Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 483)

245

Citation context A gloss on a reference to a man straightening a piece of
ship’s timber with a carpenter’s line as knowing “wisdom”. Similar material,
probably all drawn from Aristarchus (thus van Thiel 2014 ad loc.), is preserved
at
- Ath. 14.632c, insisting that “(the ancients) referred to everyone who prac-
ticed this techne (i. e. music) as a sophistes” and citing A. fr. 314 εϊτ’ ούν
σοφιστής ψκαλάψ παραπαίων χέλυν
- Hsch. σ 1371 σοφιστήν· πάσαν τέχνην σοφίαν έλεγον, και σοφιστάς τούς
περί μουσικήν διατρίβοντας και τούς μετά κιθάρας άδοντας (“sophistes:
They referred to every techne as sophia, and as sophistai to those who spend
their time on mousike and sing along to the lyre”)
- Suda σ 814 ~ ΣΕ Ar. Nu. 331 σοφιστής... οί δε παλαιοί... έλεγον ... σοφιστάς
τούς περί μουσικήν. ... Αριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις (331)· ... Πλάτων γοΰν ό
κωμωδιοποιός έν δράματι Σοφισταϊς (fr. 149) και τον Όπούντιον ποιητήν
Βακχυλίδην είς τούνομα κατέταξε των σοφιστών. ... καταχρηστικός δέ
Αριστοφάνης έπι πάσης τέχνης έλαβε τό των σοφιστών όνομα (“sophistes:
the ancients referred to those involved in mousike as sophistai. ...
Aristophanes in Clouds (331): ... The comic poet Plato in his Sophistai (fr.
149), for example, also listed the Op untian poet Bacchylides as one of
the sophistai. ... And Aristophanes misapplied the term sophistai to every
techne”)
- TBD Pi. I. 5.28 σοφιστάς μέν και σοφούς έλεγον τούς ποιητάς. Σοφοκλής
(fr. 906)· j1 μέν’ είς ψ σοφιστήν έμόν (“They called the poets sophistai and
sophoi. Sophocles (fr. 906): wait to f my sophistes”)
Interpretation Almost all the earliest attestations of σοφιστής in fact refer
to musicians, poets, rhapsodes and the like (A. fr. 314; S. fr. 906 (both quoted
under Citation Context); Cratin. fr. 2 σοφιστών σμήνος (“a swarm of sophistai”,
said “of those concerned with Homer and Hesiod”); Pi. I. 5.28; Ar. Nu. 331;
used specifically of rhapsodes also at lophon TrGF 22 F 1; of a pipe-player
at Pl. Com. fr. 149). In fr. 388 (n.), the word seems to have the negative sense
“overly clever talker, sophist” that becomes common in the late 5th century. It
is nonetheless possible that this fragment is a reference to that line, in which
case it identifies the addressee there as a rhapsode.
ραψωδός Literally “song-stitcher”. Although in the classical period rhap-
sodes are most often associated with performances of epic poetry, Ford 1988
argues that their fundamental distinguishing feature was that they performed
without musical accompaniment. See further Patzer 1952; Boyd 1994; Burgess
2004, all with further bibliography; original references at e. g. fr. 309; GDI5786
(a dedication by the rhapsode Terpsicles at Dodona; mid-5‘ c.); Hdt. 5.67.1
(supposed 6 -c. rhapsodic performances in Sicyon); S. OT 391 (the Sphinx as