Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 326)

13

see 1 n. The suggestion of Storey 1995-6. 139-40 that (A.) is the lyre-player
Phrynis depicted on a mid-4th-century Paestan bell krater in the company of
a man named Pyronides (also the name of a character in Demoi, cf. frr. 99.56,
68; 110) is thus overly bold even if it cannot be proven false;3 see in general
the introductory discussion to Demoi. Kock identified Ar. Nu. 935-1104, where
Strepsiades and Pheidippides listen to the rival claims of the Just and the
Unjust Arguments, as a parallel. Ar. Nu. 636-8 (quoted below), where Socrates
asks Strepsiades what he would like to study in the Phrontisterion, is perhaps
closer (and cf. 1 n. and 2 n. below on (A.)’s intellectual pretensions). Contrary
to what (A.) expects, (B.) seems utterly ignorant of musical styles both old
and new. It is thus a reasonable expectation that he will either be appalled by
modern depravity when he learns more about it (cf. fr. 398 with n.; Strepsiades
at Ar. Nu. 1369-74) or, if he is a different sort of character, unaccountably
attracted to it (cf. Ar. Ra. 96-106).
1-2 Cf. Ar. Nu. 636-8 (Socrates to Strepsiades) άγε δή, τί βούλει πρώτα
νυνι μανθάνειν;... / πάτερα περί μέτρων ή περί επών ή ρυθμών;; ΡΙ. 56-7 άγε
δή σύ πότερον σαυτόν δστις εί φράσεις, / ή ταπί τούτοις δρώ;.
1 άγε δή introduces sharp questions also at Ar. Pax 263*, 922*; Av. 809*,
1574*; Th. 652*; Ra. 277*; Cephisod. fr. 13*. For δή + imperative (used routinely
in the singular without regard for the number of persons actually addressed),
Denniston 1950. 216-17. Although άγε δή + hortatory subjunctive or imper-
ative is common in epic and other early poetry (e.g. II. 24.356; Od. 2.349; Ale.
fr. 122.3; Thgn. 829; A. Ag. 783), άγε δή is absent from tragedy and prose in the
second half of the 5th century (in satyr play at E. Cyc. 590). The implication is
that the expression had by then taken on a colloquial tone, hence its popularity
in comedy (also e.g. Cratin. fr. 250.1; Ar. Ach. 98*; Eq. 634*) and its presence
later on in Xenophon (e.g. Oec. 18.10) and Plato (e.g. Phd. 116d); cf. Friis
Johansen-Whittle 1980 on A. Supp. 625.
πάτερα rather than πότερον appears to be the preferred form in 5th- and
4th-century drama, the latter generally being used only when needed to avoid
hiatus or the like (e.g. E. Med. 378; Ar. Ach. 1116; Ephipp. fr. 22.1). The adverbial
usage with ή is first attested in the middle of the 5th century (e. g. A. Pers. 351-2;
Pi. fr. 213; Cratin. fr. 75.4-5).
A διάθεσις (< διατίθημι) is a “disposition” or “arrangement”. The word
is first attested here and at Phryn. Com. fr. 58 τή διαθέσει τών έπών (“the

3 Storey, comparing the reference to entertainment at fr. 99.41-3, further suggests
that the group represented by (B.) may be the four returned Athenian leaders in
Demoi.