The Menander Inscription from Pompei and the Expression Primus Scripsit Author(s): J.

Linderski Source: Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 159 (2007), pp. 45-55 Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20191193 . Accessed: 29/06/2013 22:23
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45

The Menander and

In 1931 Amadeo Maiuri

Inscription primus

from

Pompei

the

Expression

scripsit*

henceforth

the soon famous "ritratto di Menandro" found in a Pompeian house published as Casa del Menandro. The painting is located on the right wall in an exedra in the peristyle.1 The poet is sitting in a chair, an ivy wreath adorns his head; at his feet in bright yellow seven lines, in small In his left hand he holds a volumen, in which paint there is the label: Menander. to be known cursive black letters, were discernible text: the following (the titulus has since almost entirely evanesced). Maiuri (1.112)

presented

Menander Hie primus (novam?) com (o)ediam scripsit.

Lib(ri) quattuor
He was not able to decipher lines 5 and 6, but on p. 115, in a drawing line 6 the numeral XII, and in line 7 he read lib. IIII.2 In his edition of 1952 (CIL IV, Suppl. Ill 1, 7350b) Matteo and in a linear transcription which we Della of the volumen, Corte he indicated in

He printed it in facsimile the following way:

can arrange

a very different text. in (for better visualization) gave

Menander hie primus como om[niu]m This investigation forms a sequel to the piece The Paintress Calypso and Other Painters in Pliny, ZPE 145 (2003) 83 96 (and 148 [2004] 126), and develops brief remarks on p. 93. Abbreviations: GL = Grammatici Latini I-VIII (Lipsiae 1857-1870); PCG = R. Kassel and C. Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci I (2001), II (1991), III 2 (1984), IV (1983), V (1986), VI 2 (1998), VII (1989), VIII (1995) (Berlin). The Vergilian
scholiasts commentarii, Serviana are (primarily) 1-2 (Lipsiae 1902). cited in the 1878-1883); Other editions of G. Thilo, Servil grammatici qui feruntur et Ge?rgica In Wergilii Buc?lica commentarii (Lipsiae are indicated suo loco. editions in Wergilii Aeneidos libros 1887); H. Hagen, Appendix

(Lipsiae

1A. Maiuri, II ritratto diMenandro nella Casa delle Argenterie a Pompei, Bolletino dArte 25 (1931) 241-51 (non vidi),
soon followed by a detailed account (Roma 1933), esp 1.106-21; but right side of an exedra", La Casa, Tav. XII. the peristyle). The best photograph still inMaiuri, 2 was Maiuri's M. The History and Roman Theater1 Bieber, reading of the Greek by reproduced a strange was with translation: the first to write New "Menander in four books" Comedy (completely lines A. left blank Thierfelder, by Maiuri), Menandri e il suo tesoro di argenter?a in his magnificent La casa del Menandro 1-2 monograph, R. Ling, Roman informs that the painting is on "the 159, correctly 1991) Painting (Cambridge as "Exedra cf. pi. XIVB where is rather confusingly the location indicated 23, left wall" (i.e. of

letterarie

nelTantica

and by G. M. A. Richter, 2 (London The Portraits 1965) of the Greeks sunt. test. Pars altera 22. As M. Gigante, quae super 1959), p. 5, (Lipsiae none of these scholars at 133, pertinently 132-37 observes, 1979) Pompei (Napoli

(Princeton 1961) 91, the two disregarding 228. So also A. Koerte Civilt? was delle aware forme of Della

Corte's reading and interpretation of 1933 (these pages were first published by Gigante in his script Note epigrafiche e fil?lo giche [Napoli 1969] 3-8, and republished again in I. Gallo [ed.], Studi Salernitani inmemoria di Rajfaele Cantar ella
[Salerno translates Maiuri's partial 1981] 30-35, in the article to write however that "La vita New teatrale nell'antica This "he was the first text, which, to Della Comedy". 133 points (as Gigante out), Maiuri was the title of a comedy inscribed 9-51). Pompei", translation presumes even more And [n. 1] 159, recently Ling novam the paradosis and thus comoediam, himself has later modified, (at least in admitting on the volumen; see A. Maiuri, (Roma Pompei12

original deference

Corte)

1976) 74.

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46

J. Linderski

ediam

scripsit

[Trig?]emino
rum (vacat) xii

(vacat) lib(er?) iiii (vacat).

Della hand Corte was is only a towering figure in Pompeian successful. The text of partially His reconstruction of of this difficult cursive epigraphy, but his decipherment the first four lines is sane (or almost sane); the rest is lines 5-7 Delia Corte explains as follows: "comparatur hie

inspired guesswork. poeta cum comicis

consimilem The same text, and the same reliquis, qui postea prodiderunt". Not. in his in Sc. edition he 289-90 1933, appears with time to have already (although explanation, in Not. Sc). The number XII grown less certain: there are no question marks in the text as reconstructed and the number IV as a cardinal, hence lib(er) he inclined to interpret as an ordinal, hence duodecimam, fabulam between quartus. There is one major difference lines 6 and 7 he indicates (as also does Maiuri the two editions of Della Corte: in Not. Sc. between in his drawing at 1.115) a blank space of at least two in CIL. But, interestingly, this empty space may be just a figment: the is missing lines; this indication (see below, n. 58), including the original apograph of Della Corte, apographs reproduced by A. Varone a one at best indicate line, which apparently was left uninscribed. space of In line 5 Della to Plautus ascribed

is inspired and uncertain. A play entitled Trigemini Corte's and [Trig]eminorum is indeed on record (Gell. 6.9.7), and it is possible that also other dramatists, Greek and Roman, is produced pieces on the subject of triplets.3 That no such play is attested for Menander we se out becomes substantial when realize that of little this of 105 per weight; weight, however, plays the titles of almost 100 are known.5 On the other hand among the (or 108 or 109)4 credited toMenander comedies of Menander we in Latin appearing another possibility. on the scroll to conjecture find a play entitled Aioujioci.6 It is enticing the Pompeian Menander holds in his hand.7 But we that this is the title should not overlook

bear a double title: Trigemini may be such a doublet. On Many plays of Menander we thus embrace either the reconstruction of Della Corte or should the surface of things wholeheartedly comolediam the proposal of M. Gigante: scripsit I... G]eminarum? Disquiet the first and the best of just those authors who selected triplets persists. To be proclaimed and with respect to Menander it is twins as the subject for a play is a feeble compliment,9

or (female)

3 a praetexta can well but triplets was also an excellent about the Horatii and Curiatii, We certainly imagine a a comedy, ed. A. Koechly, cf. it is late rich in Manetho, text) Apotelesmatica, astrology; (though potentially of et didactici rcai?cov bucolici (Paris 1862) 4.456, who ?ocujllocgto: yeveOtax. speaks xpiOujicov 4 test. 1,46. and PCG VI 2, pp. 1,18, Gell. 17.4.4, 5 list in F. H. Sandbach selectae See the convenient 1972) 339-40. (The (Oxonii (ed.), Menandri reliquiae 1990 is in fact only a corrected reprint with addenda.) 6 For 42.16). 7 If we accept Della Corte's and Latin words the only available ]eminorum, reading the tribal name Meminorum. Should we read \eminarum and geminorum. only heminarum searches (as the electronic we have at our disposal, testimonies and fragments, see PCG VI 2, pp. 100-101, test, i-ii, frg. 114-118 (cf. p. 14, test. 35b;

for subject in: Poetae

sec.

ed. of

p.

17,

test.

geminorum, trigeminorum to the ubiquitous feminarum,

are show) in addition

8
regard word

Gigante [n. 2] 134, 136; duly adduced by Kassel-Austin,

the letters in which the title of the play may be hiding

PCG VI 2, pp. 14 (test. 35b), 100 (test. *ii). They soberly

and print them with subscript dots, and in the shape

as uncertain

eminorum. Indeed in the apograph of the inscription which Della Corte appended to his article of 1933 [n. 1] in this
cannot the play referred If Geminae is indeed no a is easily be excluded). discernible to, and the perhaps (though as in the Catalogus we would the same mistake here have is G]eminorum, (PCG VI 2, tackygraphicus fabularum reading has now to have been the traces of four letters. Gigante's there appear test. 42.16). In front of ]eminorum interpretation De Stabia a new orthodoxy. A. and M. the widely used guidebook See for instance become Ercolano, Vos, Pompei, by as is characterized inform that on the scroll Menander 94. They Laterza [Roma-Bari 1982]) (Guide casually archeologiche Le gemelle "il primo autore della commedia (Didumai)". 9 And as Gigante earlier a play a compliment somewhat inaccurate: [n. 2] 135 adverts, Antiphanes composed factually a piece A entitled PCG See PCG entitled A-??rripi? II, pp. 353-56. II, pp. 336-37 A??duoi, r\ Ai?vum. (he also composed

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The Menander

Inscription from

Pompei

47

feebler came This

soon after his demise in his own lifetime not overly successful, still. For Menander, although to be regarded as the inventor1? of nova comoedia, of the genre. and the towering representative "una illam et Paterculus 1.16.3: sentiment is well recorded by Velleius (aetas illustravit) priscam sub Cratino Aristophaneque artis magis quam operis ac novam et Eupolide comoediam; ac Diphilus et invenere Philemon [comicam] Menander aequales annos neque intra paucissimos

veterem eius

reliquere".12 65: "Quis umquam Graecus comoediam (134, n. 142), quoting Cicero, pro Flacco scripsit Gigante that the juncture comoediam in qua servus primarum partium non Lydus esset", assures himself scribere is a different one, namely: is the phrase is good Latin. It is13 - but this is not the point. Our question etc.) scripsit followed by the title of a play (or other piece) in (tragoediam primus (omnium) comoediam the genitive a normal, well attested Latin locution? Dispassionate searches in the Bibliotheca electronic Teubneriana Institute's Latin Data Bank offer the answer. They 3 and in the Packard Humanities one of the locution hie primus scripsit [see no. (11) and n. 26], two examples of example produced only nos. the phrase primus omnium scripsit [see of primus scripsit. It is (1) and (2)], and several examples an instructive dossier, historically and linguistically ad sensum, and partially, (here arranged partially in an approximate the dates often being uncertain, order): chronological Latina ... At (ca 480-^11) (1) Quint. Inst. 3.1.11: "Antiphon <qui> orationem primus omnium scripsif. first glance this is obscure, but other sources offer elucidation: Antiphon was the first to write speeches for afee.14 (2) Porphyrio15 Andronicum, ad Hor. 2.1.62 Innsbruck 1894): (ed. A. Holder, Epist. omnium Latinas fabulas scripsif.16 Cf. below, (3). "Livium autem dicit

que imitandam11

qui primus

occurs a play about female that this may be true also of Menander). Also have composed twins, may thought Aristophon were course was 1-2. Ancient of PCG interested in which author the first to treat of a IV, pp. establishing philologians a good example. dramatic theme. Sch. in Aristoph. Aves 281-82 (ed. D. Holwerda 1991]), pp. 50-51, [Groningen provides are adduced. commentators Several One of them observes <S>ikoKkei ?oxi ?p?uxx Tripeucf] anonymous (281b): "Ercovj/, and the other elaborates further (282c): ? locpOK?fj? Tipcorov xov Trip?a ?7toir|0?v, erca Oi^iOK?fj?. Cf. Tragicorum Graecorum

Fragmenta I (?d. B. Snell [G?ttingen 1985]), p. 140, test. 6c; IV (?d. S. Radt [1977]), pp. 436-37 (the corrected editions with addenda by R. Kannicht [1986,1999] do not add anything to these passages). 10 On the topos of the first discoverer, see A. Kleing?nther, IIPOTOS EYPETHI (Philologus Suppl, 26.1 [Leipzig
1933]); invaluable exist corpus. 11 93. 12 This Watt (1988). text was With adduced in support (1567-1595) Elefante of the reading (novam) he deletes after novam I follow the Teubner of W. edition S. by Maiuri. already the reading comoediam is to be supplied from comicam; So Watt, but as he notes in his apparatus the paradosis is imitanda corrected by Acidalius. Cf. PCG VI 2, p. 27, test. K. Thraede, for cultural "Erfinder history, instances of the phrase but II, geistesgeschichtlich", they are not very npmoq u. Chr. are 5 (1962) 1191-1278. These works f. Ant. as to our concern. the which is here There helpful phraseology, prime and of other similar to be collected in a eypa\\fe, they ought expressions; Reallex.

numerous

Acidalius M.

the preceding

sentence.

in her edition

[Hildesheim 1997]) m?sica (cf. Cic. De quanto conjurer's monumental 13 poema, l'arte

comicam: 196, defends or. 3,132); come m?sica Not

dei commediografi". trick. For the appreciation opus of Kassel-Austin searches mimos, reveal

and commentary Ad. M. Winicium consulem libri duo (Welleius Paterculus. a tratta di un neologismo, il cui valore sem?ntico si chiarisce in rapporto non indica tanto il genere ? 'Tarte della m?sica", cosi c?mica della commedia, a supposed to introduce and methodologically is but a persuasive; neologism "Si cf. also Quint. Inst. 10.1.72, and see a full collection of testimonia in the 1-A5. of examples It would etc.). the be scribere comoediam, juncture tragoediam, fabulam tedious to list them all here. (and unnecessary) (also

of Menander, VI2, pp.

Electronic saturam,

numerous historiam,

orationem,

14 See the edition and commentary by J. Adamietz, M. F. Quintiliani Institutionis oratoriae liber III (M?nchen 1966)
71 (cf. 190-91). The wording of Amm. Marc. 30.4.5 Ps.-Plut. is of interest: primum antiquitas prodidit accepisse rcpakoc o-uveypOKpev... Strom. 1.79.3 uic6o{)... rcpcoTOv); and Clem. Alex. paradosis (quoting Diodoros) rcpokov ..Aoyov... ypa\|/au?vov. 15 On his commentary, see the erudite and his method of work, Der Horazkommentar Porphyrio, study by S. Diederich, im Rahmen des Porphyrio der kaiser zeitlichen Schulund Bildungstradition 1-14. (Berlin 1999), esp. mercedem". Witae X orat. "Antiphon 832C has ... quern ob defensum negotium corrected omnium from the

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48

J. Linderski

ad H?r. Epist. 2.1.62 vol. 2, Lipsiae (ed. O. Keller, (3) Ps.-Acro17 1904): "Livius antiquissimus Observe that the qualification Latinas is sloppily poeta fuit Andronicus, scripsif\ qui primus comoedias case wrote to but that Livius in Latin have in should been the very obvious the from omitted; any pupils text of Horace. (4) Plin. NH3.51 (ed. C. Mayhoff, Romanis scripsif. diligentior NH 34.76 Plin. (5) (ed. Mayhoff, equitatu scripsif.19 huius operis m?rito dixit, Lipsiae 1897): 1906): "Theophrastus, (sc. fecit) qui primus externorum aliqua de

"Demetrius

... S<i>monem,18

qui primus

de

ad Hor. Serm. 1.10.46: "Quern [sc. Lucilium] inventorem (6) Porphyrio quia primus Lucilius huius modi carmina scripsif.20 ad Hor. Ars 79: "Primus Archilochus iambo<s> (J) Porphyrio scripsit suum". Brief Archilocus iam filiam predecessor,
OOCTO.

<sooerum in Lycambam and inelegant; a smoother and ampler explication in Ps.-Acro: "Iambicum metrum primus est, quod ei Neobulen, invenit, quo usus est in Lycamben, quern persecutus desponsatam text This latter the phrase usus est) on a Greek denegavit". depends ultimately (including tc? xe y?p iaji?co cf. Sch. in Lucianum 29.33 (ed. H. Rabe, Lipsiae 1906, pp. 146-47): jcpo? ??piv tcov A\)Koc|i?iocDV qui primus 8iey%eip?

'Ap%i?,o%o?, ov Kai rcpcoT?v cpaoi tco pixpco %pr|cjaG0ai,21 (8) Serv. auct. ad Georg. scripsif.22 (9) Diomedes,23 primus
buntur".24

1.176

(ed. G. Thilo,

Lipsiae

1887): "aut Hesiodi,

de agricultura

digne

Ars grammatica, GLI, res is Romanorum scripsit qui

p. 484, decem

lines ?>-4 (ed. H. Keil, Lipsiae 1857): "epos Latinum est libris, qui et annales <in>scri et octo complexus Cf. below (11).

(10) Ps.-Acro

ad Hor. Ars 220: "nam primus

Thespis

tragoediam

scripsif.25

... docuit"; ... fabulam 73: "Livius, fabulam primus qui [secl. Sch?tz] qui primus "Atqui hic Livius L. Livius "Livius omnium fabulas Romae Serv. ad Aen. 10.636: docere poeta "primus coepit"; GL I [see below, lines 7-8: "constat edidit fabulam Andronicus, [Latinam] (9)], p. 489, apud apud nos"; Diom. qui primus sermone Livium Andronicum comoediam Latino illos (sc. Romanos) scripsisse". primum Cf. Cic. Brut. 72: d?dit"; Gell. 17.21.42:

16

17Cf. Diederich [n. 15] 8-11.

18 A fifth century author; see [L.] Wickert, RE 3A (1927) 173-75, s.v. no. 7; K. Widdra, Xenophon, Reitkunst (Berlin

1965) 9-15, 72.

Xenophon, Clemens ?7C7tiKf?c. 20 laudem 21 Cf. Plin. 19 de Alex. NHpraef. Lucilius". re equ. Strom. 1.1, employs a similar adduces qui primus him 7.16.101.4, (but without primus): phrase in a list of major representatives stili nasum"; Quint. G-uveypaxye of various "Satura u?v genres o?v Kai Siu?ov ?iepi of achievement. insignem

1: "Lucilius,

condidit

10.1.93:

... in qua primus

adeptus Cf.

described

is Archilochos Enchiridion de metris 19, 21, 27, 47 (ed. M. Consbruch, 1906), where Lipsiae Hephaestion, or as the first to employ also Hor. Cf. ad 1.19.23: several other meters Ep. expriaaxo). (rcpciyco? Kexpnrai Porphyrio est iambici carminis Parius <primus> "Ideo Parios, scriptor". quia Archilochus 22 texts credit Hesiod with de agricultura Greek hominum 18.201: Cf. Plin. NH "Hesiodus, praecepit". qui princeps of Servius and Pliny. akin to the enunciations but I was not able to find a phrase first achievements, various stylistically 23 On his date (perhaps the Grammarian IVth c; and see R. A. Kaster, of the Vth), and the sources, before the middle certainly a comprehensive 270-72. in Late 1988) Recently Society (Berkeley Antiquity Dammer is primarily Diomedes Grammaticus R. Dammer, (Trier 2001). by Guardians study of interested of this

Language: grammarian Diomedes'

in has been presented But it is evident adduced of quotations review by Diomedes. theory, and does not offer a systematic grammatical a number and plays, many of was keenly of passages from the Annals in Ennius' diction. He quotes interested that Diomedes 42. The Ennius Annals See O. other them not mentioned Skutsch, 1985) (Oxford of by any grammarian. 24 Cf. Porphyr, ad heroici ad Hor. versus 1.19.7, commenting Epist. imitationem adspiraverit"; Iper gentis ad loc. 2.619 on Ennius Lucr. 1.116-18 ipse pater. "Ennius clara "Pater ut noster clueret". autem Ennius ideo, quod ipse primus amoeno Idetulit Lucreti Cari De

Latinorum ex Helicone rerum

cecinit, Cf.

natura

fronde coronam, perenni libri sex (Oxford 1947)

Italas

hominum

quae

qui primus Titi C. Bailey,

(he missed

Diomedes

and Porphyrio).

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The Menander

Inscription from

Pompei

49

(11) Iunius Philargyrius, Expl. in Verg. Buc on Vergil's I (commenting recensio a), explanatio hie ideo eum Sophocli primus conparabat, quia Asinium Pollionem

qui tragoediam significat, 1967 [containing also in Scholia Bernensia 1867, repr. Hildesheim (ed. H. Hagen, Leipzig explication recensio b]), p. 816, cf. esp. "Sophocles, (and also "is poeta tragicus, qui primus scripsif tragoediam was Asinius and consul enim Pollio, conposuif). primus tragoediam triumphator,28 [Sophocles] extravagant praise and the elevation Vergil's early supporter and social superior; this explains Vergil's of Pollio to the rank of a Roman The scholiasts, Sophocles. because Pollio and Sophocles however, adduce a formal reason (quia; quod; is enim) the Greek inaccurate: how could the scholiasts

1902, p. 145, containing (ed. H. Hagen, Lipsiae tua carmina digna coturno"): "idest "Sola Sophocleo scripsit, et [expl. II: quod primus hic26] tragoediam the same annotates, scripsit illo tempore".27 As Hagen

8.10

for the

poet was compares comparison. Vergil taken this is wildly the first to write tragedy. Literally forget to to not to speak of Thespis!29, and this nonsense reaches its nadir in the comment remember Aeschylus nee post te scripturus est". But these are line 11 (expl. I): "quia nemo ante te scripsit tragoediam source (probably texts wretchedly that in the ultimate the We should wretched presume abridged.30 in the edition of Donatus) mention must have been made of innovations wrought by Sophocles art of tragedy and of his first rank among the tragedians.31 Be that as itmay but for the comparison as an innovator in the art with Pollio to have any validity the Roman poet must have also been perceived comes to Buc. 3.86: "Pollio et ipse of Latin tragedy. Here a verse of Vergil himself mind, immediately variorum

2^ Cf. Wessner, notitiam

ad Hor. Porphyrio, Commentum Donatus,

Ars Terenti

275:

"Thespis 1 [Lipsiae

de Donatus, Excerpta primum scripsif; tragoedias = haec 5.9 1902] p. 24.19-20): autemprimus "Thespis

comoedia scripta

(ed. in omnium

P.

protulit". order and

is much more than primus hie. Combined with scribere this locution is attested hie primus only in frequent our on with it is in but connected other verbs several times in with record, Pliny, Philargyrius inscription, especially to literary, and scientific 38 (of Demetrius inflexit inventors: Cic. Brut. "hie primus orationem"; artistic, Phalereus): respect

26 The

72: "atqui hie Livius [qui] primus fabulam C. Claudio Caeci filio et M. Tuditano consulibus docuit"; Plin. NH 36.83: "hie
idem (Myro) architectus (Sostratus Cnidius) primus omnium 34.59: "hie pensilem ambulationem Cnidi fecisse nerv?s traditur"; et venas 34.58: videtur"; primus (Pythagoras Reginus) ... hie ... hie 35.128: Isthmius videtur instituir"; primus primus species exprimere "Euphranor et usurpasse 3.6.60: hie (Hermagoras) heroum "Translationem omnium Quint. primus expressisse dignitates symmetrian"; "Primus hie tubae mod<ul>ationes tradidit"; Porph. ad Hor. Ars 402: dedit; Serv. ad Verg. Buc. 6.42: "hieprimus (Tyrtaeus) "Apollodorus multiplicasse Atheniensis (Prometheus) astrologiam 27 I am well aware Assyriis of the can indicavit". of philological debate worms opened by G. W. and Bowersock when he argued for Octavian (and veritatem hie "primus 35.60: expressit";

against Pollio) as the addressee of the Eighth Eclogue (HSCP 75, 1971, 73-80). He thus revived the idea of earlier erudites,
and of Servius (on Buc. 8.6). Fierce ensued, voluminous repetitious. For Bowersock and Augustus, see esp. W.

Clausen, A Commentary on Wirgil, Eclogues (Oxford 1994) 233-37; A. Luther, Historische Studien zu den Buc?lica Wergils (Sb.Wien 698 [2002]) 7-9, 46-47; against Bowersock and for Pollio, see esp. E. Coleiro, An Introduction to WergiVs Bucolics (Amsterdam 1979) 259-61; J. Farrell, CP 86 (1991) 204-11, esp. 206-8; V. Tandoi, inM. Gigante (ed.), Lecturae Wergiliane. Le Bucoliche2 (Napoli 1988) 268-73; R. P. H. Green, Euphrosyne 24 (1996) 225-36; H. Seng, Wergils
To a detached observer 1999) 64-75. (Hildesheim Eklogenbuch ... coturno as addressed to Octavian. to take Sophocleo needed is the mind and method of those scholiasts who argued importance 28 See J. Andr?, La vie et Voeuvre d'Asinius Pollion (Paris that an acrobatic appear argument certainly the present this is a side issue; for us purpose that this line pertained to Pollio. it would For 1949) 9-26; and more recently the thoughtful essay is of

by L.

Morgan, The Autopsy of C. Asinius Pollio, JRS 90 (2000) 51-69.

29 Better Porphyrio, on Poetry. 30 On commentators Ars 278: Po?tica' did remember: primus for Thespis, tragoedi[i]s 1971) 310-14. see above in the et syrma text ad Hor. "Aeschylus coturnos see (10), and n. 25; and for Aischylos, et personam dedit". Cf. C. O. Brink, Horace

II: The Ars Iunius

(Cambridge or perhaps

Philargyrius various Danielino

rather Filagrius has

(5th c.)? and been

the vicissitudes

of his Vergilian

commentaries,

see

the

convenient summaries by Kaster [n. 23] 284-85; P. L. Schmidt, NP 6 (1999) 70-71

connections relazione 31 Sophocles between tra il Servio For commentaries Vergilian e gli Scolii Weronesi see Wita Sophoclis, Tcpcoxe?a Aa?ovxa recently (Verona aptly 2000) a Wirgilio 9-36.

(s.v. Iunius II 2). The debate on the

by C. Baschera, Ipotesi di una

summarized

both approaches, as is eulogized

inter alia quoting xrj Tpayuc?j

the epigram ascribed See H. Lloyd-Jones t?%vrj.

to the Hellenistic and F. Parsons,

poet

Lobo,

where

Supplementum

Hellenisticum

(Berlin 1983), p. 255, frg. 519.

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50

/. Linderski

facit

nova

carmina".

What

in doubt. Servius debated,32 inconclusively understanding nova is address the phrase nova carmina no less than six times,33 and always give the same exegesis: as as is startling, but in the idiom of scholia these magna and miranda. Nova glossed intimating magna terms had a well modern defined students of Vergil. Mire sense, neglected (which has been by on recent two the language of grammarians34) treated in studies is mostly connected with excellently passages invective The in genus grande, with bold rhetorical figures, metaphors and personifications, but also with and (not surprisingly) with all kinds of extraordinary and polemic, and circumstances. things carmina of Pollio were thus in some respect extraordinary, and hence novel, nova?5 They were

wished Vergil but the scholiasts'

to convey

through is not

these

words

has

and avidly and Servius auctus

been

also magna,

and this is an epithet that suits very well the heroic verses of a tragedian.36 GL VII, p. 543, line 8 (ed. H. Keil, Lipsiae ad grammaticam (12) Fragm. Bobiensia pertinentia, est neniarum "Cea ?nsula 1880): metrumprimus qui patria Simonidis, scripsif.31 we may are conjoined add several passages in which primus To these examples and scribere a in different manner:38 syntactically question: 6.1 "annales evolvam omnium gentium et quis

in a contemptuous (13) Seneca, Ep. 88.39, primus carmina scripserit quaeram?" (14) Iunius Philargyrius, Expl. in Verg. Buc. Latina
rum".39

hic

scripserit,

sed hoc

ait: prima

haec me

(expl. I): "PRIMA voluit idest Thalia

idest non quod primus Buc?lica mox et alia factu conscribere,

(15) Sch. Veron. in Verg. Buc 6.1 (ed. C. Baschera, Gli Scolii Veronesi a Wirgilio [Verona 1999], p the edition by H. Hagen, Lipsiae 1902]): "Aut nostra ex omnibus prima, quasi primus [replacing versu idest Theocriti".40 Latine Bucolicon sc[ribserit usus] Siciliensi, Vergilius 79

32 Cf. Andr? [n. 28] 30-39, esp. 31; Clausen [n. 27] 111-12.
33 Buc. 3.240: lemma: give oris 3.86: quoted to illustrate magna, to illustrate mirandum 7.758, (cf. Ovid. Met. nova bellum for "novum proelia Vergil's no vus ... hospes", to Dido's future referring miranda whereas Serv. auctus Eunuchus prefers J. Barnsby, of "qualis 3.86: and non novitas); est cuius 5.71: extat compared to novum vinum\ an Aen. 4.10, exemplum"; adduces the line concerning Eun. Terentius, 317, nova interesting to Pollio

novus (well

"quis the sense of magnus,

Servius husband, a phrase to quote from

face), we have

by paraphrased to convey the sense to add Philarg. esp. Diederich 107.

Terence, antea "mirabilia

Buc.

numquam"; carmina".

145, as "unusual looks", 1999] literally [Cambridge 1.43 4.356: magna. To (Serv. auct.): magnum, Georg.

sc. figura "a new type of these instances

34 See

[n. 15] 302-5;

and also R. (and Serv.

Jakobi,

Die mire

Kunst and

der Exegese similar

im Terenzkommentar occur almost

des Donat three hundred

(Berlin

times; auctus) 1996) 5-6, 76, expressions carmen a detailed two passages in only is there an association is a desideratum. with (Buc. 3.86, Interestingly investigation to Pollio 3.498). [see n. 33]; Georg. pertaining 3^ with the Tacitean stricture harsh and dry clashes of scholiasts This archaic, 21.6): (Dial. memorably opinion et Menenios in Gell. 12.2.10 "durus et siccus"). Cf. Seneca inter Appios studuisse"; (about Vergil). ("videtur mini 36 ad Hor. Ars 360. ad Hor. Carm. 4.15.3-4; Cf. Porphyr, 37 ... ... carmen "Nenia 2.1.38 ad Hor. Carm. Cf. Ps.-Acro 1, Lipsiae 1902): (vol. primus lugubre quod Simonides ... ad loc: "Simonides and Porphyrio instituir"; scripsif. optime Bprivotx;... 38 I also note two a form of conscribere: Flor. 15 (p. 22, lines 8-10, ed. R. with connected of primus 1) Apul. examples Helm): ... ausus nexu repudiate est passis soluto versuum conscribere verbis, qui primus "Pherecydes an informative Florida V. 148-49; Hunink, 2001] [Amsterdam commentary, (cf. ofMadauros. Apuleius se primum ad Hor. Carm. 4.9.3: "Gloriatur the closest lyrica carmina stylistic parallel, Porphyrio 2) Dig. [Mommsen primus 1952, primus, n. 20). 3^ modern But see Serv. auct. ad loc. "ostendit [n. 27] ergo se primum post Theocritum buc?lica scripsisse", rightly followed by 1.2.2.44: notes libro (Pomponius the reading conscripsit (on Ofilius, "Cum "Aulus Ofilius enchiridii) singulari of G. Haloander in the edition of see W. locutu, libera oratione missed but Hunink Latina

In the text of Servius

scribere"); conscribit praetoris [Weimar tion with above,

lingua ausum ... de vicensimae primus legibus idem edictum 1529]; de iurisdictione

diligenter reprinted cf. Hor.

composuit" with addenda Serm. 2.1.62-63:

Graz-Wien-K?ln

der r?mischen Juristen und soziale Kunkel, Herkunft Stellung ausus est and componere in conjunc For the expressions 1967]). ausus est Lucilius carmina morem" in hunc operis componere (cf. /primus

commentators;

cf. Clausen

178-79.

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The Menander

Inscription from

Pompei

51

3.10 (ed. H. Hagen, Lipsiae ad Georg. 1902): "Inde ergo se deducturum Musas (16) (Ps.)-Probus41 carmina Mantuanorum dicit, quia primus scripserif. ... Pitholaus omnium 27.1-2 [n. 41]): "M.' Otacilius (ed. Kaster (17) Suet. Gramm. primus ut Raster's historiam orsus". 300-1. scribere Cf. Cornelius comment, libertinorum, Nepos opinatur, (18) Ps. Aero ad Hor. scripsisse dicitur".42 A mixed Carm. 1.26.9: "Hoc ... aut quia primus Horatius Latine lyricum carmen

and haphazard lot, but two themes, one cultural, and one linguistic, emerge with clarity. The condemned with the [above (13)], is the hallmark of by Seneca so eloquently originator, preoccupation the grammarian and the collector of curiosa; in our list (not counting Seneca) no author of fine literature inscription descends from that antiquarian tradition. figures. The Pompeian (omnium) scripsit reveals itself as a sound and appropriate phrase, but it is primus Linguistically text of the inscription, from Delia Corte to Gigante and of the whole also evident that the reconstruction runs at texts to of this the counter the the idiom. To the beginning investigation question posed beyond, there does not seem to exist even a single instance of scribere plus the deliver a resounding rejection: name of a play (or any other title) in the genitive.43 The name of a piece may appear in the accusative,44 such as (comoedia but commonly titles were introduced by set phrases, etc.) quam inscripsit, quae inscribitur or inscripta est, cui nomen est, titulus est.45 ... for the aberrant construct primus there is not even the slightest justification Rebus sic stantibus, we have no right to and supplements Geminarum (vel sim.). In emendations scripsit comoediam postulate unattested with words and unattested Yet we locutions.46 In our inscription the initial can attribute to the composer of these sentence lines thus ends that the idea

emphatically was Menander need

original the epithet novam. Two options offer. Primus omnium scripsit scripsit. Still all apographs appear to show at the beginning perhaps hie primus I [novam] como/'ediam of the line an o and an m. We might thus combine Maiuri and Della Corte, and squeeze novam into the see below) lacuna in line 3. The sentence assumes the following / shape: hie primus (possibly primu[s\; om[nium nova]m comolediam scripsit. This is fully idiomatic, and factually correct. If there factually to careless hie primu[s] statements I om[niu]m scripsit. This see above (1), (3), (11). Now Roman playwrights and even by Quintilian: by some scholiasts,
ex om and quasi). See also (aut nostra illegible the Scholia. On our passage, cf. Idem, Ipotesi [n. 30] 180. (Oxford 1969) by R. A. B. Mynors, Wirgil, Georgics of 361-63 (s.v. Probus 4); R. it does A. Kaster, Suetonius, with De grammaticis et are now

scripsit. the first to write

hardly comedy as such. Maiuri's

instinct, as so often, was right: we rare locution. Hence is a relatively

is no

space

for novam,

we

misleading: proferred
4^ As his comments

still get comolediam

an enunciation

linguistically is very akin

correct

but

Baschera (46-58)

indicates, on

several

letters

the "ambiente ego, see

cult?rale"

read by earlier editors and the sources

37-38. 41

On Vergil's See on him

primus P. L.

the commentary NP 10 (2001)

Schmidt,

rhetoribus (Oxford 1995) 242-69, esp. 248; M. Giosefi, Studi sul commento a Wirgilio dello Pseudo-Probo
a massive investigation the commentary itself. of codices, earlier editions, and the humanists, but not deal directly

(Firenze 1991) is
or

the commentator

42 on 1.1.34: "aut ab eo Lesbio, Cf. Ps.-Acro's fuit lyricus qui primus insipid comment 43 It to stress that this finding is important holds not only for the phrase primus scripsit ascertained instances of seribere comoediam (etc.). Cf. n. 13. 44

scriptor". but also for all the electronically

quod

2.4.2 I was able to find only one instance: Macr. Saturn. "Aiacem (of Octavian): tragoediam scripserat eandemque sibi displicuisset deleverat". 45 - as a See esp. the preface of Gellius where he to introducing his own title of Noctes Atticae lists (4-10), preamble a variety of inscriptiones affected various Of authors. modern studies I would recommend the exhaustive by particularly Mit passim, in J.-C.

Titel und Text, well Zur Entwicklung lateinischer study by B.-J. Schr?der, explained by subtitles: Gedicht?berschriften. zu lateinischen und anderen Inhaltsverzeichnissen Buchtiteln, Untersuchungen (Berlin 1999), Gliederungsmitteln 319-28 further Cf. also C. Moussy, Les appellations latines des titres de livres, esp. 8-60, (with ample literature). and others Fredouille du texte dans les oeuvres 1-7. (eds.), Titres et articulations (Paris 1997) antiques 46 A 265. sin of pride which even the most accurate and erudite philologists would gladly commit, cf. Mnemosyne 52

(1999)

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52

/. Linderski

test. 62-69). Thus the new comedy, not the old (cf. PCG VI 2, pp. 21-23, exclusively) for the composer this would be the comedy, and Menander of our inscription its creator.47 As the inscription vanished, no certain solution is in sight. imitated (almost two lines according to Delia Corte and Gigante there appears to have stood the title of a to account for case? in the How the Famous mosaics from Mytilene with representations genitive. play come to mind. The individual of Menander of scenes from the comedies tableaus are identified by the In the next name and the number of the act, for instance KYBEPNHT?2N of the piece in the genitive, / ME (with E are The Mytilene mosaics placed above M) T, rvu?epvTyccov ji?(po?) y', the third act of Kybernetai.4* acts and division is dated to the third century CE., but they go back to Hellenistic the into originals, (or perhaps papyrus containing already in a Hellenistic fragments of Sikyonios we encounter It has been indications of in the furthermore scholia.50 occasionally ji?po? Sikyonioi)49; no doubt through the intermediary of copy books argued that the portrait in Pompei derives ultimately, the the of famous works from Kratinos in Athenian of The art, (or rolls) painting by pompeion.51 attested for Menander a Greek text on the papyrus is the roll; the Latin version displayed original will have naturally of a local painter in Pompei. The title of the play as we have it was probably also selected contribution to suit the tastes or demands of the owner of the house, perhaps with some topical reference. After the thus reasonably form of the title we might expect the indication of ju?po? or in Latin actus.52 genitive a lacuna in line 6. Unfortunately this line This word may have stood in what was at the time of Maiuri was if the numeral at the end of line 6 of argument is inadmissible deciphered correctly. A twelfth act is impossible.

47 K.-W.

Weeber,

Decius four

war lines

hier

... Das

beste

aus text,

der and

r?mischen translates:

302, reproduced Kom?die geschrieben". 48 S. Charitonidis, VI test, 2, p. 152, test,

the first

of Della

Corte's

Graffiti-Szene "Menander.

(Z?rich-D?sseldorf Dieser hat als erster

1996) von

93,

no. eine

allen

L. Kahil,

R. Ginouv?s, titles, see 31 for a general L. Kahil,

i]; for other and See also

[= PCG

de Les mosa?ques VI 2, p.191, discussion

la maison test,

du M?nandre [= p. 214, the division

? Mytil?ne test, into acts,

(Bern 46, and

1970) 49, 51

54

[= PCG 159, of

ii]; 39, 41 the titles, des

ii], 44,

[= p.

i], 55,

57, 60,

15, 97-105

concerning

the illustrations (Entretiens

Menander's sur

comedies.

Remarques

16 [Vandoeuvres-Gen?ve l'Antiquit? Classique "act of a play" is incredibly to denote missing M?po? in 1900); line TLL s.v. "actus" 450, 78] [col. already 49 See Les 646; A. M. not

sur l'iconographie with 231-51, 1970]) in Liddell-Scott this omission was

de M?nandre, inM?nandre pi?ces comments by E. W. Handley helpful this meaning of the word was (although only partially repaired

(pp. 253-54). in recognized in the Supplement of 1968,

and no new material (despite the striking finds in Mytilene) was added in the Supplement of 1996.
mosa?ques but [n. 48] Menandro, the indication 97, n. 2; A. W. Sicioni XOPOY. Gomme and F. H. Sandbach, further frg. Menander. A Commentary literature. The term (Oxford employed 1973) is, Belardinelli, u?po?, with 143-45, 1994) (Bari Cf. also PCG VI 1, p. 134, ample 184 for Thrasyleon.

however,

not with in the genitive. See Les mosa?ques the name of the play [n. 48] [n. 48] 97, n. 2; Handley apparently a commentary on Eupolis' we have, to Pap. to remove Ox. the reference From his examples however, 2741, em tcoi tceutitcoi u?pei was convincingly ZPE where Marikas, by F. D. Harvey, interpreted (frg. 1 B, col. ii,17) the expression not to act. as rate fifth and the Cf. PCG to the the of 23 (1976) maritime loan 231-33, (at twenty percent) customary referring to Harvey's in app. article the reference V, p. 405, fr. 192, line 97, with 253-54. 51 The Paintress TLL s.v. Calypso "actus", late, see [above, coll. n. *] 92-94. For Etude Latin plays, sur critique and of persons division into acts, and the indication et les rubriques de sc?ne dans les de personnages les sigles en "La division 35-65: Idem, Le dialogue (Paris 1954), esp. antique in any case has now been undermined, into acts, but this scepticism in his lucid introduction passages from to Terence, comedies vol. and I (Coll. tragedies, numerous a formal

50 But

52 See scenes, anciennes actes" with Bud? but came

450-51.

rather

J. Andrieu,

?ditions

respect

(sceptical to Menander,

de T?rence (Paris 1940), esp. 85-98; as to the existence of a formal division by the mosaics [n. 29]

an of Terence In only one manuscript (E; cf. Marouzeau, p. 76) we find, and only once, are to prologues, and the mention of a prologue II a(ctus). The only specific references 458: fijnis) see e.g. Quint. 11.3.91 in the genitive; with the title of the play combined is occasionally 1, [PGC VI (ut inHydriae prologo 1-2 (Terentius in prologo Prise. GL III, p. 186, lines 11.44 Suet. De poet. fr. 355]); (ut in prologo Adelphorum); p. 224, 11-12 GL I, p. 350, lines Diomed. line 13 (Plautus in Truculenti quoque (ut apud Terentium Eunuchi)', prologo); p. 421, indication of actus: Andr. legitur in prologo Eunuchi).

Brink 30-35; [Paris 1947]) the actus. identify they never

248-51.

J. Marouzeau, from Mytilene). Latin grammarians quote

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The Menander

Inscription from

Pompei

53

that in the papyrus roll Menander is holding only the last page an text is and that the itself constitutes imitation of the inscriptio of a visible, (the 8g%octok?aAiov) a is also a suggestion offered by Gigante that we have in the inscription literary volumen.53 There e mention in four books: "Interpretando xii come duodecimam of an anthology of Menander's comedies lib. iiii come un'edizione pensare l'ultima avremmo quartus, di cui verebbe menandrea, liber di commedie libro". The indicata citato la commedia delle Gemelle come dodicesima di il quarto libro. Leggendo in quattro libri: tre per ogni libri quattuor, si potrebbe libro. Le Gemelle sarebbero

A perceptive

scholar has observed

ad un'edizione del were

scelte

stichometric which

quarto information.54 from

already a quotation for appropriateness expect

lines between these numerals have contained may intervening Not impossible but far-fetched and desperate. In the two (or three lines) blank when Maiuri and Della Corte the rather inspected inscription one would

lib(er) or demonstrate that plays of Menander could indeed be conceived of and read as libri (3.21.27-28): aut arma Studium Demosthenis / sales". tuos, docte M?nandre, "persequar linguae, librorumqm Unfortunately librorumque hangs strangely undefined, produces an inelegant line, and has rightly been denote each other. But above all there is disputed.55 Two unsure texts are not good candidates for strengthening the obstacle of the (supposed) ad oculos, the proposed genitive. As demonstrated string comoediam is unparalleled; but unparalleled is also a locution that would scripsit Geminorum try to combine Geminorum other in title the and duodecimam. (or any genitive) himself was not completely satisfied with his ideas concerning the numerals, and in a Gigante footnote (p. 136, n. 153) proposed an entirely different solution. They might refer to the sums of money. He called attention to the report of Harpokration: ?' ?v 'AvaxiGeixevrj Kai ?v Ai8\)|Liai? npoq M?vocv?po? as in Terence) and libellae 357, translates triobolon as tres nummi), and thus stand at the beginning quattuor (though Plautus, Most. and the end of a translation of a passage from the Didymae. This passage may have been selected by Q. la sua Poppaeus Eros, probably a procurator of the owner of the house, who thus "ricordava e nobilitava a a was That a from of Menander is passage emancipazione".57 comedy (cf. quoted suggestion pleasing above), but the ingeniously as a rendering of triobolos conceived libellae quattuor hardly qualify was denarii LL term seem to be recorded in the not and the libella does decuma, Varro, (libella 5.174), context of Roman manumissions. to We have abandon the enticing conceit of a cultured version of the xa?? i?' ?pa%|Lia?? Kai Tpico?oAxSv (priai towod? (i.e. the freed slaves) as could denote duodecim denarii in Plautus or drachmae (or drachumae xe?e?v.56 The two numerals

some topical the comedy in the preceding named line(s), perhaps with some gnomic maxim. the owner of the house or with Lib. TV may indeed well a context and in verse the this of memorable would lib(ri); paradosis Propertian

53 G.

Pugliese

Carratelli,

L'instrumentum

scriptorium

nei

monumenti

Pompeiani

ed

Ercolanesi,

in Pompeiana.

Raccolta di studi per il secondo centenario degli scavi di Pompei (Napoli 1950) 266-78 at 266-67. On papyrus rolls, their
and unwinding, and their attachment to wooden rods, the umbilici, winding del rot?lo antico librario For a very differently 1995), esp. 73-98. (Napoli in 1873, but only recently as a roll winder, see S. Wood, identified Literacy Winder from Pompei, MAAR 46 (2001) 24-40, esp. 26-32. 54 Gigante n. 48. Commenting 55 Various (Leiden 1970) [n. 2] 135-36, following on lib. /Vhe observes: a remark "dunque by D. Del Corno, Selezioni see M. Wolumen. della Capasso, Aspetti tipolog?a constructed from Pompei, instrument excavated in the Early Empire: A Papyrus-Roll

and Luxury

menandree,

Dioniso

38

(1964)

130-81

at 148,

un'antologia".

see the list in G. R. have been proposed; Thesaurus criticus ad Sexti Propertii textum conjectures Smyth, also docte has been the paradosis, adduces in (cf. loc. cit.). PCG VI 2, p. 26, test. 89, keeps impugned selected to a recent discussion and refers in his subsequent edition of Propertius apparatu in conjectures, by J. P. Gould; Loeb Class. Libr. this scholar accepted two emendations, a pleasing and culte, and produced translation. (1990) libaboque 5^ sources the manumission in Athens) in PCG VI (with further Harp. p. 204,5 Dind., reproduced concerning payment 2, p. 61, frg. 33; p. 101, frg. 116. 119; 57 His name stands would On on a bronze sponsor in the house. But it is a quaint idea to suppose (Not. Sc. 1933, 295) found signaculum a painting in the house of his former master and current to celebrate his own employer see P. Castren, in Pompei, Ordo Populusque and Society in Roman Pompeianus. Polity

that a freedman manumission.

the Poppaei

Pompeii (Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae [Roma 1975]) 209.

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54

/. Linderski

Petronian confess

Trimalchio

como/ediam altra cosa Varone

reconstruction: Menander. I Hie primu[m] om[niu]m = XIV = / = IIII e(rat) annolru[m\ Lib(ri) (after primu[m] scripsit by a lapsus calami there is omitted the indication of the end of the line). He translates: "Menandro. Costui prima di ogni ventured the following I qu[i] scrisse una commedia all et? di 14 anni. 4 libri".58 based his reconstruction diverso"

ignorance that frailty. Antonio Varone

who famously celebrated his manumission to newest entrant is a difficult do. The thing

in a gaudy mural (Sat. 29). But into the numeral fray bears witness

to to

on three old photographs, the original apograph of Delia Corte, the in the and also on the autopsy of a CIL, published apograph of Maiuri, apograph "leggermente nos. F and E) the original apograph of Della few traces of letters still visible. He reproduces (p. 50, R. Miele. It is not clear what in his text the Corte and also the apograph made by the "disegnatore" but this does not obtain for Lib. IIII, where no (empty spaces? equation symbol (=) should denote apograph indicates a lacuna). sense. Odd things occur in life, and odd It does not make much We begin with the translation. wrote a comedy still should it be that Menander phrases in literature and inscriptions, but what message as a teenager before he wrote other things. He did not write any "altra cosa" but the comedies.59 Varone's to which Menander wrote a comedy for the first time at (see n. 58), according at least a sensible utterance. But hardly acceptable. De the age of twelve (sic!), produces Anonymus as an our states wrote that his first still in this matter, Menander comoedia, comedy only testimony is well i.e. not yet twenty years old, but certainly not as young as twelve or fourteen.60 Varone ephebus, earlier rendering aware prima leggesse of that situation: "la tradizione attribuisce a Menandro commedia al sesto a diciannove anni: con essa concorderebbe lettura non del la presentazione al concorso della sua ove si in pieno anche la nostra iscrizione, anche se a me ? sembrato pi? punt?ale

tutto impossibile, rigo XIX, is uncertain as to (p. 47). A spectacular example of special pleading. First of all Varone leggere XIV" and his earlier inclination the numeral: itmay be XIV; XIX is not entirely impossible, (and of all earlier a It is preconceived editors) was XII (the unanimous theory in search of a reading of all early copies). in all kinds of mirabilia, interested and scholiasts were among them Antiquarians in is To import in A eleven enshrined stone.61 Greek poet Rome, years old, young writers. precocious is not a sensible procedure. of epigraphical such an image into our inscription, on the flimsiest grounds, onto itself. is a mirabile But above all the Latin text thus produced suitable numeral. the Varone writes of a photograph, (p. 54. n. 8), that made possible This is inaccurate: Delia Maiuri and Della Corte. read in of primus by primu[m] place "integrazione" Corte did indeed read primus, but Maiuri printed primu(s). At the end of the line all apographs report a trace of a letter, perhaps the lower part of an s. But even if we agree that no trace of an s was ever ... Primus that we should rush to embrace Varone's this does not mean (omnium) visible, primu[m]. in this paper, was a standard Latin locution; primum scripsit, while not scripsit, as amply demonstrated It was the inspection

58 A. Varone, 46-55 Hie at 47. In his

Gli

abitanti

della

casa,

in G.

Stefani

(ed.), Menander. and translation XII. his

La Casa Varone I Libri Le gave IIII

del Menandro a slightly ("Menandro. in M.

di Pompei version: scrisse and

(Milano

2003) I

earlier

attempt

at a reconstruction

different Questi Borriello

Menander. per others la prima (eds.),

o[-] primu[m] volta una commedia Abitare

Pompei. 59 For

I qui e(rat) anno/ru[m] scripsit anni. Quattro di dodici all'et? libri"). See sotto Wesuvio 200. 1996) (Ferrara comolediam conceit 1, test. of a scholiast, 3. And see cf. above the excellent in the text, study by

piece

iscrizioni,

a similar VI 36-38. 2, p.

example

(14),

and n. 39. Die Lebensdaten Menanders, ZPE 113 (1996)

60 PCG 35-48, esp. 61 For

St. Schr?der,

= Kaibel, EG 618 (Badajoz 1991); S. D?pp, Das Stegreif gedieht des Q. Sulpicius Maximus, ?poca romana: IG XIW 2012 ZPE 114 (1996) 99-114; H. Bernsdorff, Q. Sulpicius Maximus, Apollonios von Rhodos und Ovid, ZPE 118 (1997) 105-112.

a commentary,

see J. A.

Fern?ndez

Delgado,

J. Ure?a

Bracero,

Un

testimonio

de

la educaci?n

literaria

griega

en

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The Menander

Inscription from

Pompei

55

searchable and in the whole has but a few attestations,62 corpus of Latin electronically impossible, literature there is no example of the phrase primum omnium ... scripsit (or scripsisse). is rare but well attested.63 But the abbreviation The phrase qui erat annorum e(rat) is unprece but it can be dented. Varone is again well aware of that fact (p. 54, n. 7): it is "l'insolita abbreviazione",

"utilmente confrontata"with s(unt) of CIL IV 1900 and fruit) of CIL IV 2450. Much more useful and
Datenbank Heidel data gleaned from the Epigraphische none is not only the of e(rat). But unattested berg: 162 examples of s(unt), 4 of fruit), 2790 of e(st), and ... erat hie is the abbreviation whole e(rat); sequence qui well-nigh solitary.64 from the first four lines are safe enough and banal enough. They receive illumination To conclude: telling is the confrontation with the statistical more of scholiasts and antiquarians. The remainder of the vanished the idiom and preoccupations has served ingenuity or its reverse. only as a proving ground for philological intriguing, text, much

Chapel Hill, N.C.

J. Linderski

62 In the material Ars 275). See also

collected Serv.

in this paper 6.667:

there "nam

is in fact only ad

one

secure

attestation:

see above,

n. 25

(Porphyrio,

ad Hor.

carmen (sc. Musaeus), scripsit primum quod ace. cum crater". In all other instances of and thus in appellate primum inf. {primum scripsisse), nn. 16 (Diom. GL I, p. 489, see above, we may well lines 7-8); 38 (Porphyrio ad Hor. the nominative primus; postulate Carm. The TLL article prior 39 (Serv. auct. ad Verg. Buc. 6.1); cf. 14 (Amm. Marc. erudite in all 30.4.5). 4.9.3); (primus), matters to phraseology: to primi is disappointing with selection of passages respect grammatical, only a meagre referring inventores and no treatment in one Ifactum 1345,68 1364,39-59; 1346,25; etc.), coll. (of the type primus, primum fecit kinds of junctures with omnium. Of the instances of primus in this paper none asssembled (primum) scripsit place of various ad Aen. (sc. Orpheum) ipsum occurs in the construction to be listed. appears 63 Liv. 33.33.3: quindecim"; provides

"sed

erat "qui...

trium

ferme

et triginta

annorum"; eraf.

Buc. (ad Verg. "sane sciendum XXVIII. (ed. Thilo): Vergillium 64 For ... the construction hie qui Varone matches approximately of the comedians, but "Hie lictor means the sentence for the phrase

48.10.5.pr.3: this information

et annorum

uiginti quinqu? 1.28): "ut diximus annorum adduces

10.2.39.2: Dig. But observe annorum buc?lica". n. 8) V.

"Seruo

libertatem does

that Servius scripsit

not

XXVIII.

buc?lica";

qui erat annorum erat when he employ cf. Buc. pr. p. 3, line 26 dedit

scripsisse (p. 54,

V??n?nen,

Le

latin

vulgaire

des

inscriptions

pomp?iennes (Berlin 19663) 122 (he quotes the edition Helsinki

even Latin

1937, 206), but none of the examples listed by V??n?nen

(Werr. 2.1.67) observes)

istius Cornelius, "here", pointing

... Hie in informal up by Varone. conjured qui is in fact not infrequent, especially to exist any parallel. hie ... qui erat there does not appear sentence In Cicero's hie does not refer to Cornelius but (as Professor Kassel qui cum eius servis eraf, to the place where Cornelius was killed.

simply

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