374.
κατὰ γᾶν
,
on earth, is the MS. reading: but as Hermann said, the sense
below the earth, κατὰ γᾶs, is required in antithesis to ὑπ᾿ αἰθέρι. The same mistake occurs again 11. 838, 871. 11. 375, 376. Bold and imaginative expressions :
Before our black-robed assault,
And the vengeful measures of our foot;
i.e. [their human glories come to naught] when we the Furies attack them and weave these magic dances which make them our captive (as we are doing to Orestes).
377.
λυμή
is the destruction which attacks his mind, and blinds him to the threatening evil;
377.
τόδε
is best taken (not of the fall as many edd., which would be simply
377.
πίπτων οὐκ οἶδεν
, but) of the presence and power of the Furies.
378.
κνέφας
. is in apposition to
378.
μύσος
, and is predicative: we should say,
So dark a cloud of pollution hovereth over him .
378.
ἐπί
, Epic adverbial use (tmesis) of the preposition, going with the verb.