314
Προσπάλτιοι (Prospaltioi)
(“Men of Prospalta”)
Testimonia
test, i
Σε Ar. Nu. 541
ούδέ πρεσβύτης ό λέγων· ώς Εϋπολις έν τοϊς Προσπαλτίοις
and no old man who’s speaking: as Eupolis (does) in Prospaltioi
Context From a note on Ar. Nu. 541-2 ούδέ πρεσβύτης ό λέγων τάπη τή
βακτηρία / τύπτει τον παρόντ’, άφανίζων πονηρά σκώμματα (“and no old man
who’s speaking the lines strikes the bystander with his staff as a way of con-
cealing bad jokes”; part of a tongue-in-cheek catalogue of the nasty features
Aristophanes’ comedies do not include—almost all of them, however, found in
Clouds itself).152 This information—that Prospaltioi included an old man who
told bad jokes and hit another person with a stick, not that the reference in
the revised Clouds is specifically to that passage (which would put a terminus
ante quem for Prospaltioi in the early 410s BCE)—seems specific enough to be
believable, although ΣΕΜ on the same lines identifies the remark as directed
instead at Hermippus (= test. 6) or the actor “Simermon” (a combination of
two variant readings, Έρμωνα and Σίμωνα), while ΣΒΧ claims that the target
is the actor Hermon (PAA 422025; Stephanis #910).
test. *ii
Et.Gen. AB = Suda δ 1515
έκωμωδοϋντο ... Θυμοιτάδαι καί Προσπάλτιοι ώς δικαστικοί
The men of Thymoitas and Prospalta were mocked in comedy as litigious
Context From a note on the word Δρυαχαρνεύ (“Oak-Acharnian”; = adesp.
com. fr. 498) that offers as parallels mocking characterizations of several other
demes (including Upper and Lower Potamos, whose demesmen formed the

152 For the figure of the old man in Aristophanes’ comedies, see Byl 1977 (with passing
attention to ΣΕ Ar. Nu. 541 at p. 52).