382

Eupolis

and Austin 1973). There is room for 9-10 letters between 25 εστηκας ηδ] and
26 cxi : ξύνθημα v[; for 8-9 letters between 26 ξύνθημα v[ and 27 ]άσον; and
for 9-10 letters between 27 γνω[ and 28 ]πλησίον (i. e. ~ three syllables in each
case, assuming that all these words are drawn from Eupolis).
εστηκας Used in the sense “stand about lazily” at e. g. Ar. Ach. 484 with
Olson 2002 ad loc.·, Pax 256 εστηκας αργός;; Ec. 879-80 εστηκα ... / αργός;
Eub. fr. 14.1-2; Alex. fr. 153.15; Men. Mis. CGFPR 147.6; fr. 315.1; cf. Headlam
1922 on Herod. 5.40.
ξύνθημα/σύνθημα —in a military context probably “password” (thus
Luppe 1980. 45; cf. [E.] Rh. 521, 572 οίσθα σύνθημα στρατού with Liapis 2012
ad loc. and on 12)—is attested in various senses in tragedy (e.g. A. fr. **61a;
S. Tr. 158; E. Ph. 1140) and prose (Hdt. 5.74.2; Th. 4.67.4; X. HG 2.1.2; Pl. Grg.
492c), but nowhere else in comedy, ξύν- is the old form of the preposition (see
Threatte 1980. 553-4), presumably used by Eupolis for metrical reasons but
glossed by the commentator with the common σύν-.
]ασον is perhaps the end of a second-person singular aorist active im-
perative. Kassel-Austin print Luppe’s [φρ]άσον, which would have to mean
“declare a password!”, i.e. “invent one and share it with me!”, although the
verb normally takes as its object something already articulated or known-
hence “Nenne mir die Parole” (Luppe 1980. 45) and “Tell the password” (Storey
2011. 2 1 3206), despite the absence of a definite article in the Greek.
γνω[ Likely a form of γιγνώσκω (e. g. to fit the gap in the meter γνώσομαι
or γνώσεται).
]τωι πλησίον in the commentary in 29 suggests that Eupolis used πλησίον
adverbially with a definite article (LSJ s. v. A.II.2) to mean “to the [man] next
to you” (a reasonable candidate for someone to whom one might offer a pass-
word) or “[in] the [area] nearby” ([έν] τώ πλησίον ω[ν] Luppe).
fr. 268h = 268.31-2 K.-A.
νή τον Δί’ άλ[λ x — ^] και μισώ γε πρ[ός]
άλ[λ ] suppl. Lobel πρ[ός] suppl. Handley
But of course ... and I hate him/it as well!
Meter lambic trimeter.
—— <χ—>1- ——

206

Although in the Greek Storey prints only ]ασον.