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[172] μεσσοπαγές, planted up to the midst; Ar. “μεσσοπαλές”, explained (a) brandished by the middle (“ὅτι πᾶν δόρυ ἐκ μέσου πάλλεται”) — here a meaningless epithet; (b) quivering up to the middle, in contrast, acc. to Hoffmann, to the commoner phrase “ἐπὶ δ᾽ οὐρίαχος πελεμίχθη”, where only the butt-end quivers. This was Ar.'s interpretation, but it is obviously unsatisfactory, as “πάλλεσθαι” does not mean to quiver, and a spear which quivered up to the middle must quiver throughout its length; unless we are meant to suppose that it is fixed up to the middle in the earth. In that case we only get by an artificial and farfetched conceit what we are told in direct words by μεσσοπαγές, which is therefore to be preferred.

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

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