Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 57)

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§§568-9; Sansone 1993. 202-4), and there is thus no compelling reason to
introduce it here unless one feels a need for strict grammatical parallelism
between ώς τον πατέρ(α) and παρ’ άνδρός.
Interpretation Without context, it is uncertain whether this fragment was
spoken as advice, perhaps as the result of pre-marriage trepidation, or it
formed a comment on something that had already taken place or was being
considered. The advice or censure is most naturally taken as directed at the
addressee, but perhaps two people are discussing a third instead. The obvious
interpretation is that a father is addressing a daughter (thus e. g. Webster 1970.
72, comparing Plaut. Men. 763-4), both because the content is put in terms
of a father-daughter relationship and because such scenes are common. In
contrast, Edmonds thought the speaker was a woman; if so, perhaps a nurse
is the most likely candidate. In any case, the speaker is the older of the two,
since τέκνον is used to address a younger person, although not necessarily
one’s child.
In general, cf. E. Med. 230-251 (Medea’s speech on the misfortunes
of women), esp. 236-7 ού γάρ ευκλεείς άπαλλαγαι / γυναιξιν ούδ’ οίόν τ’
άνήνασθαι πόσιν (cf. ΣΛΒ άκλεές γάρ γυναικι άπολιπεϊν τον οίκεϊον άνδρα);
Murgia 1971. 209: Tn the conventional language of antiquity, for a woman
to return to the house of her father connotes not triumph, but divorce or
widowhood.’
1-2 For the image, cf. Hes. Op. 290-1; Pi. I. 2.33; Pl. R. 328e; X. Mem. 2.1.29.
προσάντης Only here in comedy, elsewhere in poetry at Pi. I. 2.33; E.
Med. 305, 381; Or. 790; IT 1012; fr. 953a.l4, otherwise prosaic.
ώ τέκνον Cf. Dickey 1996. 65-9 (for ώ see on fr. 1.4); use of τέκνον does
not necessarily imply that the speaker and addressee are related (cf. on fr. 1.4
πάτερ).
2 άπελθεΐν The normal term for a wife abandoning her husband is
απολείπω or άπόλειψις; cf. Ar. Nu. 1068 with Dover 1968 ad loc. (cf. Thom.
Mag. p. 29.13-14); Is. 3.8 with Wyse 1904 ad loc.·, Plu. Ale. 8.5 with Baehr 1822
ad loc.·, Hsch. a 6437; Phot, a 2541; AB p. 201.22. απέρχομαι is rarely used
with this sense (cf. Men. Dysc. 22),130 although the meaning here is clear; note
the variety of terms for a husband sending away his wife (e. g. αποπέμπω,
εκπέμπω, εκβάλλω). For a woman to enact a divorce, she was required to
present the case in writing to the archon (presumably the eponymous archon),
so simple abandonment did not lead to the dissolution of a marriage; no such

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Neither LSJ nor DGE recognize this as a distinct sense of the word; Stephanas cites
Orig. Comm, in Matt. 14.642f (p. 332.2 K); 644b (p. 334.33 K).