[636] “ἄμεινον <ἂν> εἶχε, φησὶν ὁ Ἀρίσταρχος, εἰ ἐγέγραπτο “βοῶν εὐποιητάων” ἔξω τοῦ τέ συνδέσμου”, Did. i.e. the noise of bronze and of the leather of shields. Ar.'s reading — for which it is clear that he could find no authority — avoids the obvious difficulty of a distinction between leather and shields, for it is hard to see what other leather than that of the shields is in question; and indeed “ῥινός” means a shield in 4.447, 8.61 (see also 12.263). Schol. T can hardly be right in thinking that “ῥινοῦ” means the rough unworked “λαισήϊα” as opposed to the carefully-worked “ἀσπίδες” (“βόες εὐποίηται”). Ar. suggested as an alternative “ἐξ ἐπαναλήψεως νοητέον λέγεσθαι τὸ αὐτὸ ὡς “πυκνοὶ καὶ θαμέες”” (Od. 12.92) “καὶ “πόλεμόν τε μάχην τε”” (16.251) (An.). This would be more satisfactory if there were not a third term co-ordinated with the two be “τε”. Clearly χαλκοῦ includes weapons of offence, and must not be restricted to the metal facing of the shields. After all the difficulty is insignificant, for the slight redundancy of expression in the text is easily pardonable. For βοῦς in the sense of shield see 7.238.
