160

Όδυσσεύς (fr. 34)

Taken literally, άρίστου πύλας in 17 means the gateway to a meal (note
long a), but άγω, normally governing an animate object, suggests that the
phrase is not to be so taken. Bothe’s αύτάς solves this difficulty but with no
apparent improvement to the sense. According to the translations of Edmonds
and Henderson 1991 §45157, the pun is between άριστον (‘meal’) and άριστος
(‘best’), although the difference in quantity of the alphas makes this difficult.
The ambiguity could be preserved by rewriting the line e. g. ύπ’ αύτά σώματ’
άγουσι τάρίστου58 πύλας, or by adopting Browne’s σώμα τάρίστου (which
requires emending αύτά to e. g. αύτάς [Bothe] or αύτό), although the sense of
the line remains opaque. Jacobs’ Εύρύτου πύλας (the sense but not the words
endorsed by Meineke) is likewise not without problems; cf. Page 1978 on Rufin.
21.6, although he is perhaps overly literal-minded there. Possibly σώματ(α)
is an intrusive gloss on πύλας (or άρίστου πύλας) that has ousted part of the
line. Less likely, πύλαι is used as a metaphor for the anus; cf. Henderson 1991
§451. Henderson §452 compares Ar. Eq. 54-5 (but cf. Sommerstein 1981 ad
loc.y, better is the comparison of εύρυπρωκτότεροι with the (implied) gates of
Troy at Eub. fr. 118.7-8.
Interpretation This praise of the fisherman’s art owes much to the boast-
ful tone and exaggeration common to cooks’ descriptions of their art; cf.
on Νηρεύς passim·, Xenarch. fr. 8; contrast Alex. fr. 159 (from his Όδυσσεύς
ύφαίνων). Although the possibilities for this fragment within the play are
many, Odysseus’ later reputation as a glutton (e. g. Luc. Trag. 261-2; Ath.
10.412b-d; 12.513a-d; perhaps pre-figured by Η. II. 19.155-72) may be rel-
evant, and conceivably the fragment is part of a parody in which the hero
is killed by eating too much fish (as at Luc. Trag. 261-2) rather than by the
spine of a ray (an elaboration of H. Od. 11.34; e. g. A. fr. 275; Pearson 1917 on
S. Όδυσσεύς άκανθοπλήξ).
For fishing, a vital part of the food supply in Athens as elsewhere, see
Ravara Montebelli 2009; Ehrenberg 1962.130-2, pl. XII b, c; Cloche 1931. 24-5,
pls. XVII, XXXVI.

57 Despite his translation, ‘the threshold of a meal/the Best,’ Henderson makes the
further claim that ‘here άρίστου plays on some proper name, perhaps Εύρύτου
(Jacobs, cited by Kock)’; this is a misunderstanding of what Jacobs says.
58 I. e. τού άρίστου. τάρίστου was suggested already by Edmonds, presumably mean-
ing τού άρίστου, although his same note refers also to his deletion of τ’ (i. e. τε)
in the following line. Against Edmonds’ rewriting of the line, note the rarity of a
fourth-foot anapaest of this form (six examples in Ar. [of which only two have a
sense pause]; cf. White 1912 §120, iv).