Note 286 — Chapter XXI · GRECIAN EPIC.—HOMERIC POEMS.

Lachmann, Fernere Betrachtungen über die Ilias, Abhandlungen Berlin. Acad. 1841, p. 4.

After having pointed out certain discrepancies which he maintains to prove different composing hands, he adds: “Nevertheless, we must be careful not to regard the single constituent songs in this part of the poem as being distinct and separable in a degree equal to those in the first half; for they all with one accord harmonize in one particular circumstance, which, with reference to the story of the Iliad, is not less important even than the anger of Achilles, viz. that the three most distinguished heroes, Agamemnôn, Odysseus, and Diomêdês, all become disabled throughout the whole duration of the battles.”

Important for the story of the Achillêis, I should say, not for that of the Iliad. This remark of Lachmann is highly illustrative for the distinction between the original and the enlarged poem.