480

Eupolis

BCE lyric poet. For sloppiness or incoherence of this sort as seemingly typical
of Didymus’ work, see West 1970.
Interpretation The citharode Alcaeus is Stephanis #131. Meineke suggested
(1) that the reference at Eratosthenes fr. 6 Strecker (ap. Hsch. a 3086)—an
author to whom Didymus must have had access—to a kdmdidoumenos named
Alcaeus might be to the same man, and thus possibly to the same passage
of Eupolis; and (2) that this thesis would find further support at Hsch. ε
3840 Έξηκεστιδαλκίδαι (= adesp. com. fr. 338)· παρά τον Έξηκεστίδην καί
Αλκίδην τούς κιθαρωδούς (“Exekestidalkidai: with reference to the citharodes
Execestides and Alcides”), were Αλκίδην there emended to Αλκαίον.
Be all that as it may, it is unclear how Alcaeus can be simultaneously from
Sicily and the Peloponnese. Meineke 1847, comparing fr. 311, suggested that he
was Sicilian but spent time in the Peloponnese, whereas Bergk proposed the
opposite. Either thesis might be correct, or the joke might be more complicated
than we are in a position to understand, e. g. that Alcaeus was originally from
Sicily but performed in what was taken to be a Peloponnesian style. Bergk
also argued that St.Byz. p. 568.13-14 Meineke έστι καί άλλη Σικελία κατά την
Πελοπόννησον (“there is also another Sicily in the Peloponnese”) represented
a false conclusion based on this fragment.
For iambic trimeter lines consisting of only three words, here with a rising
3/4/5 structure, cf. frr. 109.2; 330.2 (both including a monosyllabic enclitic as
a fourth element); and see in general Marcovich 1984 (with examples from
comedy tabulated on pp. 190-3). This line apparently falls into Marcovich’s
“satiric” category (pp. 178-9).

fr. 304 K.-A. (282 K.)

άτεχνώς μέν ούν, τό λεγόμενον, σκύτη βλέπει
simply put then, as the saying goes, “he looks whips”
Zenob. vulg. 6.2
σκύτη βλέπει- μέμνηται αυτής Εϋπολις έν Χρυσω γένει. φησί γάρ·-. είρηται δέ έπί
τοϊς ύποψιαστικώς διακειμένοις προς τά μέλλοντα κακά
“he looks whips”: Eupolis mentions this (proverb) in Chrysoun genos. For he says: —..
It is used in reference to those who have suspicions regarding impending troubles

Meter lambic trimeter.