Αγροίκοι (fr. 1)

37

Discussion Morelius 1553. Ill;Jacobs 1809. 246;Dobree 1833 11.330;Meineke
1884 III.161; 1847. 574; Bothe 1855. 418-19; Meineke 1857 V.clxxvi, 80; Cobet
1858. 19-20; Kock 1884 II.135-6; Madvig 1884. 67; Ribbeck 1885. 10 n. 2; Kock
1888 III.736; Blaydes 1890a. 81; Meinhardt 1892. 32; Reitzenstein 1893. 40;
Blaydes 1896. 121; Richards 1907. 160 (= 1909. 79); Edmonds 1959 II.44-5;
Kassel-Austin 1991 11.238; Olson 2007. Hll; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 238;
Rusten 2011. 463
Citation context At the beginning of Book 11, Athenaeus touches on various
preliminaries before proceeding to the lengthy catalogue of drinking vessels
that comprises the remainder of the Book. In this introductory section, he
includes a brief account of drinking practices in various cities, citing Critias
88 F 33, who remarks on the Chians andThasians, Athenians, Thessalians and
Spartans; the fragment of Anaxandrides is adduced as further evidence for the
custom of drinking from left to right (as the Chians, Thasians and Athenians
do, and the Thessalians do not).
Text Dobree’s τίνα τρόπον / ήμεϊς; (adopted by K.-A.) in 1-2 is awkward but
possible. In the absence of a compelling reason to punctuate thus (as at e. g.
Ar. Av. 997; Ra. 296), Bothe’s τίνα τρόπον; / ήμεϊς κτλ. is better.
επιδέξια (6) is often printed and written in mss. separatim έπϊ δεξιά, and
there is no clear rule as to which form is to be preferred; Darbishire 1890 sug-
gested έπϊ δεξιά when understood syntactically (e. g. Ar. Pax 957) and έπιδέξια
when adverbially (as here).
Interpretation Speaker B is apparently one of the eponymous rustics, accom-
panied at least notionally by the chorus (note the plurals; see on 4), although
they take no overt part in the action of this fragment. The same man is most
likely the speaker of fr. 2 and Speaker B in fr. 3. Speaker A is a more sophis-
ticated person, and thus presumably a city-dweller.
The setting is prior to drinking at a symposium and involves discussion of
the precise drinking arrangements to be followed (see on 1-2). The manner
discussed here (see on 4-5) is that of a single cup passed around from left to
right; each man drinks and then, after passing it to the next man, speaks in
praise of the latter while he drinks. The humour lies in the standard trope
that exploits not simply unfamiliarity with a custom, often a common one,
but misinterpretation of it. For the knowledge and experience of symposia
and the associated practices an ordinary Athenian might have possessed, cf.
Fisher 2000. 356-69 (357 for Anaxandr. frr. 1-3).
That Speaker A inquires for what manner of drinking the arrangements are
made implies that Speaker B is the host or at least in charge at the moment.
That Speaker B, despite having made the arrangements, seems to have had no