Προσπάλτιοι (fr. 259)

333

άρ]χόμ(εν)οι άνακρούεσ[θαι
]θει ξυμμαιν. [
114 Εύάνδρου τού Ά[ρκάδος] Lobel
]ν as a Phrygian. (No,) by Zeus
]ς of Euandros the a[ or ]ς of the a.. rich in men
ns ]ς Great Mother! (voc.) [
]ες pipe-players in the (fem. pl.) [
be] ginning to strike [up (music)
]θει join in madness(?)[
Meter Unknown.
Interpretation The extra space before 113 μά Δί(α) is most naturally taken
to indicate a transition from commentary to a new lemma. For the oath itself
(“(No), by Zeus”; not simply “by Zeus”, as if in affirmation, as in Rusten 2011.
262), see fr. 270.2 n.
Whether 114 contains a personal name (Εύάνδρου; seven other 5th-/4th-
century examples in LGPNIT) or a high-style adjective (εύάνδρου; e. g. Ar. Nu.
300 (lyric); Pi. P. 1.40 εΰανδρόν τε χώραν; Bacch. 9.17; A. Eu. 1031; E. Tr. 229
εΰανδρόν ... γάν (lyric)), is impossible to say, although there are other hints
that this section of the play contained attacks on well-known individuals (esp.
fr. 259m; and cf. fr. 259j n. on ώς Φρύγα (commentary)). In any case, the word
is likely drawn from the text. According to D.H. 1.33.4, the Arcadians brought
various musical instruments to Italy, hence Lobel’s conjecture in 114, making
this the name of their king (cf. D.H. 1.31.1).
The vocative170 Μάτερ Μεγάλα marks this as a prayer or imprecation,
and the Doric alphas for the expected Μήτερ Μεγάλη add high-style coloring,
as at Ar. Th. 124 (mock-tragic lyric),171 suggesting that these words too
(—) are drawn from a poetic text (presumably Prospaltioi itself). The
“Great Mother” is the Phrygian goddess Cybele (esp. Pi. fr. *80 [δέσπ]οιν[αν]
Κυβέ[λαν] ματ[έρα], “mistress Mother Cybele”; Ar. Av. 874-7 (Ιε.) στρουθώ
μεγάλη μητρι θεών / και άνθρώπων—/ (Πε.) δέσποινα Κυβέλη στρουθέ,
μήτερ Κλεοκρίτου, “(Priest) To the great ostrich Mother of Gods and Men-
(Peisetairos) Mistress Ostrich Cybele, mother of Cleocritus”; E. Ba. 78-9
ματρός μεγάλας όργια Κυβέλας, “rites of the Great Mother Cybele”; cf. E.
Hipp. 143-4; fr. 472.13), whose worship penetrated Greece beginning in the

170 Not nominative (“the Great Mother”), as in Rusten 2011. 262.
171 Cf. Lobel 1971. 52 “a quotation, or parody, of a non-Attic character speaking”.