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[423] The choice between σπέξθαι and “ἑσπέσθαι” (i.e. “σε-σπ-έσθαι”, reduplicated aor.) is not easy. The former is fixed by metre in Od. 22.324, with “σπεῖο” in 10.285. But MSS. prefer forms in “ἑσπ-” wherever possible (10.246, 12.395, 13.570, Od. 12.349, Od. 19.579, Od. 21.77 unanimously; 12.350, 363 by a majority; here and in Od. 4.38 alone is there a majority for “ἅμα σπέσθαι”), though they are in H. invariably preceded by elision, so that those in “σπ-” can always be substituted. In compounds the form in “σπ-” alone is known throughout Greek. In Pindar both “σπομέναν” (P. iv. 40) and “ἕσπηται” (O. viii. 11) are certain; in Attic “σπέσθαι” (Eur. Phoen. 426) and “ἑσπόμην” (or “ἐσπόμην”? Soph. Trach. 563). This points to the forms in “σπ-” being the older, those in “ἑσπ-” a later introduction; we need not be surprised to find them side by side in 10.285, but are justified in preferring the shorter where tradition permits. H. G. § 36 (6). τοὺς νῦν ἔπκαγλ᾽ ἐφίλησε: cf. 3.415.

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

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