(1) φασὶ δὲ ὅτι καὶ οὗτος κατεβρώθη ὑπὸ τῶν ἵππων, ἀγνοοῦντες ὅτι ἱπποτροφῶν καὶ μεγάλας δαπάνας ποιούμενος καὶ τῶν οἰκείων οὐδὲν ἐπιμελούμενος ἐπετρίβη, καὶ ἐπέλιπεν αὐτὸν ὁ βίος.
notes
Glaucus, son of Sisyphus and Merope, was present at the funeral games of Pelias. He drove a chariot drawn by mares he kept at Potniae in Boeotia. When he lost, the mares turned savage, tore him apart, and devoured him. Ancient sources disagree about the cause of their madness. Some said they had drunk from a cursed spring at Potniae; others claimed Glaucus had fed them human flesh to increase their ferocity, and they turned on him by habit. A third story blames Aphrodite: angered that he had denied the mares sexual release to preserve their speed, she drove them into frenzy as punishment for scorning her sphere. His spirit lingered in legend as Taraxippus (“Horse-frightener”), a ghost said to haunt the racecourse at the Isthmian Games, spooking the horses and reminding charioteers of the peril of pride.
For a fuller version of the story that Palaephatus is responding to, see Pausanius 6.20.19; Servius on Vergil, Georgics 3.268.
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φασὶ: “people say.”
καὶ: adverbial.
ἀγνοοῦντες: the subject is the same subject as φασὶ.
ὅτι ἱπποτροφῶν … ποιούμενος … ἐπιμελούμενος: a series of circumstantial participles, “because of taking care of his horses … making … attending to.”
ἐπετρίβη: 3rd sing. aor. indic. pass. > ἐπιτρίβω.
vocabulary
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καταβιβρώσκω, καταβρώσομαι, κατέβρωξα/κατέβρων, καταβέβρωκα, καταβέβρωμαι, κατεβρώθην to devour
ἀγνοέω, contr. not to know; fail to recognize
ἱπποτροφέω, contr. to nurture or breed horses
δαπάνη –ης, ἡ expense, cost
ἐπιμελέομαι, ἐπιμελήσομαι, ἐπεμελησάμην, ἐπιμεμέλημαι, —, ἐπιμεληθήσομαι to have care, be concerned with (+ gen.)
ἐπιτρίβω, ἐπιτρίψω, ἐπέτριψα, ἐπιτέτριφα, ἐπιτέτριμμαι, ἐπετρίβην to be completely destroyed
ἐπιλείπω, ἐπιλείψω, ἐπέλειψα/ἐπέλιπον, ἐπιλέλοιπα, ἐπιλέλειμμαι, — to leave behind