Βάπται (fr. 76)

247
only to be taken along with βούλευμα, but also governs τής πόλεως (thus “on
behalf of the city, for the good of the city”). Alternatively, the division might
be intended to mockingly capture the way words are routinely split between
lines in inscribed decrees, and τής πόλεως might be added for emphasis as
part of the response to whatever was said earlier: “a major motion involving
the city” (or “their city”, if somewhere other than Athens is in question). The
division of a single word between two lines is extremely rare in any case, and
as Hephaestion and Marius Victorinus/Aphthonius both note, normally rep-
resents a way of dealing with metrically intractable personal names (Άριστο-/
γείτων in the “Simonides” epigram, Απολλό/δωρος in the otherwise obscure
Nicomachus and in Euph. fr. 5, p. 30 Powell = fr. 8 van Groningen). See in
general Leutsch 1856. 750-63; Kassel 1975 (without reference to this fragment).
1 άλλ’ ούχί δυνατόν έστιν Cf. fr. 260.28 / άλλ’ ούχί δυνατ(ά) with n.;
Willi 2003b. 45.
οΰ γάρ αλλά is literally “for (it’s) not (otherwise), but”, i.e. “for it’s
actually the fact that”. A colloquialism, attested elsewhere in the 5th century
at Ar. Eq. 1205; Nu. 232; Ra. 58, 498; E. Supp. 570 with Collard 1975 ad loc.; IT
1005; Ba. 785; cf. Denniston 1950. 31; Stevens 1976. 47.
1-2 In Athens, and seemingly in other democratically governed cities as
well, decisions by the ’Εκκλησία were normally preceded by a προβούλευμα,
a preliminary determination by the Βουλή that might consist either of a spe-
cific recommendation for action or an invitation to the Assembly to make up
its own mind on the matter in question. What is less clear in the Athenian
case is exactly where the power lay in this period, i. e. whether the Assembly
was normally content to stamp for approval decisions already reached in
the Council, or whether the Council’s primary responsibility was to lay the
groundwork for a more substantial and significant debate in the Assembly.
Cf. Rhodes 1972. 52-81; de Laix 1973. 25-9; Rhodes 1974 (a review of de Laix);
Rhodes 1981 on [Arist.] Ath. 45.4; Hansen 1987. 35-7.
2 βαστάζουσι For the verb, see fr. 326.4 n.
For μέγα in the sense “major” (LSJ s.v. A.II.4), e.g. Ar. V. 534 σοι μέγας
εστ’ αγών (“you face a major contest”), 590 ή βουλή χώ δήμος, όταν κρΐναι
μέγα πράγμ’ άπορήση (“the Council and the People, whenever it’s impossi-
ble to reach a decision on a major matter”); Lys. 511 βουλευσαμένους μέγα
πράγμα (“reaching a decision on a major matter”); Ra. 759 πράγμα πράγμα
μέγα κεκίνηται μέγα (“a major, major disturbance is underway”), 1099.