44

Αγροίκοι (fr. 2)

2-3 μά τούς θεούς / καί τάς θεάς Oaths by τούς θεούς καί τάς θεάς
are uncommon; cf. Pl. Smp. 219c; Ti. 27c; D. 19.67; 42.6; Numen. fr. 26.88 (with
the phrase perhaps taken from comedy; cf. Hirzel 1883. 14); cf. A. Th. 93-4
τίς ... / θεών ή θεάν; Wills 1996. 279. In official contexts, the usual form is
that used at e.g. D. 18.1 πρώτον μέν, ώ Αθηναίοι, τοΐς θεοΐς εύχομαι πάσι
καί πάσαις (cf. Wankel 1976 ad loc.\ The πάντες θεοί are commonly invoked,
often in decrees, after a list of other gods as an apparent attempt not to omit
any relevant deity. See in general, Ziegler 1949. 697-729; Kleinknecht 1937.
30-1, 37-8; Meinhardt 1892. 14-17; for inscriptional evidence, Kiittler 1909.
46 n. 2; Jacobi 1930. Frequent in oaths swearing to do no harm to the state (cf.
Ar. Av. 864-7; Th. 331-4), the πάντες θεοί are sometimes mentioned also in
domestic situations (Men. Koi. fr. 1.3-4; Sam. 399-400). θεά occurs occasionally
in inscriptions (e. g. IGI 76.39; II 112.9) in place of the normal ή θεός, but is
primarily poetic vocabulary (e. g. H. Od. 1.44; A. Eu. 224; E. Ale. 984).
3 The speaker’s amazement is not just at the quantity of food but also
at the fact that so much could found be indoors and thus at a private event;
he also seems surprised a single an individual could have access to such
enormous resources. The contrast is with a large outdoor public festival or
the like, which would have comprised the normal person’s experience with
large quantities of food. Possibly the speaker knows the place in question, and
the incongruity of seeing such a quantity of food there adds to his awe. If so,
the location may be the house of a fellow countryman (who perhaps learned
city customs from a recent trip?).
For the use of ένδον, cf. Ar. Pax 1150; Cratin. fr. 204 as emended by
Stephanopoulos 1987. 5.
ηδειν Around the middle of the fourth century, ηδειν replaced ηδη as the
Attic form for the 1st person sg. pluperf. of οίδα (cf. Moer. η 3 ηδη Αττικώς·
ηδειν Έλληνικώς). This is the earliest metrically guaranteed instance of the
newer form (cf. Macho 298). Demosthenes is generally assumed to be among
the first preserved authors to use the newer forms for this and the other
persons (Kuhner-Blass 1890-1892 11.242), although editors often arbitrarily
deny them to ps.-Demosthenes and others roughly contemporary. Manuscript
evidence offers no assistance, since the newer forms commonly replace the
older (examples collected at Kuhner-Blass 1890-189211.242; Cobet 1858. 212-
22); the fundamental discussion remains Dawes 1817. 232-3; cf. Rutherford
1881. 229-38.
4 Textual corruption obscures the precise wording, but the sense is clear.
The line articulates the speaker’s realization in the past that his life at that
time was merely a shadow of what it could be. This recognition was the result
of participation in the feast described in 1-3. Comparison between merely