τὸν ἱππομανῆ λειμῶν̓, the plain ‘wild with horses,’ i.e., on which great numbers of horses (out at pasture) disport themselves. In Il. 20. 221Erichthonius, son of Dardanus, is described as keeping great droves of horses on the moist meadow-lands near the lower spurs of Ida: “τοῦ τρισχίλιαι ἵπποι ἕλος κάτα βουκολέοντο”. Sophocles used the word “καρπομανής” (fr. 591), doubtless in a sense parallel with that of “ὑλομανής”, i.e. ‘abounding in fruit’: and the sense which he attached to “λειμὼν ἱππομανής” was probably “λειμὼν ὃς μαίνεται ἵπποις” rather than “ἐν ᾧ ἵπποι μαίνονται”. But the idea of wild abundance would naturally, in this case, be blended with that of the horses frisking or galloping in freedom on the plain. Hence the difference made by the verbal analysis which we prefer is not one which much affects the picture. —See Appendix.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
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