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[71] It will be seen that MS. authority — though in such a matter of little weight — is in favour of γεινομένοισιν rather than “γινομένοισιν”. The former is the aor. participle “γενομένοισιν”, with the lengthening by metrical licence without which it could not be used at all in hexameters. The aor. is evidently the proper tense to express ‘at the moment of birth.’ The form is found again in MSS. in the same sense in 20.128, 23.79, 24.210, Od. 4.208, Od. 7.198, and “γεινόμεθ᾽” (“α”) for the equally impossible “γενόμεθα” in 22.477. See Schulze Q. E. 182-90 (where he would in this place write “γινομένοισιν”. But the distinction he draws between “γινόμενος” = nascens and “γε”（“ι”）“νόμενος” = natus is erroneous. The real meaning of “γινόμενος”, becoming, is shewn in Od. 4.417, the only place where it is found in H.). The aor. “γείνασθαι” (bear, beget) is of course quite different.

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

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