Ταξίαρχοι (fr. 270)

399

Text The division of the lines between two speakers was first adopted by
Grotius, and is supported by the fact that in comic dialogue δέ ... γε normally
marks a lively response to another speaker and is not delayed as long as it
would have to be here, if this were a single speech (Denniston 1950. 153-4).
Kock gave (A.) all of 1-2 and (B.) only 3. But the rhetorical function of vod
μά τον Δία has already been fulfilled for (A.) by μέντοι, and the oath makes
better sense as a sarcastic response to the preceding assertion. (B.)’s remark
is bomolochic, and (A.) may accordingly be engaged in dialogue in the first
instance not with him but with a third character. For Meineke’s attempt to
join this fragment to fr. 280, see n. there.
Interpretation Meineke thought that the object under discussion was a tribon
(rough robe; see fr. 298.6 n.), although the point would seem to be that it is a
luxury item that has aged and fallen on hard times (sc. like its owner?). Kock
suggested that the garment, whatever it was, belonged to Phormio—although
it could have belonged to anyone.
1-2 μέντοι might be either adversative (see Denniston 1950. 404-6), as
in the translation offered here, or assentient (“in fact, certainly”; see Denniston
1950. 399-401). In either case, (A.) is responding to and perhaps echoing some-
thing said by the previous speaker.
1 νεώτερος When used of persons, νέος means “young” (LSJ s. v. I; e. g.
Pherecr. fr. 156.3 εγώ γάρ ... ήνίκ’ ήν νεώτερος, “for I, when I was younger”;
Ar. Nu. 1391 των νεωτέρων, “the younger men”; V. 1101 οί νεώτεροι, “the
younger men”), whereas when used of objects, it means “fresh, freshly pro-
duced” (LSJ s. v. II; e.g. Ar. Nu. 1370 (songs); Pax 916 (wine); Av. 1038 (laws); cf.
fr. 21 νεόκοπον κάρδοπον, “a fresh-cut kneading trough”), καινός, by contrast,
means “novel” (e.g. frr. 56; 60.1; Pherecr. fr. 84.2; Ar. Nu. 480; Metag. fr. 15.2).
Cobet was thus wrong to claim that the latter adjective would have been
needed here if the reference was to a garment.222
κρόκης “woof-thread”, i. e. the soft thread drawn through the fixed, stiff
warp-threads in the weaving process; cf. frr. 242 n.; 344 n.; Hdt. 2.35.2; Arist.
Pol. 1265b20; Crowfoot 19 3 6/7.223 The more woof-thread used, the thicker,
warmer and more expensive the garment; cf. Ar. Nu. 53-5; V. 1145-9; Hes.
Op. 538. When a fuller washed and trimmed a garment (for the details of the
fulling process, see Biles-Olson 2015 on Ar. V. 1127-8, with bibliography),

222 Kock followed Cobet in this, and therefore took Phormio to be the subject of ήν in
1, but the garment to be the subject of είχε in 2, which is difficult sense.
223 Storey 2011. 216 mistakes the word for κρόκος and accordingly translates “saffron
dye”.