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The Thirteenth Idyll of Theocritus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

A. S. F. Gow
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Cambridge

Extract

That the thirteenth Idyll of Theocritus and the Hylas episode in the first book of Apollonius are not independent of each other was perhaps first pointed out by Casaubon, who supposed T. to be the earlier of the two. The opposite view was upheld, whether for the first time or not I do not know, by Wilamowitz in his lectures, and it was assumed, without much argument, by his pupil G. Knaack, who presently defended it, with little more, against an attack by G. Türk. Gercke and Susemihl were persuaded, and later on Wilamowitz himself touched briefly on the matter. Legrand, who had doubted before, remains unconvinced, and Cholmeley, to whose chronology this theory was disastrous, took shelter behind the unsubstantial shades of Antimachus and Philetas. In Italy, G. Perrotta has supported Wilamowitz's view, but L. Bignone says that the problem is insoluble. I have myself no doubt that Wilamowitz was right, but the arguments employed have not been very cogent, and, as the evidence has not been well set out, it may be useful to outline it here and to add a little to it.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1938

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References

page 10 note 1 Volui autem tironibus, velut ad fontes intenso digito, indicare quam poetae huius, aequalis propemodum sui, studiosus fuerit Apollonius (Lect. Theocr. cap. xiv).

page 10 note 2 Hermes 18. 29, 23. 137.

page 10 note 3 Gött. gel. Anz. 1896. 884.

page 10 note 4 Bresl. phil. Abh. 7. 4. 29.

page 10 note 5 Rhein. Mus. 44. 143.

page 10 note 6 Gr. Lit d. Alexandr. 1. 208.

page 10 note 7 Textg. d. gr. Buk. 177, Bucolici Graeci p. 161.

page 10 note 8 Etude sur T. 76, Buc. Gr. 1. 86.

page 10 note 9 Ed. 2, p. 402.

page 10 note 10 Stud. Ital. n.s. 4. 85.

page 10 note 11 Teocrito 166.

page 10 note 12 Knaack and Wilamowitz both said that the resemblance between T. 16 χρύσειον ἒπλει μμετ⋯⋯κ⋯ας 'Ἰάσων and A. 1. 4 χρύσειον μμετ⋯ κ⋯ας, 2. 211, 871 μετ⋯ κ⋯ας Ἱ⋯σων was decisive, but this seems to me much too strong. Wilamowitz said that Telamon was chosen as Herkles' comrade (T. 37) because he takes his part at A. 1. 1289. But, as Cholmeley points out, Telamon had been associated with Herakles before, and in A. Herakles' comrade is not Telamon but Polyphemos son of Eilatos (1242).

page 10 note 13 It occurs at A. Plan. 97; and an oracle twice quoted by Eustathius (561. 42, 989. 44) presents it in the second citation but Ἡρακλ⋯ in the first, Ἡρακλ⋯ is commoner but late: see Pauly-Wissowa 8. 522.

page 10 note 14 Add perhaps ποτόν of a spring (T. 46, A. 1149), though if this stood alone it would hardly rouse suspicion.

page 11 note 1 Perrotta has argued that some of the resembling phrases derive from Homer, and that as A. is closer to Homer than T., Homer, not T., was his source. There is perhaps something in this, but none of the phrases are very close to Homer.

page 11 note 2 I do not understand this feat. Herakles occupied the centre thwart with Ankaios (396) and used, naturally, not a pair of sculls but an oar, which he presently broke (1168). If the rest ceased to row, or rowed feebly (the verb is μετελώϕεον), I should have thought that Herakles' efforts would have caused the Argo to go round in a circle.

page 11 note 3 Not by Legrand (Etude p. 282).

page 11 note 4 Unless χαδών means λαβών at Nic. al. 145, 307.

page 11 note 5 I do not think it has been noticed that T. is apparently providing an αἲτιον for part of the Hylas-cult: Ant. Lib. 26 (=Nicand. fr. 48) Ὓλᾳ δ⋯ θύουσιν ἂχρι ν⋯ν παρ⋯ τ⋯ν κρήνην οί ⋯πιχώριοι κα⋯ αὐτ⋯ν ⋯ξ ⋯νόματος εἰς τρ⋯ς ⋯ ἱερεύς ϕωνεῖ κα⋯ ε⋯ς τρ⋯ς ⋯μείβεται πρ⋯ς αὐτ⋯ν ήχώ.

page 12 note 1 Ἐχάνδανε and δεδόνητο are examples of what Dr. A. B. Cook has called ‘associated reminiscence’: see his paper in C.R. 15. 338. It is there suggested that καταρρεῖ at 1. 5 comes from Sappho fr. 4 Bk.; the form, however, can hardly be right in Sappho, and the context is now known to be unlike T.'s (Philol. 92. 117). A directer reminiscence in this Idyll is ἂωτος (27). Callimachus and A. use the neuter form, T. the masculine here (2, 2 is ambiguous) because he is thinking of Pind. P. 4. 188 ⋯ς δ' Ἰαωλκ⋯ν ⋯πε⋯ κατέβα ναυτ⋯ν ἂωτος. I imagine also that at 44 νύμϕαι ⋯κοίμητοι the adj., which is not elsewhere applied to nymphs, was suggested by the ⋯ννύχιαι ⋯οιδαί of the corresponding passage in A. (1225). See also my notes on 7, 10, 23 below.

page 12 note 2 Textgesch. p. 177.

page 12 note 3 Schol. Call. H. 2. 106.

page 12 note 4 Das hellenist. Epos (Leipzig 1934)Google Scholar.

page 13 note 1 So Knaack, Susemihl (1. 208) and Perrotta.

page 13 note 2 Apart from the fact that T. tells the story better, he also differs from A. as to some of its details (examples in my notes on 23, 46, 73 below).

page 13 note 3 So also Wilamowitz, Textg. 175.

page 13 note 4 See Headlam on Herodas 6. 12.

page 14 note 1 Here are some: αὐτῷ δ' εὖ εῐκων Vossius, ἰκελ⋯ν Jacobs, ⋯ρκέων Hartung, εἰκώς Sitzler: αὐτῷ δ⋯ συνεών Blaydes, δ' εἳκελος ὢν Naber: αὐτ⋯ δ' εὖ ἣκων Heinsius, εὖ ⋯λθών Meineke, ⋯ξέλκων Stephanus, εὖ εἰκών Tucker: αὑτ⋯ δ' έξ αἳκλων Wordsworth: αὒλακα δ' ⋯.⋯. Unger, ζω⋯ν Zettel, σὺν δέ οί Kaiser: αὐτ⋯ν δ' εὖ ἒλπων Hartung.

page 14 note 2 E.g. schol. Soph. O.C. 1621, Ar. Ach. 410, cf. C.R. 12. 247.

page 14 note 3 My account of λαῖτμα overlooked its use by Leonidas in elegiacs, A.P. 7. 264, and I ought not to have suggested that it disappears between Apollonius and the 5th cent. A.d. It occurs at Opp. Hal. 2. 75, 4. 531 and Quint. 7. 307, 397.

page 14 note 4 22 κυανε⋯ν οὐχ ἂψατο συνδρομάδων να⋯ς. In A. the Argo gets her sternpost nipped (2. 601). The divergence may denote a disagreement as to the authority to be followed.

To the not very impressive list of differences noticed by Knaack (Gött. gel. Anz. 1896, 884) there should perhaps be added also T. 66 σχέτλιοι οί ϕιλέοντες. T. fixes the responsibility for the affair on Herakles. In A. Herakles's behaviour passes without criticism: the σχέτλιοι (1302) are Zetes and Kalais, who prevent Jason from putting back to look for him and are presently murdered for their pains. The criticism is not pointed and may not be intended, but it is at least deserved.

page 15 note 1 It is not really plain that there is a difference in anything but the name, for the shape of a κρωσσός cannot be precisely determined and ὑδρία is among the words by which it is glossed (Hesych., Et Magn.). It may be noted, howevery, since κρωσσός is not a very common word, that it is used at Ant. Lib. 26 (=Nicand. fr. 48) in a version of the story quite different from T.'s.

page 15 note 2 J. Phil. 34. 143.

page 15 note 3 Headlam, , Herodas p. xxixGoogle Scholar.

page 16 note 1 As might be expected, there is much to the point in Legrand, Etude pp. 255 ff.

page 16 note 2 5. 34, 7. 133; in the latter, however, the diminutive form χαμευνίς perhaps marks a distinction. At. 7.67 Lykidas is at home and his στιβάς is both couch and bed.

page 16 note 3 I agree with the scholia that κατ⋯ ζυγά here must mean σύνδυο as at Arist. H.A. 544 a 5. If, as is usually supposed, it meant ‘by rowing benches’, we should expect to hear in 37 (as at Val. I. 353 we do hear) that Herakles and Telamon always shared a thwart, not that they messed together, which would, in that case, be a natural consequence.

page 16 note 4 At. T. 22. 33 the Argonauts in similar circumstances prepare εὐναί. but there is no other indication whether they were intending to stay the night or not.

page 17 note 1 Another triumphant example is 16. 46. T. is applying to Hieron for poetical commissions and says that the patrons of Simonides would have perished without a name if they had not employed him to sing their praises, whereas, as it is, even their racehorses are immortal. Substitute, as Wilamowitz does, a comma for a colon after ⋯πλοτέροις, and he is made to say that their reputation is due (i) to employing Simonides and (ii) to winning races.