We see at I.16.722 a wish that is predicated on confidence in some specific certainty: αἴθ ὅσον ἥσσων εἰμί, τόσον σέο φέρτερος εἴην ‘If only I could be superior to you—as surely as I am that much inferior to you!’ On the syntax of such wishes, see the comment on I.18.464–466. In this case, however, the predicated certainty is falsified, since the speaker is Apollo disguised as Hector’s uncle, and the god is of course superior rather than inferior to Hector. Here I epitomize the analysis in GMP 300. Apollo now says, in the guise of Hector’s uncle: if you were that much inferior, then you would retreat in battle, I.16.723. But, since Hector is supposedly that much superior to his uncle, he is of course expected not to retreat. What is hidden in these comparisons is the relative stature of the god himself: the uncle is to Hector as Hector is to Apollo. From the standpoint of Hector, the premise in Apollo’s use of the idiom is reality: the uncle is inferior to Hector. Here I repeat the wording of I.16.722: αἴθ ὅσον ἥσσων εἰμί, τόσον σέο φέρτερος εἴην ‘If only I could be superior to you—as surely as I am that much inferior to you!’ From the standpoint of Apollo and the framing narrative, however, the premise is false: Apollo is superior, not inferior, to Hector. Therefore the wish that is based on the premise is augmented: the ‘that much’ of ‘let me be that much superior to you’ is immeasurably more than Hektor might think.