158

Eupolis

Citation Context The sole source of verse 1 is an addition by Marcus
Musurus, the editor of the 1498 Aldine edition of Aristophanes, to a long note
preserved in manuscript V (12th c. CE) of Clouds, the general force of which is
to argue that the poet felt no true hostility toward Socrates despite remarks
such as Nu. 95-7 τον ουρανόν / λέγοντες άναπείθουσιν ώς εστιν πνιγεύς, /
κάστιν περί ήμάς ούτος, ήμεΐς 6’ άνθρακες (“they argue convincingly that the
sky is a brazier, and that it surrounds us, and that we are the charcoal”; of the
residents of the Phrontisterion). Musurus—seemingly drawing on a longer,
now-lost version of the scholium—adds a response to unidentified individuals
who claim that the fact that Aristophanes devoted an entire play to Socrates
is prima facie evidence of personal dislike (εχθρα), citing Eupolis to show
that Aristophanes was in fact relatively uncritical of the philosopher. Why
Holwerda-Koster break the note (continuous text in the Aldine) into two parts
is unclear, although the implication is that the second part (beginning with
ούδέν δε χείρον) is drawn from a separate source, presumably the same as the
one relied on by Σν Ar. Nu. 178-9 κάμψας οβελίσκον, είτα διαβήτην λαβών /
έκ τής παλαίστρας θοίμάτιον ύφείλετο (“he bent a spit, then took a compass
and stole the robe from the wrestling school”), which cites verse 2. All this
material likely goes back to a collection similar to the one that preserved fr.
386 (n.), and thus ultimately to some Hellenistic list of komdidoumenoi.
Text 1 is metrically defective at the end, and Στησιχόρου in 2 must depend on
something in the preceding verse. Meineke’s έπιδέξι’, <άδων> for the parado-
sis έπίδειξιν is supported by the parallels cited in Interpretation. Alternatively,
one might supply e. g. <ώδήν> (the Stesichorean song itself is passed around
the circle, with each guest expected to take it up where the last left off), in
which case προς τήν λύραν must be taken with what follows (“to the accom-
paniment of the lyre he—stole the wine-pitcher”).
Interpretation A description of the initially seemingly normal, friendly
behavior of Socrates (for whom, see in general fr. 386 nn.) at a symposium,
with the account of his theft of the pouring vessel—effectively putting an
end to the festivities—saved for the end as a punchline. The noun to be sup-
plied with τήν έπιδέξι(α) cannot be κύλικα (cf. fr. 354 n.), since Socrates can
scarcely hold the cup and play the lyre (2 προς τήν λύραν) at the same time,
hence presumably Walsh’s desire to expel τήν έπίδειξιν/έπιδέξι(α) from the
text, allowing δεξάμενος to be understood “taking up (the song)” (cf. Ar.
V. 1222, 1225). Kassel-Austin cite Hsch. τ 796 τήν έπιδεξιάν· περιέφερον έν
τοΐς συμποσίοις επί δεξιά τό πάλαι κιθάραν, είτα μυρρίνην, προς ήν ήδον
(“the epidexia: at their symposia in the old days they used to pass around
from left to right a kithara, then a branch of bay, which they sang along to”),