Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 403)

169

of Eupolis as well—therefore, the ancient commentator is wrong; στρατιά
standing pars pro toto for στρατεία is unexceptional usage (also in comedy at
e.g. Ar. Ach. 251, 1144; Eq. 587 έν στρατιαϊς τε και μάχαις; V. 354, 557; Lys.
100, 592; in prose texts, the issue is complicated by the fact that στρατιά is
often a variant reading for στρατεία, but cf. e.g. Hdt. 3.67.3; 6.56; 7.38.3; Th.
1.10.3; 4.70.1). Perhaps Eupolis misused στρατεία instead, although the word
is very rare in comedy (attested before Menander only at Eub. fr. 118.6). For
στρατιά in the proper sense “army”, cf. frr. 35.2; 260.15.

fr. 403 K.-A.
Choricius 1.4 (p. 3.13-19 Foerster-Richtsteig)
πρώην εγώ βραχέα περί τών σών πλεονεκτημάτων διαλεχθείς καιρού δευτέρου
καλοΰντος δευτέραν έπηγγειλάμην ευφημίαν έκτίνειν. καί ταΰτα συνεθέμην οΰ δυοϊν
ή τριών άνδρών έναντίον ουδέ κατά τον Εϋπολιν έξ όδοΰ τινας άγείρας
εις θέατρον, άλλά τών άστών τά πρώτα συλλέξας
κατά τον Εϋπολιν Μ : κατά τιν’ Εϋπολιν Boissonade : κατά τήν πόλιν Jacobi
I recently made some brief remarks about your virtues, so when a second occasion
called, I offered to produce a second eulogy. And I agreed to do this not in the presence
of two or three men or, as Eupolis puts it, after gathering some people
out of the street into the Theater, but after bringing together the most
important citizens

Citation context From a speech by Choricius of Gaza (fl. ca. 525-550 CE) in
praise of Bishop Marcianus of Gaza. In his speeches, Choricius makes it a point
to display his broad acquaintance with classical Greek literature, but he does
not cite or refer to Eupolis elsewhere. Nor does he seem to know the other
comic poets, beyond Menander and a handful of references to the preserved
plays of Aristophanes (Frogs chief among them). This is thus most likely a
commonplace borrowed from an intermediary source, probably the same as
the one drawn on by Photius for fr. [408] (n.).
Text This appears to be paraphrase rather than quotation, but Eupolis might
have written e. g.
<x—o— x> | —o— o—o— (iambic trimeter)
or

<—o—x — o>—o —o—o — <o—> (trochaic tetrameter)