148

Eupolis

The standard epic form is ελεεινός (e.g. II. 2.314; hDem. 284; note έλεος (guar-
anteed) at Hes. Op. 205), which is metrically less tractable, especially for tragic
poets, who accordingly use the local variant of the word. On the emotion itself,
see Konstan 2001; Sternberg 2005.

fr. 28 K.-A. (26 K.)
Antiatt. ε 7
έλελήθεισαν· μετά τής ει (Lobeck : θά Antiatt. : δφ, i.e. διφθόγγου Mehler).
Εΰπολις Αϊξίν
eleletheisan (“they had escaped notice”): with ei (thus Lobeck : tha Antiatt. : dph,
i. e. “diphthong” Mehler). Eupolis in Aiges
Discussion Lobeck 1820. 150; Meineke 1839 1.113; Cobet 1876. 449; Kock
1880 1.264
Citation context The strict Atticist Phrynichus is aware that forms like these
exist, but condemns them (Ecl. 119 ήκηκόεσαν, έγεγράφεσαν, έπεποιήκεσαν,
ένενοήκεσαν έρεΐς· άλλ’ οΰ σύν τω ι, ήκηκόεισαν, “You are to say ekekoesan,
egegraphesan, epepoiekesan, enenoekesan, but not with the iota, ekekoeisan”),
and the more lenient Antiatticist’s note is perhaps to be read as a response to
this censure attempting to show that such forms are in fact legitimate.
Text After έλελήθεισαν, the manuscript’s θά (as if έλεληθάσαν had been
written; printed by Kassel-Austin) makes no sense, and either Lobeck’s ει or
Cobet’s δ(ι)φ(θόγγου) might be right.
Interpretation The expected 3rd-person plural pluperfect active indicative
of λανθάνω is έλελήθεσαν (Th. 8.33.2; for similar forms, e.g. Ar. Eq. 651
έκεχήνεσαν, 674 έκεκράγεσαν; Pl. 744 έγρηγόρεσαν; Th. 1.89.3 έπεπτώκεσαν;
Men. Asp. 26 έπεφεύγεσαν). Kock suggested that the advantage of the form in
-εισαν was that it transformed the metrical value of the word fo^—x rather
than <^x), allowing it to be used e.g. in anapests (thus Kock). If that is
the case—i. e. if an audience in the Theater could be expected to regard this
as an acceptable, easily comprehensible metrical license—it is surprising that
no other examples are found in the poets, and Meineke suggested that the
Antiatticist was misled by a defective manuscript; cf. έγεγόνεισαν for the
correct έγεγόνεσαν at Hellanic. FGrH 4 F 71a.5 (from a scholion on Homer).