This text is part of:
βλέποντας, ‘keeping our eyes upon’ with the suggestion of using as a model. ἐκτραχηλισθῆναι, probably an equestrian metaphor, ‘to be thrown over one's horse's head,’ like ἀναχαιτίζειν. Xenophon uses the word in this sense. Some take the neck here to be that of the sufferer, either giving the word an original sense ‘have our necks wrenched,’ or taking it as a figure from wrestling (an intensified form of τραχηλίζειν, ‘to grip by the neck’). ὡς ἐκ πλείστου, either of place, ‘at as great a distance as possible,’ or of time, ‘as long beforehand as possible.’ The following final clause seems rather to favour the former interpretation. συμπλακέντας, ‘coming to close grips,’ a figure taken from wrestling. Compare the advice of Pericles in the Peloponnesian War (Thuc. I.143).
Demosthenes: Philippics I, II, III with Introduction and Notes. Gilbert A. Davies, M.A. 1949. Cambridge University Press.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
