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[417] σὺ δέ κεν κτλ.: an independent clause, the “κεν” showing its original force, ‘and in that case thou wilt perish.’ Aphrodite means that she will embitter the strife between Trojans and Achaians, so that Helen, ‘Troiae et patriae communis Erinnys,’ will become intolerable to those around her. But the phrase seems weak after ten years of war, and the line might well be spared. 416 will then mean ‘I will stir up hatred instead of love between you both,’ i.e. Paris and Helen.

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

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