Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 59)

289

Interpretation The fragment seems to be part of a dialogue between two
characters (or more, if the verbs are true plurals), one of whom is suffering the
after-effects of heavy drinking. Presumably the occasion for the drinking was
a symposium or banquet that took place earlier in the day, so this fragment
is set late in the day, or, more likely, the social event happened the previous
day, placing this fragment early the next morning. Unless this bit of dialogue
belongs to an opening scene, the previous scene presumably ended with the
addressee(s) and possibly others, but probably not the speaker, going off to a
symposium, so that the fragment belongs early in the next scene. The content
fits with the scene(s) of heavy drinking described in frr. 1-3 of Agroikoi, so
this fragment may belong to that play, but scenes of drinking and its aftermath
could have easily occurred in a number of contexts in a number of different
plays.
1-2 For the force of the aorist subjunctives, cf. Goodwin 1890 §90.
1 λούσησθε It is unclear whether merely washing the face, hands, etc.
from a basin or using a bathtub is implied. Either option would have been
available in a moderately well-to-do house or a public bath (cf. Travlos 1971.
180-1; Olson 1998 on Ar. Pax 1103), although the season, and thus possible
water shortages, would dictate how frequently baths were taken; cf. Ginouves
1962. 29-60, 77-99; Dunbar 1995 on Ar. Av. 132. Numerous public fountains
were also available throughout the city, although their main function was to
provide drinking water and it is doubtful that using them for bathing to any
extent more than splashing the face would have been tolerated.
νυν Inferential (LSJ s.v. II; Kuhner-Gerth 1898-1904 11.118) rather than
temporal, so that Bothe’s νυν, as opposed to CE’s νυν, is to be preferred.
2 ράφανον ράφανος, ‘cabbage’, is the Attic term for what was elsewhere
called κράμβη (but note Eup. fr. 84.2 ναι τάς κράμβας; Telecl. fr. 29; Antiph.
fr. 6 κραμβίδιον); cf. Apollod. Car. fr. 32 j" εί δ’ δτι j" καλοϋμεν ράφανον,
ύμεϊς 6’ οί ξένοι / κράμβην; Phryn. Ecl. Ill ράφανον έπι τής ραφανίδος μή
θής· σημαίνει γάρ τήν κράμβην. The word is regularly distinguished from
the similar Attic word ραφανίς, ‘radish’, by lexicographers and grammarians
(e. g. Ammon. 424, 425; Poll. 1.247; 6.54; Phot, p 49; Hsch. p 143 [= Trypho fr.
120; cf. von Velsen 1853 ad loc.], 144; Suda p 55; £RVME® Ar. Pl. 544; Thom. Mag.
p. 322.16-17), although with some confusion, since the non-Attic word for
ραφανίς is ράφανος (but note Call. Com. fr. 26; [Arist.] Prob. 924a34). For the
belief that eating cabbage (normally boiled; e. g. Ale. Com. fr. 24; Antiph. fr.
181.6; Eub. fr. 148.3) was a cure for hangovers and particularly the associated

of πρόσωπον (17 times in Ar.; over 20 times in the rest of comedy); cf. Arnott 1996
on Alex. fr. 275.4 for the same error in antiquity.