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[571] ῥ́ησσοντες is to be connected not with “ῥήγνυμι” but with “ἀ-ράσσ-ω”, in the sense of beating time (“ἁμαρτῆι”); compare “ἐπιρρήσσεσκον” 24.454. And so clearly Ap. Rhod. understood it, i. 539 “πέδον ῥήσσωσι πόδεσσιν” . This, however, makes a rather disagreeable tautology with “ποσὶ σκαίροντες”. It has been proposed to translate breaking into song in chorus. The phrase “φωνὴν ῥηγνύναι” is common in later Greek, and it is quite possible that the word may have been occasionally used without an object in the same way (Stephenson in C. R. iii. 72). Hymn. Ap. 516 “οἱ δὲ ῥήσσοντες ἕποντο Κρῆτες πρὸς Πυθὼ καὶ ἰηπαιήον᾽ ἄειδον” may be taken either way. But there are obvious phonetic objections to connecting “ῥησς”- with “ῥηγ”-. As usual MSS. vary between “ἁμαρτ̂ηι, ἁμαρτή” (see on 5.656), “ὁμαρτῆι”, but on the whole authority is in favour of “ἁμ”-. The verb, however, is almost always “ὁμαρτέω” — perhaps to avoid confusion with the aor. of “ἁμαρτάνειν”.

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

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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Homer, Iliad, 24.454
    • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1.539
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