22

Eupolis

Citation Context From a collection of terms (many of them both colorful and
hostile) for individuals who keep close watch on their money.
Text Three textual points are at issue.
(1) Cobet (followed by Kass el-Austin) divided the words so that ρυπαρώτε-
pov falls at the beginning of 2 (ήδη χορηγόν πώποτε / ρυπαρώτερον τοϋδ’
κτλ). This requires either medial caesura or a relatively uncommon fifth-foot
caesura, and it is easier to keep the word in 1 (as in all previous editions).
(Cobet justifies the change with the assertion “numeri non tantum pessimi
sunt sed omnino άμετροι”; but rho makes position, as at e. g. fr. 270.3.)
(2) If Poll.A’s είδες is rejected in 1 in favor of Poll.FS’s ήδη (as in Kassel-
Austin), the verb (or some equivalent) must be supplied to complete the
thought, hence τοϋδ’ <είδες> in the 1502 Aldine. The variants in 2 offer only
limited support for the supplement, and it seems better to sacrifice ήδη, which
is not needed for the sense, even if ήδη (...) πώποτε is entirely colloquial
(see Interpretation below). Kassel-Austin were perhaps concerned to avoid
enjambment of τοϋδε; but the line may well have continued after this even if
the version of it quoted in Pollux does not.
(3) Hermann attempted to work the words that follow in Pollux (θάττον
άν f του αίματος ή χρημάτων μεταδούς τινι, “sooner sharing his blood with
someone than money”) into the text in the form δστις θάττον άν του γ’
αίματος / ή χρημάτων άλλω τι μεταδώη τινί. Meineke 183911.551 opted instead
for θάττον άν του αίματος / ή χρημάτων ούτός γε μεταδώη τινί, leaving the
inelegant <—> between the two supposed portions of the fragment.
Interpretation A rhetorical question addressed by one character to another.
A choregos organizing a dramatic or dithyrambic performance was re-
sponsible not just for recruiting, training, costuming and paying the chorus,
but for all the incidental expenses associated with the production (salaries for
extras; masks, props and stage-sets; meals during training; a post-performance
celebration; an appropriate monument in the event of victory); see in general 1
n. He was also expected to make a generally grand appearance at public events
associated with the play, including at the festival procession (pompe), and
much of the social benefit to be got from performing the office came from such
opportunities to make a favorable visual impression on spectators (Wilson
2000. 97-8, 120-3, 136-43). At Ar. Ach. 1149-55, the chorus complain about
a Lenaea choregos who allegedly cheated them out of a meal, presumably a
feast after a performance at the previous year’s festival; for the luxurious life
supposedly enjoyed by choreuts, see adesp. com. fr. 549; Plu. Mor. 349a; and
perhaps Ar. fr. 264; cf. Wilson 2000. 124-8. A similar metatheatrical point
might be at issue here as well, although (1) the fact that this is iambic trimeter
rather than a song makes it more likely that a character is speaking; (2) the