Πόλεις (fr. 40)

193

dedicated [a part of] themselves as first-fruits’77), which calls to mind the
self-castration of the worshippers of Cybele.
The unexpected occurrence of άπηργμένους forms a contrast to the prev-
ious line’s ολοκλήρους (which is now seen to mean not ‘unblemished’ but
‘unmutilated’). The parenthetical ώς έοικ(ε) serves to create a slight pause
before the punch-line; cf. Ar. Pl. 1017; Eub. fr. 9.3.
12-13 τον αίέλουρον κακόν έχοντ’ έάν ίδης / κλάεις Possibly under-
lying this statement, or rather the belief on which it comments, is an allusion
to the goddess Bastet (cf. Plu. Mor. 376d [de Iside] with Griffth 1970 ad loc.\
More likely it simply reflects the general reverence of the Egyptians toward
cats; cf. Hdt. 2.66-7; D.S. 1.83-84.4, 87.4.78 For cats generally, see Engels 1999;
Hopkinson 1984 on Call. Cer. 110; Lloyd-Jones 1975. 76-7; Benton 1969.
The form αίέλουρον (as opposed to the variant reading αίλουρον) is met-
rically necessary here, but compare Phot, a 564 αίέλουρος· τετρασυλλάβως;
Moer. a 78 αίέλουρος Αττικοί- αίλουρος Έλληνες.
13 έγώ δ’ ήδιστ’ άποκτείνας δέρω There is no real parallel for this
behavior, but compare the inclusion of cats in a catalogue of food at Ar. Ach.
879. Alternatively, the interest may be in the cat’s skin rather than in its
potential as a foodstuff.
14 δύναται παρ’ ύμΐν μυγαλή Cf. Hdt. 2.67.1; Plu. Mor. 670b; Str.
17.1.40; Nic. Th. 815-16 with Gow-Scholfield 1953 ad loc. (cf. D.S. 1.87.6).

77 This sense of the verb is probably related to that referring to the cutting of a lock
of hair for use in a ritual; e.g. Η. II. 19.254 (in his discussion of which Eustathius
quotes this fragment of Anaxandrides); E. El. 91.
78 Timocl. fr. 1 seems to offer an intermediate point between cat as specific goddess
and general reverence for cats.