Πρωτεσίλαος (fr. 42)

235

2009 ad loc.\ Typically, the insult is directed at the interrupted speaker, who
however fails to react to it; that is likely the case here as well (note the deictic
τουδί), although the interpretation of χάσκοντος is somewhat problematic (cf.
below).107 This injection has the additional structural purpose of facilitating
the transition from the catalogue of food that preceded to the catalogue of
wine that follows.
66-7 τουδί / τού χάσκοντος χάσκω is normally ‘gape at with the
mouth open’ (e. g. Ar. Ach. 10; Eq. 651), which does not adequately describe
the extended monologue of the first speaker. It is claimed (e. g. LSJ s. v. II) that
the verb can occasionally mean ‘utter’ (S. Ai. 1227 [cf. Σ™ λέξαι, είπεΐν]; Ar.
V. 342 [cf. ZLhAld είπεΐν]; possibly Call. H. 2.24 [but cf. Williams 1978 ad loc.]),
but MacDowell’s interpretation (1971 on Ar. V. 342) of these passages (‘χανεΐν
implies contempt for what was spoken... “bluster”’) is better. Alternatively,
the word here may mean ‘fool’ or ‘simpleton’ by extension (cf. Ar. Eq. 261;
Ra. 990) or may be taken with τού πρωκτού (in which case Olson’s τωδΐ in
66 is attractive).
67 διατειναμένη A generally prosaic word, extremely rare in poetry
and found only here in comedy (elsewhere in poetry at e. g. Theoc. 22.67; AP
5.55.1 [HE 1483]). The participle modifies γερανός, the bird last mentioned.
68 διά τού πρωκτού καί των πλευρών The crane is presumably imag-
ined as swallowed whole and then bursting out through one end or the other
of the person and pecking him in the head. Vulgarities such as πρωκτός,
although not unparalleled in this period (e. g. Eub. fr. 106.6), are rare, a fact
presumably indicative more of the selective nature of the fragments’ transmis-
sion than of a general absence of such terms in Middle Comedy.108
69 διακόψειεν A primarily prosaic word, used of cleaving something
in two; for its use to refer to a wound, cf. Hp. Aph. 6.18 (IV.566-8 Littre);
Men. Georg. 48; Sam. 679. For the form, see Lautensach 1916. 171-5 (174-5
for movable-nu).
τό μέτωπον Properly the brow; cf. on fr. 59.4.

107 Note also that in the mind of Speaker B (and presumably the audience as well) the
fact has become blurred that Speaker A is comparing a feast that will take place in
the future with one from the past, but is not describing foods actually at hand.
108 For the sake of comparison, note for example that in Aristophanes πρωκτός (or
compounds of the word) occurs 48x in the extant plays, but only 2x in the frag-
ments; πέος 20x in the plays but never in the fragments; βινεϊν 20x in the plays
but only lx in the fragments; χέζειν or χεζητιάν 13x times in the plays but never
in the fragments. In terms of percentages of total word counts, vulgarities occur
slightly less than half as often in the Aristophanic fragments as in the extant plays.