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[208] ἀτρεκές: this simple form recurs in H. only Od. 16.245 “οὔτ᾽ ἂρ δεκὰς ἀτρεκὲς οὔτε δύ᾽ οἶαι”, where it is an adverb; the form “ἀτρεκέως” is of course familiar. The original meaning of the word is not certain; if it be conn. with “τρέπω” (Curt. Gr. Et. no. 633) and mean ‘directly,’ ‘not swerving from the straight line,’ it can here hardly be an epithet of “αἷμα”. On the other hand, it cannot be taken with “βαλών”, which is too far off, and does not require an adv. to qualify it, as of itself it implies ‘hitting the mark’ (“ὅτι τρώξαξ, καὶ οὐ ῥίψας ἁπλῶς τὸ βέλος”). We must therefore take it with “ἔσσευα”, ‘I truly, surely, brought forth blood.’ So Schol. B “ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀτρεκέως εἶδον αὐτό, οὐκ ἠπάτημαι”. But 206-8, which contain a feeble repetition of 188-91, are almost certainly interpolated for the sake of the allusion to the “Ὁρκίων σύγχυσις”, an episode which is evidently unknown to the author of this book, who otherwise could not have failed to allude to it again.

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

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