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δύστηνος=“δύστηνος ὤν”, ‘miserable as he was.’ This is better than to make it an interjection, ‘poor youth!’— ἐλείπετ᾽ οὐδέν (adv.), ‘in no wise fell short.’ The verb has here a twofold constr., viz., (1) with gen. ὀδυρμάτων, as El.474γνώμας λειπομένα σοφᾶς”: (2) with partic. ἀμφιπίπτων: cp. Xen. Oecon.18§ 5 “ταῦτα μὲν τοίνυν, ἔφη, οὐδὲν ἐμοῦ λείπει γιγνώσκων” (‘you understand these things just as well as I do’),—where “ἐμοῦ” is parallel, not with “ὀδυρμάτων” here, but with “τῶν ὦν τέκνων” in 266.

ἀμφί νιν: the acc. with “ἀμφί”, as=‘concerning,’ is somewhat rare: but cp. Pind. P.2. 15κελαδέοντι μὲν ἀμφὶ Κινύραν”. (In Il.18. 339ἀμφὶ δέ σε...κλαύσονται”, the sense is ‘around.’)

ἀμφιπίπτων στόμασιν: Eur. Alc.404ποτὶ σοῖσι πίτνων στόμασιν” (=“χείλεσι”).

πλευρόθεν, ‘at’ (or ‘near’) ‘her side.’ The ending “θεν” properly denotes the point from which motion sets out. Hence a form in “θεν” is equivalent to a genitive expressing source or starting-point. By a stretch of that analogy, “πλευρόθεν” does duty here for the genitive of place, which is only a special kind of possessive genitive,—‘belonging to,’ and so, ‘in the region of’: El.900ἐσχάτης δ᾽ ὁρῶ” | “πυρᾶς...βόστρυχον”: Il.9. 219ἷζεν”... | “τοίχου τοῦ ἑτέροιο”. A somewhat similar example is Il.15. 716πρύμνηθεν ἐπεὶ λάβεν, οὐχὶ μεθίει”, where the form in “θεν”=the gen. after a verb of seizing (‘took hold by the stern’).—Cp. Eur. Alc.366πλευρά τ᾽ ἐκτεῖναι πέλας” | “πλευροῖσι τοῖς σοῖς”.—For παρείς, cp. Soph. El.819.


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hide References (10 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (10):
    • Euripides, Alcestis, 366
    • Euripides, Alcestis, 404
    • Homer, Iliad, 15.716
    • Homer, Iliad, 18.339
    • Homer, Iliad, 9.219
    • Pindar, Pythian, 2
    • Sophocles, Electra, 474
    • Sophocles, Electra, 819
    • Sophocles, Electra, 900
    • Xenophon, Economics, 18
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