Χρυσοϋν γένος (fr. 299)

469

version of the latter’s σκίρον δέ τον άειδή ρύπον καί Κρατΐνος λέγει. Phot, τ
506, by contrast, is very similar to Synag. τ 268 τροφαλίς· τυρός; Suda τ 1059
τροφαλίς· τυρός, άρπάσας ό κύων τροφαλίδα τυρού Σικελήν κατεδήδοκε
(~ Ar. V. 837-8); and EMp. 769.25 τροφαλίς· σημαίνει τον τυρόν (presumably
not a gloss on Aristophanes, since the crucial word τυρός is already in the
text there).
Text Line 1 is metrically deficient. Kassel-Austin print Meineke’s τρο-
φαλίς εκείνηi, which might be right, although it requires that the trophalis
be visible onstage, which sits oddly with the preceding claim that everyone
is gone. For έκεινηί scanning , cf. Ar. Av. 298. The definite article is
not obligatory with the demonstrative; cf. fr. 302 n. Alternatively, Meineke
proposed restoring the lines as iambic tetrameter:
<x — ο — > λοιπός γάρ ούδείς· <ή> τροφαλίς εκείνη
έφ’ ύδωρ βαδίζει σκιρον ήμφιεσμένη — — >
Interpretation An explanation of a preceding remark (γάρ) but otherwise
obscure. The description of the cheese as “clothed in” a rind would be more
appropriate for a woman; the image perhaps depends in part on the fact that
its “flesh” is as pale and white as hers would be. For similarly mixed descrip-
tions, e. g. Eub. frr. 43.1 τήν τ’ εύπρόσωπον λοπάδα (“and the fair-faced pan”);
64.1-2 παρθένου Βοιωτίας / Κωπαδος (“a Copaic Boeotian maiden”; of an eel);
75.10 μεμαγμένη δέ Δήμητρας κόρη (“and a kneaded daughter of Demeter”; of
a barley-cake). But rind is not, on the face of it, an attractive item of clothing
(cf. Cratin. fr. 491, cited by the EM), which suggests that the trophalis is do-
ing a slave-girl’s work (cf. below on 2 έφ’ ύδωρ)281 and is appropriately—i. e.
badly—dressed. In that case, the other individuals in question are most likely
other slaves (or enslaved food-items). For animate food and other household
equipment replacing slaves in a magical, ideal world, cf. Crates fr. 16.
1 A τροφαλίς is some common unit of cheese (e. g. Ar. V. 838 τροφαλίδα
τυρού Σικελικήν, “a Sicilian trophalis of cheese”; Antiph. fr. 51 τροφαλίδας
τε λινοσάρκους, μανθάνεις; τυρόν λέγω, “Linen-fleshed trophalides, do you
understand? I mean cheese”, presumably referring to linen wrappers rather
than to the texture of the cheese itself; Alex. fr. 178.12 (diminutive); Arist. HA
522al 5, 31; Hermias fr. 2, FHG ii. 80).282 Σ? Ar. V. 838 defines it as κυρίως ό

281 Thus seemingly already Meineke 1839 H.539.
282 Note also the punning Ar. fr. 955 ψελλός έστι καί καλεΐ / τήν άρκτον άρτον, τήν
δέ Τυρώ Τροφαλίδα, / τό δ’ άστυ σύκα (“He’s inarticulate”—Kassel-Austin retain
the paradosis ψελλόν, but the nominative seems called for—“and calls an arktos
(‘bear’) an artos (‘bread’), Tyro Trophalis (‘Chunk of Fresh Cheese’, playing on