112

Θησεύς (fr. 21)

Discussion Meineke 1840 III. 170; 1847. 578; Bothe 1855. 422; Herwerden 1878.
66; Kock 1884 11.143; Schmidt 1886-1887 III.49; Blaydes 1896. 122; Edmonds
1959 11.54; Kassel-Austin 1991 11.248; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 249
Text Although the meter is uncertain, there is clearly a lacuna. The line
could be made into (1) a trochaic tetrameter, if a long syllable followed by an
anceps is inserted after παίζουσιν, or (2) an iambic trimeter, if a line-break is
introduced between παρθένοι and παίζουσιν, and a long and an anceps added
after παίζουσιν or a long and a short added after έλάφρ’. A trimeter is more
likely than a tetrameter;47 see above on fr. 10. Of the proposed supplements,
none is more than a guess. Meineke’s ευθύς has the advantage of retaining the
manuscript’s παίζουσιν (presumably unwittingly, since no one seems aware
that Bekker misrepresented the ms. reading), while van Herwerden’s sugges-
tion recalls the alliteration of π and λ elsewhere in the line.
Interpretation Neither the citation context nor what little is known about
the play offer much help in interpreting the fragment. Equally uncertain is
whether the girls in the fragment are specific characters in the play or are
meant to represent women generally. Nevertheless, there seem to be three
possible interpretations: (1) the fragment is meant literally and perhaps is
part of a description of a carefree scene; (2) it is part of a comparison (e. g.
girls play, sc. while men work vel sim.\, (3) it is a pointed condemnation (girls
play games, i. e. scheme).
2 παίζουσιν ... πρός For παίζω with πρός, cf. Pl. Com. fr. 46.1; more
commonly, the verb governs a simple accusative (e. g. Crates Com. fr. 27;
Cratin. fr. 61; Ar. Th. 947; Antiph. fr. 278).
έλάφρ’ έζαλλάγματα ελαφρός can have the sense ‘easy’, as at A. PV
263 (not 265 as LSJ); Ar. Ach. 218; Theoc. 22.212; a better parallel, though late,
is Hsch. ε 1919 έλαφρία· μωρία, taken by Latte 1966 ad loc. as a reference to
2 Ep. Cor. 1:17, the only occurrence of the stem with this sense, έξαλλάγματα
occurs elsewhere only at Parth. 24.1, where it is used of inducements made
by a (potential) lover (cf. Ellis 1886. 227 ‘by constant changes of presents’)·,
possibly the context is similar here. The cognate verb with the sense ‘amuse’
or ‘divert’ is better attested but nevertheless frowned on by the Atheists; cf.
Phryn. Eel. 341 έξαλλάξαι· τό τέρψαι καί παραγαγεϊν είς ευφροσύνην, χρή
φυλάττεσθαι ούτω λέγειν, ού γάρ χρώνται οί δόκιμοι. Φιλιππίδης (fr. 36)
δε καί Μένανδρος (fr. 540; cf. Suda ε 1523; Phot, ε 1086) αύτώ χρώνται. The

47 The practice of the Antiatticist offers no help, since on occasion the work does cite
the end of one line and the beginning of the next (e. g. pp. 85.3-4 [Cratin. fr. 219];
93.3-4 [Η. II. 23.465-6]).