On Weighing Achilles' Wingéd Words

Abstract

Friedrich & Redfield (in Lg. 54.263–88, 1978) have argued that Homer's heroes had their own idiolects. This view is untenable: it is inconsistent with the practices of oral poetry and with the classical doctrine of êthos. Their stylometric tests are unconvincing because of inadequate sampling, an unreliable textual tradition, and a defective rationale in applying stylistic criteria.