13

Fragments
fr. 147 K.-A. (138 K.)
αϊ κα γένηται τοΐσδε σάμερον κοπίς
αϊ κα Bergk : καί Ath.A τοΐσδε Ath.A : τοϋδε Kassel-Austin
if these people should have a kopis today

Ath. 4.138e-f
Πολέμων δ’ έν τώ παρά Ξενοφώντι κανάθρω (fr. 86 Preller) τού παρά Λάκωσι
καλούμενου δείπνου κοπίδος μνημονεύοντα Κρατΐνον έν Πλούτοις (fr. 175) λέγειν-.
καί Εύπολις έν Ε'ίλωσι--
But Polemon in his The Wicker Carriage in Xenophon (fr. 86 Preller) (says) that Cratinus
in Ploutoi (fr. 175) mentions the dinner the Spartans refer to as a kopis, saying:-.
Also Eupolis in Heilotes:-
Meter lambic trimeter.
Discussion Kock 1880. 294; Crusius 1910. 101; Schiassi 1944. 24; Tammaro
1990-3. 128-9, Colvin 1999. 271-2.
Citation context The resumptive ταΰτα μέν ό Πολέμων at Ath. 4.139c
shows that all this material, including the description of the kopis quoted in
Interpretation and Epich. frr. 34; 109 (which follow), is drawn from Polemon,
where it was part of a discussion of the phrase άκουσάτω δε ώς έπϊ πολίτικου
καννάθρου κατήει εις Αμύκλας <ή θυγάτηρ αύτορ> (“and let him hear how <his
daughter^ used to go down to Amyclae in a wicker carriage like that belonging
to any average citizen”; of someone who might doubt the simplicity in which
the Spartan king Agesilaus lived) at X. Ages. 8.7.
Text If Athenaeus’ καί is retained, the line is metrically deficient and the
mood of γένηται is unexplained. Bergk’s αϊ κα (= Attic έάν) solves both prob-

429-426 BCE on the ground that the other surviving mentions of Gnesippus come
from Chionides, Telecleides and Cratinus; see fr. 148 n. But at fr. 148.3 Gnesippus is
referred as a figure from the past (ηΰρε), and the speaker’s complaint is best taken
to be that his songs continue to be performed while true classics are ignored, as
a consequence of which the reference tells us nothing about when Kolakes was
performed.