Introduction

27

people might have aspired to speak, even if they rarely achieved such a high
standard of verbal brilliance. The use of over-the-top catalogues is another
patently comic touch.25 In addition, Eupolis’ characters, like Aristophanes’,
appeal occasionally to high-style poetic language of various sorts,26 although
the lack of context generally makes it impossible to identify the intended
effect of such passages. Eupolis quotes, echoes or alludes to other poets at
frr. 41 (Sophocles); 99.102 (Euripides); 105.2 (Euripides); 106 (Euripides); 148.1
(Stesichorus, Aleman and Simonides); 192.237-42/192uu (Archilochus); 207
(Aeschylus); 260.23-6 (Sophocles); 268.6-7/268b (Sophocles); 392 (Archilochus);
398 (Pindar). There is no evidence of sustained parody of Euripidean tragedy of
the sort common in Aristophanes, although whether this reflects the limited
nature of our sources or points to a real difference between the two comic
poets is again impossible to say.

7. Metrics and Form27

Metrics
lambic
Of what are by my count 234 complete, textually sound iambic trimeters
in the fragments of Eupolis, 218 (= 93.2%) feature either penthemimeral or
hepthemimeral caesura. There appears to be a strong preference for penthe-
mimeral (129 = 55.1%) over hepthemimeral (89 = 38.1%) caesura,28 although

25 E.g. frr. 12-13; 218; 298; 317; 338.
26 E.g. frr. 16; 36; 99.35-6; 172.12; 200; 219.2-3; 224.2; 231; 249; 303.
27 Correct the scansion of frr. 220.3 to 298.6 to —

—- I <x—}; 328.1 —--I-—; 330.2 to— I- —- I —-; 339.1 to
<x— — —-;342to—— -I—I-—; 366 to— --I— ——;
369 to — 1—- —-; 370 to—— - —I-—; 366 to—— -—I —
——; 371 to — 1 —I— ——; 374 to -A-—

28 So too among what are by my count an additional 95 partially preserved but
plausibly restored lines containing penthemimeral or hepthemimeral caesura, 51
= 53.7% feature penthemimeral caesura, while 44 = 46.3% feature hepthemimeral
caesura. These figures are not directly comparable to those for complete lines, since
they assume no additional lines with tetrahemimeral or octhemimeral caesura. The
general impression nonetheless remains that Eupolis used penthemimeral caesura
more often than hepthemimeral caesura. For Anaxandrides (380s/370s-340s BCE),
by contrast, Millis 2015. 24 calculates 78% penthemimeral caesura in lines with
either penthemimeral or hepthemimeral caesura. White 1912 offers no overall
figures for this aspect of Aristophanes’ metrical practice.