325

Fragmenta dubia
fr. 81 K.-A. (78 K.) = Diph. fr. 134

κόρης άπαλλαττόμεθα ταμιείου πικρού
habent ΜΑ
άπαλλαττόμεθα Μ Stob.1, ΜΑ (post corr.) Stob.2: -όμεσθα A Stob.1, A (ante corn) Stob.2
we are free from the bitter storehouse of the girl

Stob. 4.22b.34
(ότι ούκ αγαθόν τό γαμεϊν) = 4.24c.41 (ότι κρείττονες οί άρρενες των παίδων, κτλ.)
Άναξανδρίδου·-
Άναξανδρίδου Stob.1: Διφίλου Stob.2
(that marriage is not good) = 4.24c.41 (that male children are better, and that illegiti-
mate children must be deemed not worse than legitimate children) Anaxandrides:-
Metre lambic trimeter.
Discussion Grotius 1623 11.278—9; Meineke 1840 III.200; 1847. 592; Bothe
1855. 434; Meineke 1857 V.81; Kock 1884 11.163; Bliimner 1891.62; Edmonds
1959 11.80—1; Kassel-Austin 1991 11.278; Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 275
Citation context Stobaeus quotes the fragment twice: at 4.22b.34 it is at-
tributed to Anaxandrides, but at 4.24c.41 to Diphilus. Either attribution is
possible, and there is no obvious reason to prefer one over the other. If the
corruption lies in Stobaeus and not his source(s), conceivably the attribution
at 4.22b.34 could have been corrupted from Διφίλου to Άναξανδρίδου under
the influence of Αναξανδρίδου at 4.24b.28. If the corruption took place earlier,
it could have arisen from confusion between two plays of the same name, e. g.
both poets wrote a Theseus.
Interpretation There appear to be two possible interpretations of the frag-
ment, both of them problematic. Bothe 1855. 434 capitalized κόρης and took it
as a reference to Persephone. This interpretation is unproblematic per se, and
the line could fit a play about Theseus (see above). But Stobaeus’ quotations
of the fragment clearly place it in the context of marriage and children. The
alternative interpretation, which fits the context in Stobaeus, is that of Kock
1884 11.163: ‘paterfamilias cum uxore amicove conloquens felicem se prae-