Α-τρει/-δη, νυν/ αμ-με πα/-λιν πλαγ/-χθεν-τας/ οι ω
– υ υ/ – --/ – υ υ / – – / – –/ – –
Is the final syllable -τας long by position?
No, it’s short as usual, but the οι- of οιω is two syllables: the ι is lengthened. So there’s the caesura in the third foot after αμμε, and the fifth foot is dactylic as usual (– υ υ), -θεν-τας ο-, then the final two longs, -ι ω|.
1 Like
Many thanks. I thought that -tac should be short as usual, but hesitated to consider the oi- of oiw as two syllables. But since there is no reason to consider -tac not short, oi- inevitably becomes two syllables. - The number of exceptions to the Rules of Quantity just beggars belief. 
Sorry to come back to this, but my question now is: Why does oi- have to be split - it is a diphthong and long and the final foot is metrically always a spondee (according to Pharr).
The short o in o-i needs to be the end of the dactyl in the fifth foot.
It’s a reasonable question, Pianophile, and it’s true that οι is normally a diphthong. But not here. If it were, then the preceding τας would have to be long (just as you originally suggested), but the alpha of the participle is always short, and the final spondee here is just -ιω. In Homer, unlike in Attic, the initial οι is regularly disyllabic rather than diphthongal. Presumably the lengthening of the iota is metrically motivated; this trisyllabic οιω (using the active form rather than the usual middle) makes a convenient line ending.
1 Like
Again many thanks. Still so much to learn! Unlike the Loeb edition, Schein, (rather helpfully?) dots both the o and the iota.
Maybe the Monro-West Edition is helpful since it shows the lengthening of the iota (Teubner Edition Collection : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive).
And, for counting consonants in a syllabe one should have a look at the Van Leeuwen-Mendes edition: They printed the digamma! ( Iliadis carmina. Cum apparatu critico ediderunt J. van Leeuwen et M.B. Mendes da Costa : Homer : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive )
1 Like
I’m surprised to see all those Teubner editions online. Are they legal?
By the way, the Teubner edition of the Iliad is by West. Monro’s edition is the OCT (Oxford classical texts) from over a hundred years ago that served as “standard”, until West’s came out.
When Archive.org has it, yes, i‘m quite sure that is legal. It‘s a treasure of written texts. The old Alexandrians would envy us! Still I prefer real paper, but I can‘t afford all I wished to have and our house wouldnot be big enough. That‘s why I use archive.org.
1 Like
Well, if they are there legally, that’s a great cultural deed by Teubner! I was just asking, because many of those books are still decades from being out of copyright.
The Teubner-Verlag doesn‘t exist anymore; the Gruyter has taken over.
Critical Editions have to wait for a EU-Verdict: Opinion of Advocate General Spielmann delivered on 26 June 2025.
It is not sure, textcritical editions can claim Copyright.