188

Πόλεις (fr. 40)

but among you, as it seems, that they have been dedicated as first-
fruits.
If you see a cat doing poorly,
you weep, while I gladly kill and skin it.
Among you the mouse is powerful, but to me it is not.
Ath. 7.299e-300a
Άναξανδρίδης δ’ έν Πόλεσι προς τούς Αιγυπτίους αποτεινόμενος τον λόγον φησίν-
Anaxandrides in Poleis, offering this account against the Egyptians, says:-
East. II. 1183.12
έκ τού άπάρχεσθαι σκώμμά τι εύνουχικόν προϋκυψε παρά τινι λογίω Αίγυπτίω άνδρί,
είπόντι ώς τούς Αιγυπτίους ιερείς, εύνούχους δηλαδή όντας, σκώπτει τις είπών άπήρ-
χθαι διά τό έξ αύτών ώς οίά τινα προδεδόσθαι άπαρχήν τήν τμήσιν τών αιδοίων, ώς
δήλον έκ τού τούς ιερέας ένθάδε μέν, ήγουν έν'Έλλησιν, ολοκλήρους ... άπηργμένους
(10-11)
From the offering of first-fruits a joke concerning eunuchs arose from a learned
Egyptian, who said that one mocks Egyptian priests, that is to say as being eunuchs,
by saying that they offered as first-fruits the amputated part of their genitals, as is clear
from the passage, ‘It is the law that priests here,’ that is, among the Greeks, ‘be whole’

Metre lambic trimeter.

5

10