LONDON STUDIES IN CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY
ited by
GIUSEPPE GIANGRANDE
Volume Eight
COROLLA LONDINIENSIS
edited by
GIUSEPPE GIANGRANDE
J.C. GIEBEN, PUBLISHER
AMSTERDAM 1981(Cover lustration: Muse holding a Scrol(Loure, Pais; Hellenistic).
any form, by print,
n permision from
Foreword
Eleonora
motivo
Eleonora
Greg. Naz. Carm.
Dougias E. Gerber
‘Theoeritus, Zyl! 17.53.57
Giuseppe Giangrande
‘Textual Problems in four Hellenistic Epigrams
Giuseppe Giangrande
‘Three Epigrams from the Garland of Philip
Giuseppe Glangrande
On the Alleged Fragment of Gallus
Giuseppe Giangrande
Anglers in Theocritus
Giuseppe Giangrande
(On a Passage of tho Periplus Maris Erythraei
S. Hatzikosta
Horace 1.25.20: Hebro/Buro: River or Wind?
A.W, James
‘Apollonius Rhodius and his Sources: Interpretative Notes on the
‘Argonautica
M, Montuori
Dj Aspasia Milesia
‘S. Naughton
On the Syntax of the Pseudo-Gallus
John Vaio
‘Another Forgery from the Pen of Mynas?
Heather White
‘The Fever of Love in Theocritus
Heather White
Four Textual and Interpretative Problems in Theocritus’ Idyll XVI
‘ami in Alceo ¢ nei tragici
1, 6565
a
2s
29
a
4s
59
87
un
113
129
137FOUR TEXTUAL AND INTERPRETATIVE PROBLEMS
IN THEOCRITUS’ IDYLL XVI
HEATHER WHITE
BIRKBECK COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
‘May aim in this paper is to elucidate several textual and inter-
pretative problems in Theocritus’ Idyll XVI. As the reader will
no doubt recall, this is the poem in which Theocritus asks Hiero
II of Syracuse for patronage.’ Firstly I would like to discuss
lines 27-28, where Theocritus points out the duty of a rich man
to be a good host:*
unde Eewoddxov Kaxov Euuevar ada rparéty
netdikavr’ dmonéuyat émiv e€uvrt vécoBar,
Gow (Theocritus, Cambridge 1965, vol. I, p. 125) translated
these lines as follows:
“nor play the churlish host, but to treat the stranger kindly
at one’s board and speed him when he would be gone:”
All the commentators from Fritzsche* to Gow have been aware
of the fact that the poet is alluding to the passage in the Odyssey
where Menelaus discusses the duty of a fewoBdxos (Od. XV,68
ff.)
1. On the question of patronage and the historical background to the
1ayi, ef. W. Meineke, Untersuchungen zu den Enkomiastischen Gedichten
Theokrits, Diss. Kiel, 1965.
2, On the duties of the host and guest, ef. K. Blelohlawek, Gastmahis-
und Symposionslehren bel griechischen Dichtern, Wien Studien 1940 (38),
P1130,
. Ch. ALTA, Fritsche, Theocrti Idyll, Leipeig 1870 (editio altera)
ad ioe.
137‘Tadeuay’, ob ri a' Eyed Ye TORIW xpévov évB5" Epiteo
‘iéuevon viorow veueootat 52 Kai ado
70 dvb pi FewoBéxco, be x’ Etoxa yév oidénow,
doxa 8 exOaipnow' dues 8 aicwa wévra.
Taéy ror Kaxér £00), bs 1 obk eB€Rovra véeoOat
Eelvov énorpiver xai bs Eooiuerov KarepiKet.
xpi Eewor wapeirra Gel, éB€dovra BE née.
reprint Darmstadt 1968, s.v. dnoméumes, “gel
cf. Od. X,65 and Od. XIX,316)
In conclusion, therefore, there is no need to invoke the use of
ponéures, as Dover does, in order to explain the meaning of
éronéudat, since Theocritusishere, with his customary accuracy
and erudition, alluding to one specific Homeric meaning of the
verb dronéymes,
ten” (Od. X,73;
However, Gow was puzzled by the use of the verb dnonényat
and stated in his commentary (op. cit., vol. Il, p. 311) that
‘Theocritus’ emphasis seems rather oddly laid on the duty of
letting your guest go when he wants." Dover (Theocritus,
London 1971, p. 219) has correctly understood that dronépyat
means “not quite ‘send away’, but ‘send on their way,’ which
[Dover continues} one can do nicely to a guest laden with gifts.”
Dover then adds that the reader should compare the use of the
verb “(mpo) méumew in the sense ‘escort
Here I woul the commentators seem
to have overlooked the fact that Theocritus is consciously
echoing not only Odyssey XV, line 68ff., but also, and more
importantly for the correct understanding of the verb dronépyat
in this passage, Odyssey X,72Ef., where Odysseus is told to leave
the Aeolian
“Epp’ éx vijoov Odaoor, édeyxwre Ses6vreav
ob yap nor Béuss éori KouwSéuev ob8' axonéunew
avbpa ke eoiow anéxOnra: waxdpeoow
15 éppe, énei pa Oeoiow dnexOduevoc 765" ikdvers.
‘Translation by A.T. Murray (Loeb edition, London 1930, vol. 1,
p. 349):
Begone from our island with speed, thou vilest of all that
In no wise may [help or send upon his way (Anonéurew)
that man who is hated of the blessed gods. Begone, for thou
comest hither as one hated of the immortal
‘As can be seen from Murray’s translation, the verb éronéynew
(corresponding to Theocritus’ droméupas) has the meaning
“send (somebody) on his way,” “send off with an escort”: cf.
for this meaning of the verb anonéumww, C. Capelle, Vollstiindiges
Worterbuch tiber die Gedichte des Homeros und der Homeriden,
138
Secondly 1 would like to discuss lines 34-39, where Theocritus
mentions Simonides’ Thessalian patrons:
Todoi év “Avribxo10 Sépors Kai dvaxros "ANeba
38 dpyadehv éupnvor éuerphoavro nevéorae
fe Zxondbauow edavvbpevo
fv Kepafjow euvxsioarro Boca.
nupia. 8 au neBiov Kpavvdsvov év8.éaoKov
roméves Exxpera uipha prdokeivoun Kpecsvbaue
Gow (op. cit., vol. I, p. 125) transiated thus:
“Many were the serfs that drew their measured rations month
by month in the halls of Antiochus and king Aleuas; many
the calves that with the homed kine were driven bellowing to
the byres of the Scopadae; countless the choice sheep that
for the hospitable Creondae the shepherds pastured afield
over the plain of Crannon.”
‘As Gow has already mentioned (op.cit., vol II, p.313), Crannon
in Thessaly was associated by both Herodotus (VI,127, 4) and
Callimachus not, as here in Theocritus, with the Creondae, but
with the Scopadae (cf. Callimachus, fr. 64, lines 13-14, Pfeiffer):
Batropdviov dno wodvor, Bre Kpavycsvos alat
Gober weyddove olkos éxi Dkondbas.
Gow concluded that “it would seem therefore that Scopadae
and Creondae are the same family (so 2).™*
Dover (op. cit., p. 222) draws the reader's attention to the
fact that “Skopas’ father was named Kreon (Pl. Prt, 339A), and
4, For the family relationship which existed between the Scopadae and
the Creondae, ef. J.
fablen, Ober Theokrits Hiero, Gesammelte Philolo-
139we should expect his sons and descendants to be called
Kpeovriai.” According to Dover, Theocritus “has modelled
Kpedv6ai on northern Greek names in -