Euripidea 9004099263, 9789004099265

Table of contents :
EURIPIDEA
CONTENTS
Preface
Abbreviations
PART I: TESTIMONIA VITAE ET ARTIS SELECT A (SOURCES FOR TIIE LIFE OF EURIPIDES)
A. Lives and fragments of lives
B. Date and place of birth and parentage
C. Boyhood
D. Early pursuits
E. Student or companion of philosophers
F. Tragic contests
G. Otherpoems
H. Euripides and Sophocles
I. Euripides and Agathon
J. Euripides and Timotheus
K. Euripides and Cephisophon
L. Legal troubles
M. Visit to Macedon and death
N. Euripides in the comic poets
O. Other judgements
P. Miscellanea
Q. Epigrams
R. Fictitious letters
PART II: TEXTUAL DISCUSSIONS
Cyclops
Alcestis
Medea
Bibliography
List of Editions Used
OtherWorks
Indices
Indices Indices to the Testimonia
Index of Names
Index of Sources
Indices to the Textual Discussions
Index of Subjects
Index of Greek Words
Index of Passages Cited

Citation preview

EURIPIDEA

MNEMOSYNE BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATAVA COLLEGERUNT J.M. BREMER, L.F.JANSSEN, H. PINKSTER H.W. PLEKET, C.J. RUIJGH, P.H. SCHRIJVERS BIBLIOTHECAE FASCICULOS EDENDOS CURAVIT C.J. Rl.JUGH, KIASSIEK SEMINARIUM, OUDE TURFMARKT 129, AMSTERDAM

SUPPLEMENTUM CENTESIMUM TRICESIMUM SECUNDUM

DAVID KOVACS

EURIPIDEA

EURIPIDEA BY

DAVID KOVACS

E.J. BRILL LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KOLN 1994

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

ISSN 0 169-8958 ISBN 90 04 09926 3

© Copyright 1994 by EJ. Brill, Leiden, The Netherl,ands

All rights reserved. No part of this publicatwn may be reproduced, transl,ated, stored in a retrieval .rystem, or transmi,tl,ed in any form or by a'!Y means, ekctronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorn;ation to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by EJ. Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid direct!J to Copyright Ckarance Center, 2 7 Congress Street, Sal,em M4 01970, USA. Fees are sufdect to change. PRINI'ED IN THE NETHERIANDS

CONTENTS Preface

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Abbreviations

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

PART I: TESTIMONIA VITAE ET ARTIS SELECTA (SOURCES FOR TIIE LIFE OF EURIPIDES)

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. M. N. 0. P. Q. R.

Lives and fragments of lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Date and place of birth and parentage . . . . . . . . . Boyhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Early pursuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Student or companion of philosophers . . . . . . . . Tragic contests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Otherpoems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Euripides and Sophocles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Euripides and Agathon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Euripides and Timotheus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Euripides and Cephisophon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Legal troubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Visit to Macedon and death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Euripides in the comic poets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other judgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellanea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Epigrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fictitious letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 29 31 33 33 39

55 57 59 59 61 61 63 67 115 123 127 129

vi

CONTENTS

PART II: TEX11JAL DISCUSSIONS

Cyclops Alcestis Medea

145 159 167

Bibliography List of Editions Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 OtherWorlcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Indices Indices to the Testimonia Index of Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Index of Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Indices to the Textual Discussions Index of Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Index of Greek Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Index of Passages Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

PREFACE This book is intended as a companion volume to my Loeb Euripides, Volume One. It contains two sections. The first is a collection of testimonia to the life and literary career of Euripides, together with an English translation. I gathered this material in connection with the section of my Introduction on the life of Euripides and translated it with a view to making it a part of the volume. In the event, it proved impossible to include it. I publish it here for several reasons, apart from a pardonable desire not to see my labor wasted. Although Nauck gathered most of the references in the Preface to his Teubner edition, no one has printed the texts themselves in one place. Classical scholars will not need a translation of this material, but others may find profit or amusement in seeing the ancient biographical tradition at work. In addition, some of the material, such as the spurious Letters of Euripides, has never been translated into English. I have not included all the testimonia I could find-a complete collection will be available in the TrGF series when Richard Kannicht's Euripides volume appears-but all the principal lineaments in antiquity's view of Euripides' life may be seen here, together with enough context to be able to divine how much-or how little-authority each item possesses. As I try to show in the above-mentioned Loeb Introduction, the history of Euripidean interpretation would have been much different if interpreters had been warier of accepting what this tradition says at face value. I print the text of the testimonia from the standard editions listed in the Bibliography. I have noted deviations from these editions or worthwhile conjectures in footnotes. The second part discusses passages in Cyclops, Alcestis, and Medea where the text I adopt calls for explanation. James Diggle's OCT, now complete, marks a great advance over previous editions, not least because Diggle is not diffident about questioning the soundness of the text in places where his predecessors have dogmatically slumbered. But some of the questions he raises admit of other solutions, and there are further places where doubts about the text should be aired, established conjectures challenged, or new defenses of the tradition ad-

viii

PREFACE

vanced. I have also listed in their proper place the location of earlier discussions of mine. The preparation of this work was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. Without their support for this project and for the Loeb Euripides, progress would have been much slower. I would like to express my gratitude to Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones for helpful comment and encouragement, to James Diggle for his hospitality and illuminating discussion in Cambridge, and Sir Charles Willink for both hospitality and many acute suggestions. None of these, obviously, is to be blamed for errors that remain. University of Virginia

David Kovacs

ABBREVIATIONS Ancient authors and works are abbreviated as in LSJ, periodicals as in L'annee philologique, and metrical symbols as in M. L. West, Greek Metre (Oxford, 1982). See also under List of Editions Used. Austin

C. Austin, ed., Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta in Papyris Reperta (Berlin, 1973).

D.-K.

H. Diels and W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 6th ed., 3 vols. (Berlin, 1951-2, rpt. Dublin, 1966).

GP

J. D. Denniston, The Greek Particles2 (Oxford, 1959)

K.-G.

R. Kiihner and B. Gerth, Ausfiihrliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache (Hannover and Leipzig, 1898)

Mullach

F. W. A. Mullach, ed., Fragmenta philosophorum Graecorum (Paris, 1881). A. Nauck, ed., Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta: Supplementum adiecit Bruno Snell (Hildesheim, 1964).

Radt3

S. Radt, ed., Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, vol. 3: Aeschylus (Gottingen, 1985).

Radt4

S. Radt, ed., Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, vol. 4: Sophocles (Gottingen, 1977).

RE

A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll, edd., RealEncyklopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft

Smyth

H. W. Smyth, Greek Grammar, rev. by G. Messing (Cambridge, Mass., 1956)

Winiarczyk M. Winiarczyk, ed., Diagorae Me/ii et Theodori Cyrenaei reliquiae (Leipzig, 1981).

PART ONE TESTIMONIA VITAE ET ARTIS SELECTA: SOURCES FOR THE LIFE OF EURIPIDES

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