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[515] The phrase ἀλαοσκοπιὴν ἔχειν, to keep blind-man's-watch, recurs in 13.10, 14.135, Od. 8.285, Hes. Theog. 466; compare also 324 above. There is not much to choose between the text and Zen.'s ἀλαὸν σκοπιήν, but ἀλαὸς σκοπιήν, the reading of A here, is most unlikely, and indeed hardly translatable. (It is attributed to Ar. by La R. on very insufficient grounds ; apparently only because in Schol. A the words ὅτι Ζηνόδοτος γράφει ἀλαὸν σκοπιήν (An.) are followed by παροιμιακὸν δέ ἐστιν, οὐ τυφλὸς ἐς σκοπιάς. This has no apparent reference to Ar.; I see in it nothing more recondite than There is a proverbial saying, 'A blind man won't do for a look-out.' See La R. H. T. p. 184.) The accent of ἀλαοσκοπιήν is irregular, but the composition of the word is irreproachable; though its application to Apollo's tardy intervention here is almost comic.

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

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