10. mvp-comment-5-1 10.10 τρομέοντο Zenodotus, the first head of the library at Alexandria and a well-known Homer scholar, knew of the reading φοβέοντο here, according to the scholia that survive in our medieval manuscripts, but the reading is not attested elsewhere. (The verb τρομέω is likewise used in the middle voice at 10.492. See also Iliad 6.151.) Hainsworth (1993 ad loc.) notes that Aristarchus, a successor of Zenodotus as head of the library and rival editor of Homer, asserted that “ φοβοῦμαι and its cognates signified flight,” whereas here φοβέοντο would have the Classical meaning ‘fear’. Hainsworth adds the qualification “but that [Aristarchus’] doctrine may not be binding on this Book.” Hainsworth’s comment reflects his understanding of Iliad 10 as likely a later composition than the rest of the Iliad (see “Interpreting Iliad 10”). We suggest instead that φοβέοντο’s lack of manuscript attestation indicates that it was not a particularly old or well-known version of the verse, but this is not necessarily indicative of the lateness of the entire book. A version with φοβέοντο may well have entered the formulaic performance language at a later phase in the Homeric tradition than τρομέοντο, eventually becoming part of the textual tradition known to Zenodotus several centuries later. The third-century CE Stoic philosopher Chrysippus (fragment 906 in the edition of von Arnim 1903) quotes this line with still another variation: περὶ γὰρ δίε νηυσὶν Ἀχαιῶν. This phrase is attested at Iliad 9.433 and 13.557 and is in no sense “un-Homeric,” though it, like φοβέοντο, is not attested here in the manuscript tradition. These variations highlight the dynamic nature of Homeric diction, which evolved through time and was in a constant state of flux in its early stages. For more on the Alexandrian editors of Homer see on 10.51–52 below.