THE CONSTITVTIO TEXTVS

By incorporating in his apparatus the evidence for ancient scholarship, indirect tradition and antique manuscripts and by establishing his text throughout by methodical

comparison of what the medieval manuscripts and these three sources of information offer, West rightly escapes the conspicuous pitfall of Van Thiel, whose undocumented textual ambition is to restore the 'vulgate' in its early medieval form, the good one

according to him. Independently of its material realization, Van Thiel's seems a procedure which could pass muster only if the aim were to produce a readable rather than an

authentic text. Now, it is naturally impossible for any review, even of unprecedented

compass as the present one, to sketch in detail the variety and complexity of matters relevant to the textual criticism of books XIII-XXIV of the Iliad. Instead what I propose to do is to set out roughly what West considered to be important in the questions of editing, dialect and orthography.

IV. 1. In his preface West is hardly less pessimistic than was Van Thiel about the archetypal character of Alexandrian readings in general, and Aristarchus' ones in

particular. However his criteria in deciding which individual scholarly readings could stem from an earlier tradition, whatever it may be, and which ones are more likely to result from what he considers, after Van der Valk, to be bold rewriting, have no coherence and are left unsaid in the preface (where we only learn, p. VII, note 9, that, occasionally, apropos of them "de bona traditione agitur, non de coniecturis"). It is not sufficient to remark, like Nagy in his review, that as far as the printing of the text is concerned, all the toil embodied in the making of the apparatus came to nothing since the external

evidence is nearly always discarded in favor of the internal. I am sympathetic with his view that for West there is hardly any difference between a reading found by Aristarchus in a previous source and a conjecture of so irresponsible an emender as Payne Knight, and I cannot but reproduce here Nagy's statement that "underneath the surface,

however, the criteria differ: for Ludwich, the 'Aristarchus' component of the 'Aristarchus + Omega' formula has special status, but for West it has merely equal status.

Correspondingly, whenever the 'Omega' drops out, that is, whenever the manuscript support is lacking or weak, the Aristarchean variant tends to be kept by Ludwich but dropped by West" (an instance like XXI, 611 "σαώσαι Ar: σάωσαν (nou. Did.) 9 W* Rsl..."

is very rare indeed in vol. II). But all this apparently powerful argumentation is misleading, biased as it is by Nagy's faith in what he calls an 'Hypertext'.

What actually concerns West less the origin and putative vertical character of each

reading in the tradition than their congruence, dialectal, morphological or orthographic, to his own idea of what the Kunstsprache tolerates in each case and of what the context of each passage allows. This promulgates the taste of the modern editor, the liberty of which is limited only by his freely consented obedience to some established principles, applied in a pro et contra consideration each reading. But the counterpart would be Bolling's mechanical application of manuscript evidence, which led to an impossibly

fanciful text. West's exceptionally lucid assessment of the tradition in his apparatus is not completed by the mastery of the only tools that would have enabled him to pick out the wheat from the chaff in the ποικίλια of transmitted readings: he has a keen feeling for Homeric Greek but no sound command in oral linguistics. He cannot be well acquainted with Parry's principle that rhapsodes would modernize their diction wherever meter does not prevent it since it is his contention that 'Homer' wrote.

This stance leads him to postulate an important degree of fixity early in the textual transmission, the very nature of which is seldom reconcilable with what Parry pronounced. The consequence is clear: for the dialect, it is the restoration of forms

known to be early (preferably Aeolic); for the composition, it is the tendency towards the regularization of verbal echoes in the similes. This attitude shows up on almost every page of vol. II.

IV. 1. 1. Passages where West is prejudiced in adopting a scholarly reading: XIV, 400-401 ὅσση ἄρα Τρώων καὶ Ἀχαιῶν ἔπλετο φωνή δεινὸν where ὅσση is read by Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Aristarchus in his two texts and A b G, meanwhile τόσση is Nicanor's

reading, extant in P 9 P 60 P 438 P 1306 Bgr and W*: the epic form of the pronominal adjective ὅσος which West adopts in the relative clause, ὅσσος (with Aeolic and Western Greek duplication), is to be found in the simile XVII, 23 ὅσσον πανθόου υἷες φορέουσιν without alternative in the tradition. As ὅσσος would regularize the construction in XIV, 400-401 and make the two similes agree, it does not matter for West whether its origin is vertical or secondary. That it may well be a refined conjecture of Zenodotus, designed to clear up a slight, oral anacoluthon, is positive ground for preferring τόσσος (so Janko, A Commentary..., IV, 211). See also XIII, 107 "δὲ ἑκὰς Zen Arph 60: δ' ἕκαθεν Ar 1253 Z W. Cf. ad E 791"; there δὲ ἕκας is given by Z W (save for D which has δ' ἕκας) with P 400 P 908 and t, meanwhile H reads δ' ἕκαθεν. That the variation has oral shape and that the latter reading is to be preferred here is clearly stated by Janko, 57: early in the

transmission the diction of our passage was not modernized while in V, 791 it was (save for an ancestor of H). XVI, 21 (cf. XIX, 216) "Πηλῆος 'οἱ ὑπομνηματισάμενοι'· --λέως Ptol 60 t W*: --λέος Plut. C R W Gs. V. Praef. XXXIV". Πηλέως υἱέ after the first dactyl ὦ Ἀχιλεῦ should be accepted, not only since Πηλῆος is either badly attested (in XIX, 216 by P7corr. V4 V27) or likely to be a scholarly conjecture (XVI, 21; also in Bm8 L18 Mo1 O7 P7 U3 V4 V25 Vi1, what West does not say), but since the word group can be paralleled six times at the same metrical place (Janko, 318, cf. his discussion of the simile

Μηκιστέως υἱός ad XV, 339, p. 264). XIX, 107 is no less exemplary: "ψεύστης εἰς quidam ante Hdn--E)SS' L. Meyer, cf. Chantr. I 286--: ψευστήσεις Ar Hdn t schD W. Cf. Soph.

Ant. 1195; Eur. Or. 1609; Wack. KS 1604". It does not follow that, since ψευστέω is not attested elsewhere, the future tense here is liable to be a conjecture of Aristarchus;

actually, its familiar shape and oral congruence are fit uneasily with a more literary idiom construed with the substantive. ψεύστης εἰς could possibly be an early alternative word-division (see XXI, 261), but, given West's parallels, it has more chance to be the fancy of some critic familiar with later poetic idiom and eager to make the text agree with it.

Finally XIV, 474 "κεφαλὴν 10 (cf. a 208): γενεὴν Ar ? 60 1312 W: ῥα φυὴν Arph (cf. B 58)" with Janko, 219. I hope these passages will be sufficient to prove that West in his acceptance of scholarly readings is a great deal more generous than oral poetics would have allowed him to be and than his own presentation of the general nature of this textual source seems to warrant.

IV. 1. 2. Passages where West restores an early orthography, either unlikely

(contradicted by Parry's principle) or likely but harsh (he introduces reconstructed forms without asterisking them in the apparatus). To the second class belong examples such as XIII, 358 "ὁμοιΐοο Ahrens:63 --ΐου 9 10 60 274 tt Z W. V. Praef. XXXIII sq.": the diversity of derivations proposed for the uox homerica ὁμοίος (sanscr. amiva, aerumna

according to Fick; = ὁμόfιος for Christ; better written ὀλοίιος = ὀλοός for Nauck) together with the lack of attestation for its 'regular' genitive -οο (on which more below and under IV. 2) do not render it difficult to accept its restoration by Ahrens but make the absence of asterisk the more regrettable. See II, 325 "ὅο Buttmann...: ὅου Hdn 3 851 h136 w12 Hsch. W". One may remark here that by analogy with ὅου and ἑός, ὅς so intriguing a form as ἕης was produced out of ἧς. Cf. XV, 554 ἀνεψιόο Payne Knight Ahrens for ἀνεψιοῦ which was Herodianus' preference; XV, 670 ὁμοιΐοο Ahrens: ὁμοιίου P 60 W (after the transmitted πτολέμοιο) with XXI, 294...No wonder that this tendency to archaize the epic diction eventually lead West to commend inadequate emendations: in XVI, 208 the feminine relative ἕης can indeed be artificial and late but is better explained, according to Parry's principle, as improvised since it nears ἐράασθε, a form of imperfect undeniably later than the usual ἔρασθε (so Janko, 346). Save perhaps for Van Leeuwen and Mendes da Costa's φέργον μεγάλης, τοῦ πρίν περ ἔρασθε, all the proposed

emendations are far too violent to carry any conviction (ὅlongο τὸ πρίν γ' ἐράεσθε Payne Knight, ὅο πρίν γ' ἠράσσασθε Nauck, ὅο πρόσθεν γ' ἐράασθε Christ...). Instead of ὅου the regular derivation should have been ἧς (Janko). Similarly, in IX, 189 and 524, for κλέα ἀνδρῶν, West suggests κλεῖ' which is more complicated than κλέε' ἀνδρῶνfirst guessed at by Payne Knight, which entails an error of transcription from an original sequence ΚΛΕΑΝΔΡΩΝ.

To the first class can be assigned instances like XXII, 322 τεύχεα cett. (Allen, whose critical note, III, 283, is far too elliptical to be informative): τεύχεη P 9 Z W, τεύχη old editions. That in XXIV, 7 most W manuscripts and two papyri agree with Aristarchus in reading ἄλγεα η codd. R W) is no evidence for preferring τεύχεη: in one case the

termination has been modernized to Ionic-Attic η after ε, ι, ρ, in the other it has not and so conserved Aeolic long α. The philological temptation to restore elided finals long α (=

long αο) in the genitive of masculine nouns in long α ought accordingly to be resisted.

See also VIII, 139 δὴ αὖτε Bekker: δ' αὖτε P 1099 W; XIII, 448 ἵστα' West: ἵστασ' P 1280 W, cf. XVII, 31; XIII, 818 ἀρήσεαι West: ἀρήσῃ aut -SH P 9 P 481 W; XVII, 178 ἵσταο Wackernagel: ἵστασο P 48 W (but in XVIII, 178 West rejects κεῖο of the same critic for KEI=SO of P 9 P 239 P 1432 and W; cf. also XX, 389 κεῖσαι] κεῖαι Wackernagel; XXI, 122 κεῖσο] κεῖο id.; XXII, 85 ἵσταο id.: ἵστασο P 9 W); XXII, 336 ἀικέως West: tt* W*, ἀεικῶς P 9 Z R. I refrain from quoting more instances where his quest for consistency in

composition joined with the refusal to apply Parry's principle led West astray. The Aeolic color of the Kunstsprache, in whose conjectural restoration West has indulged in many

places, following the guideline of Payne Knight and Fick, would be another instance of what may well be artificial archaizing of the text; yet it cannot be condemned, since his practice seldom degenerates into wholesale a priori rewriting and in a handful of cases has some probability to near the original: West restores passim ἠ' or ἦ' instead of ἢ and Πανθόου, -όωι for Πάνθου, -ωι in XVII, 9, XVII, 23, XVII, 40 (after the recentiores in XV, 522), but he justly maintains, against Van Leeuwen, Enchiridium Dictionis Epicae, paragraph 73, Πα ατροκλῆος against Πατρόκλεες, Πατροκλέεος (Praefatio, p. XXV).

IV. 2. Save for this drawback West's account of Homeric Greek as presented on pages XVI-XXXVII of the Praefatio and applied in his editorial policy represent a major improvement, which shows Van Thiel's conservatism in this area for what it is: the attribution to 'Homer' of the ποικίλια transmitted by medieval manuscripts. For the first time since the arbitrary attempts of Fick, Christ and Nauck towards a restitution of the original spelling and dialect a text is presented with hardly any late form which cannot be justified on internal grounds or by Parry's principle. Of course the average contemporary reader knows that metrical study combined with linguistic analysis has shown that many forms preserved in the 'vulgate' must be regarded as either modernisation or corruption of an earlier text. For instance the optative plural μαχέοιντο in I, 344, being Attic and comparatively late for original -οιατο, is easily emended to μαχεοίατ' (West) or μαχεόνται (Ludwich); a surface corruption is equally possible. Allen bis and the Budé editors, who maintain--οιντο, are not confident about this spelling. The reader is also aware that two forms of the genitive of ο-nouns are transmitted, -οιο and -ου; but a third, -οο resolved from -ου, can be restored in some passages with a fair degree of certainty since the line scans only if we restore -οο from which -ου was contracted. Consequently, unless one is ready to make a special pleading by appealing to Parry's principle, West is justified to read κακομηχάνοο κρυοέσσης in VI, 344 and ἐπιδημίοο κρυόεντος in IX, 64 (both Payne Knight for respectively κακομηχάνου ὀκρυοέσσης ανδ ἐπιδημίου ὀκρυόεντος). It does not follow that, because genitives in -οιο, -οο and -ου constitute a chronological series, one of the first two ought to be restored where the last one is attested and does not raise any internal difficulty (contrast pp. XXXIII-XXXIV). And many more forms, less easily recognized, may still delude a casual reader, or even a trained Homerist, knowing what should be tolerable Homeric Greek only from what they read in standard editions. Both categories of readers will learn from West's presentation of the evidence, as this reviewer did.

Now, for all the progress of linguistics embodied in this admirably lucid chapter, it does not completely replace the sensible summary by Chantraine ("Note sur l'Orthographe et l'Accentuation adopteés dans cette Édition", in Paul Mazon (dir.), Introduction à

l'Iliade, Paris, Belles Lettres, 1943, 124-136). If one is in need of a rough estimation of the merits and limitations of each of these two doctrines, I would say that Chantraine is more the historian, drawing essentially on La Roche and his own Grammaire Homérique in order to establish some principles which can hardly be proved to be wrong but which to some extent are conventional, while West, who has had the benefit of Leslie Threatte's splendid Attic Grammar, is more the philologist and seems to be too preoccupied with the promulgation of consistent rules to adopt an orthographic system other than one of his own device (that is quite an idiosyncratic one).

The reader should be told that the doctrine of both West and Chantraine is rooted in Parry's explanation of the striking dialectal mixture of the transmitted text (Les

Formules et la Métrique d'Homère, Paris, Belles Lettres, 1928 : an Achaean original state of the epic diction suceeded, through modernization, by an Aeolic phase than by the Ionic phase), which is roughly in agreement with the findings of Paul Wathelet, Les

Traits Éoliens dans la Langue de l'Épopée grecque, "Incunabula graeca 37", Rome, Ateneo, 1970, 63-362, and the not-unchallenged, but still standard, theory about the relationship of the Achaean with the linguistic evidence from Linear B. On the contrary, many earlier editors did draw either on the reaction against the pan-Aeolic conception of Fick (excessive indeed, and not only because he was not afraid to incorporate elements from Arcado-Cypriot) which was initiated by Monro and Van Leeuwen,whose Homeric grammars reconstruct the epic diction as a series of Ionic facts of different ages where the so-called Aeolisms are nothing but very archaic Ionisms, or the affirmation that there have been an Attic phase, postulating uneliminable Atticisms and finally discarding the

Aeolic phase, the remnants of which were to be viewed as Achaean traces or preserved archaisms. On must go to Chantraine for this kind of contextual information, or, for more recent trends, to Wathelet's account of the status quaestionis, pp. 44-60 of his book, not to West's preface, whose information seriously lacks background.

With many principles adopted by him I have no quarrel: it is perfectly right e.g. to write with Blass μέζον in XIII, 120 (μεῖζον P 60 W), cf. XV, 121, XXIII, 551 and 593..., and κρέσσων in XIX, 217 (κρείσσων P 9 tt W), cf. XX, 334, XXI, 190-191, XXIII, 578..., since both transmitted readings show the fourth-century Attic spelling for Κρέζων, Μέζων (but compare Sappho fr. 90 b Voigt, line 20] κρέσσον γὰ[ρ); to restore the accusative τρῖς against Ionic-Attic τρεῖς (*treyes > τρέες (Cretic) > Doric and Aeolic τρῆς, Old Ionic even though P 1461 reads τρισχειλ[ιαι in XX, 221); to prefer τέσσερες over τέσσαρες (e.g. XXIII, 705 τεσσεράβοισιν Bolling: τεσσαράβοισιν P 9 P 13 W); or to deal with the temporal augment as exposed on p. XXVII (but to restore ηὐ-, εἰ- everywhere, whatever the form in the 'vulgate', is perhaps a trifle heavy-handed). Some devices are of

indifferent quality,64 like the suppression of tmesis in composed adverbs and

prepositions (ἀποπρο, διάπρο, πάρεκ and so forth, which are less archaic than what one may estimate:65 pp. XVIII-XIX; differently Chantraine, 132, 4) and many peculiarities of accentuation. And some are in my view unconvincing. West's long-standing attempts (since his Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus, 80) to show that -EU for abridged εο is not earlier than the Attic transcription are not made more convincing from being reiterated: systematic change is somewhat too bold a procedure to contemplate without reservation (the more so since, unlike the IEG, the Teubner Iliad has no synizesis mark) and the epigraphic argument, being e silentio (ευ is not attested before the beginning of the fourth century BC: pp. XXII-XIII), is not incontrovertible. See S. R. Slings, first in J.

M. Bremer et alii, Some Recently Found Greek Poems, "Mnemosyne Suppl." 99, Leiden, Brill, 1987, 33-34, and lastly in his BMCR review of Most, Editing Texts / Texte Edieren (Göttingen, Vandenhöck & Ruprecht, 1998: see BMCR 99.05.27).

Schulze, Quaestiones Epicae, note 4, pp. 144-145, collects many references, to which add forms unanimously attested in the medieval tradition of Herodotus like βασιλεός, κοπρεόων, φεόγει, φεογέτω, εὀργέτην, λεοκοῖς, Εὀνομίδης and the tendency of these manuscripts to preserve ευ instead of εο, εου after ι, η, ο and οι. Insecure though it may be, this material apparently points the way to a more satisfactory solution of the debate:

around the sixth century, and possibly before, the difference between ευ and εο would have been not so much of spelling than of orthography. Anyway the phonological case for the suppression of ευ in early poetry ought not to be ignored, no more than the one for restoring ει out of εε, εει, forms which are markedly favored by the papyri of Ionian lyricists. West's drastic policy in both cases could be excessive and misguided, but must be called courageous insofar as it does not conceal the difficulty of retaining ευ.

In so vexed a field as the editing of the Iliad, where nearly every professional reader of any modern edition, working only with La Roche in one hand, Bernhard Laum in the other, would find in these works much to agree with and much more to disagree with, it would be unfair to assess the value of the Teubner text on the basis of its orthography and dialect. Suffice it to say that, on the whole, West's contentions are more logical and scientific that those of any previous editor. That they are more convincing (or, not necessarily the same thing, more archetypal), only the course of time and everyday experience will teach us.

IV. 3. In the apparatus West hazards further conjectures, apart from the changes in orthography and dialect he directly printed in the text. As he admits too few, and

proposes too many, an overwhelming impression of competence and intelligence abides.

Most of them are clever but unnecessary, not being diagnostic of a true, insufferable difficulty but being only possible, p u r e r Homeric Greek guessed at either by fancy or by instinct (those which I deem diagnostic are marked with the glyph @): XIII, 264 δούρατ' ἔασι for δούρατά τ' ἐστι; XIV, 482 μὴ μοι (ἵνα μή P 60 P 1310 W); XV, 43 αὐτοῦ W); XV, 72 πρόσθεν πρὶν P 60 W); XV, 297 αἴ (εἴ P 60 Agr Aim W*); XVI, 86 ἀποδώωσιν (ἀπονάσσωσιν); XVI, 208@ γε ἔρασθε (γ' ἐράασθε P 9 P 435 Z W); XVI, 589 τ' (δ' P 1376 Alem W); XVIII, 202 τείνεται (γίνεται P 11 W); XVIII, 231 <γ'> ἐν βελέεσσι Zenodotus (u.l.); XX, 172 ἤ (ἤν P 9 W); XX, 254 νεικέωσ' (νεικέουσ' West for νεικεῦσ'); XXI, 8 εἴλοντο (εἰλέοντο West for εἰλεῦντο); XXI, 95 οὔ τοι ὀμογάστριος (οὐχ ὁμογάστριος

Aristarchus P 9 P 14741477 Z W); XXI, 122 Τιμαχίδας καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης (T scholia cit.

Τίμαρχος καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης); XXI, 122 τ' (σ' W); XXI, 126 ἔνθα δέ (θρώισκων); XXI, 131 πολὺς (πολεῖς P 9 Z W); XXI, 345 ἐξηυράνθη (ἐξηράνθη Aristarchus P 9 Alem W), cf. 348;

XXI, 362 ζέηι (ζέει recc.); XXI, 459 πειρᾶ' aut πειρᾶαι (πειρᾶι W*); XXI, 524 ἐφῆψεν (ἐφῆκεν); XXII, 104 ἔμπεδοί εἰσιν (u.l.); XXIII, 863@ "οὐδ'--ἄνακτι post 872 conceptum;

fort. primitus K αί ῥ' ὄρνιθος μὲν ἅμαρτεν, / αὐτὰρ ὃ μήριντον κτλ"; XXIII, 880 ὦκα δ' ἀπὸ (ὠκὺς δ' ἐκ Aristarchus P 9 W); XXIV, 17 εἴασκεν (ἔασκεν P 9 P 13 W); XXIV, 406 δή

<εἰς> θεράπων ; XXIV, 474 ἠδ' (τε καὶ P 9 P 13 P 14 W); XXIV, 574 ἥρω' (ἥρως); XXIV, 762 δαιρῶν (δαέρων P 14 W); XXIV, 788 δ' ἑνδεκάτη ἐφάνη (ἦμος δ' ἠριγένεια φάνη).

The remaining ones are trivial changes: XIII, 336@ ἵστασιν (ἱστᾶσιν); XIII, 626 μοι (μεο Fick West, μευ P 10 W); XIV, 115 Πορθῆι (Πορθεῖ P 437 W); XIV, 199 δάμνααι (δάμναι Aristarchus A); XV, 49 βοώπις (βοῶπις Aristarchus A B E Fac G), cf. XVIII, 357; XV, 241 ἀμφὶς Chrysippus (u.l.); XV, 520 ὔπαιθα (ὕπαιθα), cf. XVIII, 421, XXI, 255, 493 ; XVI, 117 κολὸν (κόλον Ptolemaeus Herodianus, P 632 Z W); XVI, 231@ ἔπειτ' ἀστὰς (ἔπειτα στὰς P 60 W); XVI, 262 τίθεισι (τιθεῖσι Herodianus P 9 P 60 Z W); XVI; 382 κέκλιτο (κέκλετο P 9 P 370 W); XVII, 755 κολωιῶων (κολοιῶν P 230 W); XVIII, 315 γόοντες (γοῶντες P 9 P 11 W); XVIII, 358@ ἄνστησας (ἀνστήσασ' P 9 P 11 W); XX, 259 δίνωι Aristarchus (u.l. δινῶι); XX, 274 Αἰνείωο Zenodotus (u.l. Αἰνείαο); XXI, 106 θανὲ (θανέ);

XXI, 219 οὐδ' ἔτι (οὐδέ τί); XXII, 310 ἠ' ἄρν' (ἢ ἄρν'); XXII, 358@ φράζεό νυν, (φράζεο νῦν).

IV. 4. I cannot close this very sketchy account of West's constitutio textus without mentioning a novelty which I find wholly justified: the diagnostic obelization of some passages where the transmitted text is seriously in doubt and where the tradition does not offer to the modern critic a likely alternative. There is, so to speak, no real locus corruptus in the Iliad, but some words marked with daggers in the Teubner text still await for a remedy.

The obelization of some passages may not command assent: these are XIII, 134-135 ἔγχεα δ' *ἐπτύσσοντο* θρασειάων ἀπὸ χειρῶν σειόμεν (δ' ἐπτύσσοντο P 9 tt W*, Van Thiel West: δὲ πτύσσοντο N Z A, Ludwich Allen bis Budé editors; despite Leaf's too long note, II, 13, the meaning of the vulgar reading ἐπτύσσοντο is unexceptionable in light of what report the B scholia and Eustathius and well adapted in the context where 'Homer' adapts verses from the start of the battle--so Janko, 62; δ'ἐπλίσσοντο of West's is mere rewriting); XVII, 368 ἠέρι γὰρ κατέχοντο *μάχης ἐπί θ'* ὅσσοι ἄριστοι (sic W*, edd.:

μάχηι ἔνι ὅσσοι Aristophanes, μάχηι ἔπι h, μάχη ἐπεί W; West suggests ὀμίχληι, for which he compares 649 αὐτίκα δ' ἠέρα μὲν σκέδασεν καὶ ἀπῶσεν ὀμίχλην; Ludwich blends the vulgar reading with Aristophanes by printing μάχης ὅσσοι ἔπι with a comma before ἔπι, which is not convincing; but Leaf is convincing in his demonstration--II, 241--that

μάχηι ἔνι ὅσσοι Aristophanes, μάχηι ἔπι h, μάχη ἐπεί W; West suggests ὀμίχληι, for which he compares 649 αὐτίκα δ' ἠέρα μὲν σκέδασεν καὶ ἀπῶσεν ὀμίχλην; Ludwich blends the vulgar reading with Aristophanes by printing μάχης ὅσσοι ἔπι with a comma before ἔπι, which is not convincing; but Leaf is convincing in his demonstration--II, 241--that