Introduction

19

at second-hand;21 the same is likely true for comedy, despite assertions such
as that by Pearson 1917. Ivi that ‘a considerable portion of the numerous
passages taken from the plays of the comic poets was undoubtedly due to
his own researches.’ In the case of Anaxandrides, Athenaeus once (fr. 36)
seems to use Trypho as a source for a quotation, and elsewhere acknowledges
Chamaileon as his source for information about Anaxandrides’ life (test. 2);
nowhere else is it evident precisely what his sources were or if he knew any
of the plays at first hand.
Diogenes Laertius cites fr. 20 as part of a list of quotations from comedy
that mock Plato; there is no reason to assume that he had any broader famil-
iarity with Anaxandrides’ work.22
Macrobius provides a heavily corrupt version of fr. 3. He is unlikely to be
an independent witness and is probably dependent on Athenaeus; cf. Wissowa
1913. In any case, Macrobius adds little of value concerning either the text of
Anaxandrides or its survival in late antiquity.
Stobaeus is responsible for the survival of a substantial number of frag-
ments (frr. 22; 53; 54; 56; 57; 61; 62; 64; 69; 71); only in the case of fr. 22,
however, is the play to which the fragment belongs recorded. The fact that
fr. 71 also survives in a substantially earlier anthology (second century BC;
cf. above) suggests that Stobaeus relied at least in part on earlier anthologies
as the basis for his own, meaning that he need have had no knowledge of
Anaxandrides’ plays as a whole. As expected, his quotations of Anaxandrides
serve to illustrate various moral or ethical positions, and alterations may on
occasion have been introduced into the text.
The remaining sources for the fragments are grammarians and lexicogra-
phers. By far the most important of these is the Antiatticist (second century
AD), who preserves twelve fragments (frr. 8; 11; 14; 15; 17; 21; 26; 27; 32; 37;
63; 74); only two of these are known from elsewhere (frr. 14 [Pollux, who
cites a slightly fuller version]; 15 [Choeroboscus]). The substantial number
of citations combined with apparent independence from the rest of the lexi-
cographical tradition may suggest that the Antiatticist or his source(s) had a
reasonably substantial acquaintance with the text of Anaxandrides. Although
the grammarians and lexicographers who cite Anaxandrides tend to be late
and thus will have known his work only at second hand, they are likely ulti-
mately dependent on Alexandrian scholarship, which presumably had access
to complete texts.

21 Cf. Wilamowitz 1889. 176; Pearson 1917. Ivi.
22 For discussion of Diogenes’ sources and his use of them, see Mejer 1978.