66

Γεροντομανία (Gerontomanid)
(‘Madness for Old Men’)

Discussion Meineke 18391.370; 1840 III. 164; 1847. 576; Bothe 1855. 420; Kock
1884 11.138; Breitenbach 1908. 122; Schiassi 1951. 220; Edmonds 1959 11.48—9;
Webster 1970. 65; Kassel-Austin 1991 11.242; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 243;
Rusten 2011. 464
Title Cf. Amphis, Gynaikomania. The title is generally taken to refer to the
madness or infatuation of old men (‘nempe senum insania nil aliud est nisi
pulchrarum meretricum amor,’ Breitenbach 1908. 122), rather than a lust for
old men (i. e. similar to a subjective rather than objective genitive), but parallel
forms indicate that this is unlikely (e.g. Amphis, Γυναικομανία [frr. 9-11];
Ar. Th. 576 γυναικομανώ; Synagoge B a 1236 = Hsch. a 4760 άνδρομάνης·
έπιμεμηνυϊα τοϊς άνδράσι; Chrysipp. Eth. fr. 667; Ath. 11.464d-e).34
Content of the comedy The apparent reference of the title to lusting after
old men implies an inversion of normality, in that old men (and old people
of both sexes in general) are seldom viewed as sexually attractive in comedy;
for the depiction of old people in comedy, see Oeri 1948; Hubbard 1989. The
plot could have born a resemblence to certain Aristophanic plays, especially
the so-called ‘women’ plays, in which a disenfranchised group staged some
sort of coup and overturned the existed order. Here, perhaps the old men,
disgusted by the fact that they were overlooked in favour of young men,
somehow managed to invert this situation. Frr. 9 and 10 could then be read
as (self-) justifications: they had once been desirable sexual partners, sc. and
so there is not reason why they should not still be (fr. 9), and they do in fact
continue to contribute to society (fr. 10). Alternatively, the old men could be
the foil in some sort of coup staged by women; rather than a sex-strike as in
Aristophanes Lysistrata, the women have abandoned young men in favour of
the old. If women were the main actors in the play, fr. 9 might then be best
read as a conversation among women (see ad loc.\
Date The date is uncertain. Aristotle’s report (Rh. 3.1413b21; see below, frr.
10, 13) that Philemon (Stephanis 1988 #2485) used a certain performance style
when acting in the play probably implies that Aristotle saw it in person (pace

34 In his Oxford Text of Arist. Rh. (see on fr. 10), Ross gives the title as Γεροντομαχία
but has no note in the apparatus. Since this does not seem to be a variant reading
(it is recorded by no editor), one can only assume that it is a typographical error
that has on occasion been followed uncritically, e. g. by H. Lawson-Tancred in his
Penguin translation (London 1991).