42

Eupolis

the same corpus, which is to say both that this may represent the number of
“Old Comedies” preserved in Alexandria and that virtually all the material we
have comes to us through the Library.50

test. 3-5 K.-A.
Death and Burial
test. 3 K.-A. (= Baptai test, vii Storey)
Cic. ad Att. VI.1.18
quis... non dixitΕΰπολιν τον τής αρχαίας ab Alcibiades navigante in Siciliam
deiectum esse in mare? redarguitEratosthenes (fr. 48 Strecker = FGrH241 F 19);
adfert enim quas illepost id tempus fabulas docuerit. num idcirco Duris Samius
(FGrH 76 F 73) homo in historia diligens, quod cum multis erravit, irridetur?
Who did not claim that “Eupolis the Old Comic poet” was thrown into the sea
by Alcibiades as the latter was sailing to Sicily? Eratosthenes (fr. 48 Strecker =
FGrH 241 F 19) disproves this; for he cites plays that Eupolis staged after this
date. Surely Duris of Samos (FGrH 76 F 73), a conscientious historian, is not
laughed at on this account, that he joined many other authorities in error?
Citation context Offered by Cicero as an example of a “common error” that
results from following received opinion on a point and that is to be distin-
guished from more gross and deliberate sorts of ignorance, such as confusion
about the achievements of one’s ancestors. The fragment of Eratosthenes is
presumably drawn from his On Old Comedy. That Eratosthenes was specifical-
ly correcting Duris seems probable; cf. his attack on Callimachus in Marikas
test. iii. But Duris’ primary interest was in any case more likely in Alcibiades
and his generally outrageous behavior than in Eupolis.
Discussion Schwarze 1971. 113-15; Storey 2003. 56-9
Interpretation The reference is to the tradition—widespread in later sources,
and according to Cicero in earlier ones as well—that Alcibiades drowned
Eupolis on the way to Sicily in 415 BCE as revenge for what had been said
about him in Baptai (test, ii-v with nn.). Cicero’s implication is that Duris got
the tale from another authority, presumably passing it on in the course of the

50 The numbers for the so-called “Middle Comedy” are not so tractable.