Χρυσοΰν γένος (fr. 312)

491

verse?), a βάρβαρος (referring to the indigenous pre-Greek population?),
which is presumably the sense intended here.
κιθαραοιδότατε κιθαρωδός is properly an adjective (sc. άνήρ; cf. fr.
192kk n.), but not one that would be expected to produce a superlative; cf. the
similarly odd αύτότατος (“the very one”, < αύτός) at Ar. Pl. 83; βασιλεύτατος at
e.g. II. 9.69; Schwyzer 1939 ii. 176; Thesleff 1955 § 6-8 (an “elative superlative”,
i. e. one that expresses “a high degree of a certain quality without reference to
a range of comparison”). That there is a connection between this verse and Ar.
¥. 1278 (the only other attestation of the form) seems likely, although what it
is is impossible to say. Perhaps both comic poets were mocking Arignotus (see
Citation context)—who must have been in the public eye in the mid-420s BCE,
given the references to him in both Aristophanes’ Knights and Wasps—for his
(self-referential?) use of the word in a recent performance in Athens.
fr. 312 K.-A. (295 K.)
τοϋ Διός τό σάνδαλον
the sandal of Zeus
Phot, τ 399 = Suda τ 815
-έπι των ώς μέγα δή τι < ... } (lac. indie. Theodoridis)· Εϋπολις Χρυσω γένει
-: in reference to items <> (lac. marked by Theodoridis) as something big. Eupolis
in Chrysoun genos
Poll. 7.86
τό σάνδαλον Εϋπολις έν Χρυσω γένει καί σχεδόν άπαντες οί κωμικοί
Eupolis (uses the word) sandalon (“sandal”) in Chrysoun genos, as do nearly all the
comic poets
Meter lambic trimeter.
e.g. <x— x>| — —-
Citation context Traced by Erbse to Paus.Gr. τ 42.
Interpretation A sandal is normally a small and trivial item (although cf. fr.
287 n.), and if the lexicographers are to be believed, “the sandal of Zeus” is a
way of describing something that turns out to be much larger than expected.
If there is a specific reference, it is presumably to the sandals of the enormous
chryselephantine statue of Zeus at Olympia produced by Pheidias in the mid-
430s BCE (Paus. 5.11.1-9, with a brief mention of the statue’s gold sandals at