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φορούμενος πρὸς οὖδας, ‘dashed to the ground’: cp. I. T. 49 “βεβλημένον πρὸς οὖδας”. [Not, ‘dragged upon the ground’ (Campb.), which would be “πρὸς οὔδει”.] These words can be taken in two ways: I prefer the first. (1) With reference to his fall from the chariot. The people speak of his mishap as a whole, not merely of what he is suffering at the moment. (2) With reference to what occurs while he is being dragged; he is dashed earthwards (after being tossed upward). But this would be most awkward, when the mention of his being tossed upward follows. Eur. , where he speaks of men dragged on the ground by their chariot-horses, naturally says, ‘tossed up and down’ (not ‘down and up’): Suppl. 689 “ τοὺς ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω φορουμένους” | “ἱμασιν”.

ἄλλοτ̓: the first “ἄλλοͅτε” is omitted: Eur. Hec. 28κεῖμαι δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀκταῖς, ἄλλοτ᾽ ἐν πόντου σάλῳ.

οὐρανῷ σκέλη προφαίνων, i.e. tossed feet uppermost to the sky. Cp. Shakesp. Hamlet 3. 3. 93‘Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven’” : where Stevens quotes from Heywood's Silver Age, ‘Whose heels tript up, kick'd 'gainst the firmament.’


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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Euripides, Hecuba, 28
    • William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, 3.3
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