Βάπται (fr. 96)

283

fr. 96 K.-A. (87 K.)

zRVE0MBarb p;
(Εύδάμου) Εΰπολις Βάπταις μέμνηται' Εω' Βι''’ καί Άμειψίας (fr. 26)κνΕΘΜΒ3Γΐ>
(Eudamos) Eupolis mentions him in Baptai,VE0MNBarb as does Ameipsias (fr. 26)RVE0MNBarb
Discussion Fritzsche 1835. 214-16; Delneri 2006. 349-40
Citation context A gloss on Ar. Pl. 883-4 φορώ γάρ πριάμενος / τον δα-
κτύλιον τονδί παρ’ Εύδάμου δραχμής (“for I bought this little ring here from
Eudamos for a drachma and am wearing it”; the Just Man explains to the
Sycophant why he is unafraid of him, after which Cario responds by making
it clear that such rings were typically supposed to protect against the bites
of venomous creatures); presumably drawing on a now-lost catalogue of
kdmdidoumenoi.
Text This is one in a series of ill-divided individual scholia on these verses,
and I print the text as it appears in Chantry 1994, as a prosopographical note.
Kassel-Austin follow Dübner 1887 (the only edition available at the time of
their edition) and print instead δακτύλιον δέ τον λεγόμενον φαρμακίτην.
Εϋπολις Βάπταις μέμνηται (“But (he uses the term) daktylion (“little ring”)
for the so-called pharmakites.171 Eupolis mentions (this) in Baptai”).
Interpretation Eudamos or Eudemos (PAA 429232) is also mentioned at Pl.
Com. fr. 214 (restored by Wilamowitz to include a reference to φαρμακίται,
although that seems an unlikely object for the verb τρέφειν), as well at Thphr.
HP 9.17.2, where he is described as Εύδημος ... ό φαρμακοπώλης εύδοκιμών
σφόδρα κατά την τέχνην (“Eudemos the drug-vendor, who had a very good
reputation in his trade”). Whether Cratin. fr. 302 (obscure and corrupt; = PAA
429235) is another reference to the same man is unclear.
For φαρμακοπώλαι, who dealt in a wide range of magical objects, cf. Ar.
Nu. 766 (a burning-glass); fr. 28 (snakes in a chest); Theopomp. Com. fr. 3.2 (a
Megarian φαρμακοπώλης typically has a chest full of something); D. 48.12-14
(slaves called φαρμακοτρίβαι (“drug-grinders”), presumably producing goods
for sale by a φαρμακοπώλης); Arist. HA 594a21-4 (venomous spiders and
snakes); Thphr. HP 6.2.5 (use of a particular herb); 9.8.5 (a synopsis of some of
their prescriptions); Ael. NA 9.62 (a φαρμακοτρίβης, literally “drug-grinder”,
but using snakes); Arnott 1996. 312-13. For magical rings with medicinal
properties, note also Antiph. fr. 175.5; and see Olson-Seaberg 2018 on Cratin.
fr. 373 (on amulets).

171

Not “a ring of protection” (Storey 2011. 93).