316

Eupolis

of the “oak-Acharnian” chorus in Aristophanes’ play of 425 BCE is to stone
Dicaeopolis to death, until they are eventually talked around to his point of
view). Fr. 263 suggests that a poet—likely a representative of the so-called
“New Music” (for which, see fr. 366 n.)—took part in the action.
Date Prospaltioi referred to Aspasia as “Helen” (fr. 267), thus apparently giv-
ing her the blame for the war with Sparta, and Goossens 1935b maintained
that the play assumed the political and military situation in Athens shortly
after the outbreak of hostilities and indeed featured Pericles (who died in 429
BCE) as a speaking character. Luppe, taking Goossens’ thesis for granted,
restored and translated fr. 259.3-5 (n.) to make Prospaltioi Eupolis’ first play.
But Goossens’ arguments are too tenuous to carry much conviction,154 and the
lines need not have read as Luppe thinks they did. The comedy is accordingly
better treated as undated.

Fragments
fr. 259 K.-A.
(POxy. 2813 = CGFPR 96)
POxy. 2813 consists of eighteen scraps of papyrus from a commentary on
Eupolis (named in 15, 17) found in Oxyrhynchus in Egypt and dated by Lobel,
the original editor, to the late 2nd or 3rd century CE. The script is semi-cursive of
a common sort, with alternative forms of certain letters, such as eta, kappa and
beta, and only cursive epsilon. No marginal signs are offered to help the reader
distinguish lemma from commentary, although extra space seems occasionally
to be included between the two. The assignment to Prospaltioi is based on what
appears to be a mention of the identity of the chorus in 13.
Four of the eighteen fragments of POxy. 2813 were associated with one
another by Lobel as POxy. 2813 fr. la-d. This combined fragment—far and
away the largest and most important of the group—preserves portions of two
columns of text, perhaps from an introductory discussion to the play and/or
summarizing material from the parabasis:
- fr. la contains portions of the left-hand side of col. I (= Eup. fr. 258.2-16
K.-A.)

154 Cf. Storey 2003. 231 “the evidence is slender indeed’-although he then goes on to
accept an early date on the basis of fr. 259.3-4.