502

Eupolis

guardians of cities and the like at e.g. Ar. Eq. 1173, 1186 (in both cases the
cognate verb); Sol. fr. 4.3; Pi. O. 14.4; A. Th. 272; E. IT 1414).
2 The point (filled out in the lost lines that followed) was presumably
that Athens was happy in the past when it did not have to put up with Cleon,
and will be in the future when it is rid of him; the present is by contrast not
so pleasant. Storey 2003. 270 compares Ar. Eq. 973-6 ήδιστον φάος ήμέρας
ήν Κλεών άπόληται (“it will be a very lovely day, if Cleon perishes”).
ευδαίμων “Favored by a divine power” or “divine powers”, and thus by
extension “blessed, happy”; see in general de Heer 1969, esp. 54, 99-100. Also
used of cities, lands and the like at e. g. Ar. Eq. 159 (quoted at 1); Av. 144-5, 906
(the Poet is speaking); Ec. 1112 (of Attica); hHom. 11.5; Eumel. fr. 8.1, p. Ill
Bernabe; Pi. P. 4.276-7 with Braswell 1988 ad loc.; E. Andr. 873; Hee. 443; El.
1289 (of Athens); fr. 515.2; S. OC 282.
For μάλλον + simple adjective as equivalent to a comparative (here εύ-
δαιμονεστέρα), e.g. Ar. V. 1105 μάλλον όξύθυμόν έστιν ούδέ δυσκολώτερον,
1267; Pl. 747 μάλλον ... τυφλόν; Ε. Ale. 182 σώφρων ... μάλλον; fr. 286.8 μάλλον
είσ’ εύδοάμονες. Comparative and superlative forms of ευδαίμων are in any
case first attested only in the late 5th century (comparative first at Ar. Pax 864;
superlative at Hdt. 2.161.2) and are otherwise almost entirely prosaic.
3 έδει indicates an unfulfilled obligation, like εχρην at e. g. Ar. Pax
135; Lys. 574 (in a similar context); cf. fr. 99.27; Kuhner-Gerth 1898 i.204-5;
Fraenkel 1912. 96 (identifying this as a typical formula for introducing a new
political program).
πρώτον μέν suggests that what follows in the rest of the line was orig-
inally only the first item in a list, as at e. g. fr. 384.4 with n.; Ar. Ach. 637; Nu.
963; Anaxandr. fr. 55.4; Alex. fr. 173.1; E. Med. 536; Th. 1.115.5.
πάντων might be either “belonging to all (citizens)”—πάσι (dependent
on ύπάρχειν) would have been clearer, but cannot be made to fit into the
meter—or “regarding all matters”. The seeming parallel in 5 (n.) argues for
the former, but the latter is easier, and the dative describing who should have
exercised this right must have come in the next line. Kock argued that πάντων
was to be taken with πρώτον, but the hyperbaton is difficult.
ίσηγορία (“an equal right to speak”, sc. for all citizens without regard
to wealth, family or personal connections, or the like)—roughly equivalent
in sense to παρρησία (“the freedom to say whatever one wants”, sc. about
matters of public concern), although ίσηγορία emphasizes how one speaks
(as a peer) rather than what one is allowed to say—was fundamental to the
ancient concept of democracy and to the Athenians’ understanding of their
own democracy in particular (e.g. E. Supp. 438-41 with Collard 1975 ad loc.;
Hdt. 5.78; D. 21.124; [D.] 60.28; Plb. 2.38.6; cf. Nicostr. Com. fr. 30; Raaflaub