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[282] The expression grief poured over his eyes is unusual, but may be paralleled by Od. 4.716 “τὴν δ᾽ ἄχος ἀμφεχύθη θυμοφθόρον”: compare also 17.591 “ἄχεος νεφέλη ἐκάλυψε μέλαινα”. The neglect of the “Ϝ” of “Ϝοι” is more suspicious; hence van L. and Platt conj. “καδ δέ Ϝ᾽”（“οι”) “ἄχος χύτο” (“καδ δ᾽ ἄῤ” G. Hermann), leaving us still to ask why sorrow should be the feeling of the moment. Bentley well suggested “ἀχλύς” for “ἄχος οἱ”, thus restoring a quite Homeric metaphor, cf. 5.696, 17.344, 20.321. We must then write “μυρίη” with Cobet, or take “μυρίον” as an adverb, cf. 21.320. Possibly the latter may be right, in which case the apparent harshness of the construction may have led to the corruption of the passage. The whole clause is parenthetical, ταρβήσας recurring to the construction of “ἀλευάμενος”.

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

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