Γεροντομανία (fr. 9)

71

Λαΐδ(α) There were at least two well-known hetairai by this name, and
separating them is not easy; see esp. Orth 2009 on Stratt. fr. 27; in addition,
Geyer 1925. 513-16; Holzinger 1940 on Ar. Pl. 179; Breitenbach 1908. 141-56.
The one referred to here is the second, often known as the younger. This
Lais is said (£RVEMMatr Ar. pi 179) to have been from Hykkara in Sicily (hence
Schweighauser’s conjecture in line 2), but was enslaved when Nicias captured
the city (Th. 6.62.3-4) and ended up in Corinth. She was also apparently the
defendant in a suit (Lys. fr. 59 Thalheim Προς Λαΐδα [Ath. 13.592e; Harp,
p. 189.5 Dindorf (λ 1 Keaney)] or Κατά Λαΐδος [Ath. 13.586e]); the nature of
the suit is unknown, but one might most obviously compare [D.] 59, where the
hetaira Neaira is prosecuted for living as a married woman with an Athenian
citizen. The single surviving fragment of the prosecution speech mentions
Anteia and Lagiske as well and seems to imply that Lais was faulted (inter
alia) for not abandoning prostitution at an early age. She was mentioned as
well by Ar. Byz. de Meretricibus (fr. 366) and her name was seemingly used
archetypically of hetairai (e. g. Eriph. fr. 6 [cf. Schiassi 1951. 229]; cf. the plays
entitled Αντιλαΐς by Cephisodorus and Epicrates).
2 y’ Cf. West 1987. 289 (on E. Or. 1184): he ‘is not simply showing that
he does indeed know what the question is about... but adding a reason why
he certainly should know’.
2-3 ήν έκείνη τις φίλη / Άντεια The historical Anteia seems to have
been a contemporary of Lais (Lys. fr. 59 Thalheim) and hetairai seem to be
thought of in groups fairly often. [D.] 59.18-19 reports that Anteia was owned
by Nikarete, a freedwoman of Charisius of Elis who presumably acted as a
madame, along with six other girls, including Neaira; Ath. 13.593f, on the other
hand, states that the seven of them, along with Nikarete, were the slaves of
Casius of Elis.35
τούτ(ο) For the attraction of the gender of the subject to that of the
predicate, cf. Kuhner-Gerth 1898-19041.74; Gildersleeve 1900-1911 §§127-8.
παίγνιον Cf. Ar. Ec. 922; HE 4266 with Gow-Page 1965 ad loc.·, Plu. Ant.
59.8; Henderson 1991. 157 on παίζειν, where note that the translation ‘tricks’
for παίγνια is misleading and clearly does not work here.
4 νή τον Δί(α) A common trimeter line-initial formula (e. g. Ar. Ach.
811; Eub. 105.1; Alex. fr. 100.3; Men. fr. 397; cf. Eup. fr. 286 νή τον Ποσειδώ;
Nicostrat. fr. 29.2 νή τον Αθήναν; Sophil. fr. 7.3 νή τον Διόνυσον). It seems not
to occur elsewhere in the line (doubtfully at Strato fr. 1.9), although both νή

35 Almost certainly, Casius is an error for Charisius; Carey on [D.] 59.18 attributes
this and similar errors in Athenaeus to his ‘confused recollection’ of the speech.