160

Eupolis

εϋσκιος is poetic vocabulary (Pi. P. 11.21; S. OC1707; E. fr. 495.36; Theoc.
7.8; attested in 4th-century prose at X. Oec. 9.4). For other poetic εύ-compounds
(very common), e. g. frr. 13.3 εύώδης with n.; 452 εϋζωρος; Cratin. frr. 70.2
εύπάλαμος; 94 εϋτριξ; 181 εϋερος; Ar. Nu. 276 εύάγητος, 300 εύανδρος, 308
εύστέφανος.
LSJ s. v. II.3 (followed by Montanari s. v.) takes δρόμοισιν here to mean
“public walks”, i. e. “walkways, promenades”, citing in support of the inter-
pretation “IG II2 1126.36, etc.” (by which is apparently meant “IG II2 1126.36,
42”) and comparing ό εξω δρόμος (glossed “colonnade”) at Pl. Tht. 144c;
κατάστεγος δρόμος (glossed “cloister”) at Pl. Euthd. 273a; and δρόμος ξυστός
(left unglossed) at Aristias TrGF 9 F 5. The inscription in question is a sacred
law having to do with cultic arrangments at Delphi and includes the δρόμος
in a catalogue of local facilities the Amphictyonic hiaromnamones are to take
charge of, the other items in the list being “the temple of Pythian Apollo,
the courtyard, the temple of Athena Pronaia ... and the spring in the plain”.
No further details are offered regarding the Pythian dromos, but there is no
obvious reason to give the word the eccentric sense LSJ suggests rather than
the more obvious “race-course” (LSJ s.v. II.2), as at Pi. P. 1.32 Πυθιάδος δ’ έν
δρόμω.82 Pl. Tht. 144c and Euthd. 273a are both seemingly set in gymnasia,
and the fact that one can walk laps on a dromos (as in Euthydemus; cf. Pl. Phdr.
227a) does not show that that is the primary intended purpose of the facility.
Elsewhere, dromoi are routinely associated with gymnasia and paired with
wrestling pits (Hdt. 6.126.3 δρόμον Kod παλαίστρην, “a dromos and a wrestling
pit”; E. Andr. 599 δρόμους παλαίστρας τ’, “dromoi and wrestling pits”; Tr.
833-4 τά δέ σά δροσόεντα λουτρά / γυμνασίων τε δρόμοι (“your dewy bathing
facilities and wrestling school dromoi”·, Aristias TrGF 9 F 5 ήv μοι παλαίστρα
και δρόμος ξυστός πέλας, “I had a wrestling pit and a smoothed dromos near-
by”; X. HG 2.4.27 κατά τον έκ Λυκείου δρόμον, “along the dromos that leads
from the Lyceum”; 7.4.29; Eq.Mag. 3.6, in the Lyceum; cf. Theoc. 18.39 with
Paus. 3.14.6 and Gow 1952 ad loc.). Most of LSJ s. v. δρόμος II.3 should thus be

82 For δρόμος in the inscription, see Rougemont 1977 ad loc. (pp. 116-17); Aupert
1979. 150-1. For the word in the sense “race-course”, note also e.g. Anacr. PMG
417.4; Pi. O. 3.33. The language of the inscription is not Attic Greek in any case,
meaning that even if it is taken to be using the word in a specialized sense, it cannot
be regarded as having much significance for interpreting Eupolis. Why LSJ s. v. II. 1
takes δρόμος at Od. 4.605 to mean “runs for cattle” is unclear, since horses and land
appropriate to accommodating them are in question there. To LSJ’s meanings for
the word, add also “lap” (S. El. 713) and “course, path” (Ar. Nu. 25 with Crowther
1993 = Crowther 2004. 241-4).