178

Eupolis

Interpretation A riddling adunaton (cf. ώόν τίλλεις, “You’re plucking an
egg”; λύκου πτερόν ζητείς, “You’re looking for a wolf’s wing”; English “blood
from a stone” and “hens’ teeth”). Like Diogenianus, Mnesim. fr. 9.1-2 explic-
itly interprets the term as referring to something extraordinarily rare (καί τό
λεγόμενον / σπανιώτατον πάρεστιν ορνίθων γάλα, “and what’s said to be the
rarest item there is, birds’ milk, is available”); cf. Str. 14.637; Taillardat 1965
§ 551. But he does so in what appears to be a list of delicacies (“nicely plucked
pheasant” follows), and in its three occurrences in Aristophanes (listed above)
the image is also applied to food, as perhaps in Eupolis as well. Cf. Alex. fr.
128.2 γάλα λάγου (“hare’s milk”); Petron. Sat. 38 lacte gallinaceum (“chicken
milk”); Biles-Olson 2015 on Ar. V. 508.

fr. 412 K.-A. (380 K.)

Poll. 7.40
γην δέ σμηκτρίδα Εϋπολις καί Κηφισόδωρος έν Τροφωνίω (fr. 6) εϊρηκεν
σμηκτρίδα Poll.0 : σμικρίδα Ρο11.Α : μυκτρίδα Poll.FS Εϋπολις Poll.0 : om. Poll.FSA
Eupolis and Cephisodorus in Trophdnios (fr. 6) mention detergent earth
Discussion Blaydes 1890. 43, 213
Citation context Preserved in an extended discussion of words having to
do with washing, detergents and the like, supported by references to comedy
(also Nicoch. fr. 7), tragedy and oratory. Poll. 10.135 contains a more concise
version of some of the same material, without reference to Eupolis.
Interpretation γή σμηκτρίς or γή Κιμωλία is calcium montmorillonite (dug
for on the island of Kimolos, hence its alternative name), which was used as
a detergent to wash both persons (cf. Ar. Ra. 710-13; Ra. 712-13 are quoted
immediately before this fragment in Pollux) and clothes (Thphr. Char. 10.14).
See in general Caley and Richards 1956. 208-13; Robertson 1986. 26-36, esp.
35-6; Diggle 2004. 313; Orth 2014 on Cephisod. fr. 6.
For the use of γή, see Millis 2015 on Anaxandr. fr. 6.3.
σμηκτρίς (cognate with σμάω, “rub, cleanse with soap”) is attested outside
of the comic fragments cited by Pollux only in Hippocrates (Fist. 3 = 6.450.6
Littre; Mui. 2.189 = 8.370.2 Littre).