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[300] 300-02 are very obscure in thought and expression. The idea seems to be ‘if any one (i.e. Polydamas) is nervous about fighting far from the city, owing to the possession of wealth, let him make a present of it to the common store, instead of handing it over to the Achaians, which would be the result of such suicidal counsels as P.'s.’ But this elaborate irony is not like Homeric simplicity and directness of thought; the lines would suitably follow 288-92 above, but in another context, viz. in a serious appeal to the Trojans to surrender their private wealth for the common good. The thought in any case is one for an assembly in Troy, not for a council of war in the open field.

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

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