Commentary on line 3
For ancient poetic accounts of the savage life of primitive man cf. P. V. 446 f., Suppl. 201 f., fr. 582, fr. ap. Nauck 393, Moschion fr. 7, Lucr. v. 933 f., Juv. xv. 151 f., etc.
e)*pi\ xqono/s: the genitive is unusual in this phrase, where either χθονί or χθόνα would be regular, for on (the whole) earth; see Ebeling, s.v. ἐπί p. 450, and note on xxv. 3.