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[381] This line may well be the opening of Achilles' career in the original “Μῆνις”. But it is immediately succeeded by an episode which betrays later origin, 383-95. The thrice-repeated short “ο” of “Ὀτρυντεΐδης” (“Ὀτρυντῆϊ”), though common in later poetry, is against the Homeric rule, and not metrically necessary; it is never found in the frequent “ὀτρύνω” (cf. Schulze Q. E. p. 100 note). The allusion to the Catalogue (2.865) is very obvious — some actually read 385 after 2.866 (see App. Crit. there) — and the familiarity of the poet with Asiatic localities is itself suspicious. We may perhaps add the short form of the dat. plur. “ἐπισσώτροις” (394), while the phrase “πάντων ἐκπαγλότατ᾽ ἀνδρῶν”, twice used of Achilles himself (1.146, 18.170), is meaningless when applied to an unknown warrior. It is quite possible that the lines have been inserted to glorify a local Otrynteïd family by making one of their number participate in the Trojan war. We can read (382) “πρῶτον δ᾽ ἕλε” (395) “Δημολέοντα”, with “νύξας κακ” for “νύξε κατά” in 397 (Schulze), but it is simpler to remove 383-95 and the borrowed 397-402 together. Iphition is not elsewhere named.

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

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