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What is the direct object of excutit in this sentence (Aen. 12.468–470)?

Hōc concussa metū mentem Iuturna virāgō
aurīgam Turnī media inter lōra Metiscum
excutit et longē lapsum tēmōne relinquit.

Is it mentem or aurīgam Metiscum or does it somehow apply to both? And if both, does it apply simultaneously or in succession?

I'm currently understanding the sentence to mean something like:

Having been shaken with fear by this, the virago Iuturna knocks Turnus's charioteer Metiscus out from the midst of his reins and leaves him fallen far behind his chariot pole.

I don't yet see how mentem fits into the sentence.

By the way, what led me to ask this was coming across one line from the passage on hexameter.co, after being inspired by this question.

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mentem is a (Greek) accusative of respect (see also this question).

Usually attached to a passive participle (percussa) telling where or in what respect the action had its impact.

The accusative of respect might not be so common and is considered to be used primarily in poetry, but it is a construction to use with "verbs of striking" even in prose: it is a light way to note both the location of the impact and the reason/trigger. See also my other answer.

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  • Thanks. I had not heard of the Greek accusative / accusative of respect. Just to clarify, then: mentem actually goes with concussa, not excutit? Commented yesterday
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    @BenKovitz, that's correct. (my err in the text I wrote percussa instead of concussa). concussa mentem means basically she was shaken in her mind, or more idiomatically, it can be translated "her mind was shaken". It goes well with the source which is not a physical one it seems but psychological: hic metus Commented yesterday
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    @BenKovitz. And I regret mentioning the "Greek" part - it is called so because scholar believe (and they probably have good reasons) that this was adapted from the Greek which had the construction. and this is how this accusative is being referred to by several sources. But even if it originates in Greek (and it probably does), I would not call it a Greek accusative. Commented yesterday

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