Southport : Original Sources in Exploration
	Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Vol. I  Bernard S. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt (Eds.)
	The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Vol. 3, edited by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt (London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1903) New Classical Fragments: 409-411, 413, 420  (mid-2nd c. -5th c. AD)  [1] [2] ______________________________________________________________ No. 409.    Menander, Kolax.  21.5 x 34.1 cm.  mid-2nd c. AD.   Plates II and III. (p.17) A notable increase has been effected during the last few years in the fragments of Menander [3], the discovery of the Geneva fragment of the Georgos ["The Farmer"] being rapidly followed by that of the Oxyrhynchus fragment of the Perikiroumene ["Girl with cropped hair"]. Another welcome addition is now made by the following considerable fragment of the Kolax ["The Flatterer"], a comedy previously represented only by a few short quotations, and some mutilated lines in P. Petrie I. iv. 1 assigned with much probability to this play by Blass (Hermes, xxxiii. p. 654, Rhein. Museum, p. 102). The identification is established by the fortunate occurrence in the papyrus (Il. 42-4) of (p.18) three lines quoted from the Kolax by Stobaeus, Floril. 10. 21 (Fr. 294 of the Menander fragments in Kock’s Fragmenta Comicorum); while another line and a half formerly placed among the adela dramura (Kock, Fr. 731) occur in lines 49-50. As is well known, this play was utilized by Terence in his Eunuchus, a fact which he himself states in the prologue (lines 30-2) :.... the ‘parasitus’ Gnatho representing Menander’s Struthias, and the 'miles gloriosus', who in the Kolax was called Bias (cf. 1. 32), appearing as Thraso (cf. Kock, Fr. 293, Plutarch, Mor. 57.4). But not much can be inferred from this concerning the plot of the Kolax, since the Eunuchus was the product of a contaminatio of two Menandrian dramas, the second being the Eunouchos ["The Eunuch"]; and where Terence was following the one and where the other cannot be accurately determined. Unfortunately on this point the present papyrus, notwithstanding its length, does not bring much enlightenment. Throughout the first column the beginnings of the lines are lost; and though different speakers are occasionally distinguished, and the sense of a line or two may here and there be caught, it is impossible either to follow the course of the dialogue or evolve a connected idea of the action. In lines 1-13 the speaker is possibly Struthias, the parasite, and a comparison with Terence, Eunuchus ii. 2, would then suggest itself; but the resemblance, if indeed there can be said to be a resemblance, was not more than a general one. A closer parallel is obtainable between lines. 11-13 and Terence, Eunuch. iii. 4, a speech by Antipho. Lower down in the column other characters appear and the names Doris and Phidias (lines. 18-19) are mentioned; perhaps therefore a change of scene occurred in the course of this column, and the transition may be marked by the space between lines 13 and 14. Column ii, which succeeds without a break, is in a more satisfactory condition. Probably a new scene opens at line 39, from which point as far as line 53 we have a dialogue between two persons who are walking in the street followed by a slave carrying wine-jars (line 47). One of them is infuriated by the sight of the parasite, Struthias, whom he declares (lines 45-53) he would like to unmask in the open market-place. Below line 53 is a coronis and a short line; and then another dialogue succeeds in which the speakers are the familiar young man (A.) and his tutor (B.), the latter of whom makes a speech of some length upon the iniquities of the race of parasites (lines 55~63). It would at first sight be natural to suppose that a change of scene occurred at lines 54, and that the short line is a stage direction. But what remains of line. 54 does not seem to suit this view, while (p.19) on the other hand it can be easily connected with what follows; and, moreover, the speech of the tutor would succeed so appositely upon the outburst in ll. 45-53 as to give strong support to the hypothesis that the speakers in the upper half of this column are the same as in the lower. Line 54 must then be assumed to be defective. ...... The MS. is written in rapidly formed medium-sized uncials which we should assign to about the middle of the second century. This date is also indicated by the two marginal notes, one of which is of some length, written by the original scribe in a.smaller and more cursive hand, and also by the accounts already mentioned on the verso, which are not later than the first half of the third century, and may belong to the end of the second. Changes of speaker are marked by double dots and paragraphi as in the Perikairoumene fragment (211); stops are frequently added, the high point as a rule being used, though the middle (so apparently at the ends of Il. 6 and 35) and low point (1ine 44) also occur, and accents, breathings, &c., are found here and there: most or all of these lection signs are by the first hand. The text is but mediocre in quality, for in addition to minor errors half a line may be missing at line 54  above), and the blank space after 1ine 13 is suspicious. translation from Greek: (p.25) (lines 39-67:) "A (a young man). ‘What... has swooped down on us and whence is it? ... that he is a knave is evident. B (tutor of A). How? A. No honest man ever grew rich quickly. For while he is putting by and living thriftily, the man who lays a trap for his patient watchfulness gets everything. B. How unjust it is what you say. A. I swear by the sun that if the slave were not following me carrying the Thasian jars and there were no suspicion of my being drunk, I would at once pursue him in the market-place crying: “Fellow, last year you were poor and an outcast, but now you are rich, Say what trade you have been working at; answer me this, whence have you got all this? Won't you be off... somewhere else? Why do you teach men wrong? Why do you declare to us that there is profit in evil-doing ? ” B. There is one character, my boy, only one which has brought utter ruin upon the world, and so I tell you. This alone it is that has ruined all the cities which you have seen laid waste, as I have now discovered. ll the tyrants, all the great rulers, satraps, captains, founders, generals—I mean those who have come to complete ruin—this alone has been their destruction, namely the miserable parasites who attend them. A. That is a violent speech ; but I am not sure what is the meaning of this. B. Any one might be so mistaken as to suppose the man who was intriguing against him to be his friend. A. But if the intriguer is powerless? B. Every one has power to do evil." ______________________________________________________________ No. 410.    Rhetorical Treatise.  25.4 x 23.2 cm. Late 2nd c. AD.  Plate IV (Cols. i-ii) (p.26) A treatise on Rhetoric in the Doric dialect is something of a surprise, but that such was the character of the work from which these fragments are derived admits of no doubt. The dialect, though occasionally corrupt, is the same as that found in the fragments of Archytas of Tarentum and other Pythagoreans, and in the anonymous Dialexis Ethikai , the composition of which is attributed to the beginning of the fourth century BC. (cf. Mullach, Fragm. Phil. Graec. i. pp. 544 sqq.; ii. pp. 9 sqq.). To the same period and probably to the same school the present treatise is also to be assigned. The precepts inculcated by the writer are of a simple and practical character, and their principal object is the attainment of megaloprepia, which, as we also know from Quintilian (Or. iv. 61-3), was specially included among the narrandi virtutes .... by certain authorities. Poetical quotations are freely introduced, a circumstance which forms another connecting link with the Dialexis ; cf. Mullach, of. cit. i. pp. 546, 548. The greater part of four consecutive columns is preserved, the first of these being practically complete. They are written in a neat, rather small, round uncial hand which we should place in the latter half of the second century A.D., though the contents of the verso, a series of epigrams (No.464) in a semi-uncial (p.27) hand, appear to be of a considerably later date. The columns lean over rather markedly to the right. Quotations usually, though not always, project by a letter or two into the left margin, as in other papyri of this period (cf. No.220). The text is not very good, and in several passages the corruption has gone considerably deeper than the mere debasement of the dialect. translation from Greek: (pp.30-31) (lines 1-20:) "... And others will esteem you; and also if in speaking at the commencement of the address of ingratiation one appears to use common phrases and not written ones, and speaks of nothing as a matter of certain knowledge, but of opinion and hearsay, whether from the jury or others. Such are the points in the exordium which are useful as giving an impression of fairness. In the narration of facts, the following directions serve to produce an appearance of a superior and high-minded character." (lines 71-85:) "Moreover take no pleasure in making indecorous or insolent statements, for that is mean and a sign of an intemperate disposition, while the avoidance of abuse is a mark of high-mindedness and an ornament of speech. Next to this, in all your narration you must have a good object and a good intent, whether you are...or expressing an Opinion or desire." (lines 93-107:) "... and blaming the wicked. For men will suppose that you resemble whomever you praise, or blame, or hate, or welcome. For most men approve of their like. Hence the saying “ I never asked, knowing that he is like those whose company he enjoys.” [1] (lines 114-23:) "-This conduces also to persuasiveness ; for to have forgotten produces credit for absence of malice and for spontaneousness. Occasionally this is to be simulated. And almost all irony is high-minded." notes: 1. The quotation is from Euripides’ Phoenix, Fr. 803. ______________________________________________________________ No. 411.   Life of Alcibiades [4].  21.6 x 18 cm.    5th century AD.  (p.31) A leaf from a vellum codex of a historical work, written in double columns in a calligraphic uncial hand resembling that of the Codex Alexandrinus. The fragment was found with papyri of the later Byzantine period but is certainly not later than the sixth century, and more probably it is to be assigned to the fifth. (p.32) The leaf is a good deal worm-eaten, and the writing being on very thin vellum has a tendency to come through on to the other side. There are no lection-marks of any kind, nor are initial letters of lines larger than the rest. [The letter] N at the end of a line is generally represented by a horizontal stroke. The fragment, which despite its brevity covers the period from the mutilation of the Hermae to Alcibiades’ arrival at Sparta, clearly belongs to a life of Alcibiades rather than to a general history. This fact, coupled with the use of .... [certain phrases] (lines 25-16) ... found in Lucian, Achilles Tatius, and other late writers, indicates that the work in question was a composition of the Roman period. Thucydides is the principal authority, several phrases from him being incorporated; but that he was not the exclusive source is shown by the mention of Poulution, whose name is recorded by Andocides (De Mysteriis, p. 7, Reiske) and Plutarch (Add. 19, 22), but not by Thucydides ; cf. 1. 57, where the papyrus comes into conflict with Thucydides, There is no reason to think that the writer borrowed from the much more detailed narrative of Plutarch, whom it is as likely as not that he preceded. So brief an account of well-known events could hardly be expected to contain new historical information, but the papyrus is interesting as a specimen of one of Plutarch’s rivals in the sphere of biography who must have enjoyed considerable vogue for a time. There are a few errors on the part of the copyist, but the style of the fragment is fairly good. The sympathies of the writer were obviously on the side of Alcibiades. translation from Greek: (p.34) "(The Athenians) considering that (the mutilation of the Hermae) was not only an (outrage) but a conspiracy to establish a tyranny, and recalling the brutality of the Pisistratidae, sought to discover the authors by large rewards for information. Alcibiades in particular they held in suspicion, judging from his pride and position that he was ambitious of a great career, An informer gave evidence in no way bearing on the Hermae, but accusing Alcibiades of having betrayed the mysteries at the house of — Pulytion; whereupon Alcibiades came forward in the assembly and defended himself, demanding that the case should be decided before he became general. " "But his accusers resisted, urging the people not to delay the prospects of the (expedition). .., firstly because both Mantineans and Argives were joining in the expedition (owing to him) and were already present at Athens, and secondly because they knew that the Athenians, in their desire to start for Sicily, would acquit him. Such were the circumstances under which Alcibiades departed, after making many just protestations that they should pay no attention to slanders; and having sailed to Sicily he won over nearly all the cities settled there through their friendly intercourse and relations with him." [1] "But while he was still with the expedition at Catana, the events at Athens intervened; for his calumniators again accused him before the ecclesia of the mutilation of the Hermae, . .. the Athenians imprisoned amongst others Andocides the orator, and sent to fetch Alcibiades the ship called the Salaminia, which, on account of its great speed and because it was equipped at the public charge, was usually employed on sudden emergencies." "Alcibiades, however, on being summoned for trial, was aware that the Athenians had already condemned him in advance and would not wait for his defence, and (accompanied the Salaminia as far as) Thurii, where he took flight and sailed to the Peloponnese, voluntarily surrendering himself to the Lacedaemonians, There he subsequently made (p.35) a public speech in defence of the injuries which he had inflicted upon the Peloponnese, alleging that they (the Lacedaemonians) had passed him over and honoured Nicias [2], and urging the Lacedaemonians to help the Sicilians at once on the ground that, if they failed to assist them speedily, the hopes of the Athenians would be realized. He inspired the Lacedaemonians with the strongest desire for war, and further advised them to make a fortified outpost of Decelea...  " [3] notes: 1. This statement is in flagrant contradiction with the facts recorded by Thucydides, vi. 90—2, from which it appears that the Athenians met with little support. 2. Cf. Thuc. vi. 89-92 (speech of Alcibiades) does not mention Nicias by name in this passage. 3. The source of both passages being of course Thuc. vi. 89-92. ______________________________________________________________ No. 413.    Farce and Mime.    22.9 x 42.3 cm.   mid-2nd c. AD.    (p.41) Both sides of this remarkable papyrus are occupied with literary compositions of an unusual type. On the verso are three columns, of which the two latter are almost complete, of a low comedy or farce, written in a good-sized semi-uncial hand, the dramatis personae being carefully distinguished and stage directions added. Adhering to the right of the third column about halfway down is an uninscribed fragment of some size, showing that the work did not extend beyond half a column more at most. On the verso are, firstly, two columns in a much smaller and more cursive hand, preceded by a few letters of a third upon the projecting fragment already referred to, from what may best be described as a mime, which is mainly, at the least,a monologue. The second of the two complete columns is shorter than the other, and there are some 6 centimetres of blank space below it. Secondly, adjoining this to the right is another column of dialogue in the style of the recto, and with the same characters, written in a somewhat larger and more careful hand, but evidently by the same person who was responsible for the foregoing mime. This column was intended to supersede the latter portion of the first column of the recto; cf. note on ll. 30-6. To assign both sides of the papyrus to one scribe is out of the question, but we are not inclined to think that the two documents were separated by a considerable interval of time. The hand of the recto we attribute with little hesitation to the Antonine period; that of the verso no doubt falls within the second century. As we have already seen, the MS. apparently was not continued more than a few lines beyond the third column of the recto, if it did not actually end at that point. This fact is quite in accordance with the internal evidence, for the (p.42) impression given by the lower part of this column is that it is the exodium or conclusion of the whole piece. Metrical passages are introduced, a system of Sotadean verses in ll. 88-91 being followed after a short interval by a series of trochaic tetrameters (Il. 96-106); and there was an accompaniment of music and dancing (cf. ll. 88-9, 92-3) .... The scene of the Comedy is the coast of a barbarian country bordering upon the Indian ocean (cf. Il. 88-91), and the subject is the adventures in those remote regions of a party of Greeks chief among whom is Charition, the heroine of the drama. Such themes are familiar from the pages of the early Greek romances, and the plot of this piece seems to have run on lines very similar to theirs. Charition had not improbably been carried off in the usual way by pirates, and had so come into the hands of the barbarians, whose Greek-speaking king (cf. ll. 88sqq.) is one of the characters of the play. She had apparently taken up her abode in a temple (cf. Il. 215, 225); and the present fragment describes her rescue by her brother and others who had arrived by sea, and who succeed in effecting their escape after making her captors drunk. Professor Crusius ....suggests that the position in which Charition found herself placed may have been similar to that of the heroine in the romance of Xenophon of Ephesus, Antheia, who in order to repel the advances of the Indian prince Psammis represented herself as dedicated to the goddess Isis .... and lived for some time in that capacity under Psammis’ protection. A large number of characters are introduced. Besides Charition, whom the stage directions call A, her brother G (lines 97-99), and the barbarian king, called Bas(ileus), we have the buffoon (B) who largely supplies the comic element. This, as might be expected, is often of a coarse kind. B is of the Greek party and does not understand the barbarian language (lines 58,66); but some non-Greek words are assigned to him in line 75 and 79-80. Another well-identified character is D, the captain of the ship (line 101). The personality of others is less easy to ascertain. In the fourth column of the verso S, who goes to fetch the ship, seems to belong to the brother's party, and is consequently to be distinguished from the speaker in lines 70-1 and 74, who uses only the barbarian language, but is designated by a symbol which might otherwise be supposed to represent s. It is, however, formed quite differently from the s on the verso, and is more like the sign for 200. Z, who figures only in Il. 31 and 71-3, is another barbarian. There remains Koi( ), whose remarks are also with one exception (line 104) in the barbarian tongue. We are indebted to Prof. G. Wissowa for the suggestion that the abbreviation is to be expanded Koine ‘all’ or ‘altogether,’ referring either to (p.43) the body of the barbarians or of the Greeks as the case may be. This hypothesis satisfies all the conditions, and accounts for the appearance of Koi( ) in line 104, which would on any other view be a difficulty. In lines 195 sqq. a party of barbarian women, who have just returned from a hunting expedition, is introduced. They are armed with bows and arrows, and nearly succeed in shooting the buffoon (lines 207-8). Apart from the distribution of the various parts the MS. includes a number of symbols and abbreviations which are to be interpreted as stage directions. The commonest of these are a r with a dot and a horizontal dash above it (in line 211 there is no dash), and a pair of short strokes curving towards each other at the centre (e.g. line 11) which is sometimes followed by a straight stroke (e.g. line 39). The rr (which we print simply as r) is probably to be connected with the music .... The two curved strokes, which sometimes stand before or after r (e.g. lines 65, 72), but more commonly are by themselves, may also have a musical signification, or may refer in some other way to the accompanying action; their use is not like that of mere marks of punctuation. The word porde which is repeatedly associated with the remarks of B, the buffoon, seems also to be of the nature of a stage direction.... The speeches in the barbarian language are usually written continuously, like the Greek, without separation of words; but in one passage (lines 61-64) the words are divided by points, while in others the insertion of one of the symbols described above serves a similar purpose. The language is no doubt to a large extent of an imaginary nature, but it may include some genuine non-Hellenic elements; cf. note regarding Pali on line 83. The mime. of which two columns are preserved upon the verso of the papyrus. is of a simpler character. The chief figure here is again a woman, upon whom the action centres throughout; most of the other actors are slaves. The motive of the first scene (Col. ii) is that of the fifth mime of Herondas, the Zelotupos. The young mistress makes proposals to one of her slaves, Aesopus (I. 115), to which he declines to listen, whereupon she orders him to be put to death along with a female slave (? Apollonia, line 120) whom she supposes to be the object of his affections. These cruel commands, however, are not actually carried out, for the male slave manages to escape, and his assumed paramour is only placed in confinement. In the next scene (Col. iii) the bloodthirsty mistress is engaged in plotting the death of an old man, to whom she appears (p.44) to have been unhappily married. Her accomplices are two slaves, Spinther and Malacus, who also figured in the previous scene; and a ‘parasite’ acts as a go-between. The column ends in a rather obscure manner without her nefarious purpose having been accomplished, and the piece seems to have been left unfinished. .... With regard to the date of the composition of these two productions, Crusius considers that the mime belongs to the Roman period, while the farce may be rather earlier, though not a product of the better Hellenistic age. Their literary quality cannot of course be ranked very high, but they are not devoid of merit. The situations disclosed in the farce shows some skill in construction, and when on the stage may have been amusing enough even without the coarser elements; while the mime, though without the accompanying action it is sometimes obscure, has considerable vigour and dramatic force. Not improbably  these two pieces were once performed in the theatre of Oxyrhynchus, and they may be regarded as typical of the performances upon the provincial stages at this time. In short, they afford a most interesting glimpse into the music-hall of the period immediately following that which is represented by the Alexandrian Erotic Fragment (P. Grenf. I. 1).  1a. Farce: translation from Greek: (p.52) (lines 188-230:) "F. Lady Charition, rejoice with me at my escape! A (Charition). Great are the gods. B (buffoon). What gods,:fool? + + « A. Cease, fellow! F. Wait for me here and I will go and bring the ship to anchor. A. Go; for see, here come their women from the chase. B. Oh! what huge bows they have! A woman. Kraunou. Another. Lalle. Another. Laitalianta lalle... Another. Kouakos anab . iosara. B. Hail! All. Laspathia. B. Ah! Lady, help! [1] A. Alemaka. A. Alemaka. B. By Athena, there is no... from us. A. Wretch, they took you for an enemy and nearly shot you. #8. Iam always in misfortune. Will you then... to the river Psolichus? A. As you like. (Drums.) B. *** All. Minei. F. Lady Charition, I see the wind is rising, so that we may cross the Indian ocean and escape. So enter and fetch your property, and if you can, carry off one of the offerings to the goddess. A, Prudence, fellow! Those in need of salvation must not accompany their petitions to the gods with sacrilege. For how will the gods listen to men who try to win mercy with wickedness? B. Don't you touch, I will fetch it. F. Well, fetch your own things then. A. I do not need them either, but only to see my father’s face. F. Enter then; and do you serve them... and give them their wine strong, for here they come." 1b. Farce translation from Greek: (p.53) (lines 38~106: ). "B. I think that they are the daughters of swine; these too I will get rid of. (Drums, ***). All. Ai arminthi. (Drums.) B. They also have run away to the Psolichus. C. Yes; but let us get ready, if we are to escape. B. Lady Charition, get ready if you can to take under your arm one of the offerings to the goddess. A. Hush! Those in need of salvation must not accompany their petitions to the gods with sacrilege. For how will they listen to the prayers of those who are about to gain mercy by wickedness? The property of the goddess must remain sacred. B. Don't you touch; I will carry it. ° A. Don’t be silly, but if they come serve them the wine neat. B. But if they will not drink it so? C. Fool, in these regions wine is not for sale. Consequently, if they get hold of this kind of thing they will drink it neat against their will (?). B. I'll serve them lees and all. C. Here they come, having bathed, with... (Drums.) King. Brathis. All. Brathis. B. What do they say? C. Let us draw lots for the shares, he says. B. Yes, let us. King. Stoukepairomellokoroke. B. Back, accursed wretch ! King. Brathie. (Drums.) Bere konzei damun petrekio paktei kortames bere ialero depomenzi petrekio damut kinze paxei zebes lolo bia bradis kottos. All. Kottos. B. May you be kicked by ‘kottos. Xing. Zopit. (Drums.) (p.54) B. What do they say? C. Give them a drink, quick. B. Are you afraid to speak then? Hail, thou whose days prosper! (Drums.) King. Zeisoukormosede. (Drums.) B. Ah! Not if I know it! C. It is watery; put in some wine. (Much drumming.) G. Skalmakatabapteiragoumi. H. Tougoummi nekelekethro. G. Eitoubelletrachoupteragoumi. B. Ah! None of your disgusting ways! [2] Stop! (Drums.) Ah! What are you doing? H. ‘Trachountermana. G. BoullitikaloumbaY platagoulda bi[ B. Apuleukasar. [3] (Drums.) King. Chorbonorbothorba....... toumionaxiz-despit platagoulda bi...... sesorachis. (Drums.) King. ... orado satur[ King. Ouamesaresumpsaradara ei ia da[ B. Martha marithouma edmaimal maltho....... thamouna martha marithouma. (Drums.) ...... tun [3] King. Malpiniakouroukoukoubi karako ... ra. All. Aba. King. Zabede zabiligidoumba. All. Aba oun[ King. Panoumbretikatemanouambretououeni. [4] All, Panoumbretikatemanouambretououeni Parakoumbretikatemanouambretououeni Olusadizapardapiskoupiskateman areiman| ridaou oupatei.a. (five drummings.) King. A boundless barbaric dance I lead, O goddess moon, With wild measure and barbaric step; Ye Indian chiefs, bring the drum (?) of mystic sound, The frenzied Seric step... (Much drumming, beating.) All. Orkis[.|. B. What do they say again? C. He says, dance. B. Just like living men. (Drums ***), C. Throw him down and bind him with the sacred girdles. (Much drumming. Finale.) B. They are heavy now with drink. C. Good; Charition, come out here. A. Come, brother, quickly; is all ready? C. Yes all: the boat is at anchor close by; why do you linger? Helmsman, I bid you bring the ship alongside here at once. D (captain). Wait till I give him the word.  B. Are you talking again, you bungler? let us leave him outside to kiss the ship’s bottom. C. Are you all aboard? All. Aboard. A. O unhappy me! A great trembling seizes my wretched body. Be propitious, lady goddess! save thy handmaiden!" Notes: 1. (line 204). At this point the women begin an attack on the buffoon, who cries out to Charition for help. Charition accordingly intervenes with the word ‘alemaka’ (line 205), which is repeated by the rest and apparently has the effect of restoring peace 2. (line 67). This remark is addressed to one of the barbarians. 3. (lines 76-80), The distribution of the parts in this passage causes some difficulty. The buffoon, elsewhere speaks Greek only, and appears not to understand the barbarian language. Yet in lines. 75 and 79 he is assigned non-Greek speeches, and the speaker who intervenes either at the end of ll. 75 or 76 may also be B. ..... If the attribution of lines 75 and 79-80 to B. is correct, he may be supposed to be emboldened by the conviviality of the barbarians to address them in a meaningless jargon intended to imitate their language. 4. Assuming that it is worth while to attempt to bring the barbarian language in this piece into relation with any known speech, the key is possibly to be found in late Pali or old Prakrit. We owe to Dr. G. A. Grierson the suggestion that in the present passage, for instance, "panoumbretikate"  may represent pand amrta, ‘ drink’ (or ‘ life’) and ‘ nectar,’ which suits the context remarkably well. Similarly he would connect adep(y)uxa in lines 35 and 205 with the Pali alam ‘ enough,’ ‘ stop,’ -ka being a substantival suffix which an ignorant Greek might use incorrectly. But we must leave the consideration of this question to Sanskrit scholars. 2. Mime: translation from Greek: (p.56) (lines 120-152:) "So seize him, slaves, and drag him off to his fate; now bring out her also, gagged as she is. I bid you take them away to the two promontories, and bind them to the trees that lie there; then drag them far apart and take care that you keep each out of the other’s sight, lest they die happy feasting their eyes upon each other; and when you have slain them, come into me. I have said; and I will go within. What do you say? The gods have really appeared to you, and you were afraid? ... Although he has escaped you [1], they shall not elude the desert guards. Now I wish to propitiate the gods, Spinther. Swear ...say the sacrificial prayers. Since the gods are about to appear to us auspiciously, sing the praise of the gods in expectation. Knave, won’t you do as you are told? What has happened...? Go in and see who it is. What does he say...? Look, lest the proud one too be within. I bid you remove this woman, and hand her over to the desert guards, and tell them to load her with iron and keep her carefully. Take her, drag her off, away with her! And do you search for him, and having slain him, cast out his body that I may see him dead [2]. Come, Spinther and Malacus, with me. I will now go out and try to see with certainty if he be dead, that [ may not again be carried away by strife. Thus will I address him(?). ‘Ah, see him here! Oh, poor wretch: would you be thus cast out rather than love me? How shall I mourn him as he lies deaf to my voice? ... All strife is over! Cease ...I will ease my ravished heart (?).' " (lines 153-187:)  "Spinther, whence that crest-fallen look? Come up to me here, knave, in order that I may strain some wine. Come in, come in, knave; come here! Where are you walking from? Turn in here. Where is the half of your tunic, the half of it, I say? 1 will pay you in full for everything. This is my resolve, Malacus: to kill them all and sell their property, and then to withdraw somewhere or other. Now I wish to get the old man into my power before he has any idea of this; and I conveniently have a deadly drug which I will mix with some mead and give him to drink. So go to the broad door and call him as though for a reconciliation; let us too go, and communicate the affair of the old man to the parasite. Ho slave! The case is this,. parasite.—Who is this? And she? [3] What is the matter with her then? Unveil her that I may see her. I require your help. The case is this, parasite. I have repented and wish to be reconciled to the old man. Go then and see him, and bring him and I will go in and prepare your dinner.—I commend your speed, Malacus. Have you got the drug mixed and is the dinner ready? What? Malacus! here, take the mead. Unhappy man, I think the parasite is panic-stricken. Unhappy man, he laughs! Go along with him lest anything happen to him.—This has been done as I wished; let us go in and deliberate more securely about the rest. Malacus, everything has gone as I intended, if we also make away with the old man. Parasite, what has happened? Ah, how? Certainly, for I now have them all in'my power. Come, parasite! What do you want then? Spinther, give me poison enough. Parasite, I am afraid I shall laugh. You are right. I say—what ought I to say? My father and lord, to whom are you leaving me? I have lost my freedom of speech, my glory, my light of liberty! You were my Jord.—Thus let me mourn him (though I speak not truly).—Woe to thee, wretched, hapless, miserable, loveless one! Woe to you, woe to me! For I know who you are. Hateful Spinther, bring the block for this man! Who is this again?—They are still safe, master ." notes: 1. (lines 130-1). The displacement of the fibres of the papyrus at the ends of these lines much interferes with their decipherment..... It appears, however, from ll. 140 sqq. that only the male slave had escaped..... [Certain words] seems to mean the slave who had scorned his mistress’s attractions, and who had evidently succeeded in effecting his escape ; 2. (lines 147-152). It would at first sight appear from this passage that the slave had actually been caught and put to death, and that the sight of his dead body had filled his mistress with remorse. But the analogy of lines 181 sqq. suggests that this lament may be only imaginary,—a forecast of what would be appropriate when the occasion came. 3. (line 166). A female character enters at this point, but there is no clue to her identity. ______________________________________________________________ 420.   Argument of Euripides' Electra. 15.7 x 9.2 cm.   mid-3rd c. AD.   Plate VI. (p.56) A fragment of a brief account of the recognition of Orestes by Electra through the intermediary of an old man, and almost certainly part of a hitherto unknown hypothesis of Euripides’ Electra [5], covering lines 341-584. The verso has been used for writing an account in a cursive hand of the late third century AD. The writing on the recto, which is of a common type (cf. Plate VI), probably dates from about the middle of the same century. translation from Greek: (p.67) (lines 1-14:) "(Auturgus wished) to introduce the heroes to his house to partake of a poor but .. . hospitality, and himself went off to fetch offerings suitable for his zeal. The old man who had brought up Orestes hearing of the matter came bringing for Electra such gifts as the country freely presents to rustic hirelings, and seeing Orestes and declaring the marks on his skin revealed him to Electra. He made no delay... but confessed . " Footnotes: 1. [Editor's Note:]  The original textual commentaries and notes provided by Grenfell and Hunt on passages in Greek, and on some bibliographic references,  have sometimes been abbreviated or omitted, if not essential to understanding the content of the papyri documents. Any such omissions are marked with "....", and any added words needed for clarity are placed between brackets [ ]. These elisions are separate from those used by Grenfell and Hunt in the translated text, which have not been altered. 2. [Editor's Note:] References to all other papyri from the Oxyrhynchus collections are given with their sequential number as "No. xx". Abbreviations to other papyri collections and standard historical references used by Grenfell and Hunt include the following: Archiv.= Archiv fur Papyrusforschung. B.G.U. = Aeg. Urkunden aus den K. Museum zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden. C.I.G. = Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum C.I.L. = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Cod. Just.= Codex Justianus Cod. Theod.= Codex Theodosianus C.P.R. = Corpus Papyrorum Raineri, by C. Wessely. Marcellinus =The late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus. P. Amh. = The Amherst Papyri (Greek), Vols. I-II, by B.P.Grenfell and A.S.Hunt. P. Brit.Mus. = Greek papyri in the British Museum, vol.I-II by F.G. Kenyon. P. Cairo = Catalog of the Greek Papyri in the Cairo Museum,by Grenfell & Hunt. P. Grenf. = Greek Papyri, Ser. 1 by B.P. Grenfell, and Ser. II by Grenfell and Hunt P. Hibeh = The Hibeh Papyri by B.P Grenfell and A.S. Hunt P. Leipzig = Griechische Urkunden der Papyrussammlung zu Leipzig by I Mitteis. P. Leyden = Papyri Graeci Musei Antiquarii Lugduni-Batavi, by C. Leemans. P. Petrie. P. Tebt. = The Tebtunis Papyri, by B.P. Grenfell, A.S. Hunt, et al. Perseus = the satirical ancient Roman playwright Perseus.  Wilcken, Ost. = Griechische Ostraka, by U. Wilcken 3. [Editor's note:] Menander (ca. 342-290 BC) was a Greek playwright who wrote 108 comedies, considered representative of Athenian New Comedy. Further discoveries of his work were made in 1907 with the Cairo Codex, which contained  parts of Samia, Perikeiromene, Epitrepontes, Heros, and a fragment from an unidentified play. A fragment of 115 lines of the Sikyonioi had been found in the papier mache of a mummy case in 1906, and more came from the same manuscript in the late 1960s. In 1959, the Bodmer papyrus revealed Dyskolos and large parts of  Samia and  Aspis. 4. [Editor's note:] Alcibiades ( c.a 450 – 404 BC) was an Athenian statesman and general who played a major role in the second half of the Peloponnesian War but later fell from prominence, being accused (falsely, according to his later biographer Plutarch [AD 46-120]) of mutilating statues of herms in Athens. The contemporary historian Thucydides (460-395 BC) also provided significant information on the life of Alcibiades in his History of the Peloponnesian War, written between 431 and 411 BC. 5. [Editor's note:] The Electra by Euripides (480-406 BC) was written between 410 and 413 BC. Of 92 tragedies by Euripides, some 18 including the Electra have survived intact. Various other fragments of Euripides' plays have also been recovered in the Oxyrhynchus papyri. [Continue to next part] [Return to Table of Contents]
	Southport main page         Main index of Athena Review Copyright  ©  2023    Rust Family Foundation.  (All Rights Reserved).

.