προπετής, lying prostrate in the litter,—in a deathlike swoon. (It may be doubted whether the word here implies, ‘lying on his face,’ as the schol. explains it.) Others understand, ‘verging on death.’ But, when “προπετής”=‘on the brink of,’ “ἐπί” (or “εἴς τι”) is usu. added, as in Eur. Alc.908“πολιὰς ἐπὶ χαίτας” | “ἤδη προπετής”. Eur. Itseems impossible that, without such help, “προπετής” should express ‘moribund.’ In Eur. Alc.143“ἤδη προνωπής ἐστι καὶ ψυχορραγεῖ”, which Paley compares, the adj.=‘drooping.’ δακὼν, as by biting the lips,—a proverbial phrase: fr. 811 “ὀδόντι πρῖε τὸ στόμα”: Od.1. 381“ὀδὰξ ἐν χείλεσι φύντες”: Nub. 1369 “τὸν θυμὸν δακών”.
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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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