Μαρικάς (fr. 206)

213

ή τριών ήμερων ώς επί τό πολύ (“The clearest sign is the one that occurs
at dawn, whenever a reddish sign appears before sunrise; for this generally
indicates rain either on that day or within three days”);96 Job 7:1 LXX μισθίου
αύθημερινοϋ (“a day-laborer”, i. e. someone hired and paid “on the same day”
he does his work); Ptol. Gramm, κ 80 κραιπάλη καί μέθη διαφέρει, κραιπάλη
μέν λέγεται ή χθεσινή μέθη, μέθη δέ ή αύθημερινή ο’ίνησις (“kraipale and methe
are different; for kraipale refers to being drunk on the previous day”—i. e. to a
hangover or the like—“whereas methe refers to intoxication on the same day
(sc. as the one on which one does the drinking)”);97 the more common adverb
αύθημερόν, “on the same day” (e.g. A. Pers. 456; Ar. Lys. 114; Th. 2.22.2; X.
An. 4.5.1); and similarly formed adjectives such as ήμερινός (“belonging to
the daytime” or “quotidian”) and μεθημερινός (“belonging to the afternoon”),
and (without the nu) e.g. πανημέριος (“all day long”) and εφημέριος (“last-
ing a single day”). LSJ s. v. 1 (accepting the paradosis αύθημερινών) suggests
“ephemeral”, but is unable to muster any parallels, marking the definition as
a counsel of despair.
λήρος and its cognates are colloquial late 5‘'-century vocabulary and ap-
pear routinely in abusive contexts; common in comedy (e.g. fr. 171.1; Pherecr.
fr. 117.1; Ar. Nu. 1273; Th. 880; Antiph. fr. 122.2, 5) and to a lesser extent in
prose (e.g. Isoc. 15.83; Pl. Tht. 151c; D. 5.10), but attested only once in tragedy
(S. Tr. 435 with Davies 1991 ad loc.). See in general Lech 2012.

fr. 206 K.-A. (191 K.)
δς θυμήνας τοϊς στρατιώταις λοιμόν καί ψώζαν έπεμψεν
λοιμόν codd. : λιμόν Toup
who (masc. sing.) in wrath sent plague and psdza on the soldiers

96 Sider-Brunschon 2007 print adverbial αύθημερόν (see their discussion of the text
on p. 117), but nonetheless translate “this is usually an indication <of rain> either
that very day or within three days”, which amounts to a tacit admission that their
emendation yields unacceptable sense (~ “indicates on that day or within three
days”).
97 Note also [Apollod.] Epit. 1.6 παρά Μήδειας λαβών αύθημερινόν προσήνεγκεν
αύτώ φάρμακον, where the sense is less clear-cut but the adjective probably means
“obtained on that same day”.