174

Eupolis

348; D. 21.209 with MacDowell 1990 ad loc.\, cf. the similar use of φθόρος (lit.
“death”; e.g. Ar. Eq. 1151; Th. 535), νόσος (lit. “sickness”; Pl. Com. fr. 201.4),
λιμός (literally “famine”; Posidipp. Com. fr. 28.12) and λοιμός (“plague”; D.
25.80). The abusive use of άνεμος, on the other hand, appears to be unique
to Eupolis, hence Phrynichus’ admiration; but cf. frr. 345 with nn.; 407 with
nn. (volatility as a negative characteristic of a person); and the various odd
figurative terms of abuse in the list of insults Strepsiades hopes to hear if he
manages to avoid his debts at Ar. Nu. 448-50 (“a law-code, a rattle, a drill, a
leather thong, a goad (etc.)”).

fr. 407 K.-A.
Phot, a 1617 = Suda a 2305 = Synag. B a 1305
άνεπτερώσθαι τήν ψυχήν· οίον άνασεσοβήσθαι. Κρατϊνος (fr. 379) και
Εϋπολις
Κρατϊνος καί Εϋπολις om. Suda : add. in marg. Phot.z
to have had one’s soul lent wings: that is to say, to have been shaken
up. Cratinus (fr. 379) and Eupolis
Meter lambic trimeter, e. g.
-1-<x->
Citation context Traced by Cunningham to the source commonly desig-
nated Σ' and presumably drawn from some unidentified Atticist work. The
Epitome of Phrynichus (PS p. 15.6-7 Borries) has άνεπτερώσθαι τήν ψυχήν·
οίον άνασεσοβήσθαι, εκπτοιον είναι, and all the information in both versions
of the note probably goes back to the unabbreviated form of the Praeparatio
Sophistica.
Interpretation A common late 5th- and 4th-century image for restless (“bird-
like”) agitation, first attested at A. Ch. 227 (act.); also in comedy at Av. 433
with Dunbar 1995 ad loc., 1439-45, esp. 1444-5 ό δε τις τον αύτοϋ φησιν επί
τραγωδία / άνεπτερώσθαι καί πεποτήσθαι τάς φρένας (“Another man says
his own son’s gotten excited about tragedy and gone mentally a-flutter”);
Men. Epitr. 958; Taillardat 1965 § 826. Cf. fr. 406 (the wandering wind); LSJ s. v.
άναπτερόω (lit. “raise one’s feathers”), τήν ψυχήν is certainly an accusative of
respect rather than the subject of the infinitive, as in Storey 2011. 263.