[667] φθίσθαι, aor. where we should have expected the fut. It has been suggested that 666 may be taken parenthetically, so that “φθίσθαι” will be epexegetic of “κῆρα” above. But see note on 3.28; it is quite possible here to take “φθίσθαι” with “ἔειπεν” as a simple complement or object of the verb, without reference to time; ‘announced to him his perishing,’ just as we have “νόστον σοῦ πατρὸς σάφα εἰπέμεν” in Od. 17.106, cf. also Od. 4.561 “σοὶ δ᾽ οὐ θέσφατόν ἐστι . . θανέειν”. The scholiasts naturally compare the “διχθάδιαι κῆρες” offered to Achilles, 9.411.
