Φίλοι (fr. 291)

449

Ε. El. 1347; Hel. 981; Or. 5O;270 also found occasionally in Plato, e.g. Phdr. 259a,
278b). Cf. monosyllabic genitive/dative νων at e.g. A. Ch. 234; E. Med. 871;
Andr. 752; Ba. 194, recalling disyllabic epic νώϊν (sometimes also accusative,
as if with mi-moveable; see Janko 1992 on II. 13.326-7) at e.g. II. 8.374; Od.
15.168; [Hes.] Sc. 350.

fr. 291 K.-A. (271 K.)
τί μισθοί; ποΐ; πόση τις ή φορά;
What are you hiring for? To where? Precisely how much is the pay?
Poll. 7.133
τό δε έργον αύτών φορά, καί ό μισθός κόμιστρον· ε’ίποι δ’ άν τις αύτόν καί φέρτρον
καί φορεϊον. Αριστοφάνης δ’ έν τοΐς Ήρωσι δοκεϊ τό κόμιστρον κατά τό νϋν έθος
είρηκέναι τήν φοράν, όταν εϊπη (fr. 312)·-. τούτω δ’ άν έοίκοι καί τό έν τοΐς Φίλοις
Εύπόλιδος--
The work they do is phora, and the wage is a komistrorr, although one could also call it
a phertron or a phoreion. But Aristophanes in his Heroes seems to refer to the komistron
as a phora, in the modern fashion, when he says (fr. 312):-. To this one might also
compare the passage in the Philoi of Eupolis:-
Meter lambic trimeter.
<x->—
Discussion Meineke 1839 11.534; Nauck 1848b. 520; Kock 1880 1.332
Citation context From the end of a collection of words of all sorts having to
do with porters and bearers (Poll. 7.130-3).
Interpretation A porter interrogates a potential employer before accepting
an assignment. At Ar. Ra. 12-15, porter-scenes are treated as a comic stock-
in-trade, although only Phrynichus, Lycis and Ameipsias are named, Eupolis
being by then long dead. Ar. Ra. 172-4, where Dionysus attempts and fails to
hire a corpse to carry his baggage to the Underworld, rings a change on the
theme, as all three questions asked here are answered in one way or another:

270 LSJ s. v. εγώ III fails to note the use of νώ in the dramatic poets, assigning it only
to Plato, although noting νων at S. Ant. 3. Storey 2003. 26 and 2011. 225 translates
“you both”, which is incorrect.