelism of “ὡς . . καπνὸς . . αἰθέρ᾽ ἴκηται” and “ὣς . . σέλας αἰθέρ᾽ ἵκανεν” emphasizes the point. But we had much the same trouble in P 547 ff. where a dark cloud is compared to a rainbow; in both cases the mixture of light and darkness conveys the idea of gloom; the fire here is depicted not as bright but as lurid.

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

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