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SOPHOCLES THE KŌMŌIDOUMENOS: TWO FORGOTTEN COMIC FRAGMENTS*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2016

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In his biography of Polemon, head of the Academy from 313 to 269, Diogenes Laertius comments on Polemon's fondness for Sophocles after detailing Polemon's relationship with his predecessor, Xenocrates (4.19–20):

ἐῴκει δὴ ὁ Πολέμων κατὰ πάντα ἐζηλωκέναι τὸν Ξενοκράτην· καὶ ἐρασθῆναι αὐτοῦ φησιν Ἀρίστιππος ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ Περὶ παλαιᾶς τρυφῆς. ἀεὶ γοῦν ἐμέμνητο ὁ Πολέμων αὐτοῦ, τήν τ' ἀκακίαν καὶ τὸν αὐχμὸν ἐνεδέδυτο τἀνδρὸς καὶ τὸ βάρος οἱονεὶ Δώριός τις οἰκονομία. ἦν δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφοκλῆς, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν ἐκείνοις ὅπου κατὰ τὸν κωμικὸν τὰ ποιήματα αὐτῷ

κύων τις ἐδόκει συμποιεῖν Μολοττικός,

καὶ ἔνθα ἦν κατὰ τὸν Φρύνιχον

οὐ γλύξις οὐδ' ὑπόχυτος, ἀλλὰ Πράμνιος.

ἔλεγεν οὖν τὸν μὲν Ὅμηρον ἐπικὸν εἶναι Σοφοκλέα, τὸν δὲ Σοφοκλέα Ὅμηρον τραγικόν.

It would seem that Polemon imitated Xenocrates in all respects. In the fourth book of On the Luxury of the Ancients, Aristippos says that he loved him. Certainly Polemon kept him in mind and, like him, wore that simple, dry dignity that is proper of the Dorian mode. He also loved Sophocles, particularly in those passages where it seemed as if, in the words of the comic poet, ‘a Molossian dog co-authored’ plays with him and where the poet was, in the words of Phrynichus, ‘neither bland nor doctored but Pramnian’. Thus he would call Homer the epic Sophocles and Sophocles the tragic Homer.

The main source of Diogenes Laertius' Life of Polemon is Antigonus of Carystus, who was active in Athens and (apparently) Pergamon around the mid third century. In addition to being generally considered a reliable author, Antigonus is also chronologically close to Polemon's lifetime. He is also the source of Philodemus' History of Philosophers, a work preserved by two important papyri from Herculaneum. Philodemus, too, mentions Polemon's admiration for Sophocles, although he gives a shorter version than Diogenes Laertius: λέγεται δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφοκλῆς γενέσθαι καὶ μά || λιστα τὸ ΠΑ[.]Α[……….] | τῆς φωνῆς καὶ παρα[….] ἀποδέχεσθαι. In Dorandi's translation, Philodemus records that ‘si dice che [Polemone] fu ammiratore di Sofocle e soprattutto ne apprezzò l'audacia (del suono della lingua) e ciò che suonava duro’.

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Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , May 2016 , pp. 32 - 45
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Copyright © The Classical Association 2016 

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank CQ's anonymous referee, Bob Cowan, Eric Csapo, Patricia Easterling, Peter Liddel, Andrea Rodighiero and Maria Xanthou for reading earlier drafts of this article and offering many helpful comments and suggestions. Timothy Power and Matthew Wright kindly shared with me their then forthcoming works. I would also like to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Kudos Foundation of Australia, which funded my work as the Kevin Lee Research Fellow in the Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia, the Australian Research Council and the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington. This article is dedicated to the memory of Kevin Lee.

References

1 Although Antigonus is cited only once (Diog. Laert. 4.17), he is to be considered Diogenes' main source. See Dorandi, T., ‘Il quarto libro delle ‘Vite’ di Diogene Laerzio: l'Accademia da Speusippo a Clitomaco’, ANRW 2.36.5 (1992), 3761–92Google Scholar, at 3770.

2 Philodemus, History of Philosophers, XIV.46-XV.1. Greek text and Italian translation are from T. Dorandi, Filodemo. Storia dei filosofi (Naples, 1991). Gaiser integrates τὸ πα[ρ]α[κινδυνευθὲν] | τῆς φωνῆς καὶ παρά[φωνον] | ἀποδέχεσθαι on the basis of Diog. Laert. 4.20 and P.Herc. 164, fr. 30. See Dorandi (this note), 237.

3 Suda π 1887; see also the corrupted passage from the Life (20) cited below (Soph. TrGF T 115b; 1.86–7 R.).

4 Soph. TrGF T 115a, 144 R. To my knowledge, these two fragments are (briefly) mentioned only in the following scholarly discussions of Greek drama: C. Mauduit, ‘Sophocle, l'abeille et le miel’, in A. Billault and C. Mauduit (edd.), Lectures antiques de la tragédie grecque (Paris, 2001), 27–42, at 37; E.L. Bowie, ‘Wine in Old Comedy’, in O. Murray and M. Teçusan (edd.), In vino veritas (Rome, 1995), 113–25, at 121; A.H. Sommerstein, ‘Old Comedians on Old Comedy’, in B. Zimmermann (ed.), Antike Dramentheorien und ihre Rezeption (Stuttgart, 1992), 14–33, at 26 n. 75. By contrast, they are regularly mentioned in scholarly works on Polemon and the Academy in general; see most fully M. Gigante, ‘Poesia e critica letteraria nell'Accademia antica’, Miscellanea di studi alessandrini in memoria di A. Rostagni (Turin, 1963), 234–48, at 241.

5 P. Rau, Paratragodia: Untersuchung einer komischen Form des Aristophanes (Munich, 1967) remains the invaluable starting point. For the distinction between paratragedy (generic use of tragedy) and parody (distortion of a specific model), see M.S. Silk, ‘Aristophanic paratragedy’, in A.H. Sommerstein et al. (edd.), Tragedy, Comedy and the Polis (Bari, 1993), 477–504.

6 See E. Bakola, Cratinus and the Art of Comedy (Oxford, 2010), esp. ch. 3 for Cratinus; S. Miles, ‘Strattis, tragedy, and comedy’ (Ph.D. Diss., Nottingham, 2009) for Strattis, with a survey of the development of paratragedy in the works of other fifth-century comic poets (ch. 2). On the role of comedy in the development of literary criticism, see M. Wright, The Comedian as Critic (London, 2012).

7 Sommerstein, A.H., ‘How to avoid being a komodoumenos ’, CQ 46 (1996), 327–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 329–30, 348-9. Comic references to tragic poets later found their way into the tragedians' biographies; see M.R. Lefkowitz, The Lives of the Greek Poets (Baltimore, 2012), passim.

8 M. Wright, ‘The reception of Sophocles in antiquity’, in A. Markantonatos (ed.), Brill's Companion to Sophocles (Leiden, 2012), 581–99, at 592. The only widely acknowledged instance of comic ridicule of Sophocles is the joke from Aristophanes' Pax cited below.

9 Archil. fr. 120. J. Wilkins, The Boastful Chef. The Discourse of Food in Ancient Greek Comedy (Oxford, 2000), ch. 5, esp. 243–56 provides a detailed review of poetry and wine in Old Comedy.

10 For Cratinus as a drunk, see Biles, Z.P., ‘Intertextual biography in the rivalry of Cratinus and Aristophanes’, AJPh 123 (2002), 169–204 Google Scholar; Bakola (n. 6), esp. ch. 1. For Cratinus and Ecphantides, see Cratinus, F 462 K.-A. with schol. Ar. Vesp. 151b and Hsch. κ 716. See also Wright (n. 6), 8–9, and further below.

11 Hom. Il. 11.638–40; Od. 10.234-5 (Circe adds honey to the same mixture mentioned in the Iliad).

12 Comedy: Ar. Eq. 107 (libation of Pramnian wine), Second Thesmophoriazusae F 334 K.-A. (the Pramnian wine is listed among the wines ‘that raise the ram’); Ephippus, F 28 K.-A. (a character claims to love the Pramnian from Lesbos); see also below. Hippocrates (1.90, 2.192 Littre) notes the use of Pramnian wine to treat ulcers and menstruation. Athenaeus (1.30e) also preserves a few explanations for both the origin and the name of this wine.

13 Ath.1.31d-e: ‘Timachidas of Rhodes calls a doctored wine from Rhodes similar to sweet wine. Bland wine is the name for wine that has been boiled.’ (Τιμαχίδας δὲ ὁ Ῥόδιος ὑπόχυτόν τινα οἶνον ἐν Ῥόδῳ καλεῖ παραπλήσιον τῷ γλεύκει. καὶ γλύξις δ' οἶνος καλεῖται ὁ τὸ ἕψημα ἔχων.) See Wilkins (n. 9), 219 n. 72.

14 See also Galen on Hippoc. 19.132.10, πράμνιος: οἶνός τις οὕτως ὀνομάζεται μέλας καὶ αὐστηρός. The scholar cited by Athenaeus, Eparchides, was possibly an Ikarian from the polis of Oine and is generally dated to the third century. See further C. Constantakopoulou, ‘Eparchides (437)’, Brill's New Jacoby (Brill Online).

15 Ar. F 663 K.-A. with Etym. Gen. AB (Etym. Magn. 526.19): Ἀριστοφάνης τὴν σκληρότητα Αἰσχύλου ἐνδεικνύμενος, ἔφη, οἶμαι γὰρ αὐτὸν κόλλοπι ἐοικέναι. Pl. Resp. 3.398a: αὐτοὶ δ' ἂν τῷ αὐστηροτέρῳ καὶ ἀηδεστέρῳ ποιητῇ χρῴμεθα.

16 Ar. Thesm. 416–17, Arist. Hist. an. 608a28-31, Hor. Epod. 6.5, Lucr. 5.1063–6.

17 Ar. F 596 K.-A., Eup. F 89 K.-A. with Halliwell, S., ‘Authorial collaboration in the Athenian comic theatre’, GRBS 30 (1989), 515–28Google Scholar.

18 Teleclides, F 41 K.-A.: Μνησίλοχός ἐστ’ ἐκεῖνος, ὃς φρύγει τι δρᾶμα καινόν | Εὐριπίδῃ, καὶ Σωκράτης τὰ φρύγαν’ ὑποτίθησιν, on which see S.D. Olson, Broken Laughter (Oxford, 2007), 237–8. Life of Euripides 2: δοκεῖ δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Σωκράτης ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ Μνησίλοχος συμπεποιηκέναι τινά. Diog. Laert. 2.18: Σωκράτης Σωφρονίσκου μὲν ἦν υἱὸς λιθουργοῦ καὶ Φαιναρέτης μαίας, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Θεαιτήτῳ φησίν, Ἀθηναῖος, τῶν δήμων Ἀλωπεκῆθεν. ἐδόκει δὲ συμποιεῖν Εὐριπίδῃ.

19 Cratinus, F 502, 342, 462 K.-A. (on which see also above); Hsch. ε 1439. See also Ar. Thesm. 157–8 for the ‘collaboration’ between Agathon and In-law. On Euripides and Cephisophon, see Sommerstein, A.H., ‘Cuckoos in tragic nests? Kephisophon and others’, Leeds International Classical Studies 3.1 (2003/2004), 1–13 Google Scholar.

20 Soph. Ant. 626–766; OC 1254-446; OT 300–462. Two of these agōnes involve fathers and adult sons, two figures who meet rarely and uncomfortably on the tragic stage. See Griffith, M., ‘The king and eye: the rule of the father in Greek tragedy’, PCPhS 44 (1998), 20–84 Google Scholar.

21 Soph. Ant. 631–8, 639-80, 683–723, 726–9, 730–57, 758–65. The quotation is from M. Griffith, Sophocles Antigone (Cambridge, 1999), 232. The stichomythia between Haimon and Creon is well treated by S. Pfeiffer-Petersen, Konfliktstichomythien bei Sophokles. Funktion und Gestaltung (Wiesbaden, 1996), 60–5 as an example of what the author calls Konfliktstichomythien. See also S. Goldhill, Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy (Oxford, 2012), 58–63.

22 Soph. Ant. 712–15: ὁρᾷς παρὰ ῥείθροισι χειμάρροις ὅσα | δένδρων ὑπείκει, κλῶνας ὡς ἐκσῴζεται, | τὰ δ' ἀντιτείνοντ' αὐτόπρεμν' ἀπόλλυται. Eup. Prospaltians F 260.23–5 K.-A.: ὁρᾶις παρὰ ῥείθροισιν ὅταν η[…]δ[ | ἤν μέν τις εἴκηι τοῖς λόγοις ἐκσώιζε[ται, | ὁ δ’ ἀντιτείνων αὐτόπρεμνος οἴχ[εται. Antiphanes, F 228.3–7 K.-A. is also a parody of Sophocles' metaphor. On the fragment from Eupolis' Prospaltians, see further I. Storey, Eupolis. Poet of Old Comedy (Oxford, 2003), 233–8.

23 See in particular Soph. Ant. 746, 750 with Griffith (n. 21), 250.

24 Soph. Ant. 757, 760–1. For Creon's order and its immediacy in time and space, see H. Dik, Word Order in Greek Tragic Dialogue (Oxford, 2007), 62–3.

25 Soph. OT 334, 346–9. The quotation is from R.D. Dawe, Sophocles Oedipus Rex (Cambridge, 2006), 103. On the expression κακῶν κάκιστε, see also below.

26 Soph. OT 335–45 with Edmunds, L., ‘The Teiresias scene in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus ’, SyllClass 11 (2000), 34–73 Google Scholar, at 44. On the debate between Oedipus and Tiresias, see also F. Ahl, ‘Oedipus and Teiresias’, in H. Bloom (ed.), Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (New York, 2007), 105–40, esp. 118–20, ‘the angered Oedipus’.

27 Eur. Med. 476 ἔσωσά σ', ὡς ἴσασιν Ἑλλήνων ὅσοι, variously parodied by Plato, Eortai F 29 K.-A. and Eubulus, Dionysos F 26 K.-A. Note also the alliteration in Oedipus’ abuse of Tiresias at 371 (τυφλὸς τά τ' ὦτα τόν τε νοῦν τά τ' ὄμματ' εἶ), on which see further A. Rodighiero, La parola, la morte, l'eroe. Aspetti di poetica sofoclea (Padua, 2000), 23–5.

28 OT 429–31 (ἦ ταῦτα δῆτ' ἀνεκτὰ πρὸς τούτου κλύειν; | οὐκ εἰς ὄλεθρον; οὐχὶ θᾶσσον; οὐ πάλιν ἄψορρος οἴκων τῶνδ' ἀποστραφεὶς ἄπει;) with the lively translation by R. Fagles, Sophocles: The Three Theban Plays (New York, 1984). On the tone of these lines, see Collard, C., ‘Colloquial language in tragedy’, CQ 55 (2005), 350–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 358; R.B. Rutherford, Greek Tragic Style. Form, Language and Interpretation (Cambridge, 2012), 169.

29 Seidensticker, B., ‘Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Oidipusdramen des Sophokles’, Hermes 100 (1972), 255–74Google Scholar, at 268–9.

30 OC 1356–7, 440–1, 599–601, 770. Oedipus’ accusation against his son contradicts Ismene's claim that the strife between the two brothers is recent (OC 361–84). See A. Kelly, Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus (London, 2009), 64. On Oedipus’ speech and this scene in general, see Easterling, P.E., ‘Oedipus and Polynices’, PCPhS 13 (1967), 1–13 Google Scholar.

31 See Rutherford (n. 28), 199.

32 Melbourne, Geddes Collection A5:8 with J.R. Green in J.R. Green (ed.), Ancient Voices, Modern Echoes. Theatre in the Greek World (Sydney, 2003), 27–9. See also P.E. Easterling, ‘Sophocles: the first thousand years’, in J. Davidson, F. Muecke and P.J. Wilson (edd.), Greek Drama III: Essays in Honour of Kevin Lee (BICS Suppl. 87) (London, 2006), 1–15, at 9; O. Taplin, Pots and Plays. Interactions between Tragedy and Greek Vase-Painting of the Fourth Century B.C. (Los Angeles, 2007), 100–2, who, however, identifies the figure on the left with Creon rather than Theseus.

33 Green (n. 32), 29.

34 Soph. Aj. 1112, 1114, 1116 with P.J. Finglass, Sophocles Ajax (Cambridge, 2011), esp. 450.

35 P. Easterling, ‘Notes on notes: the ancient scholia on Sophocles’, in S. Eklund (ed.), Συγχάρματα: Studies in Honour of Jan Fredrik Kindstrand (Uppsala, 2007), 21–36 discusses many positive comments on Sophocles’ playwriting in the ancient scholia.

36 Schol. on Soph. Aj. 1127, 1123. On these and other scholia juxtaposing the ‘tragic’ with the ‘comic’, see R. Meijering, Literary and Rhetorical Theories in Greek Scholia (Groningen, 1987), 219. See also J. Jouanna, ‘La lecture de Sophocle dans les scholies: remarques sur les scholies anciennes d’ Ajax’, in A. Billault and C. Mauduit (edd.), Lectures antiques de la tragédie grecque (Paris, 2001), 9–26, at 13, who defines these notes on Ajax exceptional (‘mais de tels reproches sont exceptionnels’). Finglass (n. 34), 454 rightly points out that the lowering of the tone in Ajax is meant to portray characters as unattractive.

37 Two of the earliest mentions of Cephisophon credit him with Euripides’ songs, Ar. Ran. 944 and F 596 K.-A. (cited above). The same point is made by the biographic tradition, where Timocrates is also named: οἱ δὲ τὰ μέλη αὐτῷ φασι Κηφισοφῶντα ποιεῖν ἢ Τιμοκράτην ᾿Αργεῖον (Family and Life of Euripides 3; Eur. TrGF T1.IA.13 R.). The quotations are from Sommerstein (n. 19), 11 and 12.

38 Ar. Pax 530–4 with schol. V on 531; Soph. TrGF T 113a-b R.

39 Ar. Av. 1337–9 with scholion; Soph. Oinomaos, TrGF F 476 R. See furher T.H. Talboy and A.H. Sommerstein, Sophocles. Selected Fragmentary Plays II (Oxford, 2012), 105–6.

40 Philodemus, On Music coll. 47.30–46, 133.4–134.27; Adespota, F 477 K.-A. The song in question was probably delivered by the chorus towards the end of the play, to settle the quarrel between Alcmeon and Adrastus. The parodos of Epigoni, which described war preparations (Soph. Epigoni, TrGF F 890 R.; see now P.Oxy. 4807, which preserves a more extended version), was variously recalled in several comedies, from Hermippos’ Moirai (F 47, 48 K.-A.) to Aristophanes’ Holkades (F 427 K.-A.). On both songs, see Sommerstein (n. 39), 50–1, 53.

41 Schol. Pax 531, citing Soph. Inachus, TrGF F 278 R.; schol. Aj. 1199.

42 For Sophocles as ‘honeybee’, see Soph. TrGF T 1.88-9, 2.5, 78, 109–12 R. The source for the comic pedigree of Sophocles’ nickname is schol. LR Soph. OC 17; Soph. TrGF T 110 R. Mauduit (n. 4), 32, however, points out that the earliest direct evidence for Sophocles’ nickname comes from an epigram by Hermesianax of Colophon, who was active in the early third century (fr. 7.57 Powell; Soph. TrGF T 78 R.). See also below.

43 Ar. F 598, 679 K.-A.; see also Adespota, F *480 K.-A. with Bonanno, M.G., ‘Un nuovo frammento di Aristofane? (Com. adesp. Fr. *480 K.-A.)’, Eikasmos 16 (2005), 105–9Google Scholar.

44 T. Power, ‘The power of music: the lyric Sophocles’, in A. Markantonatos (ed.), Brill's Companion to Sophocles (Leiden, 2012), 283–304, at 286–7.

45 C. Pelling, ‘Sophocles' learning curve’, in C. Collard, P.J. Finglass and N.J. Richardson (edd.), Hesperos: Essays in Honour of Martin West (Oxford, 2007), 204–27, at 206; Power (n. 44), 286 (Ion of Chios as the possible source of Life 20); Ar. Pax 835–7 (Aristophanes’ joke suggests that Ion of Chios died shortly before the production of this comedy).

46 Arist. Pol. 1290a19-29, 1342b13, 1342a32-1342b3. See further E. Csapo, ‘The politics of the New Music’, in P. Murray and P.J. Wilson (edd.), Music and the Muses: The Culture of ‘Mousikē’ in the Classical Athenian City (Oxford, 2004), 207–48, at 232–5.

47 See Power (n. 44), 293-8. Note also, with Power ([n. 44], 288–90), that Sophocles was reportedly taught by the musician Lamprus, whom a strand of the ancient tradition presents as a member of the musical avant-garde (Life 3, Soph. TrGF T 1.16–17 R.; Phrynichus F 78 K.-A.).

48 F 245. On Sophocles playing the kithara in Thamyras, see Life 5; Ath. 1.20e–f; Soph. TrGF T 1.24–5, 28 R. On the date of the play, see P.J. Wilson, ‘Thamyris the Thracian: the archetypal wandering poet?’, in R. Hunter and I. Rutherford (edd.), Wandering Poets in Ancient Greek Culture: Travel, Locality and Pan-Hellenism (Cambridge, 2009), 46–79, at 61.

49 F 240, 241, 239 and 239a with Wilson (n. 48), 59–79. The quotation is on p. 75. See also T. Power, The Culture of Kitharôidia (Washington, 2010), 49–50.

50 Schol. [Aesch.] PV 574a, F 281a (singing Argos); F 269c.7, ‘I hear the syrinx’; see also F 269c.21. The presence of a musical competition in this play was first suggested by H. Lloyd-Jones, Sophocles III: Fragments (Cambridge, MA, 1996), 115–16 and has been widely accepted. See Power (n. 44), 297–8 (citation); C. Heynen and R. Krumeich, in R. Krumeich, N. Pechstein and B. Seidensticker (edd.), Das griechische Satyrspiel (Darmstadt, 1999), 342–3; P. O'Sullivan and C. Collard, Euripides Cyclops and Major Fragments of Greek Satyric Drama (Oxford, 2013), 316.

51 I. Giudice Rizzo, Inquieti “commerci” tra uomini e dei (Rome, 2002), 13-63 (with earlier literature) has recently re-examined the fragments of Tympanistai, providing a thorough discussion of the relationship between this play and Sophocles’ two tragedies titled Phineus. For the identity of the chorus, see pp. 45-6 with earlier literature.

52 M.L. West, Ancient Greek Music (Oxford, 1992), 124. Note also that the chorus of the Ajax refers to ‘Mysian and Cnossian dances’ (Aj. 699–700) in their jubilant song evoking a paian. See further A. Rodighiero, Generi lirico-corali nella produzione drammatica di Sofocle (Tübingen, 2012), 29–40.

53 F 768; Aesch. F 281; [Longinus], Subl. 3.1. The assignment of the two fragments cited by Longinus is debated. Radt assigns the first fragment cited by Longinus to Aeschylus’ Oreithyia; by contrast, D. Russell, ‘Longinus’ On the Sublime (Oxford, 1964), 67–8 makes a case for its Sophoclean paternity.

54 Sophocles’ total output: The Family and Life of Sophocles 18 (Aristophanes of Byzantium knew of 130 plays by Sophocles, 7 of which were considered spurious), Suda σ 815; Soph. TrGF T 1.76–7, 2.9–10 R. See further A.H. Sommerstein, ‘Fragments and lost tragedies’, in A. Markantonatos (ed.), Brill's Companion to Sophocles (Leiden, 2012), 191–209, at 192. Sophocles’ victories: IG II2 2325.5. Diod. Sic. 13.103.4 (TrGF DID A 3a 15; Soph. TrGF T 85 R.). Higher figures are recorded by the Suda (24) and by Karystios (20); Soph. TrGF T 2, 1.33 R. For a recent discussion of Sophocles’ competitive record, see B.W. Millis and S.D. Olson, Inscriptional Records for the Dramatic Festivals in Athens: IG II2 2318–2325 and Related Texts (Leiden, 2012), 147.

55 For a referenced discussion, see Wright (n. 8), 583–4.

56 Ar. Ran. 71–82, 771–93, 1515–19; Phrynichus, Muses F 32 K.-A.; Soph. TrGF T 101–3, 105 R.

57 Cratinus, Boukoloi F 17 K.-A.; Soph. TrGF T 31 R. For the date of Cratinus’ Boukoloi, see I. Storey, Fragments of Old Comedy 1 (Cambridge, MA, 2011), 275.

58 Schol. Pax RVT 607; Ar. Pax 694 with S.D. Olson, Aristophanes Peace (Oxford, 1998), 211.

59 Aristophanes’ joke has been variously explained with (i) the story that Sophocles claimed the reward of a talent for helping recover a golden crown stolen from the Acropolis (S. Halliwell, ‘Notes on some Aristophanic jokes', LCM 7 [1982], 153–4); (ii) Sophocles’ involvement in a risky business venture (A.H. Sommerstein, Aristophanes Peace [Oxford, 2005; 19851], 165); or (iii) specific lines or a scene from a recent play by Sophocles (H. Grégoire, Euripides, vol. 3 [Paris, 1923], 162). Aristophanes’ point remains obscure.

60 Olson (n. 18), 211. Sommerstein (n. 7), 345 includes Sophocles among the five living Athenians favourably mentioned in comedy during the years 431/404, noting that ‘Sophocles, presumably, got this treatment because he and his works were so universally admired’.

61 Ar. Av. 100–1: τοιαῦτα μέντοι Σοφοκλέης λυμαίνεται | ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαισιν ἐμέ, τὸν Τηρέα. I owe this point to Patricia Easterling.

62 Aristotle names Sophocles as representative of tragedy in the way as Homer exemplifies epic and Aristophanes comedy, and praises Sophocles’ use of the chorus (Poet. 1448a25-8, 1456a25-8). As for Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Aristotle praises its plot construction (1453b3-7, where the reference to Oedipus is generally taken as Sophocles’ Oedipus the King), recognition scene (1455a16-18, 1453b29-31; cf. 1454a2-4) and avoidance of irrationality in the events within the play (1454b6-8, 1460a26-30). Note, however, that Aristotle is critical of Sophocles’ Antigone and Electra (1453b37-1454a2, 1460a30-1). For a general and recent discussion of Aristotle's view of Sophocles, see J.T. Kirby, ‘Aristotle on Sophocles’, in K. Ormand (ed.), A Companion to Sophocles (Malden, MA, 2012), 411–23.

63 Arist. Poet. 1453a27-30; Ath. 14.652c-d; Quint. Inst. 10.1.67.

64 R. Cantarella, ‘Imitazioni e reminiscenze omeriche in Sofocle, secondo la critica antica’, in id. (ed.), Scritti minori sul teatro greco (Brescia, 1970), 307–19, at 313.

65 Miller, H.M., ‘Ὁ φιλόμηρος Σοφοκλῆς and Eustathios’, CPh 41 (1946), 99–102 Google Scholar.

66 Life 20; Soph. TrGF T 1.80–1 R.: τὸ πᾶν μὲν οὖν Ὁμηρικῶς ὠνόμαζε. τούς τε γὰρ μύθους φέρει κατ' ἴχνος τοῦ ποιητοῦ· καὶ τὴν Ὀδύσσειαν δὲ ἐν πολλοῖς δράμασιν ἀπογράφεται. Ath. 7.277c; Soph. TrGF T 136 R.: ἔχαιρε δὲ Σοφοκλῆς τῷ ἐπικῷ κύκλῳ, ὡς καὶ ὅλα δράματα ποιῆσαι κατακολουθῶν τῇ ἐν τούτῳ μυθοποιίᾳ. On Zoilus’ criticism of Homer, see J.F. Lockwood and R. Browning, OCD4 , s.v.

67 S. Radt, ‘Sophocles in seinen Fragmenten’, in J. de Romilly (ed.), Sophocle: Sept exposés suivis de discussions (Genève, 1983), 185–231. See also J. Jouanna, Sophocle (Paris, 2007), 187–94.

68 Suda, π 1887; Soph. TrGF T 115b.

69 See Xen. Mem. 1.4.3: asked by Socrates to name the men whom he admires ‘for wisdom’ (ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ), Aristodemus names ‘Homer in epic poetry, Melanippides in dithyramb, Sophocles in tragedy, Polycleitus in sculpture and Zeuxis in painting’.

70 [Plut.] Vit. Hom. 2.72–3; see also Quint. Inst. 10.1.46–7. For scholiasts commenting on Homer's stylistic features and their variety, see Richardson, N.J., ‘Literary criticism in the exegetical scholia to the Iliad: a sketch’, CQ 30 (1980), 265–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 275–7.

71 Dion. Hal. Comp. 22: αὕτη ἡ λέξις ὅτι μὲν οὐκ ἔχει λείας οὐδὲ συνεξεσμένας ἀκριβῶς τὰς ἁρμονίας οὐδ' ἔστιν εὐεπὴς καὶ μαλακὴ καὶ λεληθότως ὀλισθάνουσα διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἀλλὰ πολὺ τὸ ἀντίτυπον καὶ τραχὺ καὶ στρυφνὸν ἐμφαίνει. 23: εἰκότως δὴ γέγονεν εὔρους τις ἡ λέξις καὶ μαλακή, τῆς ἁρμονίας τῶν ὀνομάτων μηδὲν ἀποκυματιζούσης τὸν ἦχον. For Sophocles’ blended style, see Comp. 24; Soph. TrGF T 119 R.

72 For both the authorship and the date of On the Sublime, see Heath, M., ‘Longinus, «On sublimity»’, PCPhS 45 (1990), 43–73 Google Scholar.

73 Leurini, L., ‘Appunti sulla produzione scenica di Ione di Chio’, AFLC 48 (1990), 5–31 Google Scholar, at 7.