182

Eupolis

Discussion Wilamowitz 1870. 51 n. 38; Kock 1880. 365; Edmonds 1959. 441 n.f
Assignment to known plays Assigned to Astrateutoi by Wilamowitz (“co-
niectura incerta” Kock). Tentatively assigned to Hybristodikai by Edmonds.
Citation context Very similar material, but with no mention of Eupolis, is pre-
served at Prov. Bodl. 707 = Diogenian. 6.100 (etc.) όνου γνάθος· εις πολυφάγον,
έστι δέ καί τόπος οϋτω καλούμενος, and at Phot, ο 359 όνου γνάθος· τόπος τής
Λακωνικής· άμα δέ εις πολυφάγον, and Latte took all these texts to be drawing
on Diogenianus. Kassel-Austin print Hesychius’ πολυφαγίαν (“gluttony”). But
the variant in the other sources suggests an ambiguous exemplar (πολυφγ vel.
sim.), and Eupolis is just as likely to have called someone a “donkey’s jaw”,
i. e. gluttonous (πολυφάγος) because he ground systematically through any
food put before him. For the use of παίζει, cf. fr. 439.
Interpretation γνάθοι (“jaws”; normally plural) are routinely specified as
that with which men, monsters, abstract ravening entities and the like grind
and destroy their food or victims (e. g. Epich. fr. 18.2; Telecl. fr. 1.13; Ar. V.
370; Pax 1309-10; Phryn. Trag. TrGF3 F 5.4; A. Ch. 280, 325; E. Cyc. 92, 303;
Med. 1201; fr. 282.5; [A.] PV 368). For the specific image, cf. [Hes.] fr. 302.13
(the Potter’s Prayer) ώς γνάθος ίππείη βρύκει (“as a horse’s jaw chews”; LSJ
s.v. βρύκω, “champs (the bit)”, goes well beyond the text). For donkeys as
gluttons, cf. II. 11.558-62; Epich. fr. 60; Ar. V. 1310; Philem. fr. 158; and see in
general fr. 279 n.
Donkey’s Jaw was a promontory just west of Cape Malea, opposite Cythera
on the Peloponnesian coast (Paus. 3.23.1; Str. 8.363). In summer 413 BCE,
Athenian forces on their way to Sicily under Demosthenes’ command stopped
there, plundered the region, and established a small fort intended to attract
refugee helots (Th. 7.26.2); the place was abandoned the following winter (Th.
8.4). Bolte 1939. 528 not unreasonably suggests that Donkey’s Jaw first came to
Athenian attention on account of Demosthenes’ visit. If so, Eupolis may well
have played on the name much as he did with Galepsos and λαμβάνω in fr.
439 (n.), perhaps referring to the voracity of Demosthenes’ soldiers (cf. Ar. Eq.
1076-7) or that of their commander (cf. Ar. V. 836-8, 922-5). It might nonethe-
less also be the case that these are simply two bits of random information set
side-by-side by ancient scholars, as at e. g. Ath. 14.644a-b (near the end of a
discussion of the word πλακοϋς, “cake”) “Nor have I forgotten the village that
Demetrius of Scepsis ... claims was known as Plakous”; Harp. p. 143.11-14 = E
177 Keaney “An echinos is a vessel into which documents pertaining to trials
were placed ... There was also a city called Echinos.”