Φίλοι (fr. 293)

453

Meter Trochaic tetrameter catalectic.

Discussion Kock 1880 1.331; Bochk 1886 1.319; Kaibel ap. K.-A.; Storey 2003.
264
Citation context An isolated lexicographic entry from an Atticist source.
Phot, κ 365 = Suda κ 788 preserve an abridged version of the same material
(omitting the title of Eupolis’ play) drawn from the Epitome of Harpocration.
Text Kock’s τήσδε (dependent on 1 τήν κατάστασιν) for the paradosis τήνδε
in 2 is designed to give the demonstrative a point by making the content
of the fragment sexual: the addressee plans to “ride” the girl or woman he
has undertaken to support (cf. Ar. V. 501 κελητίσαι273). As Kaibel saw (see
Interpretation), however, this is unnecessary, for κατάστασις here stands in
for some other undertaking that must have been identified in the preceding
verses.
Interpretation Old men are routinely the central characters in Aristophanic
comedies, and Storey 2003. 264 attempted to reconstruct some of the action of
Philoi on the basis of this fragment, arguing that the πρεσβύτης in question
might have unwisely accepted the cavalry katastasis (for which, below) and
accordingly have been forced to learn to ride; cf. Strepsiades’ discouraged
comments after he proves intellectually incapable of coping with life in the
Phronisterion at Ar. Nu. 791-3, on the one hand, and his testy exchange with
the Chorus after the disaster with Pheidippides at Ar. Nu. 1452-61, on the
other. As Kaibel observed, however, “Given that an old man could not be
enrolled among the knights, the poet is obviously speaking metaphorically”,
which must be the point of the otherwise problematic τήνδε (see on Text): the
addressee must thus have accepted support for some major—and expensive?—
undertaking (or one that is portrayed as such) before bothering to ensure
that he had the skills necessary to carry it out. This might nonetheless be the
central character in the play, and White 1912 § 245 notes that in Aristophanes
trochaic tetrameter catalectic is “frequently employed when the chorus enters
in haste in the parode” (e. g. Ach. 234-6, 238-40 and Eq. 242-83, in both of
which passages they are upset about the behavior of a central character in
the play). But even if the parallel is apt, we have no way of knowing wheth-
er Eupolis’ old man was successful in his undertaking, despite suffering a

273

Thus Kock; in fact, the speaker wants the woman to “ride” him. For the image
generally, cf. Olson 1998 on Ar. Pax 900.