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A New Poem about Hesiod

Author(s): M. L. West
Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 57 (1984), pp. 33-36
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20184100
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33

A NEW POEM ABOUT HESIOD

Mr P.J.Parsons has recently published (The Oxyrhynchus Papyri 50,1983,

no. 3537 recto 3ff.) the remains of an interesting poem dating from the

third or fourth century A.D. and belonging to the type in which the writer

imagines what a famous historical or mythological character might have said


1) a xivac
in a certain situation. It has heading of the usual form: dv Aoyou[c

*Hcio?oc e?Tto]i ?Tto xcov MoucaSv ev[ ulevoc (?v[?eoc Y?v?u]evoc

Barigazzi). The author sees the effect of the Muses' visitation as being to

raise Hesiod out of his humble rural setting, so that he leaves his family,

his flocks and herds, and his miserable village, or at least rises above them,

and enters the glorious world of national poetic competitions. No more

tootling on the gates of heaven are opening before him to show


panpipes:

him the truth about the gods, which he will celebrate in appropriately

lofty verse. It is a commonplace among writers of the Roman and early Byzantine

periods that Hesiod ceased to be a shepherd when the Muses made him a

poet; see the passages collected by Rzach in his large edition of Hesiod

(1902) on Th. 22ff. (pp.6-9), adding Favorinus P.Vat. 11 xxiv 43ff. (p.

406.15 Barigazzi), and the epigram preserved in some manuscripts with the

scholia on the Erga (p.4.8 Pertusi),

<Xaipe Y?pcov 'Acxpaie, x?v o?xexi Ttoiu?va Moucaic>

dpveicov xaA?eiv e?aoev dAAd ?poxcov*

xaip' %EAixcov ?c xoiov edpeipao* xaipexe AeTtxai

pfjciec *Hci?oou uoucoTtv?cov cxoudxcov.


-
The initial hexameter is my own supplement (at Hes. fr. spur. 379) ad

venturous perhaps, but the syntactical and rhetorical structure of the three

preserved lines scarcely allow anything else.

The beginnings and ends of the lines of the new poem survive, with a gap
of about ten letters in the middle. In many cases excellent supplements are

offered or reported by Parsons, but there remains much room for further

speculation, and some room for positive advance. These notes of mine should

be read in conjunction with his. The line-numbering is that of the papyrus

page. The heading occupies lines 3-4, the poem begins at 5.

5 xic ue Oecov ?x?va[?je; xic evOeo]v fWaYev dcdua


ouped xe TtpoAiix?vxt i xai dYxea x]ai ?oxd ufiAcov;
vuxxi ut-fii tic ?nic [ ]?ou *EAixcovoc

?dcpvTic euTtexdAo[io cp?peiv ?pi ]dr)Aeac ??ouc;

1) For other poems of this category see Heitsch, Griech. Dichterfragmente


d. r?m. Kaiserzeit, nos. 26 and Anth. Pal. 9.449, 451f., 454-480;
42.26-27;
John of Gaza, Anacreont. 6 (Bergk, PLG4 ill.347); Georg. Gramm. 1-6 (ibid.
364ff.).
34 M.L.West

In 5 Parsons suggests xi u iep?]v (?vdeov Diggle), but the repetition of


2)
xic imposes itself. It follows that the participle in 6 should be dative,

not accusative. After it he suggests xaxdcxia or xai dAcea. aYKea (Op. 389)

may be slightly preferable.


It is not clear whether vuxxi uif?i should be attached to the preceding or

to the following sentence, being not very apt for either. The poet got the

phrase from someone who had written of Hesiod's becoming a poet "in a single

night", as in the passage of Nicephorus cited by Parsons (Rzach, p.8). It

presupposes that his vision of the Muses was a dream; for this ancient inter

pretation see my Hesiod, Theogony, pp.158f.

7 is hard. Parsons despondently proposes xic ?TtCcxfax* d?t* ?v?ojgou or

e?o?]gou. A possible alternative verb might be en(e)ice[v, "who induced me

to pluck ..." following the ancient v.l. in Th. 31, ?p?^acdai instead of

?p?ipacai. There is, however, no other instance in this text of i/ei errors

or anything of the same sort.

9 auxf) uoi Yevoc eiTt[? decov TtxoA]euouc xe Y^Yavxcov

Ttdvxcov d' fipcofcov Yeverjv cpuA]ov xe Yuvaixcov*

auxfi x?cuov eviCTt[e, x?v ou??Tto]x* ??paxov ?ccoic.

9-10 as restored by P., except that he gives TtoA]euouc. Space favours

the Ttx- form, which also appears without metrical necessity in 13, and often

in the Nonnus manuscript (see Keydell's edition, I p.23*) as well as in

Colluthus 60, 144, 159. My supplement in 11; I might prefer x?v ou Ttdpo]c if
Ttdpoc did not occur in the next line. The idea is that the Muse will give

Hesiod knowledge of things outside his own experience, much as in Th. 32 he

receives from the Muses an a?oriv O?cTtiv iva xAeioiui xa x* ?cc?ueva Ttp? x'

??vxa. Homer at II. 2.485f. reminds the Muses that mortals depend on them

for knowledge of the past: nueic ?? xA?oc oZov dxououev, ou?e xi C?uev.
12 udv?pr) ?un xpixdfAaiva xai auA]iec ai Ttdpoc aiy&v,

?pxouai ?c TtxoA?uoi[o xai xjuxAov dYcovcov.

?ep?c oux?xi xixxo[c ?Ttapxecei] o??' ?xi Ttoiuvrj'

15 ?aifi ?utoi] cuuTtaca A[uypolc c?v ] 66uaciv "Acxpri/

ou?' a?xfjc kOutic [?AeY?^co* xaip]exe Ttdvxec

unAovouoi* Moucai [?eiTiv u* ??]i?aEav doi?fiv,

?x 6' ?Aounv TtoA? [xe?ua ]eucxou 'AYaviTtTtri[c.


12 seems to express sorrow for the herds that must lose their guardian as

he goes away to compete for glory, a motif for which Theocritus 4.1-28 may

be compared. Ttx?Aeuoc is a surprising word if it simply refers to poetic


contests. Did the poet have in mind the Lelantine War, reputedly the conflict

in which Amphidamas, at whose funeral games Hesiod won a prize, met his end?

2) For this anaphora cf. Mesomedes 7.1-2, 8.1-3 Heitsch; Anth.Pal. 9.449,
670; 16.159; Nonn. D. 18.342-6, 40.423-7, 48.767.
A New Poem about Hesiod 35

Ttx?Aeuov [ueAecov (P.) is over-long, and the last trace is the top of a

vertical whose tallness suggests iota rather than ny. I have thought of

nothing better than TtxoA?uoi[o ?utjv.

In 14-16 Parsons has been misled by his idea that prizes for rustic songs

are in A lamb or a kid may be a prize in Theocritus, but not a


question.
whole flock, which is after all a whole livelihood. Hesiod is continuing

the theme of rising above his rustic origins. The sense calls for something

like eraxpxecei or ?cpav?dvei or ?Tteua?ev in 14, and in the next line ?aifi

must be predicative: "the whole of Ascra with its wretched cottages is too

small for me". In 16 Parsons reads xuu?nc, while admitting that the space

between u and n is narrow for beta. The supposed beta is actually represented

only by a spot of ink close to the right foot of the my. After examination

of the papyrus I feel sure that the spot is in fact the tip of the left foot

of the eta, the main part of which has become slightly displaced to the right.

Certainly after Ascra Cyme was intended, the former home of Hesiod's father

(Op. 636). "Not do I think much even of ?cpp?vxica would give a better
Cyme."

rhythm than ?Xey?Zcu, but is probably too long. ?uTtd?ouai would do if the
next word began with a vowel, but ?ppexe (or ?AAexe, after Call. fr. 1.17)

would make the tone unduly arrogant. The trace before exe suggests y, c, or

x, but I cannot find any suitable verb with a stem ending in one of those

letters, and the trace may be just a connecting stroke (if it is ink, which

I am not sure of).

It is now clear that we must punctuate after utiAov?u-oi , connecting it

with Ttdvxec, not with Moucai. They were no bucolic Muses that Hesiod met: on

the contrary. And we need a more pointed epithet than xaAfiv (P.) for the

singing that they taught him: de?nv, O?cTtiv, or the like. In 18 P. suggests

TtoA? [xeuua deoTtv]eucxou. I do not know whether a spring could be Oeonveucxoc;


4)
one might also consider a compound in -peucxoc, e.g. ueAippleucxou.

19 vuv uoi Aie Ttdxep Tt[oA? cp?Axaxe,] v?v ??uxiun?ri


20 oA?icxn utixeipa xai [ v?yrtie] n?pcn,

cxfjcex leicaA oio[ o]u Y?p doi?fiv


'
Tta?pnv ?ouxoAix[f)V dva?dAAo]uai , o??* ?c ?cpaupoi

pTH?icoc u?ATtouci [ ?YPo]icoxai,


o??? uoi aiTtoAixr) [ ] eua<6>e cupiyE*
25 c?v 6' auxo?c xaAd[uoiciv aTt?c]xuYOV dYPiov rjxtiv.

19: alternatively, if the lacuna contained a verb (as P. assumes), ut?Ya

xaipo?c]. In 20 possibly a?xoc or ?goxa vf)Ttie. After these vocatives it is

natural to read cxficex(e), "you will set up". In the following letters I am

3) In the passage of Nonnus cited by P. the flock is a prize of war, not


of song.

4) Buck and Petersen, Reverse Index 517, list d-, doid-, euuexd-, Ttavx?-,
aux?-, and ?uc-peucxoc.
36 M.L.West

inclined to recognize aieiOdAAoio.

22 after P. ?ouxoAix[f)v is much better than his alternative -ix[coc. In 23

the ideal word might be duoi?aoic (or -a?ov), but it is too long. It is

indeed difficult to think of anything that would be short enough.

26 ex Ai?c, ?x Mouc?cov [ ]? o?pdvioi um


cpaivovxai TtuAecov[ec, ?pco ?' e?c ?]eia u?Aadpa"

fl?Ti 6' dei?eiv ?d?A[co ]eoc?e


vacat

P. takes ?x Ai oc to be an allusion to Aratus' ex Ai oc dpxtouec?a. If so, our

is this with Hesiod's own Moucdcov ... apxaueO' dei?eiv (Th. 1).
poet combining

But he may be rather of Th. 94/96 ?x Ydp xoi Mouc?cov ... dv?pec doi?oi
thinking

?aciv ... ?x 6? Ai?c ?aciAriec. The Muses are themselves daughters of Zeus,

so a particularly conceited poet might claim to be of both. One possible

supplement is [Tt?Aov (or y^yov') ?pTtT}]?. Cf. Theoc. 7.43f. (Lycidas to

Simichidas) ouvexev ?cci | udv en' dAadeiai TteTtAacu?vov ?x Ai?c ?pvoc. Another
5 ).
would be [u?Aoc ?cxa]?*. The dotted ]g could also be taken as ]e'
In the next sentence the idea is probably that the gates of heaven (II.

5.74 9 = before not to admit him to the of the


8.393) open Hesiod, company

immortals, but to reveal the truth about them to him so that he can compose

his theogony.

28 is apparently the last line of the poem. If it were not so, one might

supplement e.g.

?d?A[co Xdoc, ?x Xd]eoc 6e


[dp^duevoc xAeieiv uaxdpcov y^voc ai?v ??vxcov ].

As it is, ]eoc?e is baffling. P. suggests in evident desperation ???Afco

?flvai xe xA]eoc?e. Can anyone find something more convincing?

Bedford College

University of London M.L.West

5) There are hardly any lection signs in this text, but they do appear
to be present in 11 ?viCTt[ and 16 xuunc[.

6) See the note on p.32.

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