252

Eupolis

Hdn. Grammatici GraeciIII.2, p. 911.10-16
τά εις η λήγοντα θηλυκά ονόματα έπ’ εύθείας περισπώμενα κατά τήν συνήθειαν καί
τήν των παλαιών χρήσιν άεί θέλει υπέρ μίαν συλλαβήν είναι έχειν τε καί εντελέστερα
προυποκείμενα ... παγή, γαλή, μυγαλή, άμυγδαλή. Εϋπολις έν Βάπταις·-
Feminine nouns ending in eta that have a circumflex accent on the final syllable by
convention and ancient practice always want to be more than one syllable long and
to have less consolidated antecedent forms ... page, gale, mygale, amydale. Eupolis in
Baptai:-
Ath. 2.53a
Εϋπολις·-
Eupolis:-
Meter lambic trimeter.
Discussion Fritzsche 1835. 226-7; Schneidewin 1848b. 258-9; Bothe 1855.
159; Leutsch 1855. 707-8; Delneri 2006. 287-9
Citation context Herodian cites this verse in a treatise on unusual words,
his point being that the ending of άμυγδαλή and similar words represents a
contraction of -έα. Athenaeus quotes the line in the course of a discussion of
almonds (part of a longer treatment of nuts generally), the specific topic being
various grammarians’ views on the accentuation of the word and whether it
was different for the tree and its fruit.
Text Herodian offers the corrupt άλλεξομέλεις με, which appears to repre-
sent άλλ’ έξολεΐς (thus Bloch) with an intrusive με that must originally have
been a superlinear note signaling a variant άλλ’ έκ μ’ όλεϊς. The Epitome of
Athenaeus—the only witness to the text at this point—has an abbreviated
version of the line that begins with the metrically impossible άπολεΐς με.
Dindorf combined the two readings to produce άλλ’ έξαπολεΐς με (“You’ll
be the utter death of me!” ~ “Damn you to hell!”; printed by Kassel-Austin).
But έξαπόλλυμι is not attested in comedy, and it is better to follow Meineke
and Kock in adopting Bloch’s text and to understand the version of the line
in Athenaeus as an example of a more common form of a verb driving out a
less common one.
Interpretation An exasperated response to the behavior of the addressee,
drawing a contrast with some previously expressed idea (hence άλλ(ά)).
For έξολεΐς με, cf. fr. 260.26 n.; Ar. Pax 318 έξολεΐτέ μ’, ώνδρες (“You’ll be
the death of me, gentlemen!”).