How the Iliad was created we shall never know. Even if the assumptions set out in the Introduction to volume 1 of this Commentary are accepted and we see in the poem the impact of an original genius on traditional sagas, an attempt to dissect the plot of the Iliad is no more likely to command assent than former attempts to dissect its text have been. But a commentator on book 9 cannot duck the question, and it behoves him to make his suppositions plain. The problem is that book 9 is well integrated into the idea of the Iliad but not so well integrated into its text. On an intellectual level the Book explores the moral stance that Akhilleus has adopted and is necessary for the understanding of his position and the dangers that it holds in store for him; on the other hand the role of Phoinix and the integrity of the Book have been questioned, and at the level of what is done and said on the field and in the camp the situation that the Book has created seems later to be overlooked, cf. 11.609n., 16.72–3, and 16.84–6.