[214] πάλιν may be taken with “ἐξελκομένοιο”, ‘drawn back the way it had entered’; or with “ἄγεν”, ‘were broken backwards.’ The barbs of course stick in the hard armour. They have to be cut out of the flesh in the case of Eurypylos, 11.844. There is an obvious inconsistency with 151, where the barbs are outside — hardly serious enough, however, to justify Heyne in rejecting this line.