Φίλοι (fr. 288)

445

λέγεται· σεαυτώ νουμηνίαν κηρύσσεις (“What day (is it) on Ceos?: A proverb
referring to things that are unknown (thus App. Prov./Prov. Bodl.: ‘well-known’
in Hsch.); for no one knows what day (it is) on Ceos. For the days are not in a
fixed order there, but they all reckon them as they wish. Whence the saying:
‘You’ll announce the new moon for yourself’”; see in general Gow 1965 on
Macho 121fE; West 1978 on Hes. Op. 768). Crusius 1883. 48, commenting on
the entry in the App. Prov., already recognized that the line now known from
the “new Photius” to be drawn from Eupolis was a comic fragment, although
he proposed assigning it to Diphilus on the basis of Zenob. Att. 1.50 (Miller
1868. 354) έν Κέω τίς ήμερα;· έθος ήν παρά τοΐς Κείοις τούς έπιβαίνοντας
των αρχών παρέχειν άριστον τω δήμω. ε’ί ποτέ ούν πολλοί ήσαν άρχοντες,
διενέμοντο προς αύτούς ήμέρας. ήρώτων ούν οί άπαντώντες άλλήλους τίς
ήμερα- όθεν ή παροιμία έκράτησεν επί των δειπνιζόντων. μέμνηται ταύτης
Δίφιλος έν τή Λευκαδία (fr. 52) (“What day (is it) on Ceos?: The Ceans had
a custom that individuals entering office provided lunch for the people. If,
therefore, there were ever a number of people taking over office, they divided
up the days among them. People who met one another therefore asked what
day (it was); whence the proverb came into being in reference to individuals
having dinner. Diphilus mentions it in his Leukadia (fr. 52)”).
Text The line is traditionally printed without punctuation, as if it meant
“for no one knows what day (it is) on Ceos” (cf. Ar. Ec. 368 οίδεν τί πρωκτός
βούλεται χεζητιών, where οίδεν ό τι πρωκτός βούλεται χεζητιών would do
just as well, as at Ec. 989 ούκ οίδ’ ό τι λέγεις; D. 23.203 ούδείς οίδεν άνθρώπων
τίς έστιν (“no one knows who in the world he is”)). In that case, however,
one would expect ός τις, and since έν Κέω τίς ήμέρα; is treated as a fixed,
independent proverbial phrase at Crates fr. 32.5 παι’ έκεΐνον, άγχ’ έκεΐνον. έν
Κέω τίς ήμέρα; (“Hit him! Choke him! What day (is it) on Ceos?”; obscure)
and apparently at Diph. fr. 52 (quoted in Citation context) as well, it is easier
to place a full stop at the caesura.
Interpretation An explanation (γάρ) of a previous remark, followed by a
proverb that perhaps means “it’s all up for grabs” or the like, although the
various authorities who cite and gloss it (see Citation context) appear to be
doing little more than guessing. The island of Ceos (modern Kea), the birth-
place of the poets Simonides and Bacchylides, is one of the Cyclades and the
closest of the group to Athens.267 There were four cities on Ceos in the classical

267 Storey 2003. 265 pointed to the mention of Chios in fr. 296 (also proverbial) and
suggested that this hinted at “an Ionian theme”, which is much further than the
evidence can be pressed.