Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 72)

315

fr. 72 K.-A. (70 K.)

τρίκλινον δ’ ευθέως συνήγετο
καί συναυλίαι γερόντων
habent CE
1 <εις> τρίκλινον Blaydes
a three-man dinner party was quickly gathered
and symphonies of old men
Ath. 2.48a
Άναξανδρίδης·-
Anaxandrides:-
Metre Trochaic tetrameter catalectic.
<—X I--
-- I <__x -„-X>
Discussion Jacobs 1809. 41; Meineke 1840 III.201; 1847. 593; Bothe 1855. 434;
Kock 1884 11.162; Blaydes 1896. 126; Herwerden 1903. 101; Edmonds 1959
11.80—1; Kassel-Austin 1991 11.276; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 274
Citation context The fragment is quoted in the epitome of Athenaeus as part
of a short collection of examples that denote the size of rooms in terms of how
many couches they can accommodate (2.47f-8a); Antiph. fr. 292; Phryn. Com.
fr. 69; Eub. fr. 119.1-3; Amphis fr. 45 precede. Adesp. trag. TGrFF 90 follows
immediately, with no indication that the subject has changed or attribution
of authorship; in the complete version of Athenaeus, one of the interlocutors
must have said something that gave rise to the quotation of adesp. trag. TGrF
F 90, which in turn led to a discussion of bed-coverings.
Text Blaydes 1896. 126, citing Antiph. fr. 292, suggested <είς) τρίκλινον and
thus retained the normal meaning of the word (see below). But his supplement
introduces numerous problems of its own (e. g. συναυλίαι must be emended
to create a singular subject [the position of δε excludes the possibility that it
occurred in the lost portion of 1] if the verb is passive, or to create an object
if the verb is middle) and ought to be rejected.
Interpretation A symposium is being described; the events referred to pre-
sumably occurred offstage and are only now being related (note the past tense
of συνήγετο; cf. Ar. V. 1299-1325). The involvement of old men and their