The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 62

will then?) return (7). But Professor Handley points out that the general interpretation of 3 is itself uncertain; in 4-7 he suggests, with some details different from the supplements suggested below: ‘and walk on, so that [as quickly as possible; I, having gone] to the market [wish / having seen the master] to tell him beforehand [these things, so that / to return] again to you [immediately.’

4 badiz’ walk on/get a move on might be taken as the instructions from the line before, ‘get a move on’ (see Gomme-Sandbach on Epitr. 376). Alternatively (with a different speaker? no dicola double dots marking dialogue change can be seen, but any paragraphoi lines marking a change of speaker will be lost with the line-beginnings) badiz’ walk ‘wherever you wish.’ Before this oimōze go to the devil/be damned is tempting (Epitr. l.c.), but the space looks a little short, even if the o is acceptable.

5 pros agoran to the market or pros agoran to the market (followed by a short syllable). The traces would in fact suit ‘I, having gone’ (cf. Asp. 212 etc); probably thōn rather than thein, since the trace (admittedly very slight) looks too curved for iota.

6 E.g. ‘to tell the master beforehand [I wish].’ The traces might allow ‘to see’ (but it would be a little cramped); not ‘a private one.’

7 ]ελλ...., above the second lambda, a circle in thicker ink, prima facie o but damaged enough in the middle to allow th (in which case a thickening at the middle right is the end of the cross-bar); after the second lambda, prima facie eta, but the left-hand upright is anomalous, apparently in two movements; perhaps therefore ei, but there is no trace of the normal hook at the base of epsilon (the top hook might be lost in a damaged patch); then upright, a short trace rising from left to right at line level; foot of upright, upright (together eta?).

Some form of (to return) might suit the context; cf. Plautus, Cas. 526 ‘I will just go to the forum; I will be here soon,’ Ps. 561 ‘but I will go to the forum; I will be here soon’ (Ter., Eun. 763-5, Ad. 277-86). We have considered two lines of attack: (i) to return, (ii) (a) you return (b) you return. (i) requires us to read ei, which is a very long shot; and does not account for oblique ink crossing the eta. (ii) (a) equally assumes that the oblique ink is accidental. (ii) (b) accounts for this ink as a deletion-stroke; since the papyrus is broken above, there may have been a correction written over the line; there is no clear sign that the iota too was crossed out.

au [, the left end of a horizontal, presumably tau. The context suggests some urgency: therefore consider ‘from here’? ‘immediately’ (Austin, Handley)?

8-9 ‘I see a crowd approaching, I think it’s sensible not to get in their way.’ This announces the approach of the chorus, apparently a standard feature on its first appearance at the end of Act I. See Handley on Dysk. 230-2, and add Asp. 245-9 and PKöln VI 243. 15-17. The wording of the introductory couplet varies from play to play. Here 9 is identical with Dysk. 232, Epitr. 171 (elegant variation, Perik. 266): in all these Menandrean examples it forms the last line of Act I. 8 has no precise parallel; the closest is Dysk. 230-1, where the first line begins ‘for indeed’ (cf. Asp. 246, Alexis fr. 112. 1 KA); alternatively ‘as also,’ as at Epitr. 169. ‘Approaching’ is the normal verb (Asp. 247, Dysk. 230, Perik. 261, Alexis l.c.); ‘in a crowd’ corresponds to ‘very many’ (Perik.), ‘crowd’ (Asp., Epitr.), ‘multitude’ (Alexis), ‘crowds’ (Plautus, Ba. 107, if the emendation is accepted). Professor Handley comments: ‘as elsewhere, the departing character tells his companions (and therefore us) where he is going, by way of creating anticipation for the new Act’.

Dr C. F. L. Austin draws attention to the scansion of athroous in a crowd. According to the normal treatment of mute + liquid in Comedy, the first syllable should be short (as it is at Aspis 78 and Aristoph. fr. 642 KA); exceptions occur in elevated speech (cf. Gomme & Sandbach on Epitr. 324), but there is no sign of that here. He therefore suggests ‘approaching in a crowd,’ comparing for ‘these... some’ Dysk. 230 ‘these Pan-worshippers some.’

10 The second trace is a long shallow curve, apparently free-standing. It should probably be interpreted as a decorative flourish above a large and widely spaced CHOROU of the Chorus. (So for example in XXXIII 2656, Misoumenos, GMAW no. 43.) The first traces might then be taken as the upper extremities of chi. If so, and if the flourish stood above the last letter, chorou of the Chorus would be approximately centred on line 9. But one might expect a corresponding flourish above the first letter, and there seems to be no trace of it on a largely undamaged surface.

Alternatively, the ‘flourish’ might represent the flat top of an enlarged letter, i.e. Xi. But if KOLAX The Flatterer was written, why a colophon after a single act? It is true that another manuscript from Oxyrhynchus, III 409 + XXXIII 2655, does apparently contain passages excerpted from Kolax, and it could be guessed that in a roll of selections a play-title might follow each extract. But there is no sign of a title in what survives of that manuscript, nor any proof that it drew on more than one play. We therefore discount this possibility, especially since 8-9 so clearly announce the arrival of a chorus.

P. G. MCC. BROWN–P. J. PARSONS