ATTRIBUTED FRAGMENTS ‘ 124 xine 1008" Exide BpSrov ioxvaiver xpbvy kdoenvordpre 7907 év dvBpeia ore yy Athenaeus 10.447 2 xdoepvondpmrer Dindorf kal repvoxorres cod. ~ MEMNON Memnon the Ethiopian, son of the goddess Eos and her mortal husband Tithonus, came to aid his uncle Priam and the Trojans not long after the death of Hector; he killed Nestor’ son, Antilochus, but was then himself killed by Achilles. The cyclic epic, the Aethiopis, was named ater him. Our sources make no acknowledged quotations rom Memnon, but three quotations ascribed to Agamemmond "ot occur in that play, and i ix generally and reasonably jiepese that copists have each time substituted the more tr illar play-title for the less familiar. In addition, another agent (fr. 126a [300]), speaking of a person of Bthio~ 128, MEMNON, cont studies: West, Studies 26,478; F. Jouan, “Dionysos chez ‘Kernos 5 (1992) 71-86, esp. 76; R. Germar and R. 5 16-8; Podlecki 6. Beagle" schyle”s numeich in KP‘ 124 ‘And be would allow time for these! to dry, and then drink peer out of them, and makéa proud boast of thisin his ban- queting room? 1 probably the skulls of men hé\had killed, as Hermann bril- liantly conjectured on the basis of Nonnus, Dionysiaca 20.149- 153, 166-181. Thirteen centuries after'Aeschylus, in AD SLI, an- other ruler in Thrace—Krum, khan of the Bulgars—allegedly made a drinking cup of the skull of the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I (Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia p91 17— 22 de Boor). 2 lit, “men's room’, a poetic equivalent ofthe more common dvSpdv. Part of the sting of the remark is that Greeks considered beer-drinking unmanly; ef. Suppliants 952-3. and see my article in Museum Criticum 25-28 (1990-3) 59-64 MEMNON pian origin and his native land, can also be plausibly as cribed to this play; if that is so, since the speake or has appar- ently not yet met Meninon, the play must have included his arrival at Troy, and may have been climaxed by hs king of Antilochus; the continuation of the story, and Memon own death, will have been presented in The Weighing of Souls (q.©.) For a possible third (or rather fst) play #0 complete a trilogy, see note on The Carian In addition to what can be gleaned from the textual Sragments, our sources offer three other sgnfiant de- tails about the play: (1) Aristophanes, Frogs 93 makes 129ATTRIBUTED FRAGMENTS, Euripides speak of Aeschylus as creating characters like Mennon “with bells on the cheek-plates of their horses” (caBwrobaraporddous), which suggests that the play probably included a detailed description of Memnon’s ar- ‘mour, equipage and retinue (cf. [Euripides], Rhesus 300- 313). (2) Pausanias (10.31.7) says that Memnon arrived at Troy not from Ethiopia but “from Susa in Persia and the river Choaspes” (no source given); Strabo (15.3.2) says that Susa was founded by Memnon’s father Tithonus, and that Aeschylus called Memnon’s mother (Eos) a Cissian, 126a (300) ‘yivos piv aiveiv expabéw éniorapar AiworiB0s yijs, Netos év0" éxréppoos yavos KunivBe pevpdror éxopBpia: yj mpomdv Fpduost eeddpav pddya rivet merpalav xuive aca 8 eiBadys Abyuxros dyvob vdparos whnpovperm depécBiov Arunrpos dvrédde ordxur Anonymous, On the Overflowing of the Nile (= FGrH 647 F 1); Taetaes on Mlad 1.497 (not identifying the play); attributed to Menon by Butler and Hermann 1 éxpabiw Schweighaeuser: éxhabiv Anon.©: ai palov Anon: nai walldiv Tzetzes 2 Nefhos 2u" éxréppo0s Dindorf: évla (évrd5e Anon.©) Netdos émrdppovs codd. 3 ydvos Hermann: yaiav cod. — pevudraw I. Voss: 7" wdroveodd. 4 zupumdy Tzetzes: rupwmds Anon.©: Tupe my Anon dos Anon: pmvos Anon.F Teetzes: ives Te dozpov Zakas — éxhdwapav Anon.¥: exhdyapas ANOM- 130 MEMNON ie. an inhabitant of the region around Susa. It thus op- ppars that Aeschylus represented Memnon as a Persian by residence and partly by birth—which would obvi- susly give the play powerful contemporary resonances (3) Pollux (4.110) says that “they say” a fourth actor was used briefly in Memnon; whether or not this is correct, it strongly suggests that the play did have three (main) ac- tors, and thus was fairly late, Recent studies: M. L. West, “Iliad and Aethiopis on the stage: Aeschylus and son”, CQ 50 (2000) 338-352, esp. 343-7 126a (300) Thave leamed definitely, and know, that I can speak of his origin! as being from the land of Ethiopia, from which the seven-mouthed Nile rolls down its fertilizing stream in overflowing abundance: the land where the fiery sun shines out in flame and melts the snows on the mountains, so that all of fruitful Egypt is covered by the flow of the sacred river and sprouts with the ears of Demeter’ life- giving grain? Priam (?) speaking about Memnon, before they have met. ing \ The presence of the particle dv indicates that the speaker probably went on to distinguish between Memmnon’s country of Srigin and some other country with which he was associated doubtless Persia (Cissia); see introductory note to this play: 2CE. Supp. 559; Euripides, Helen 2-3; Anaxagoras 59 A 91 Diels-Kranz; Herodotus 2.22.1. 131ATTRIBUTED FRAGMENTS 127 ai pi redder kal karayhixer v0%) prews ds vavrauoru dorxedos pods ‘Aclius Dionysius «173; Eustathius on Hiad 18.487; Aneedota Bekkeri 1445.18-19; Photius, Levicon «2826 (none identifying author or play); ef. Hesychius «7698 derxevious" Yudots, drrapa oxeiots. Niorythos |'Ayahuduvore 2 &pmeios Labeck: dpxuos cod. 128 xahxan ta0épurovt derniBos O° dmeprevij Anecdota Bekkeri 1,353.10; Photius, Lexicon a474 (both Alorydhos { Ayaljeduvove) a épurov Anecd: évepyrov Photius: éOéprrov Reitzenstein: aBep9 M. Schmidt! add, Boissonade the next lin may have begun eg. , cf. Aristotle fr. 498 Rose, Aelian On the Nature of Animals 2.16 The lemma in the two lexicon entries is dBeprjs (4Onpris codd., corr, Wagner on the basis of similar entries in Hesychius [01562] and the Etymologicum Magnum) 132 MEMNON 127 [And now his (?) approach is chilling us, like a north wind coming upon sailors unprepared for it.! 11f the “chilling approach” Is indeed that of « person, then, given thatthe action of the play i apparently set among the Tio- Jans ane theirallies, the person in question most key Achilles, 128 ‘The cold (?)! bronze and the stretched over the shield, 1 tis clear from the lexica that ancient grammarians found an adjective aBepyis in Aeschylus’ text but had no idea what it ‘meant. Their etymological explanations are all implausible: 1 ‘would derive the adjective from Bépety “to heat’, cl. iAnPepris, ‘jdcoBepyis, and iad 5.75 duxpov 8 Ede xadxdv dBovorw 133ATTRIBUTED FRAGMENTS 153 derrds 88 awd” dpthBaddéo Ber xpot Herodian, On the Deeldhsion of Nouns ed. A. Hilgard, Excerpta ex libris Herodiani technict (Leipzig, 1887) p. 22.31 NIOBH Niobe, daughter of Tantalus and wife of Amphion of Thebes, offended Apollo and Artemis (andlor their mother Leto) by boasting that she had had many fine children (in Aeschylus the number was fourteen) while Leto had had only two; Apollo and Artemis punished her by destroying all her children, and she wept inconsolably until the gods transformed her into a rock at Mount Sipylus in Lydia which continued to shed tears (liad 24.602-617). Aeschy- lus’ play began after the catastrophe, with Niobe sitting veiled and wordless at her children’s tomb (fr. 154a.6-7; Aristophanes, Frogs 911-920; Life of Aeschylus 5); later her father came to Thebes (fr. 154a.10, 158, 159), presum- ably to comfort her so far as he could and to take her home to Lydia, her husband Amphion being probably also dead (of. Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.271). It is hard to see how there can have been much plot development, and the play is likely to have concerned itself mainly with Tantalus’ ef forts to understand, and to come to terms with, so appall- inga disaster, and to persuade his daughter to do likewise. Two lines from the play (now fr, 154a.15-16) attained notoriety through being quoted and criticized by Plato 160 \ NIOBE, \ ~ 153 Let fine linen be east over his body. ‘hiles giving instruction’ for the laying-out of Petroclus (ef. id 18.352-3). lia “ NIOBE (Republic 380a) as propagating an unacceptable belief in ttivine malevolence; however, now that a papyrus has given tusan idea of their context, we can see that Plato was mak- ing tendentious use of the lines, and that they were de- signed, not primarily to blame the gods, but to introduce a criticism of Niobe. Two fragments of a line or more ascribed by Rad to this play, 157a and 164, have here been omitted. Theres noad- equate reason to suppose that fr. 157a (= Aristophanes, ‘Thesmophoriazusae 889-890, from a scene parodying Eu- ‘ipides’ Helen) is quoted or adapted from Aeschylus; on fr 164, see de Lucia (below). Recent studies: A. Garzya, “Sur la Niobé d'Eschyle”, REG 100 fone 185-202; de Luca, "Eschil, fe 164 Rat (Niobe: una fonte sconosciuta e aleune osservazione”, Ati dellAceademia ontaniana 38 (1989) 113-120; A. Moreau, “La Niobé d Eschyle: Sieldvesjlons”, REG 108 (1905) 288-307; M. Alfani, “Note sulla ibe di Eschilo", Rivista di Cultura Classica e Medioceale 39 {A877 261-9, and “La ‘Niobe’ di Eschilo: una storia degli studi”, Donat tomani di Filologia 1 (1999) 1-26: R. A. S. Seaford, cd. nine wedding in Aeschylus’ Niobe”, in F. McHardy et ah °st Dramas of Classical Athens (Exeter, 2005) 113-127 161ATTRIBUTED FRAGMENTS. ida o]idev a pip marép’ dvacrevitel ran rov| 86rra kai pucavza, Tavzddov Bliav, cic olor edxerer aXipevov yapor" kc kaxot yap avedpa mpocplddrely Sol 18° bpare robmilrleppuor ydyou rai}ov apap 7608" édnuery rior ‘evou emer ica rote reOrmwécur, luca rip radawav etpopdbov duru- Je waxcateie 8 obBév EN? ef] wr coud PSI 1208; Hesychius 65579 (lines 6-7 Aiorxsihos NusiByr eur [sic]... rePrmxdiow) lines 15-16 are quoted by Plato, Republic 380a (as by Aesehy'us, and as referring to 74 ris NesBys wall) by Menander, Aspi 412-3 (as by Aeschylus), and, without nam- Ing the author, by Plutarch, Morafta 17b and 1065e, and Stobaeus 33.37 1 (4Ad’] or [8] Maas [ohiBév Norsa & Vitell: ob8é0" Schadewaldt —drarrevdgelras] Schadewaldt 2 suppl Norsa é Vitelli 3 suppl. Sehadewaldt—-yap(ov) Me Biov Ie 4 (ravrils Pleiffer poo Barrel: Norsa & Vitelli — Bélyons| Latte, Sdlpe) Pleiffer 5 [iets] Norsa & Vitelh, [abrai] Schadewaldt, [airoi] Reinhardt 6 suppl: Wollf 7 eneiver Gira Latte: mace Hesychius: exoyie 9 Bporils Korte, Govea 1 5 Injuloura C Maas, Fraenkel CF, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 422-3 (Teiresias to Oedi- pus) “the marriage into whieh you sailed on a fair wind, but which offered your house no good anchorage”. NIOBE 15a {she is] groaning loudly over nothing so much as that her father [who] begot her and gave her in marriage, the ‘nfighty] Tantalus, ran heraground fon suc|h a harbourless n;! for a storm of [every kind of (2) evil has assailed [this] hfouse (?)]. And you [yourselves} can see the final outcome of this marriage: this is the [third (2) day that she has been sitting at this tomb, a living mother brooding? over her dead children, with the unhappy beauty of her form [melt}ing away. A [mortal] afflicted is noth- shore of a This speech is delivered to the chorus (cf. line 14), in the presence of the silent Niobe, by a character who cannot be identified with certainty but must be a person close to Niobe and well in- Jormed about recent events in the family. It cannot be Tantalus or Amphion, both of whom are referred to in the third person Niobe’s mother, a surprisingly popular camille among recent scholars (Garzya, Moreau), can also be excluded: even if we wer {0 suppose that she had somehow arrived in Thebes before her husband, she could not be in a position to inform the chorus about events there. The only remaining possibilities deserving serious Consideration are Antiope, the mother of Amphion, and Niobe’ nurse; the speech’s focus on Niobe, and especially line 14 with its ansiety lest frank speech cause harm to her, points strongly tothe lurve, since Amphion’s mother might be expected to be more con- temed with her son, and indeed ~ hostile te the woman whose Selly had destroyed his family. The chorus must be residents of hebes (since Tantalus, and any retinue he may have, have not yet Sa eett but not members of Amphion’s household we cannot tll Siher from this fragment or in any other way, whether they wer Terwomen, unless fr: 155 refers to them. Bit si ng clike a mother-bird> over her egy 16310 20 ATTRIBUTED FRAGMENTS ] pan ier Setipo Tarrddov Bia Jespucrpa zHcBe wal mehal ly. Se piven rive épor ‘Audion }. ov dare eEeinrdeer yeroc: aplic spac, ob yap ere Bicchpovel ] ded par airian drier Bporotc, bray Kanda Sapa rapa ony Ody Je @rmrav dura xpi ror , [ alepuré\dovra 13} Opacucropler. ] eB apdcconrec obor" Amecaly prec exyedv Ho Eo! yldp eapHeica [xladhulr [Remains of one further line] 10 [ai vv] Latte 11 (beginning) [oie] Schadewaldt, [Exar] Muscolino 12 {¢bozBos] 88 Maas: fwarthp] Bé Lesky 13 [diudl{ov Lobel ayawse T>: agra Te 1M [eye pls Norsa & Vitelli 15 [bpderw'] Maas 17 [Spas BIg Nowsa & Vitelli ru le Gedv] Norsa & Vitel 18 [GdBow mlepwrréddovra Kérte, Latte, Cazzaniga 19 [4AX’ of wr] Norsa & Vitelli,[4AN’ of ip] Maas, [ot 3 atte] Lesky 20 [odadélvzes Fraenkel exwo" [ebrpagias) Norsa & Vitelli 21 [airy yldp Lloyd-Jones (ela: Muar reipare] Norsa& Viteli then [wAyOet re waiBan] Karte, of shal Mind 24.602 164 NIOBE, ng but a shadow. [And now (2)} mighty Tantaus wil becoming here [to apply (?)] means to bringher home ey J. And what anger did [Phoebus (2)] bear tu wards Amphion, that he so humbled this uring family and stripped it bare? [L will tell] you, foryouane net unfriendly. When god wishes to ruin a family completely he plants a cause? among its members; [but all the same), seeing that one is mortal, one should cherish the [prosper. ity that comes from the gods (?)] and not be rash in speech [But those who] enjoy [continuing (?)] success never ex- pect to [slip up (?)] and lose the [prosperity (2) they have For [this woman], elated by [her (?)] surpassing beauty {and the number of her children (2)... | 3 Or “the Father” (ie. Zeus). 4 Implying “I can speak to you frankly without fearing yon may use the knowledge to Niobe's detriment” 5 The context suggests that this refers toacause of temptation (such as great prosperity, which encourages arrogant bebasionr) rather than a character Haw. 165ATTRIBUTED FRAGMENTS 155 aptlévous éEetxerat “lorzpos routes zpédew 60 dyvds das Choeroboscus (i), On Hephaestion’s Enchiridion p.190.13-14 Consbruch: ine 1 only (or part of it)is cited by Hephaestion him. self (Enchiridion p.3.15 Consbruch); Choeroboscus (ii) op.cit p.1909: Eustathins on Odyssey 10.492-5; Priscian, Institutiones Grammaticae 1.52, and an anonymous commentator on him (i 192 Hertz); scholia to Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1264; and Teetzes on liad 1.342 and Aristophanes, Wealth 14, 44, 116,943 and 946. 1 e€eiyerae Choeroboscus (i): prmerreverat Kustathius: Ao- 158 areipw 3° dpovpay 88x" Hpepav d8év, Bepéxvrra yépav, év0" ’ABpacrelas eos “I8q Te punenfluotore wai Bdyxripacw Bpduowre pide, wav 7 "EpéxBevov méBov Strabo 12,8.21; also (fist eight words only) Plutarch, Moralia 603a and 775b. 2 ycpar Blaydes: yaipov codd. 3 Td Casaubon: “Ibns cod. BAryriawrur West: Bee winaow cod 47" “Epéxdewov Meineke: 8° épéyBeor D hi: 8 épéxber Cg ve dpexiet ux 166 NIOBE 155 ster! and holy Phasis? boast that they rear such maidens a these «the Danube, which separated Thrace from Seythia. >The a9 Or “as 1g described ing asserted | river of Colchis, now the Rioni in Geon ree Teis not clear what maiden oF maidens are be ‘the chorus? the daughters of Niobe?) or what is b ‘pout them. It may or may not be relevant that in Prometheus ound (415-6) the Amazon warrior-maidens live in Colchis, and ja erodotus (4.110117) their descendants live in Seythia 158 TANTALUS The land sow extends for twelve days’ journey: the cour try of the Berecyntians,! where the territory of Adrastei and Mount Ida resound with the lowing and bleating of livestock, and all of the Erechthean plain.® A Phrygian tribe 2-The land on the Asian shore of the Propontis (Sea of Marmara) at its western end, between Parium and Cyzicus. 3 Meaning here, apparently, the Troad, af- ter Erichthonius son of Dardanus (Iliad 20.219-230), owner of three thousand horses and great-great-grandfather of ‘Prism Thus Tantalus is describing himself as ruler of the whole region known to ffth-century Greeks as Phrygia 167eat pe 91 asdog ‘SOMMUAIP THOU oUOTE ut passasppt ol 40H Pape -pae ano ato. 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