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[884] The spear can hardly be more valuable than the “λέβης”. So we must suppose that the second prize is mentioned first, against the natural order. This, however, agrees with the fact that Agamemnon receives the “λέβης”. Jordan suggests with some probability that the spear here mentioned is not a prize, but the weapon with which the competitors are to cast; so that “ἔγχος” virtually means the contest of the spear; it is only given as consolation-prize to Meriones by an afterthought. Still the scene lacks clearness and vivacity, and we might hesitate to rank it with the older games had not the javelin-throwing been expressly foretold (622). There is, however, a certain dignity in the manner in which Agamemnon is recognized without submitting to a contest in which his position would not allow him to be defeated; and Achilles is at least a human being in contrast to the wooden dummies who have occupied the stage since 797.

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

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