84

Eupolis

Cratinus and Aristophanes are merely offered here as representatives of the
“old Attic dialect”, and no specific claim is advanced about their individual
vocabulary or accentuation choices.

test. 42 K.-A. (= test, xxxi Storey)
= Cratin. test. 25
Anon. Life of Aristophanes = Ar. test. 1.1-4
Αριστοφάνης ... πρώτος δοκεΐ τήν κωμωδίαν έτι πλανωμένην τή αρχαία
αγωγή έπί τό χρησιμώτερον καί σεμνότερον μεταγαγεϊν, πικρότερόν τε καί
αίσχρότερον Κρατίνου καί Εύπόλιδος βλασφημούντων ή έδει
Aristophanes seems to have been the first to change the direction of comedy,
which was still adrift in its ancient course, toward what is more useful and
nobler, since Cratinus and Eupolis were offering more bitter and ugly abuse
than was necessary
Citation context From the opening section of a Byzantine biography of
Aristophanes, much of the material for which is drawn from the plays them-
selves. [Test. 20] is likely dependent on this passage.
Interpretation Cratinus and Eupolis serve here only as foils for Aristophanes,
and the author of the Life does not obviously know anything more about
them than that they were other contemporary comic playwrights; contrast the
seemingly better informed test. 34. The analysis is rooted in Peripatetic the-
ories regarding the vital role played by abuse (referred to here as βλασφημία
rather than σκώμμα, ελεγχος, ψόγος or the like) in the history of the comic
genre (cf. test. 23 n.; 35 n.), with Aristophanes serving as the key figure driving
the alleged move to a less openly abusive style (cf. Ar. test. 1.46-51).

test. 43 K.-A. (= test, xxxv Storey)
= Ar. test. 54
Σν0ΩΔ Luc. JTr. 1 (p. 58.6-12 Rabe)
τό δραματουργεΐν τοΰ ύποδραματουργεϊν ταύτη διαφέρει· δραματουργέ!
μέν γάρ ό ποιητής καί τής ύποθέσεως όλης καί των επών, ώς Ευριπίδης,
Ευπολις, Αριστοφάνης καί εϊ τις τοιοϋτος· ύποδραματουργεϊ δε ό τά ύπό τών
δραματουργών τούτων είρημένα λαμβάνων κατά καιρόν καί τοΐς οίκείοις
αυτά πάθεσιν έναρμόττων άτε τοΐς ήδη πεπραγμένοις άφομοιούμενα