[439] “αἱ Ἀριστάρχου οὕτως τέλος, καὶ σχεδὸν ἅπασαι: ἔγνω ὅτι οὐ κατὰ καίριον τέλος ἦλθεν ἡ πληγή, οὐκ εἰς καίριον τόπον ἐτελεύτα. Ζηνόδοτος δὲ γράφει βέλος, κακῶς: οὐ βέβληται γάρ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ χειρὸς ἐπέπληγε”. (“λέγει δὲ τέλος τὸ τῆς ζωῆς”.) Our MSS. agree with Zen., with the exception of There A. is no doubt that βέλος gives the best sense, the dart lighted not on a fatal spot (for this, the regular use of “καίριον”, see note on 4.185, where the phrase is very similar, “οὐκ ἐν καιρίωι ὀξὺ πάγη βέλος”). It seems that Ar. laid too much weight on his canon that “βέλος” could never be used of a weapon used with a thrust; it is only natural that the word should be applied generically to the spear, which was sometimes cast and sometimes held in the hand, without reference to the particular case in question. If we accept “τέλος”, we may read either κατὰ καίριον, the spear ‘came not to a fatal end’ of its journey, or “κατακαίριον”, ‘a fatal end came not to him,’ which seems to be meant by the concluding words of the scholion cited; cf. the phrase 451 “τέλος θανάτοιο”. Both of these are perhaps barely possible, but very strained, and decidedly less Homeric in expression than the vulgate.
