πρῶτον γὰρ δήπου προσῆκεν τῷ μέλλοντι τὸν πέλεκυν
ἐμβάλλειν εἰς τοὺς τένοντας τοῦ ταύρου τὸ στῆναι αὐτοῦ 15
πλησίον. ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις ἠξίουν τὰ μὲν ὀνοματικὰ προτάττειν
τῶν ἐπιθέτων, τὰ δὲ προσηγορικὰ τῶν ὀνοματικῶν,
τὰς δ’ ἀντονομασίας τῶν προσηγορικῶν, ἔν τε τοῖς ῥήμασι
φυλάττειν, ἵνα τὰ ὀρθὰ τῶν ἐγκλινομένων ἡγῆται καὶ τὰ
παρεμφατικὰ τῶν ἀπαρεμφάτων, καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα πολλά. 20
πάντα δὲ ταῦτα διεσάλευεν ἡ πεῖρα καὶ τοῦ μηδενὸς ἄξια
ἀπέφαινε. τοτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τούτων ἐγίνετο καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων
αὐτοῖς ἡδεῖα ἡ σύνθεσις καὶ καλή, τοτὲ δ’ ἐκ τῶν μὴ τοιούτων
ἀλλ’ ἐναντίων. διὰ ταύτας μὲν δὴ τὰς αἰτίας τῆς τοιαύτης
θεωρίας ἀπέστην. ἐμνήσθην δ’ αὐτῶν καὶ νῦν οὐχ ὡς σπουδῆς 25
They drew back the beasts’ necks first, then severed the throats and flayed;[113]
and
Clangeth the horn, loud singeth the sinew, and leapeth the shaft;[114]
and
The ball by the princess was tossed thereafter to one of her girls;
But it missed the maid, and was lost in the river’s eddying swirls.[115]
“Certainly,” a reader might reply,—“if it were not for the fact that there are plenty of other lines not arranged in this order of yours, and yet as fine as those you have quoted; as
And he smote it, upstrained to the stroke, with an oak-billet cloven apart.[116]
Surely the arms must be raised before the blow is dealt! And further:—