258

Eupolis

So that it occurs to me to wonder whether you might not call me Prometheus in the
same way the comic poet did Cleon; and he says, you know, about him:-
Meter lambic trimeter
Discussion Bergk 1838. 361; Gargiulo 1992
Assignment to known plays Assigned to Chrysoun Genos by Bergk.
Citation Context From the introduction to one of Lucian’s essays, in which
the author/narrator mockingly offers a number of possible explanations for
why his addressee might have referred to him as “a Prometheus in words”,
οίσθα suggests that the comic quotation is supposed to be well known.
Interpretation ό κωμικός is occasionally used by ancient authorities to refer
to Eupolis (test. 50 with n.), including by Lucian when he cites fr. 102.7, and
Bergk suggested that the same might be true here as well. To be “a Prometheus
after the events” is perhaps to look like a prophet or genius when matters
unexpectedly turn out as one predicted; cf. Thucydides’ grudging comment in
the aftermath of the Spartan defeat at Sphacteria in 425 BCE “Cleon’s promise,
insane though it was, was fulfilled; for within twenty days he brought the men,
just as he promised” (4.39.3). In that case, however, praise is expressed—Cleon
looked like a fool but was not—and this verse might be better taken as a cynical
comment about Cleon’s misleading ex eventu self-presentation in general: “In
retrospect, Cleon styles himself a genius”, i. e. “Cleon always claims to have
known what would happen—after it happens”. Put another way, Cleon pres-
ents himself as Prometheus, but is actually Epimetheus. Cf. the sneering Ar.
Av. 1009 άνθρωπος Θαλής (“The guy’s a Thales”, i. e. an intellectual prodigy;
of Meton).
For Cleon, see fr. 331 with n. For Prometheus as prophet, [A.] PV101-3, 265,
484-92, 622-30, 998, etc. (probably staged in the 420s BCE). For Prometheus as
inventive genius, [A.] PV 442-506. For Prometheus in comedy, Epicharmus’
Pyrrha kai Promatheus·, Ar. Av. 1494-1552; fr. 654 εί μή Προμηθεύς είμι, τάλλα
ψεύδομαι (“Unless I’m Prometheus, I’m lying about the rest”); Philem. fr. 93.1-
2 Προμηθεύς, δν λέγουσ’ ήμάς πλάσαι / και τάλλα πάντα ζώα (“Prometheus,
who they say fashioned us and all living creatures”); Pirrotta 2009. 288-90 on
PL Com. fr. 145; and more generally Gantz 1993. 152-64.