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Antike und Abendland De Gruyter Antike und Abendland Beiträge zum Verständnis der Griechen und Römer und ihres Nachlebens herausgegeben von Werner von Koppenfels · Helmut Krasser Wilhelm Kühlmann · Peter von Möllendorff Christoph Riedweg · Wolfgang Schuller Rainer Stillers Band LVII 2011 De Gruyter Manuskripteinsendungen werden an die folgenden Herausgeber erbeten: Prof. Dr. Werner von Koppenfels, Boberweg 18, 81929 München – Prof. Dr. Helmut Krasser, Institut für Altertumswissenschaften, Universi- tätGießen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, Haus G, 35394 Gießen– Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Kühlmann, Universität Heidelberg, GermanistischesSeminar, Hauptstr. 207–209, 69117 Heidelberg– Prof. Dr. Peter von Möllendorff, Institut für Altertumswissenschaften, Universität Gießen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, Haus G, 35394 Gießen – Prof. Dr. Christoph Riedweg,Kluseggstr.18, CH-8032 Zürich– Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuller, Philosophische Fakultät, Universität Konstanz, Postfach 5560, 78434 Konstanz – Prof. Dr. Rainer Stillers, Institut für Romanische Philologie der Philipps-Universität Marburg, Wilhelm-Röpke-Str. 6D, 35032 Marburg. Korrekturen und Korrespondenz, die dasManuskript und den Druck betrifft, sind an den Schriftleiter Prof. Dr. Helmut Krasser zu richten. Buchbesprechungen werden nicht aufgenommen; zugesandte Rezensionsexemplare können nicht zurückge- schickt werden. Abstracts sind publiziert in / indexiert in: Arts and Humanities Citation Index · Current Contents Arts and Humanities · Dietrich’s Index philosophicus· IBR – Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlicher Zeitschriften- literatur / IBZ – Internationale Bibliographie geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlicher Zeitschriftenliteratur ISBN (Print): 978-3-11-023916-4 ISBN (Online): 978-3-11-023917-1 ISBN (Print + Online): 978-3-11-023918-8 ISSN (Print) 0003-5696 ISSN (Online) 1613-0421 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. © 2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston Satz: Dörlemann Satz, Lemförde Druck: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen Ü Gedruckt auf säurefreiem Papier Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Inhaltsverzeichnis Peter Bing Afterlives of a Tragic Poet: Anecdote, Image and Hypothesis in the Hellenistic Reception of Euripides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Dennis Pausch Lebst Du noch oder schreibst Du schon? PtolemaiosII. und die Dichtung in Theokrits 14.Idyll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Gernot Michael Müller Warum zögert Crassus? Aspekte der Dialoghandlung in CicerosDe oratore. . . 39 Paola Gagliardi Dafni e Gallo nell’ ecl. 10 di Virgilio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Meike Rühl Alle Angaben ohne Gewähr: Momente der Unsicherheit und des Übergangs in SenecasApocolocyntosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Giulio Vannini IlSatyricon di Petronio nelCandide di Voltaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Anja Wolkenhauer «Ein Zweiter sein»: Zur Geschichte einer römischen Stil- und Denkfigur . . . . 109 Filippomaria Pontani «El universo es, como tú, Proteo»: Selected Readings of a Homeric Myth . . . . 129 Friedemann Drews Réception existentielle. Die Augustinus-Leserin Sophie Scholl im Spiegel ihrer Tagebuchaufzeichnungen und Briefe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Maria Ypsilanti Thomas Mann’sDie Betrogene and the Mother of Electra . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 VI Mitarbeiter des Bandes Prof. Dr.Peter Bing, Emory University, Department of Classics, 550 Asbury Circle, 221F Candler Library, Atlanta, GA, 30322, United States of America PD Dr. Friedemann Drews, Universität Rostock, Heinrich Schliemann-Institut für Alter- tumswissenschaften, Gräzistik, Schwaansche Str. 3, 18051 Rostock Paola Gagliardi, via Due Torri, 21, 85100 Potenza, Italia Prof. Dr. Gernot Michael Müller, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Univer- sitätsallee1, 85072 Eichstätt PD Dr. Dennis Pausch, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Institut für Altertumswissenschaften, Klassische Philologie, Otto-Behaghel-Straße10 G, 35394 Gießen Dr. Filippomaria Pontani, Università Ca’Foscari Venezia, Ufficio Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà, Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venezia, Italia PD Dr.Meike Rühl, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Fachbereich A, Klassische Philolo- gie / Latein, Gaußstraße20, 42119 Wuppertal Dr.Giulio Vannini, Università per Stranieri di Perugia, Piazza Fortebraccio4, 06123 Peru- gia; via X Settembre, 1, 50037 San Piero a Sieve, Firenze, Italia Prof. Dr. Anja Wolkenhauer, Eberhard Karls Universität, Philologisches Seminar, Lehr- stuhl für Lateinische Philologie I, Wilhelmstr. 36, 72074 Tübingen Dr.Maria Ypsilanti, University of Cyprus, Department of Classics and Philosophy, P. O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus Afterlives of a Tragic Poet 1 Peter Bing Afterlives of a Tragic Poet: Anecdote, Image and Hypothesis in the Hellenistic Reception of Euripides Richard Kannicht Octogenario Hermippus of Smyrna, the 3rd century B. C. biographer and student of Callimachus, wrote a life of Euripides in which he recounts the following story that goes to the heart of this poet’s reception:1 (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5) (cid:6)(cid:7) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ 6E(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:5)(cid:13)(cid:13)(cid:14)« (cid:15)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:18)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:16) (cid:19)µ(cid:16) (cid:20)(cid:5)(cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:21)(cid:9)« (cid:19)(cid:17)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:16)(cid:14)(cid:16) (cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:19)(cid:22) (cid:19)κ(cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:24)(cid:19)κ(cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25) E(cid:26)(cid:11)(cid:5)(cid:13)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:24) (cid:19)(cid:27)(cid:1)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:28)« (cid:8)(cid:1)(cid:29)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:16)(cid:30)(cid:12)(cid:14)(cid:5)« (cid:9)(cid:26)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25) (cid:13)(cid:2)(cid:12)(cid:31)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9) (cid:1)(cid:9)!(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:16) (cid:19)µ (cid:31)(cid:9)(cid:1)(cid:19)"(cid:11)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:16) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:19)κ(cid:16) (cid:6)(cid:2)(cid:1)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:16) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:19)µ (cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:9)φ(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:14)(cid:16), Ϊ(cid:13)(cid:4)(cid:11) %(cid:6)(cid:30)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9) (cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:25)(cid:18)(cid:9)(cid:5) (cid:19)(cid:14)&« φ(cid:2)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9)« ’(cid:16) (cid:19)() M(cid:14)(cid:24)(cid:18)((cid:16) ¹(cid:4)(cid:11)() $(cid:16)(cid:9)+(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:5) ’(cid:13)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:27)(cid:31)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9) (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:28)« (cid:9)(cid:26)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25)‹(cid:8)(cid:9)λ›E(cid:26)(cid:11)(cid:5)(cid:13)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:24) ,(cid:16)(cid:30)(cid:12)(cid:9)(cid:18)(cid:5)α (cid:6)(cid:5)µ (cid:8)(cid:9)λ .(cid:4)(cid:16)(cid:14)φ(cid:5)(cid:1)/(cid:19)(cid:9)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:16) (cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:1)0(cid:18)+(cid:9)(cid:21) φ(cid:9)(cid:18)(cid:5) (cid:6)(cid:5)(cid:22) (cid:19)µ (cid:12)(cid:27)(cid:1)(cid:5)(cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:9) 1(cid:13)µ .(cid:2)(cid:16)2(cid:16) φ(cid:5)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:18)+(cid:9)(cid:5)α 1(cid:13)µ (cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:11)A# +(cid:29)(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:21)2(cid:16) ’φ+(cid:14)(cid:16)(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:19)(cid:14). Vita Euripidis p.5 Schwartz I = TrGF5.1 T A 1III4 (Kannicht) Hermippus says… that following Euripides’ death, Dionysius [the 1st], tyrant of Sicily [from ca. 405–367, and notorious as author of both tragedy and comedy himself], sent Euripides’ heirs the sum of one talent and got the poet’s harp, his writing tablet and his stylus. After he had seen the instruments, he ordered those who brought them to set them up as a votive gift in the temple of the Muses and he had an inscription made in his own and Euripides’ name. It is for this reason that he [scil. Euripides] was called «most beloved by strangers», because he was particularly loved by foreigners, whereas the Athe- nians bore him ill-will. This anecdote, which concerns the transfer of a poet’s instruments – the emblems of his art– from their native setting to a distant land, is very much a product of its age. It recalls other Hellenistic texts, both in verse and prose, that describe how custody of the poetic heritage shifts to a new place– to a setting in which that legacy is better appreciated, more lovingly safeguarded. No longer for sale to the highest bidder, the emblems of the poet’s craft are sanctified within a shrine of the Muses.2 A comparable tale was told of how the 1 Section2 and part of the introduction of this essay appears in Matthaios / Montanari / Rengakos 2011, 199–206. Cf. Bollansée 1999, 98–100 and 223. 2 See also the later, more scurrilous tradition at Lucian. adv. indoct. 15 (= TrGF 1, 76 T11), concerning Dionysius’ reaction when his tragedies were mocked:(cid:14)4(cid:19)(cid:14)« (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:21)(cid:16)(cid:24)(cid:16) (cid:13)(cid:24)+(cid:30)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:16)(cid:14)« ³« ’(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:1)»(cid:19)(cid:9)(cid:5),(cid:19)µ A%- (cid:18)7(cid:17)(cid:1)(cid:14)(cid:24) (cid:13)(cid:24).(cid:21)(cid:14)(cid:16) (cid:4)%« 8 ’(cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:14)« 9(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:9)φ(cid:4) (cid:18)&(cid:16) (cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:1)(cid:1)90 (cid:18)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:24)(cid:6)09 (cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:29)(cid:18)(cid:27)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:16)(cid:14)« (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:9)(cid:26)(cid:19)µ« ;)(cid:4)(cid:19)(cid:14) 9(cid:16)+(cid:4)(cid:14)« 9(cid:18)(cid:4)(cid:18)+(cid:9)(cid:5) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:8)(cid:27)(cid:19)(cid:14)7(cid:14)« ’(cid:8) (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25) (cid:13)(cid:24).(cid:21)(cid:14)(cid:24)α $(cid:1)(cid:1)# Ρ(cid:12)2« ’(cid:16) (cid:9)(cid:26)(cid:19)() ’(cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:21)(cid:16)2) (cid:12)(cid:9)(cid:8)(cid:11)() (cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:14)(cid:5)(cid:30)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:11)(cid:9) 9(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:9)φ(cid:4)(cid:16), «Well, when he discovered that he was being laughed at, he took great pains to procure the wax-tablets on which Aeschylus used to write, thinking that he too would be inspired and possessed with divine frenzy in virtue of the tablets. But for all that, what he wrote on those very tablets was far more ridiculous than what he had written before.» (Transl. by A. M. Harmon, Loeb Edition 1960). 2 Peter Bing Ptolemies unscrupulously acquired from Athens the official Lycurgan copy of the three great tragedians, the so-called «Staatsexemplar»; they offered to give the Athenians a de- posit of fifteen talents if only they could borrow the originals to make copies– or so they said. The Ptolemies, however, gladly forfeited the huge sum so as to keep the prototype.3 As with the instruments of Euripides in Hermippus’ tale, these precious literary objects were deposited in a shrine of the Muses, the Alexandrian Museum of which the great li- brary likely formed a part. Another example – this time a poem, epigram 37 AB of the Milan Posidippus papyrus– similarly traces a poetic object’s journey to a new land. It de- scribes how a lyre, carried by «Arion’s dolphin», was washed ashore in Egypt and de- posited in the temple of Arsinoe Philadelphus. The poem plausibly reflects Ptolemaic claims to be the new custodians of the literary heritage, here in particular of the Lesbic tradition of lyric verse, embodied by Arion.4 For Hermippus, the fate of Euripides’ poetic implements– his lyre, writing tablet, and stylus– exemplifies this tragedian’s special popularity beyond his native Athens. Though unappreciated at home, foreigners adore him; hence he isxenophilotatos. Previous studies have had nothing to say about this term. Yet it is worth noting how peculiar it is, to- gether with its underlying concept. The related adjective philoxeinos is, of course, well- attested already in the Odyssey in the sense of «loving strangers», «hospitable» (6.121, 8.576, 9.176, 13.202), and not infrequent thereafter in poetry (especially Pindar and tra- gedy) and in prose. But while the actively cordial philoxeinos makes perfect sense within the norms of ancient Greek hospitality, the passivexenophilos, «beloved by strangers», is a cultural oddity. It is not surprising, therefore, that Hermippus’ expression, xenophilos, is a hapax– a unique term to designate a unique playwright; it is, moreover, not even rec- orded in LSJ.5 Indeed, the word is a pointed and witty inversion of the conventional vir- tue embodied in the more common philoxeinos. For while philoxeinos reflects the idea- lized attitude of a host toward any given stranger, xenophilos regards the anomalous quality of a stranger beloved abroad by every imaginable host – even as he is unappreci- ated in his native land. In the case of Euripides, that popularity abroad is borne out by various types of evi- dence. As is well known, papyri show that texts of this tragedian far outnumber those of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and indeed that he was the most widely read Greek poet after Homer – at least in Greco-Roman Egypt, where most of the papyri were found. But the same holds true for South Italy, where drama was a favored subject in vase painting, and where the number of depictions of Euripidean tragedies greatly exceed those of the other tragedians.6 Didascalic notices, moreover, though hardly plentiful, nonetheless also con- firm this general impression. Starting in 386B. C., when the Athenians added the revival of 3 Gal. comm. in Hipp. Epidem. (CMG V 10,2, 1 p.79). Cf. Fraser 1972, 325 with n.147. 4 See my treatment of this poem in Bing 2009, 247–251. 5 It does occasionally appear as a name. 6 This is true generally, and not just in South Italy, for post-5th cent. B. C. vase painting. See Kuch 1978, 196 n. 46, citing Trendall and Webster 1971. Now see especially Taplin 2007, 108–219, esp.109: «compared with Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides made a far greater impact on mythological pictures. Surely this must go hand in hand with his being more frequently performed, and with his making a greater impression on audiences.» For the performance of Euripides in the Greek West, cf. Allan 2001. For Euripides’ reception generally, cf. Funke 1965/1966. For the reception ofBacchae in particular, cf. Sauron 2007. Afterlives of a Tragic Poet 3 an older tragedy to the standard program of the Greater Dionysia,7 restagings of Euripides are especially prominent.8 Elsewhere as well, such Euripidean revivals were evidently all the rage. To take just one paradigmatic example, consider the elaborate 3rd cent. B. C. in- scription from Tegea, near its theater (IG V 2, 118 = DID B 11), commemorating the career of a performer/athlete.9 The text informs us that this actor, whose name is unfortunately missing, was also a boxer; he took the prize in the men’s category of this sport at the Ptol- emaia in Alexandria. As this suggests, this guy was probably a bruiser; someone who, with his boxer’s physique, was sufficiently imposing to play the great tragic heroes. His specialty was Euripides, and his far-flung engagements as recorded in the inscription mir- ror the ubiquitous impact of this tragedian: He triumphed at the Soteria of Delphi and again at the Heraia of Argos playing Euripides’Herakles, at the Greater Dionysia in Athens with that same dramatist’sOrestes, and with hisArchelaus at both the Argive Heraia and the Naia of Dodona. Further, he was victorious with Archestratus’Antaios at Delphi, and with Chaeremon’s Achilles at Dodona. The inscription concludes by telling us that he won a further 88 prizes atagones skenikoi in a whole range of cities, at Dionysia and at whatever other festivals those cities held ((cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:19)(cid:14)&« (cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:19)(cid:22) (cid:13)(cid:30)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:5)« $(cid:3)((cid:16)(cid:9)« (cid:18)(cid:8)(cid:29)(cid:16)(cid:5)(cid:8)(cid:14)&« (cid:15)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:18)(cid:5)(cid:9) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:4)= (cid:19)(cid:5)(cid:16)(cid:9)« Ν(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:9)« ?(cid:14)(cid:11)(cid:19)(cid:22)« (cid:9)¹ (cid:13)(cid:30)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:5)« @(cid:3)(cid:14)(cid:18)(cid:9)(cid:16) ,(cid:3)(cid:6)(cid:14)"(cid:8)(cid:14)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9) ,(cid:8)(cid:19)/). Presumably here too he often played Euripides, though one may wonder, particularly at the more minor fes- tivals, whether these were truly full-fledged productions of tragedy and not rather high- lights, favoritespeeches and arias, as Albrecht Dihle in particular has argued.10 That Euripides wasxenophilotatos, then, is no exaggeration. But in what sense was he be- loved? And by whom? Evidence suggests that this tragedian appealed to very different audiences, each of whom saw in him their own distinct Euripides. On the one hand, we have Euripides, the paradigm of avant-garde Hellenistic artistry: The aesthetic terms used already by Aristophanes in theFrogs to characterize Euripides’ style as slender,leptos (828, 876, 1108, 1111), or lean,ischnos (941),vis-à-vis Aeschylus’ mighty thundering,epibremetas (814), are precisely those that Callimachus and his followers were to champion.11 Not sur- prisingly, then, one important source of Callimachus’ Aetia Prologue was the choral song on old age from Euripides’Herakles (637–700).12 Similarly for Apollonius, the influence of Euripides on his Argonautica is well known.13 On the other hand, we find Euripides the paradigm of life and inexhaustible font of wisdom. This Euripides is the one whose texts philosophers constantly cite as an ethical model: thus, according to Diog. Laert. 7,22, Zeno continually quoted Suppliants 861–863 as a behavioral ideal for the young ((cid:18)(cid:24)(cid:16)(cid:4)7(cid:2)« (cid:19)(cid:4) (cid:13)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:4)φ(cid:2)(cid:11)(cid:4)(cid:19)(cid:14) (cid:19)(cid:14)&« ’(cid:13)λ (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25) K(cid:9)(cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:2)2« E(cid:26)(cid:11)(cid:5)(cid:13)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:24) (cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:21)7(cid:14)(cid:24)«), and according to that same source (7,180) Chrysippus incorporated so much of Medea in one of his works that when someone studying his treatise was asked what he was reading, he replied «The Medea of 7 TrGF 1, DID A 1, 201–203 =IG II2 2318 col.8:’(cid:13)λ B(cid:4)(cid:14)(cid:6)(cid:30)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:24) (cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:1)(cid:9)(cid:5)µ(cid:16) (cid:6)(cid:11)»(cid:12)(cid:9) (cid:13)(cid:11)((cid:19)(cid:14)[(cid:16)](cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:11)(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:9).(cid:9)(cid:16) (cid:14)¹ (cid:19)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:3)[2(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:21)]. 8 Note especially the Euripidean revivals in three consecutive years, 341–339 (TrGF 1, DID A 2a, 2–3, 18–19, 32–33), but cf. also for the yearspost 308 (DID B 8) and in the 3rd century (DID B 11, 1). 9 On this inscription, see Sifakis 1967, 84.Regarding the inscription’s date and the political circumstances of the performances it cites, cf. Revermann 1999/2000, 462–465. 10 Cf. Dihle 1981, 32. See further his illuminating discussion of «Hellenistische Theaterpraxis», pp.28–38. 11 Cf. Snell 1960, 117 for an insightful discussion in his chapter, «Aristophanes and Aesthetic Criticism». 12 Cf. Fantuzzi and Hunter 2004, 73–74 with bibliography in n.119. 13 Apollonius’ debt to Euripides is great, and is not limited to the tragedian’sMedea. Cf. Sansone 2000. 4 Peter Bing Chrysippus».14 This Euripides is also the one whosesententiae filled ancient gnomological collections. It is this second Euripides, the paradigm of life, who is the focus of my essay. What was it that set this tragedian apart and made him so beloved? I will try to illuminate his appeal by looking at three different kinds of Euripides-reception. In a first step, I will consider that reception as it appears in the anecdotal tradition. Next, I will examine the hypotheses, or prose plot-summaries, of Euripides’ plays as a manifestation of his popularity. Finally, I will look at an example of Euripides-reception in South Italian vase painting. 1. The anecdotal tradition may suggest one possible quality that lay at the heart of Euripides’ popularity: He was able to get under people’s skin, into their guts and heads, in such a way as virtually to invite life to imitate art, Euripidean art in particular. This is not surprising, perhaps, given how Hellenistic schoolchildren evidently learned Euripides by rote as part of their standard curriculum. Callimachus’ epigram 26 GP (= Anth. Pal. 6,310) humorously depicts how even a tragic mask of Dionysus gapes in boredom at pupils’ endless recitation of theBacchae in their schoolroom.15 We get an inkling of how deeply Euripides penetrated the Hellenistic psyche in a marvelous anecdote from Lucian’sHow to Write History 59,1 = TrGF 5.1 (10)ANCDOMECA iv d. I quote it in full with D. Kovacs’ translation (1994): A# !(cid:6)(cid:29)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:9)(cid:5)« φ(cid:9)(cid:18)λ C(cid:24)(cid:18)(cid:5)(cid:12)(cid:27)7(cid:14)(cid:24) @(cid:6)(cid:29) !(cid:9)(cid:18)(cid:5)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:17)(cid:14)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:14)« ’(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:4)(cid:18)(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:5) (cid:16)(cid:30)(cid:18)(cid:29)(cid:12)(cid:9), τ (cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:1)(cid:7) G(cid:21)(cid:1)2(cid:16), (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:25)(cid:19)(cid:14)α (cid:13)(cid:24)(cid:11)(cid:2)(cid:19)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:16) (cid:12)(cid:7)(cid:16) (cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:11) (cid:19)(cid:22) (cid:13)(cid:11)((cid:19)(cid:9) (cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:6)(cid:29)(cid:12)(cid:4)λ Ϊ(cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9)« $(cid:13)µ (cid:19)0« (cid:13)(cid:11)/(cid:19)(cid:29)« (cid:4)(cid:26)+&« ’(cid:11)(cid:11)2(cid:12)(cid:2)(cid:16)2« (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:1)(cid:5)(cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:11)(cid:4)(cid:28) (cid:19)() 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(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:13)(cid:19)((cid:16) (cid:19)((cid:16) ?!(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:12)(cid:9)(cid:21)2(cid:16) ’(cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:21)(cid:16)2(cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:3)2)(cid:6)((cid:16), (cid:18)& (cid:6)’τ +(cid:4)((cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:17)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:16)(cid:4) (cid:8)$(cid:16)+(cid:11)/(cid:13)2(cid:16) 5E(cid:11)2«(F 136, 1), (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:19)(cid:22) Ν(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:9) (cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:3)(cid:27)(cid:1)9(cid:29) (cid:19)90 φ2(cid:16)90 $(cid:16)(cid:9)!(cid:14)/(cid:16)(cid:19)2(cid:16) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25)(cid:19)(cid:14) ’(cid:13)λ (cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:1)(cid:17), Ν7(cid:11)(cid:5) (cid:6)κ 7(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:12)Ω(cid:16) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:8)(cid:11)(cid:17)(cid:14)« (cid:6)(cid:7) (cid:12)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:9) (cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:16)(cid:30)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:16)(cid:14)(cid:16) 9(cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:24)(cid:18)(cid:4) (cid:1)(cid:29)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9)« (cid:9)(cid:26)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:17)«.(cid:9)%(cid:19)(cid:21)(cid:9)(cid:16) (cid:6)(cid:2) (cid:12)(cid:14)(cid:5) (cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:28) (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25) (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:17)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:24) (cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:18)7(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:16)A# (cid:11)7(cid:2)(cid:1)(cid:9)(cid:14)« ² (cid:19)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:3)2)(cid:6)(cid:30)«,(cid:4)(cid:26)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:8)(cid:5)(cid:12)((cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:30)(cid:19)(cid:4),(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:18)(cid:14)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:14)« +(cid:2)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:24)« ’(cid:16) (cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:1)(cid:1)() (cid:19)() φ(cid:1)(cid:14)(cid:3)(cid:12)() (cid:19)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:3)2)(cid:6)"(cid:18)(cid:9)« (cid:9)(cid:26)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:28)« (cid:19)κ(cid:16)A# (cid:16)(cid:6)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:12)(cid:2)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:16),³« (cid:13)(cid:24)(cid:11)(cid:2).(cid:9)(cid:5) (cid:19)(cid:4) $(cid:13)µ (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25) +(cid:4)(cid:27)(cid:19)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:24) (cid:19)(cid:14)&« (cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:14)&« (cid:8)(cid:9)λ $(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:9)« U(cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:16) ’« (cid:19)κ(cid:16) (cid:19)(cid:11)(cid:9)(cid:3)2)(cid:6)(cid:21)(cid:9)(cid:16) (cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:1)(cid:5)- (cid:18)+(cid:9)(cid:21)(cid:16)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:16), ’(cid:13)λ (cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:1)& ’(cid:12)φ(cid:5)(cid:1)(cid:14)72(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:17)(cid:18)(cid:29)« (cid:19)0«A# (cid:16)(cid:6)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:12)(cid:2)(cid:6)(cid:9)« (cid:19)90 (cid:12)(cid:16)"(cid:12)9(cid:29) (cid:9)(cid:26)(cid:19)((cid:16) (cid:8)(cid:9)λ (cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:25) P(cid:4)(cid:11)(cid:18)(cid:2)2« 9(cid:19)(cid:5) (cid:18)&(cid:16) (cid:19)90M(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:17)(cid:18)9(cid:29) (cid:19)κ(cid:16) ?(cid:8)(cid:27)(cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:24) (cid:3)(cid:16)/(cid:12)(cid:29)(cid:16) (cid:13)(cid:4)(cid:11)(cid:5)(cid:13)(cid:4)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:12)(cid:2)(cid:16)(cid:14)(cid:24). They say, my handsome Philo, that during the reign of Lysimachus (305–281) a disease with these symptoms fell upon the inhabitants of Abdera. All the population together caught a fever, one that was strong and persistent from the very first day. Around the seventh day a plentiful discharge of blood from the nostrils in some cases, or a profuse sweat in others, broke up the fever. But it brought their minds around into a laughable condition. For they were all out of their minds for tragedy and they uttered iambic verse 14 For the importance of Medea in particular to Stoic thought, see Gutzwiller 2004, 356–360. 15 On this epigram, see Fantuzzi 2007, 481–483. For Euripides in the schools, see Cribiore 2001, 98–99.

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