[777] See 11.84-86. With the explanation there given, if the theory of the expansion of the original “Μῆνις” be right, there is no longer any reason to say that we have ‘two noons on the same day.’ The narrative of “Λ” and “Π”, with the short “μάχη ἐπὶ ταῖς ναυσίν” from O, does not require more than two or three hours, at least for a poet; and the expression here gives room for even more; for it does not indicate a point of time, but a period, ‘so long as the sun was high in heaven,’ i.e. till some time not long after noon. But the development of the story at this point is involved in many difficulties, for which see Introd.
