[458] ‘And he became running water, and [next] a lofty tree in full leaf.’ On the word ὑψιπέτηλος it may be remarked that frequently a simple attribute is expressed by a compound adjective, the inferior part of which repeats only some notion already in the noun, or in other neighbouring words. Compare such words as “δεινόπους, ὠκύπους”, and phrases such as “νόμοι ὑψίποδες, δυσπάρευνον λέχος”. See also Soph. O. C. 17 “πυκνόπτεροι ἀηδόνες” , meaning only ‘many nightingales;’ “χαλκόπους ὀδός” ib. 57, “ἑκατομπόδων Νηρῄδων ἀκόλουθος” ib. 718, “ἄνδρ᾽ ἕν᾽ οἰόζωνον” Soph. O. R.846, “δισσάρχας βασιλῆς” Soph. Aj.390, “καλλίπηχυς βραχίων” Eur. Troad.1194, “κορᾶν ἀγέλαν ἑκατόγγυιον” Pind. fr. 87. 12. We have again “δρῦς ὑψίκομος” Hom. Od.12. 357. Compare here
and see generally Virg. Geor. 4. 387-449. Later philosophical writers believed that these transformations of Proteus foreshadowed the opinions of the Ionic sages about the origin of the universe. So Sextus Empir. adv. Math. 7. 11 “ὁ μὲν γὰρ ποιητὴς περὶ τούτων ἀποδιδούς φησιν ἐν οἷς περὶ Πρωτέως καὶ Εἰδοθέας ἀλληγορεῖ: τὸ μὲν πρῶτον καὶ ἀρχικώτατον αἴτιον Πρωτέα καλῶν, τὴν δὲ εἰς εἴδη τρεπομένην οὐσίαν, Εἰδοθέαν”.“ Nam modo te iuvenem, modo te videre leonem;
Nunc violentus aper, nunc, quem tetigisse timerent,
Anguis eras: modo te faciebant cornua taurum.
Saepe lapis poteras, arbor quoque saepe videri;
Interdum faciem liquidarum imitatus aquarum
Flumen eras, interdum undis contrarius ignis:
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