Χρυσοϋν γένος (fr. 301)

475

Ath. 9.374f-5a
έπί δέ των θηλειών τοϋνομα τάττει Αριστοφάνης Ταγηνισταϊς (fr. 520.6)·-. καί έν
Αχαρνεΰσιν (786-8)·-. καί Εϋπολις έν Χρυσω Γένει. καίΊππώναξ (fr. 136) δ’ έφη·
Aristophanes includes the noun among the feminines in Tagenistai (fr. 520.6):-. And
in Acharnians (786-8):-. Also Eupolis in Chrysoun genos. And Hipponax (fr. 136)
as well said:-
Meter Iambic trimeter.

- <x— X—>
Discussion Meineke 1839 11.540—1; Meineke 1847. 208; Herwerden 1872. 79;
Kock 1880 1.335; Allen 1933. 202
Citation context Ath. 9.374d-5a (also preserving Epich. fr. 99 and Anaxil.
fr. 12, both cited for the treatment of δέλφαξ as masculine) and 14.657a (also
preserving Pl. Com. fr. 119; S. fr. 671 (satyr play); Cratin. fr. 155, all cited for
the treatment of δέλφαξ as masculine) are likely two separate, unattributed
extracts from a single grammarian, although the fragment of Chrysoun genos
is the only material referenced in both.
Text The A-scribe of Athenaeus (or the copyist of the exemplar on which he
was dependent) was unable to make sense of much of this fragment, and he
therefore simply transcribed the letters he saw before him. Kassel-Austin print
the text as corrected by Meineke, accepting his δέλφακ’ ώδόν (“a tuneful sow”,
ώδός—here taken to be adjectival—being a contracted form of άοιδός also
attested at e. g. E. fr. 955g; Pl. Com. fr. 191; Pl. Phdr. 262d) and comparing Ar.
Ec. 739-40, where ή κιθαρωδός ... I πολλάκις άναστήσασά μ’ εις εκκλησίαν
(lit. “the female citharode who often gets me up for the Assembly”) apparently
refers to the noise produced first thing in the morning by a grain-mill287 (for
which, cf. also Pherecr. fr. 10.3-4). This has the advantage of being very close
to the paradosis f δελφακαωδον ψ, but is so obscure as to be difficult to accept.
Meineke’s alternative emendation, δέλφακα νωδόν (“a toothless sow”), would
presumably refer to a suckling piglet (cf. Pherecr. fr. 33 ού γαλαθηνόν dp’ ΰν

287 ΣΕ offers the gloss ή άλετρίς (“the female slave charged with grinding grain”),
which Musurus emended to ή άλεκτορίς (“the hen”, although hens do not crow).
Ussher 1973 ad loc. argues that Chremylus brings “a real live rooster” onstage (the
point then being that its crowing wakes him in the morning; cf. Pl. Com. fr. 191
τον άλεκτρυόνα τον ώδόν άποπνίξασά μου, “after strangling my singing rooster”),
but fails to explain why the feminine is used.