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Towards an edition of the fragments of Alexis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2018
Extract
Many are the misrepresentations that luxuriate on the subject of later Greek comedy. It is still possible to read in standard works, for instance, that the main theme of middle comedy was food, and that Alexis of Thurii was Menander's paternal uncle (so the Suda first, and far too many others since). Yet among such inaccurate fancies there are just a few whose charm counterbalances their unauthenticity. My own favourite is an anecdote about Alexis that remains little known (Edmonds omits it from his collection of testimonia); it appears to derive from the χρεῖαι attributed falsely to Aristotle (Stob. Flor. 50. 83 Hense; Gnom. Vat. 46 Sternbach= Gnom. Vind. 36), and runs as follows: ‘One day, when the comic poet Alexis was a very old man, he was observed walking along with great difficulty.
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- Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 1970
References
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page 6 note 1 My wife assures me that the cook's cure has an element of good sense in it.
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page 11 note 1 This paper is an amended version of one read at Oxford and Cambridge to the university Philological Societies in November 1969 and May 1970 respectively. I am most grateful for the helpful comments made on both occasions.