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[Meaning he] having been woven round, having been rolled round.[1] "The eunuch wielded power over the palaces, and, having wound himself around the court-yards, he was wrapping up everything, exactly like some fine serpent, dragging it down to his own advantage."[2] He is speaking about Eutropius.[3]

*perispeiraqei/s: periplakei/s, perielixqei/s. o( de\ eu)nou=xos katekra/tei tw=n basilei/wn kai\ perispeirasa/menos ta\s au)la\s sune/sfiggen a(/panta, kaqa/per tis gennai=os o)/fis kaqeli/ttwn ei)s th\n e(autou= xrei/an. peri\ *eu)tropi/ou le/gei.

The headword is the aorist passive participle, masculine nominative (and vocative) singular, of the verb perispeira/w. It is evidently quoted from somewhere (other than the quotation given here, which has the corresponding aorist middle participle) but is otherwise unattested.
[1] The first gloss is the aorist passive participle, masculine nominative (and vocative) singular, of the verb periple/kw, I weave round; see LSJ s.v. The second gloss is the aorist passive participle, masculine nominative (and vocative) singular, of the verb perieli/ssw, I roll round; see LSJ s.v.
[2] Eunapius fr.69 FHG (4.44); cf. Blockley, pp. 96-97, and mu 1436. Although most manuscripts follow the present text, Adler notes that Toup proposed to continue the serpent simile, replacing xrei/an ('advantage') with xeia/n ('hole'). Blockley follows the emendation (ibid., p. 97): 'lair'.
[3] Eutropius (cf. epsilon 3776; epsilon 3777; OCD(4) s.v. Eutropius(2); and PLRE s.v. Eutropius 1, p. 440) served as minister (395-399) to Arcadius, emperor in the east 383-408; see OCD(4) s.v. Arcadius(2).

R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1983
J.R. Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. II, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980

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