302

Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 66)

fr. 66 K.-A. (67 K.)
ή πόλις έβούλεθ’, f| νόμων ούδέν μέλει
The city, that has no concern for laws, wished it
Arist. EN7.1152a20-3
έοικεν δή ό άκρατής πόλει ή ψηφίζεται μέν άπαντα τα δέοντα καί νόμους έχει σπου-
δαίους, χρήται δ’ ούδέν, ώσπερ Άναξανδρίδης έσκωψεν·-
The unrestrained man is similar to the city that passes all the necessary decrees and
has good laws, but uses none of them, as Anaxandrides joked:-
Metre lambic trimeter.
Discussion Grotius 1626. 644-5, 979; Gataker 1659. 77; Koraes 1822 on
Arist. EN7.1152a; Meineke 18391.368; 1840 III.200; 1847. 592; Bothe 1855. 434;
Meineke 1857 V.clxxx, 81; Kock 1884 11.162; Bergk 1887 IV.160 n. 141; Nauck
1894. 93; Edmonds 1959 II.78-9; Webster 1960. 156; Webster 1970. 32, 82-3;
Kassel-Austin 1991 11.275; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 273
Citation context In the course of discussing restraint and its lack, Aristotle
deals with the behaviour and moral character of an unrestrained man and
compares him to a state like the one described by Anaxandrides.
Interpretation A parody of E. fr. 265a ή φύσις έβούλεθ’, κτλ., the first line of
which is quoted by a variety of sources. Only with the discovery of Menander
Epitrepontes, where the Euripides fragment is quoted at 1123-4, did the play
(Auge), the second line, and thus the context become clear. In Euripides, the
line apparently referred to the rape of Auge by Heracles and seems, if not
to have condoned the action, at least to have excused it;150 the quotation by
Menander retains basically the same context. The potentially inflammatory
content of Euripides’ line, especially if taken out of context, together with the
large number of later writers who quoted it, suggests that it quickly became
infamous, much like E. Hipp. 612 (cf. Barrett 1964 ad loc.·, citation apparatus
in Stockert 1994). Euripides is often quoted or parodied in Middle Comedy;
e. g. Antiph. fr. 238.3; Eub. fr. 6.2 (7 K) with Hunter 1983 ad loc.·, Alex. fr. 3 with
Arnott 1996 ad loc.·, cf. Webster 1960. 156; 1970. 82-3. For Anaxandrides’ use
of Euripides, see on Helene and Introduction.

150

Cf. Ar. Nu. 1075-9 with Dover 1968 ad loc.·, Heinimann 1945. 132-3.