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[319] ἀπέλαμπε, there was a gleam. We must supply “σέλας” (cf. 19.379) or the like as subject from the general idea of the verb itself; a very curious use, and hardly to be paralleled in H., if in Greek. There is no similar instance given in H. G. § 161 or Kühner, § 352, phrases like “ἐκήρυξε” (sc. “ὁ κῆρυξ”), etc., all having personal subjects. The most analogous is the idiom “ἦν ἀμφὶ ἡλίου δυσμάς”, etc., sc. “ἡ ἡμέρα”. The only other instance of an impersonal verb quoted from H. is Od. 9.143 “οὐδὲ προὐφαίνετ᾽ ἰδέσθαι”, there was no light to see by, and here “ἰδέσθαι” in a way takes the place of the subject (as with “δεῖ πρέπει”, etc.). In the case of “βροντᾶι ὕει”, etc., the subject is “Ζεύς”, and in H. is always expressed.

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

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