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[309] ἔλπομαι, I suppose, 10.355. It is possible, but less Epic, to translate ‘I hope they are nowhere else as hard pressed as I known them to be on the left.’ οὕτω naturally means so much as on the left. Monro prefers to take it with a vague reference: ‘I do not think the Greeks are anywhere so weak as to be especially in need of help’ (as in our colloquial “are nowhere so very much in need of help”). But this would be a reason not for going to the left, but for keeping out of the fight altogether. The (Greek) left is always represented as the scene of hot conflict; see 11.498, etc. There is no case in the Iliad where fighting on the right is mentioned.

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

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