Βάπται (fr. 83)

261

near its center (Theoc. 2.17; cf. Pi. P. 4.213-19; anon. AP 5.205 = HE 3798-3803;
Johnston 1995. 178-84; Fernandez Fernandez 20 1 5),153 and (2) a bull-roarer
or thunderstick, called a ρόμβος or ρόμβος, i. e. a kite-shaped (“rhomboid”)
piece of wood attached to a cord and spun around to produce a roaring noise,
including as a part of mystic ceremonies (Theoc. 2.30-1 [transposed to after
43 by Gow, following the papyrus and K]; Archyt. 47 B 1 D.-K.; A. fr. 57.8-9
(quoted in the general introduction to Baptai) with Else 1958. 74-5; E. Hel.
1362-3 with Kannicht 1969 ad loc.; Diog.Ath. TrGF 45 F 1.3; West 1983. 157;
West 1992a. 122).154 See in general Gow 1934; Pettazzoni 1997. 21-44. Here a
bull-roarer is in question and is said to be “whipping” the speaker, which likely
means “driving” him or her “into a [cultic] frenzy”. For the figurative use of
μαστίζω (recognized by neither LSJ nor Montanari s. v.), cf. LSJ s. v. μάστιξ II.
Meineke took the goddess Kotyto herself to be speaking, while Kaibel (less
venturously) thought that this must be one of her celebrants. Cf. Ar. fr. 315 ϊθι
δή λαβών τον ρόμβον άνακωδώνισον (“Come on! Take the rhombos and let
it ring!”; from Heroes), where Meineke’s ρόμβον ought probably to be printed
(cf. below) and where Kaibel hypothesized that heroes were being summoned
(or driven away). Kock (who proposed emending the participle to μαλθάξας
on the ground that μαστίζω is not Attic; see below) suggested that the speaker
might be someone who had been cheated by magical means.
ρύμβος/ρόμβος is < ρέμβομαι (“roam, wander”; e.g. Men. fr. 871.8). For
ρόμβος (the Attic form of the word, according to XKLEA Theoc. 2.30), cf. Crit.
TrGF 43 F 4.2; Pl. Cra. 426e ρυμβεΐν.
μαστίξας The ordinary verb meaning “whip” is μαστιγόω (e. g. Ar. Eq.
64; S. fr. 820.2; Hdt. 3.154.2; X. HG 3.3.11), and μαστίζω is instead an epic form
(e. g. II. 8.45 - Od. 3.494). It thus presumably adds a elevated tone here, as also
at Alex. fr. 138.5, where a cook is speaking.155
If this is iambic trimeter (see Meter), the emphatic form έμέ is unneces-
sary-unmarked με would do just as well—and a contrast must have been

153 Cf. Rusten 2011. 229 “Oh magic wheel”.
154 Montanari s.v. perpetuates the misunderstanding, glossing ρόμβος at Theoc. 2.30
“magic wheel, disc, for spells ... (uncertain] signification]”). What the magical
rhombus referred to in Roman sources (Ov. Am. 1.8.7; Mart. 9.29.9; 12.57.17; Prop.
2.28.35), as well as at Luc. DMeretr. 4.5, is, is less clear; the OLD takes it to be a
bull-roarer rather than a ϊυγξ, but the proper sense of the Greek word may already
have been unclear at this point. Σρ A.R. 1.1134-9 muddies the waters further by
adding a reference to whipping, as if this were a top.
155 Cf. Arnott 1996. 401, whose alternative and less convincing hypothesis is that
μαστίζω is not an epicism but simply an ill-attested colloquial by-form of the verb.