Ίκάριοι Σάτυροι (fr. 19)

165

Comedies with the title Tereus were written by Anaxandrides,194 Cantharus
and Philetaerus. Tereus became the Hoopoe (Εποψ) in Aristophanes’ Birds; see
Dunbar 1995, 139-41. The myth of Tereus was obviously chosen by Timocles in
order to support two puns: Τηρεύς -τηρεϊν and Πρόκνη -κνήν; see below and
Harding 2006, 207.
τ’ Άριστομήδην Cf. on fr. 14.3 χαριζόμενός γ’ Άριστομήδη τώ καλώ, where
Aristomedes is associated with Hermes, the patron of thieves. For his identification
see on Heroes, where we adopt Koerte’s suggestion (1905, 400; cf. Davies, 1971,
APF 2108) that this person is Aristomedes of Collytus (LGPNII, n. 9020; cf. IG
II2 1924.9). The pun on Tereus seems to be metrically supported by the pattern
(resolution of the first long syllable of a trochaic foot), repeated by the
second interlocutor in the next line: διάτίΤηρέα - διότι τηρεϊν. For the association
of contemporary thefts with mythical figures cf. Anaxandr. fr. 35.10-11 ύφείλετ’
αρνα ποιμένος παίζων, Άτρεύς έκλήθη · / έάν δε κριόν, Φρίξος · / άν δε κωδάριον,
Ίάσων “if someone took a shepherd’s lamb in jest, he was called Atreus; if a ram,
Phrixos; if a fleece, Jason”. Cf. also Anaxandr. fr. 247, where Millis 2015, ad loc.,
suspects a similar joke.
4 τά σκεύη Gear, equipment, vessels, cookware (e.g. Ar. V 939, Ec. 728).
Here the word may refer to sympotic vessels; cf. above, “Interpretation”.
τηρεϊν... σφόδρα The combination τηρεϊν τά σκεύη recalls Hermes’ wording
in Ar. Pax 201-2 τά λοιπά τηρώ σκευάρια τά τών θεών / χυτρίδια και σανίδια
κάμφορίδια. For the postponement of the adverb cf. Ar. Pl. 234-5 Άλλ’ άχθομαι
μεν είσιών νή τούς θεούς / εις οικίαν έκάστοτ’ άλλοτρίαν πάνυ.
5 Πρόκνη γενήση The pun is πρόκνη (πρό and κνήν, ‘the scratches at the
front’, Harding 2006, 207) and κνώμενος τό κρανίον (scratching your skull’).
Procne, on whom see Dunbar 1995, 149-50 and 286-8, is mentioned because she
also lost her son, Itys. For wordplay on legendary figures cf. Ar. Ec. 1017-21 where
the pun is between προκρούειν (beat, here met. screw’) and Προκρούστης:.. .πριν
άν I την γραϋν προκρούση πρώτον ... / οϊμοι, Προκρούστης τήμερον γενήσομαι;
“... until he knocks an older woman first ... Alas! I shall become a Procrustes!”;
for similar associations cf. Ar. fr. 957 [dub.] εύθύς δε Φοϊνιξ γίγνομαι · τή μεν
δίδωμι χειρί, τή δε λαμβάνω “I immediately become a Phoenician: with one hand
I give, with the other I take”; Anaxandr. fr. 33.3 Εύριπίδης τις τήμερον γενήσεται
(on Euripides’ supposed drunkenness); Eq. 529 Δωροϊ συκοπέδιλε (Δωρώ being
‘Goddess of bribery’ and συκοπέδιλε modelled on the epic χρυσοπέδιλε, a pun on
the word sycophant). Puns on places: Ar. fr. 629 ύπό γέλωτος εις Γέλαν άφίξομαι;
Fraenkel 2007, 39-40; Kanavou 2011, 65, 194-6.
κνώμενος τό κρανίον ‘scratching the head’ seems to be a sign of stress (cf. the
metaphorical use of άποκναίω / άποκνάω, ‘worry to death’, e. g. Ar. Ec. 1087; Thpr.
Char. 7.4 and the passive ‘to be worn out’, Pl. R. 406b; X. HG 6.2.1) rather than a

194

In fr. 46 the speaking character (probably Tereus) satirizes Polyeuctus, an Athenian
profligate; see Nesselrath 1990, 214-5; Millis 2015, ad loc.