Ταξίαρχοι (fr. 268)

391

χαλεπαίνει δέ κυβερνήτης τοϊς έν πρύμνη; (in bad weather, “Don’t you see that
a prdreus gets angry with the men in the bow merely on account of a nod of
a head, while the helmsman in the stern gets angry (for the same reason)?”);
Arist. Pol. 1253b27-9 τών δ’ οργάνων τά μέν άψυχα, τά δέ έμψυχα, οίον τώ
κυβερνήτη ό μέν οϊαξ άψυχον, ό δέ πρωρεύς έμψυχον (“some tools are sen-
tient, while others are not; in the case of a helmsman, for example, the rudder
is insentient, whereas the prdreus is sentient”), 1276b21-4 τών δέ πλωτήρων
καίπερ άνομοίων δντων τήν δύναμιν (ό μέν γάρ έστιν ερέτης, ό δέ κυβερνήτης,
ό δέ πρωρεύς, ό δ’ άλλην τιν’ έχων τοιαύτην έπωνυμίαν) (“although sailors
have various functions—for one is a rower, another a helmsman, another a
prdreus, and another has a different name of this type”). The bow-officer was
not responsible for the state of the sea or even for the angle the helmsman
took through it. He was nonetheless the obvious person to blame, even if in
jest, when a blast of spray came up because the ship hit a wave wrong or got
foul of the wind, which may be the point of the saying.

fr. 268o = 268.53-4 K.-A.

[ούκ] εκτενείς ούν τον σ[κελί]σκον; —
Stretch out your little leg then!

Meter lambic trimeter.

Context POxy. 2740 fr. 2 col. II.9-11 = fr. 268.53-6 K.-A.
“ό έκ πρώρας, μή ρ[αΐνε”. ούκ
>-
εκτενείς ούν τον σ[κελι-
55 σκον; αντί τού τό σκ[έλος216

“You in the bow, don’t get (us) wet!”
Stretch out your little leg
55 then! In place of “your skelos (leg)”

Interpretation A paragraphos between 53 and 54, together with the fact that
54-5 are set slightly to the left of the material above and below, mark the be-

216 Despite Lobel in his text (but not in his diplomatic transcription on p. 52), Austin
1973 and Kassel-Austin, the kappa—on which the restoration σ[κελί]σκον de-
pends—is clearly visible on the papyrus.