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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
The application of λἠκɛθος ànd its derivatives and the Latin terms ampullae and ampullari to the turgid or elevated style of poetry or oratory has provoked such a variety of explanations amongst modern and ancient commentators that it would be a tedious business to examine them all in detail. The ancient commentators on Horace, Ars Poetica, 11. 93–7
interdum tamen et vocem comoedia tollit,
iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore;
et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri
Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exsul uterque
proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba…
were not even in agreement on the question of the precise correspondence of the two words, for while Porphyrion said that proicit ampullas was imitated directly from the ληκθειος Mοcomflex;σα of Callimachus, Pseudacron's note makes no reference to ληκɛθζειν at all, but merely connects the metaphor with the inflated appearance of the Roman ampulla. And though modern scholars do not question the fact that the two words do correspond in some degree, there has been a wide divergence of opinion on the derivation and meaning of the metaphor. Ritter and Wilkins, for example, held that the meaning ‘paint-pots’ was indicated by the conjunction of ληκθοɛς with pingere in one of Cicero's letters to Atticus, and that in Horace, Epistles 1. 3. 12–14
page 32 note 1 For the actual words used by Callimachus see Schneider, Callim. Fr. 98 c, p. 267 and note on sect. C below.
page 32 note 2 Some correspondence is suggested by Cic. de Fin. 4. 12 and Plut. Mar. 4. 17, 29. 13. Cf. Poll. 4. 120 and Plaut, . Stick. 230Google Scholar.
page 32 note 3 Ad Att. 1. 14. 3.
page 32 note 4 ‘Sur un vers d'Horace’, Écoles françaises d' Athènes et de Rome, vol.cxlii, p. 325.
page 32 note 5 11. 1198–1247.
page 33 note 1 To connect the troch. dim. catalect., not an exclusively or typically tragic metre, with βμβοςτραγικς is, of course, nonsense. So too is the suggestion of Müller, (Eumenides, p. 44)Google Scholar that the metre was called ληκθιον ‘from the smoothness and lubricity with which it runs, like drops of oil from a flask’.
page 33 note 2 Aristophanes. A Study, ch. v, pp. 122 ff.
page 33 note 3 ll. 1286 ff.
page 34 note 1 οκεῖα πργματ' εσγων, οἷσ χρώμεθ', οἷς ξνεσμεν, 1. 959.
page 34 note 2 Greg. Cor. Rhet. 7, p. 1312.
page 34 note 3 Op. cit., p. 124.
page 34 note 4 Hence, possibly, the appearance of θɛλκιον at the end of 1. 1203. It may, however, be a case of corruption by assimilation.
page 34 note 5 1. 941.
page 34 note 6 For Aristophanes' ridicule of Eur.'s diminutives see Frogs 1. 942 and Ach. 1. 398.
page 34 note 7 11. 1202–4.
page 35 note 1 The illogicality of the nickname given to the troch. dim. catal. is, of course, comprehensible, and falls into a different category.
page 35 note 2 Pearson, , Sophocles, iii, fr. 1063Google Scholar n., doubted this—needlessly, even if the meaning of the metaphor was not apparent.
page 35 note 3 In this passage, and in the interpretation of certain passages of Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae, I am much indebted to Prof. Rumpf of Cologne and Prof. T. B. L. Webster of London for their invaluable help. For the views expressed and for any errors I am, of course, alone responsible.
page 35 note 4 See the article on Aryballos by Beazley, J. D., B.S.A. xxix, pp. 187Google Scholar ff. and works cited there.
page 35 note 5 Odyss. vi. 79.
page 35 note 6 Athen. x. 451 d.
page 35 note 7 See references given by Beazley, op. cit., p. 194,n. 1; Watzinger, , Griechische Holzsarkophage aus der Zeit Alexanders des Grossen, pp. 3Google Scholar, 5–7. For leather ampullae see PolL viii. 2, Plaut. Rud. 1. 756.
page 35 note 8 It occurs in Ar. Equ. 1094, but its Dorian origin is attested by Bekker, , Anecd. Graec. 444Google Scholar.
page 36 note 1 s.v. αὐτολἠκɛθοι.
page 36 note 2 Watzinger, op. cit., pp. 4, 6, 7,9 ff.
page 36 note 3 See. Beazley, op. cit., p. 186, n. 5, on the use of the aryballus and strigil by women.
page 36 note 4 s.v. λἠκɛθος.
page 36 note 5 Heyschius has τοcomflex; λαɛκανοɛ.
page 36 note 6 e.g by Nachod, Pauly–Wissowa, s.v. ‘Lekythos’, and Liddell and Scott.
page 36 note 7 Onomast. 4. 114.
page 37 note 1 Il. 11. 417, 12. 149 (a boar whetting its tusks) and Od. 8. 380 (the stamping of dancers' feet).
page 37 note 2 1. 383.
page 37 note 3 Papyr. Lond. Ined. No. 2327 (3rd cent. B.C.); Oxyrrh. Papyr. Grenfell and Hunt, vol. xiv, 1631, 1. 16; Diog. Laert. vi. 30.
page 37 note 4 1. 961.
page 37 note 5 1. 589. See Müller, , Ach., p. 108Google Scholar n. There can hardly be a pun on Lamachus' name, and I do not think this is what the schol. meant by παρεποησεν κα παρπδασεν νομα ρνιθος δι τ κομπαστν εἷναι ∧μαχον.
page 37 note 6 De Architectural, 5. 6.
page 37 note 7 ληκɛθζειν…πταν βολωνται οἱ πωνασκοcomflex;ντες κοῖλον τ πθγμα ποιεῖν, ὥσπερ ες ληκθοɛς προïμενοι (Bekker, , Anec. Graec. 50Google Scholar. 8). Cf. Hesych. s.v. ληκɛθιστἠς.
page 37 note 8 The words ληκ. Mοɛσα have been supplied by Schneider from the schol. on Hephaest. vi to fill a lacuna of 14 letters in the text. The fragment of Callimachus is given by him as ἤ (ἤ?) τις τραγῳδς μοcomflex;σα ληκɛθζοɛσα but whether ἥ or ἤ is read, τις seems weak. Did Callimachus write τρς τραγῳδς, with the τρς not only strengthening the adjective but also alluding to the production of tragedies in trilogies?
page 38 note 1 Cf. ‘Non tamen omnino Marci nostri ληκθοɛς fugimus’ (Pliny, , Ep. 1. 2. 4)Google Scholar.
page 38 note 2 e.g. Tyrrell and How. Forcell. and Boot translate ‘swelling phrases’.
page 38 note 3 Cic. Orat. 3. 25.
page 38 note 4 Cic. ad. Att. 2. I. 2.
page 38 note 5 For rouge, at least, the cylindrical pyxis was used. See Rogers, , Eccles. 1. 929 n.—a rouge-pot from NaucratisGoogle Scholar.
page 38 note 6 Cf. Philoxenus, Glossary.
page 39 note 1 Bk. 13. 1, § 54.
page 39 note 2 This passage was apparently unknown to Pottier, who calls Horace's ampullae, as well as ampullari, ἅπαξ λεγμενον.
page 39 note 3 The reference seems to be to the distinction between the Asiatic and Attic schools of oratory. Cf. ‘Attici pressi et integri, Asiani inflati et inanes’, Quint. 12. 10. 16.
page 39 note 4 ll. 993–6.
page 39 note 5 Rogers takes them to be oil-pots buried with the dead, comparing l. 538, but πιθεῖσα there points to a vase on, not in, the grave.
page 39 note 6 When the Ecclesiazusae was produced (393?—see Rogers's Intro.) Attic graves were no longer being decorated with the white-ground lecythstypical of the 5th century but with marble lecyths or στλαι with pictures of white lecyths painted on them, but the above interpretation is not thereby affected.
page 39 note 7 ll. 878, 904, 929, 1072.
page 40 note 1 l. 1072.
page 40 note 2 l. 1101. The variant Πρνην, the name of several Greek courtesans (see Blaydes ad loc.), is pointless.
page 40 note 3 Eubulus ap. Athen. p. 557.
page 40 note 4 ll. 1098–1101.
page 40 note 5 ll. 1108–11.
page 40 note 6 For an illustration see Jahrb. d. Archaeol. Inst. xlix (1934), p. 224Google Scholar, fig. 19: a στἠλη showing a λοɛτροπρος flanked by two λἠκɛθοι.
page 40 note 7 s.v. Πρνη.
page 41 note 1 I give the text of Kock, , Att. Com. Fragm. i, p. 761Google Scholar (Meineke, cf. in Hermes, iii, p. 453)Google Scholar, but on any interpretation the zeugmatic omission of the article before λἠκɛθον is awkward, though it might be paralleled.
page 41 note 2 ‘Tibia non,ut nunc, orichalco vincta tubaequeaemula…’ (Hor. A.P. 202).
page 41 note 3 Cf. χλκεον ξὺ βοâν Hes. Sc. 243.
page 41 note 4 See ‘The Double Flutes’ by Curtis, J. in J.H.S. xxxiv, pp. 89Google Scholar ff. I am indebted to Prof Rumpf for this suggestion.
page 41 note 5 See Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, under ‘Tibia’.
page 41 note 6 So flute-playing without the πορβει is applied metaphorically to uncontrolled passion in Soph. fr. 753 (Dind.). For an illustration of ληκɛθισμς without the πορβει see Pfuhl, , Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen, iii, No. 516Google Scholar.
page 42 note 1 Anth. Pal. xii. 21. I give Jacobs's text, but for modifications of dialect.
page 42 note 2 The meaning ‘sheet of paper’, given by the editors, is both unparalleled and unnecessary.
page 43 note 1 Cf. Pers. Sat. 5, ll. 11–12, cited below.
page 43 note 2 πιλακɛθοτρια = the tragic Muse (Liddell and Scott) is worse than pointless.
page 43 note 3 τμπανον may be an internal accusative (cf. μγα πɛσâν) = ‘a blast as big as a drum’.
page 43 note 4 ll. 10–13.
page 43 note 5 He compares l. 7 with A.P. 230 and l. 19 with A.P. 302, to which might be added 1. 8 (A.P. 91 and 187) and l. 14 (A.P. 47).
page 43 note 6 ‘Nec, dum desaeviat ira, Exspectat…’ (bk. 5. 304).
page 43 note 7 ‘Modesta (sc. vox)…descendat, non decidat…et hoc indocto et rustico more desaeviat’ (Ep. 15. 8).
page 44 note 1 Iph. Aul. 125. Cf. Menander's ο πɛσντες π' αɛτοῖς μγα (Kock, iii, fr. 302).
