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[433] 433-9 were athetized by Ar. on the grounds (1) that it is not fitting that Andromache should act like a rival commander (“ἀντιστρατηγεῖν”) to Hector; (2) that it is not true that the wall is represented as specially accessible at this spot; nor are the enemy now near the walls. A modern reader will probably feel with more force the objection that we are presented with an anticlimax after the noble outburst of the preceding lines. But perhaps this is not a more valid criticism than the reasons of Ar. There was a legend — which of course may have grown out of these words — that when Apollo and Poseidon built the walls of Troy the mortal Aiakos helped them at this point of the circuit; see Pind. O. viii. 31-46, where Apollo says to Aiakos “Πέργαμος ἀμφὶ τεαῖς, ἥρως, χερὸς ἐργασίαις ἁλίσκεται”. This is the θεοπρόπιον referred to in 438. For the ἐρινεός as a landmark see 11.167, 22.145; it stood in the plain outside the wall, so that this line seems inconsistent with the preceding “αὐτοῦ μίμν᾽ ἐπὶ πύργωι”, an argument for the interpolation of the passage. It is probable that the events referred to were related in the Kypria; the epitome, after telling of an embassy to the Trojans, goes on “ὡς δὲ οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν ἐκεῖνοι, ἐνταῦθα δὴ τειχομαχοῦσιν”. It is curious, however, that Achilles should not be named among the leaders. The Iliad allows no place for such an attack since the quarrel. For another allusion to earlier events see 9.352.

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

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