412

Eupolis

verb rather than using the same one twice, and I accordingly follow previous
editors in printing φάγοιμι there.
When aphaeresis occurs, the accentuation of neither word is affected
(Koster 1962. 28), hence ’φυγον with no accent.
Interpretation According to Σ Ar. ~ Suda, Dionysus spoke these words while
learning about military affairs in Phormio’s company (μανθάνων παρά τω
Φορμίωνι). What eating (φάγοιμι) has to do with the situation is unclear,
although fr. 275 suggests that a soldier’s diet was a topic in the play.
στιβάδες (cognate with στείβω, “tread (on), trample”; cf. fr. 445 n. on
στοιβήν) are rough, improvised beds made of thin branches and covered by
green stuff, animal skins or the like,235 which are associated with rural settings
and the lives of the poor and of soldiers on campaign (e. g. Cratin. fr. 68 (merely
a notice that the word was used in Drapetides); Ar. Pax 347a (part of a soldier’s
life; quoted in Citation context); Pl. 540-1 (bedding for the poor), 662-3 (bed-
ding for an overnight visit to a temple); Men. Dysc. 420-1, 943 (preparations
for a rustic sacrifice and feast); Od. 14.49-51 (the couch Eumaios produces
for his anonymous visitor; the word στιβάς itself is not used); Alcmaeonis fr.
2.1-2, p. 33 Bernabe (a funerary bed; context uncertain); E. Tr. 507 (where a
slave sleeps); Hel. 797-8 (a suppliant’s temporary sitting/sleeping place); X.
HG 7.1.16, 2.22 (used by soldiers on campaign); Cyr. 5.2.15 (used by soldiers
on campaign); Pl. R. 372b (part of life in the simple rustic city); Theoc. 7.67-8;
9.9-10; 13.34-5 (in idyllic rustic scenes); Hsch. σ 1843; Verpoorten 1962, esp.
151-7 (although with wide-ranging, unlikely suggestions regarding the fun-
damental significance of στιβάδες as part of a semi-initiatory “education de
guerrier”); Topper 2009. 9-12, with further bibliography.
έξ δτου sc. χρόνου.

fr. 275 K.-A. (255 K.)
έπιφαγεΐν μηδέν άλλ’ ή κρόμμυον
λέποντα και τρεις άλμάδας
2 λέποντα Meineke : βλέποντα Ath.ACE
to eat nothing else, except an onion
one peels and three brined olives

235 “Reed mats” (Rusten 2011. 267) and “sleeping mats” (Storey 2011. 219) are both
wrong, the former more egregiously so.