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[229] This speech has been generally condemned, on the ground that Apollo is not present to hear the appeal, and that as a matter of fact it remains entirely fruitless and unnoticed. But as a mere expression of reproach, not as a cry for aid, it is by no means out of place, and no further effects would be expected from it. It is true that we know nothing of any such commands of Zeus as are spoken of in 230; but this may be regarded as a passionate outburst in which the exact presentation of fact is not poetically indispensable. It is sufficient that Zeus should have permitted (and encouraged) Apollo to help the Trojans for an angry partisan to take it as a command.

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

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