418

Eupolis

192.92 n. Hemsterhuis thought that a taxiarch might threaten a soldier at-
tempting to desert in this way—although it is difficult to believe that the body
of a free citizen could ever be violated in so aggressive a fashion, this is only a
threat—while Bothe suggested that Phormio was speaking to Dionysus, who
had had enough of military life and was preparing to run away. It is easier
to assume that the threat was aimed at a real slave (like e. g. Xanthias, who
accompanies Dionysus on his journey to the Underworld in Aristophanes’
Frogs), in which case “tattoo” perhaps means simply “beat black and blue”, as
at Ar. V. 1296 (and cf. Hsch. σ 1851 στίγματα· πληγαί, “tattoos: blows”).
Why the addressee is threatened with precisely three needles—or perhaps
simply “a number of needles” (cf. fr. 275.2 n.)—is obscure. Gildersleeve thought
the reference was to a brand of A (for δραπέτης), with each side of the letter
= a red-hot needle burnt into the flesh; but tattooing rather than branding
is in question. Headlam suggested that “three needles” meant “tattooed in
three colours”; but nothing else suggests that ancient tattooing involved any
color other than blue-black, and it remains unclear why being tattooed in
three colors would be worse than being tattooed in one. Perhaps this is a
capping remark (cf. the long series of threats at Ar. Eq. 278-302, 364-81): the
previous speaker has threatened the addressee with three of another item
(cf. Dicaeopolis’ three thongs at Ar. Ach. 723-4) or has offered him three of
something good or proposed making him τρισμακάριος, or the addressee has
threatened the speaker in a related manner, and the speaker here matches the
offer in a minatory fashion. Or perhaps “with three needles” is merely an em-
phatic way of saying “thoroughly”, i. e. “not with one needle but with three”.
δέ γε is common “in retorts and lively rejoinders” (Denniston 1950. 153).
βελόναισιν That the noun (etymology uncertain) is attested here, in
Hermippus and in the compound βελονοπώλης (“fre/one-seller”) at Ar. Pl. 175
leaves no doubt that it was well-established colloquial late 5th-century vocab-
ulary. Phryn. Ecl. 63 accordingly endorses it, while disowning ραφίς (βελόνη
καί βελονοπώλης αρχαία, ή δέ ραφίς τί έστιν ούκ αν τις γνοίη, “belone and
belonopoles are archaic terms, whereas no one would know what a rhaphis
is”).239 ραφίς ({ ράπτω, “sew, stitch”) in the sense “needle”, by contrast, is first
attested in Archipp. fr. 40.1 and Hippocrates (e. g. Morb. II66 = 7.100.14 Littre
ώσπερ ραφίς κεντέειν δοκέει, “it seems to prick like a rhaphis”), and as a fish-
name at Epich. fr. 45 (and cf. Speusipp. fr. 19 Taran, who identifies the ραφίς
and the βελόνη; Stromberg 1943. 36-7); used specifically of a tattooing-needle

239 Antiatt. p. 113.14 ραπίδα (ραφίδα Lobeck)· τήν βελόνην. Επίχαρμος (fr. 139) (“rhapis
(rhaphis Lobeck): a belone. Epicharmus (fr. 139)”) is perhaps intended as a response.