Divergences from the Aristophanic scholia

It often occurs that the glossary notes quoting Aristophanic scholia do not agree precisely with their source texts, although their relatedness is straight-forward. On collating the glossary notes with the related scholia, one can identify in what ways the scholia tend to differ from their ultimate source texts. Some of the main tendencies have been collected here:

1. In the marginal notes, an abridged version of the scholia appears, some parts are left out. It seems that the lexicographical skeleton of the scholia quoted is usually retained; the explanatory parts (synonyms, further exam-ples etc.) tend to be shortened or completely left out.

For instance, the glossary note added to f. 5r 14³⁶⁴ illustrates well this phe-nomenon. The marginal note lists four synonyms (τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν, τὸ παίζειν, τὸ ὀλιγωρεῖν, τὸ φλυαρεῖν) to the Greek lemma ἀδολεσχῶ. The scholion,³⁶⁵ however, presents examples for all of the four synonyms which had been left out from the marginal note. In the marginal note added to f. 102v 6,³⁶⁶ again, basically the synonyms were kept and the explanatory part was shortened in the scholion; only its last, conclusion-like part is retained.³⁶⁷

2. In the marginal notes the original Greek scholia are sometimes quoted in – usually partial – Latin translation.³⁶⁸ One can find both shorter and longer quotations from Aristophanic scholia in Latin translation in the margins.

363 For the list of the codices of the Tzetzes scholia see Massa Positano 1960: IX; for details on the codices see Massa Positano 1960: LIII-LXXIX.

364 Quattuor significat hoc verbum (sc. ἀδολεσχῶ). τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν. τὸ παίζειν. τὸ ὀλιγωρεῖν. τὸ φλυαρεῖν.

365 Sch. nub. 1480e AnRec: τὸ ἀδολεσχεῖν τέσσαρα σημαίνει. τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν, ὡς τὸ “ὁ δὲ δοῦλος σου ἠδολέσχει ἐν τοῖς δικαιώμασί σου”, τὸ παίζειν, ὡς τὸ “ἐξῆλθεν ᾽Ιακὼβ ἀδολεσχῆσαι εἰς τὸ πεδίον”, τὸ φλυαρεῖν, ὡς τὸ “ἀδολεσχεῖς, ἄνθρωπε”, καὶ τὸ ὀλιγωρεῖν, ὡς τὸ “ἠδολέσχησα καὶ ὠλιγοψύχησε τὸ πνεῦμά μου”.

366 ἐπέχω, τὸ κωλύω apud Aristophanem, καὶ τὸ παρέχω, παρὰ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ ταυτοσήμανταί εἰσι.

367 Sch. nub. 1382b Th1/2, Tr1/2: οὐ μόνον “ἐπέχω” τὸ κωλύω, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ δίδωμι. ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστι τὸ “παρέχω” τὸ δίδωμι, ἢ παρὰ σοὶ ἔχω τι, οὕτω καὶ “ἐπέχω” ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ σοὶ ἔχω τι. ἡ γὰρ παρὰ καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ ταυτοσήμαντοί εἰσιν.

368 Cf. p. 112.

The glossary notes added to ff. 4v 6,³⁶⁹ 18v 6³⁷⁰ or 78r 19³⁷¹ are good examples.

In several instances, the usually short, one-word explanations quoted from Aristophanic scholia are linked with the Latin preposition pro to the lemma to be clarified.³⁷²

3. In some cases, the scholia quoted are usually rearranged so that the lexi-cographically more relevant information (synonyms, short definition, or meaning of the lemma) could be emphasized. For instance, in the marginal note to f. 157r 11 the alternative meaning is given first and then comes the illustrative quotation from Simonides, whereas the scholion presents the quotation first.³⁷³

4. Some of the quotations are modified so that they would fit the new context of the dictionary: some details (e.g. pronouns) otherwise straightforward in the scholia needed clarification.

For instance in a longer marginal note written to f. 77r 20 the pronoun τουτοῦ found in the scholion is modified to the proper noun Στρεψιάδου since the reference would not be clear otherwise in the glossary note. In a short one-word definition added to f. 148Bv 20³⁷⁴ the conjunction γὰρ – being superfluous in the definition – was left out. In the original scholion which is a bit longer it has an explanatory function.

In the marginal note written to f. 4v 6, in the lemma ἀδελφιδῆ and in its definition the nominative is used, although in the scholion they are given in the accusative. However, this kind of transformation (providing the base form of a noun/adjective or a verb instead of the declined/inflected one

369 ἀδελφιδῆ. fratris filia. In Aristophane. Cf. sch. nub. 47 Tr1/2: ἀδελφιδῆν] τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ θυγατέρα.

370 ἀντέλλοι σελήνη, inquit Aristophanes. τελουμένης, φησί, τῆς σελήνης οἱ τόκοι δίδονται. quae si non oriretur, quomodo οἱ δανεισταί possent scire mensem exactum et repetere usuras.

quare si non oriretur amplius, nec ego solverem eas. Cf. sch. nub. 755a Tr2: τελουμένης, φησί, τῆς σελήνης οἱ τόκοι δίδονται. εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἀνατέλλοι, πῶς ἂν οἱ δανεισταὶ γνόντες τὸν μῆνα τελούμενον ἀπαιτήσαιεν τοὺς τόκους; ὥστε εἰ μηκέτι ἀνατέλλοι σελήνη, οὐδ’ αὐτὸς ἀποδοίην τοὺς τόκους.

371 ἐδίδαξα docui ipse. sed ἐδιδαξάμην Aristophanes ironice alibi loquens ponit, ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰς διδασκαλεῖον ἔπεμψα. Cf. sch. nub. 1338a Tr2: ἐδιδαξάμην ἤγουν εἰς διδάσκαλον ἔπεμψα.

appearing in the scholion) occurs relatively rarely; usually the declined/

inflected forms are retained.

5. At times, various explanations of related expressions/words which appear in two entries at different points of the scholion are combined in a single marginal note. For instance, in the glossary note added to f. 295r 18 the word ψήφισμα appears in two different contexts with similar meaning.³⁷⁵ It is even more interesting that within single marginal notes sometimes dif-ferent versions of the Aristophanic scholia are quoted: in the case of Nubes scholia, for instance, both the text of the Triclinian recension and that of the so-called scholion group “anonyma recentiora” are present side by side.³⁷⁶ Through the combination of the two different versions of the scholia, the marginal notes offer a more thorough clarification of the lemmas. From this respect, the glossary note added to f. 33r 26³⁷⁷ is even more instructive:

there two different textual variants of the scholion belonging to the group

“anonyma recentiora” are quoted after each other; the two variant explana-tions are connected with the Latin word alibi.

Finally, there are some glossary notes where one can find major differ-ences in comparison to the scholia in the latest editions. For instance, in the marginal note added to f. 48r 21, the first half of the scholion is completely left out, while the second half is reasonably shortened. In the glossary note added to f. 283r 3 only the skeleton of the complete sentence in the scholion is retained: the key words of the scholion are highlighted.³⁷⁸ Moreover, one can also find glossary notes indicated as Aristophanic in the margins of the dictionary that are partly or completely missing from the modern editions of scholia to Plutus and Nubes.³⁷⁹

All in all, it seems obvious that the glossary notes of Aristophanic origin cannot be related directly to any traditions of Aristophanic scholia known to us. Instead, at this point two possiblilities emerge: 1) The glossator used

375 Aristophanes. ψήφισμα μακρόν, ἤτοι δικοραφίας μεγάλας καὶ ὑποθέσεων κρίσεις καὶ στροφάς (sch. nub. 1019 Th1/2, Tr1/2). ψηφίσματ᾽ οὐ γράφουσιν (Nub. 1429), ἤτοι οὐκ ἔχουσι δικαστήρια καὶ κρίσεις, ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς (sch. nub. 1429 Tr2).

376 Cf. e.g. the glossary notes added to ff. 116v 18, 138v 1 or 232r 22.

377 ἀποφθέρει. μεταφθείρει (sch. nub. 789c AnRec Par). alibi μετὰ φθορᾶς ἀπέρχη (cf. sch. nub.

789c AnRec ChisReg; cf. sch. plut. 598d ChisLPar). In Aristophane.

378 Φασιανοί, ἵπποι τινες, φασιανικοὶ δὲ ὄρνιθες. Aristophanes. Cf. sch. nub. 109c Tr2: φασιανούς φησιν ἵππους δηλονότι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ὄρνις· φασιανικοὶ γὰρ οὗτοι λέγονται.

379 Cf. the glossary notes to ff. 31r 23, 110r 1, 126r 7, 159v 12, 200r 10, 232r 22.

a manuscript which is lost or not known to us today. This supposed exemplar might have contained also scholia slightly diverging from the preserved ones or might have had additional notes in the margins which eventually the glossator used. 2) The second possibility is that it was the glossator who significantly modified the scholia in the marginal notes by combining different textual variants of the scholia and by rephrasing or summarizing them with his own words through lifting the key words and terminology of the scholia adapted, which helps the identification of the sources of these marginal notes. At times, however, the glossator might have even explained the Aristophanic lemmas with his own words, eventually using synonyms not present in the scholia.

1.2 Glossary notes of legal source³⁸⁰