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[670] 670-71. This couplet interrupts the speech, and may be an interpolation to excuse the fact that Epeios has not been mentioned before. Why a man should excuse bad fighting on the ground that he is a good boxer it is hard to see. οὐδ᾽ . . γενέσθαι is the ordinary type of gnomic tag, cf. 4.320, 13.729 ff. μάχης ἐπιδεύομαι, fail in battle, see 17.142 “μάχης ἄρα πολλὸν ἐδεύεο”, and cf. “δεύεσθαι πολέμοιο” 13.310, “κείνων ἐπιδεύεαι ἀνδρῶν” 5.636, “οὔ τι μάχης ἐπεδεύετ᾽ Ἀχαιῶν” 24.385. For ἐν πάντεσσ᾽ ἔργοισι it is easy to read “ἐν πᾶσιν ϝέργοισι” (Bentley) or “πάντεσσ᾽ ἐν” (Fick), but the change is hardly worth making. The same may be said of Brandreth's “οὐ ϝάλις” for ἦ οὐχ ἅλις (5.349).

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

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