τότ᾽ ἦν χερός “κ.τ.λ.” In this compressed description of the fight, the two combatants figure alternately. (1) Heracles deals blows with his fists (χερὸς πάταγος),—then retires a little, and sends a shaft from his twanging bow (“τόξων πάταγος”). (2) Acheloüs charges, and the hero's club rattles on his horns (“κεράτων πάταγος”). (3) Then Heracles, <*>ning to the wrestler's arts, endeavours to grapple with Acheloüs, to spring upon his back (ἀμφίπλεκτοι κλίμακες). (4) The tauriform god butts at his adversary (μετώπων πλήγματα). And the account fitly closes with the words, “στόνος ἀμφοῖν”. For ἦν (“μὲν”)...ἦν δὲ, cp. Ant.806 n.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part V: The Trachiniae. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1902.
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