190

Πόλεις (fr. 40)

Nympod. fr. 21 (11.380 Muller); Brown 1996. 20 n. 55. For Egyptian religion as
dementia, cf. Cic. ND 1.43. For Egyptians and Isis in Athens, see Simms 1989;
Parker 1996. 272 n. 71.
1 Cf. Ar. Pl. 178, where an alliance with the Egyptians is given as one
example of something unexpected and not entirely natural that has come
about through the influence of Wealth.
ούκ αν δυναίμην A trimeter opening common in comedy of the fourth
century and later (e. g. Eub. fr. 88.1; Men. Epitr. 499; Philem. fr. 121.1 [ούκ
αν δύναιο]) and in Euripides (e.g. Hee. 749; Ale. 63 [ούκ αν δύναιο]); cf.
Stephanopoulos 1988. 225 (on Tadesp. trag. TGrFE 331).
συμμαχεί v During the fourth quarter of the fifth century, σύν replaces
ξύν as the normal Attic form; see Threatte 1980 1.553-4.
ύμΐν έγώ Despite the constant switching between singular and plural
for both speaker and addressee throughout the fragment, probably only two
characters are involved, each representing his state or group.
2-3 Cf. Hdt. 2.35.2 Αιγύπτιοι... τα πολλά πάντα έμπαλιν τοϊσι άλλοισι
άνθρώποισι έστήσαντο ήθεά τε και νόμους κτλ. (cf. Cartledge 1993. 58-9);
S. OC 337-41.
οϋθ’ οί τρόποι ... οϋθ’ οί νόμοι The two terms are essentially synony-
mous here, although it may be possible to distinguish between τρόποι (the
way people are and act) and νόμοι (the behaviors they think of as sanctified
by custom and precedent).
3 ημών I. e. both the Egyptians and the Athenians; elsewhere in this
fragment, the first person refers solely to the Athenians.
4 βουν A reference to Isis; cf. Hdt. 2.41.1 τούς μέν νυν καθαρούς βοΰς
τούς άρσενας και τούς μόσχους οί πάντες Αιγύπτιοι θύουσι, τάς δέ θηλέας ού
σφι έξεστι θύειν, αλλ’ ίραί έστι Ίσιος. For cattle and aspects of their worship
in Egypt, see Hdt. 2.41 with Rawlinson 1880 ad loc.·, D.S. 1.85, 88.4.
προσκυνεΐς A gesture of subservience, raising the hand to the lips,
reputedly common in Egypt and the East, but among Greeks viewed as slav-
ish and so used only for the gods; cf. Hdt. 2.80 (of the Egyptians) αντί τού
προσαγορεύειν άλλήλους έν τήσι όδοϊσι προσκυνέουσι κατιέντες μέχρι τού
γούνατος τήν χεϊρα; X. An. 3.2.13 (of the Greeks) μέγιστον δέ μαρτύριαν
ή έλευθερία των πόλεων έν αίς ύμεϊς έγένεσθε καί έτράφητε· ούδένα γάρ
άνθρωπον δεσπότην άλλα τούς θεούς προσκυνεϊτε. For the word and its
connotations, see Neil 1901 on Ar. Eq. 156; Burkert 1996. 85-9 with n. 53
(p. 211; with bibliography).
5 την έγχελυν μέγιστον ήγεΐ δαίμονα Cf. Hdt. 2.72 νομίζουσι (i. e.
the Egyptians) δέ καί των ιχθύων καλεύμενον λεπιδωτόν ίρόν είναι καί τήν
έγχελυν; Antiph. fr. 145.1-2 τά τ’ άλλα δεινούς φασι τούς Αιγυπτίους /