The Oxyrhynchus papyri. Part 2 / edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt.

Date:
1899
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Oxyrhynchus papyri. Part 2 / edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    must be spoken by Polemo, since there is a paragraphus between 21 and 22 which is spoken by Doris. This is a less satisfactory arrangement than that gained by assigning both lines to Polemo, though it is perhaps tenable. But if we suppose that the brackets enclosing the paragraphus between 20 and 21 are meaningless, and that the corrector did not intend any change in the arrangement of speakers, we have to suppose that he twice omitted to insert in 20 and 21 the double points which he regularly uses elsewhere to denote a change of speaker. Such an omission is very improbable; and since the hypothesis that the brackets enclosing the paragraphus between 20 and 21 indicate its omission by the corrector is the only legitimate explanation of that passage, we are justified in explaining the other cases where the brackets occur in the same way, though, as has been said, it does not follow that the bracketing was in all cases correct. 22. κανοΰν: the first ceremony in offering a sacrifice was to fill the baskets with sacred barley which was sprinkled on the head of the victim and on the altar. But Polemo is in such a hurry that he wishes to proceed to the sacrifice at once and have the preliminaries afterwards (ύστερον ϊνάρξ(ται). Cf. Eur. I. A. 1471 κανα δ' ΐναρχίσθω τις. 2 6. The reading of the corrector, πολλών αν ηης instead of πολλώ φανύ γοΰν, is probably not a correction but a variant from another MS. Cf. Ο. P. I. introd. to xvi. 28. For (Ισ('ρχ€ται in the sense of going into the house off the stage cf. 9 elaeXjjXvff. Polemo must be the subject. It is clear that he enters his own house, not that of Pataecus; cf. 21 and the adscript Πολέμων) e'ia(c)io-i in 49. Since Pataecus' house was on the stage too (cf. 9-15), two houses were represented, as in the Υ^ωργός (cf. p. 19 of our edition). The correct arrangement of the speakers in the next six lines is very difficult to unravel owing to the lacunae and the number of alterations in the arrangement made by the corrector, while any adscripts which he may have made in the margin of 29 to 34 are lost. In any case 30 must belong to Doris, 32 and 33 to Pataecus; and we have followed what appears to be the view of the corrector (cf. note on 20) in assigning 29 to Doris, 31 and 34 to Pataecus. If however the brackets enclosing the paragraph/between 29—30, 31-2, 33-4, are disregarded, and the arrangement indicated by the first hand is retained, 29 belongs presumably to Polemo, 31 and 34 certainly to Glycera. 29. The first letter can be € or C ; the third is like Η or N, the fourth like 6, Θ, 0, or C ; the fifth resembles Ν or M, and the sixth Γ, T, or I. The supposed Ν of AKONTOC is rather more like M; the three letters following AKONT can each of them be €, Θ, or C. The letter erased is perhaps T. The letter following Η Ν might be 0. 30. fiCeiMI is corrected from (jOC€IMI. 31. το [σ]υνδιαΧΧαχ[θήσομαι : Pataecus is repeating a word which Glycera has just spoken within the house. Cf. το γνώθι σαντόν Menand. Fr. 240 (Kock). 32. The dot after 6YTYXHKAC here and after ΑΓΑΘ(λ)Ν in 47 represents a νποστιγμή, not an illegible letter, διδίχθαι την δίκην means ' not to seek for any further revenge.' 35. The adscript at the side cannot be read as Δω(ρίΥ). 36. AP might be read AO, but not as ΑΘ or 6P. 38. The top of the paragraphus above this line is visible before the lacuna. γνήσιων] παίδων eV άρότω : this was the usual formula in Athenian marriage contracts, cf. Menander Fr. inc. 185 (Meineke) παίδων σττύρω των γνησίων δίδωμι σοι ye την €μαντον θυγατέρα. 46-47· The (πράγματα) άγαθά no doubt refer to Glycera's discovery of her father. Cf. also note on 32. 49. €TeP0YC is corrected from 6TAIP0YC. It is very difficult to see why the paragraphus between this line and the line following should have been deleted, for a change of person is indicated in 49 by the double dots after ΠΑΤΑΙΚ6, and the corrector elsewhere (between 22 and 23) allocs a paragraphus to stand where there C 2
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