16

Άμφις (Amphis)

Δεξιδημίδης (Dexidemides; meant as a proper name). All these - apart perhaps
from μίνδαξ - are probably Amphis’ own coinages. There is also a notional
hapax: ό πατήρ του ζην (the father of life; fr. 17.2), a conception that is entirely
Amphis’ own resourceful creation. In addition, Amphis fr. 38.1 features a
hapax occurrence of the noun συκάμινος (mulberry tree) in the masculine
gender (instead of feminine), while Amphis fr. 29 features the only in-context
occurrence of the term ατελής bearing the specific meaning of inexpensive.
Further conspicuous instances of Amphis’ dexterous use of language include
the usage of the rare terms περιθέτη (wig; fr. 2) and μετάκερας (intermixed; fr.
7), as well as an imaginative metaphor in fr. 3, featuring the personified mind,
safe on the vessel of knowledge, sailing past misfortunes.

7. Metre
In all but two of his surviving fragments Amphis employs the iambic trimeter;
and he does so with a remarkably high rate of resolution: in the surviving
total of his one hundred and twenty-three iambic trimeter lines, he practises
resolution (of ancipitia, longa, and brevia) ninety-seven times, often twice
within the same line. The penthemimeral caesura features more often than the
hephthemimeral one. There are also several instances of triemimeral caesura
(frr. 6.3, 9.5, 17.3, 26.3, 27.1, 34.1-2, 36.1), and two instances of middle caesura
(fr. 13.3 and fr. 14.7).
The trochaic tetrameter catalectic is used in Amphis fr. 7 and fr. 8; the
reason is probably the speaker’s heightened emotional state; see comm, ad loc.

8. Amphis and other comic poets
As mentioned above (Intro. 2), there is no surviving record of Amphis be-
ing victorious in any dramatic festival; and this complicates the case for his
own dating as well as for determining his contemporaries. Yet, there is an
intriguing thematic convergence between Amphis and Alexis; in total there
are nine shared play-titles between these two comic playwrights: Αλείπτρια
(though this is possibly a false attribution to Alexis; cf. Arnott 1996: 813-817),
Αμπελουργός, Γυναικοκρατία, Δακτύλιος,'Επτά επί Θήβας, Κονιατής, Κουρίς,
Κυβευταί, and Έριθοι. Additionally, Amphis fr. 30 (from the play Πλάνος)
features salient and intriguing similarities with Alex. fr. 16. Kann (1909: 73-74)
believes that Amphis regularly plagiarised Alexis; however, in the absence of