The spaced words are commonly rendered either (1) ‘desiring to ward off from his head,’ or (2) ‘expecting to strike his head.’ Of these two renderings the first gives to κεφαλ⋯ς βαλεῖν a sense which is seemingly without example and which the two words can hardly bear, if they can also bear the meaning given to them by the second rendering. The meaning which this second rendering gives to them is their natural meaning (βαλεῖν=τε⋯ξεσθαι, Gildersleeve): on the other hand μενοιν⋯ν does not mean, and cannot mean, ‘expecting.’ It means ‘strongly desiring.’ ‘Expecting it to strike his head’ would be μένωνοἱ κεφαλ⋯ς βαλεῖν, and this, I suggest, is what Pindar wrote.