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[329] “ἀθετεῖται ὅτι γελοῖος, εἰ ἡ μελία ἐπετήδευσε μὴ ἀποτεμεῖν τὸν ἀσφάραγον, ἵνα προσφωνήση τὸν᾽ Ἀχιλλέα. ἀπολογούμενοι δέ φασιν ὅτι τὸ ἐκ τύχης συμβεβηκὸς αἰτιατικῶς ἐξενήνοχεν”, Even An.if we supposed that ὄφρα indicated the purpose of the spear, this would not be a more violent personification than phrases like “ἔγχεα . . λιλαιόμενα χροὸς ἆσαι”. But it is easy, and more reasonable, to suppose that the intention indicated is that of fate, for which the scholia compare Od. 9.154, Od. 12.427-28. Still it must be confessed that 328-29 look somewhat like an early rhapsodist's answer to the difficulty ‘how can Hector speak with the spear through his throat?’ The reply that it went through the gullet but not the wind-pipe is courageous but hardly convincing. The poet in this great climax of pathos has higher matters to think of than anatomical realism.

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

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