[523] θεῶν . . ἀν̂ηκε may be taken as a parenthesis, indicating perhaps that the fire is accidental, and not due to an enemy; then “καπνός” will be the nom. to “ἔθηκε” and “ἐφῆκεν”, and the unity of the simile is at least superficially saved. Still this is very harsh. It is almost equally unsatisfactory to make “μῆνις” the subject of the three following verbs, as the comparison to the smoke is entirely lost sight of. We may, however, take it to be “the conflagration,” or more generally “the state of things,” which causes misery like that of Achilles' progress. Bothe by omitting 524 certainly improves the passage, and gets rid both of the sham antithesis “πᾶσι .. πολλοῖσι”, and of the fourfold assonance of “ηκε”, which is disagreeable to our ears, though we cannot be sure that it was so to the Greeks (there are three rhyming lines in 23.152-54). It is thus possible to regard Achilles' progress over the plain as likened to the slow but unceasing advance of a great column of smoke, putting aside all question of the misery caused by the fire. No stress can be laid on the omission of the line by L; it is due merely to homoioteleuton, which has not affected the other MSS. of the same family (P Lips.). The same cause has led to the omission of 525 in T and presumably to its displacement in
