Θησαυρός (fr. 19)

107

Discussion Meineke 1840 III. 170; 1847. 578; Bothe 1855. 421; Naber 1880. 54;
Kock 1884. 142; Blaydes 1896. 333; Edmonds 1959 11.52—3; Kassel-Austin 1991
11.247; Mathiesen 1999. 195; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 249
Citation Context Within a larger discussion of musical intruments generally
(4.174b-85a), Athenaeus cites this fragment together with a handful of others
as evidence for the monaulos (4.175f-6a). S. fr. 241 and Arar. fr. 13 precede;
Anaxandr. fr. 52 and Sopat. fr. 2 follow.
Text Naber takes the verse as the beginning of a catalectic trochaic tetram-
eter and supplies αύ πάλιν exempli gratia at the end; while this is possible,
there is no particular reason to understand the line as trochaic, especially since
iambic trimeters are far more common.
Interpretation The obvious place in the play for a wedding is near the end,
although the fragment might instead be reporting a previous, extra-dramatic
event (note tense of ηύλουν). Plaut. Aul. offers one model for how a wedding
can be incorporated into a play based at least in part on the actions of a miser.
A wedding could also take place as part of a general celebration of the main
character’s newfound wealth and general success (cf. Ar. Pax). Note that the
piper speaks these lines (and thus reports the wedding as a whole?), which is
perhaps unexpected if he is a professional musician; for this reason, the speak-
er is better regarded as somehow connected with the main (free) characters
(e. g. one of their slaves; less likely one of them46).
1 άναλαβών Cf. fr. 16.2 λαβών τό μελετητήριον.
2 μόναυλον The aulos is a reed instrument similar to the modern oboe
(not the flute; cf. West 1992. 1-2, 82-5); see West 1992. 81-109 (92-3 for the
monaulos); Anderson 1994.183-4; Schlesinger 1939; Vetter 1933. 74-5; Wilson
1999. Poll. 4.75 claims that it was used especially for wedding songs (μόναυλος
... αύλεϊ δε μάλιστα τό γαμήλιον), although this fragment may be the source
of his information; cf. Sapph. fr. 44.24 αύλος 6’ άδυ[μ]έλος[]τ’ όνεμίγνυ[το]

46 Although learning to play the lyre was a common component of an aristocratic
education in the archaic and classical periods, that was apparently not the case for
the aulos; cf. West 1992. 25-7. The only real evidence to the contrary is Alcibiades’
famous refusal to learn to play the aulos (Duris FGrHist 76 F 29; [Pl.] Ale. 1.106e;
Plu. Ale. 2.5); against this story, cf. Arist. Pol. 1341al8-28, where the philosopher
harshly criticizes the effects of aulos-playing on the youth and explicitly states
that οί πρότερον had forbidden its inclusion in the education of free-born youth
(Newman 1887-1902 ad loc. cites Ar. fr. 232 and Phryn. Com. fr. 3 as support for
the existence of such education in the mid-fifth century, but the fragments in fact
suggest that such instruction was anomalous).