THE BIRD RIDDLE REEXAMINED
H. LAMAR CROSBY
list of those who have wrestled with the problem, but at least it will suffice to suggest the range of the solutions proposed. Besides, it should be of some significance that so many distinguished scholars have been willing to accept the tradition that the comic chorus consisted of twenty-four members and no more.
Among all the theories that have been advanced, that which regards the four birds as musicians appears to have the most in its favor. Let us review the evidence afforded by the text of the play.
Verse 267 contains the words roporg ropor', on which the scholiast comments:
oqfast iKa& aravTa Tov EiToroS eTKaXOovtLevov, oi &e opveov 'Map,TrraPlvov. The words in question manifestly represent bird cries and resemble those recorded in lines 260-262.
Certain editors ascribe those three lines to Hoopoe, while others label them XOPO0 OPNIOIIN. In any event these cries presumably were produced by the flute, and because the flamingo is described immediately after line 267, it is reasonable to choose the scholiast's second alternative and to conclude that the cries just heard were pro- duced by the flamingo with that instrument.
In verse 275, which serves to introduce the bird called Medus, occurs a phrase, said to be borrowed from Sophocles' Tyro, which the text reports as i'eE8pov Ycopav
'xcov, but Suidas and the scholiasts as 'eE8pov xp6av e'xov. The interpretation is by no means certain, but assuming the correctness of the reading found in the text itself, it seems natural to imagine that Aristophanes means " occupying a strange location,"
a characteristically Aristophanic distortion of meaning for a phrase which is said to have signified in common parlance " occupying an ill-omened quarter." Certainly x&opav could not here mean country, for the identity of the bird is yet to be discovered.
We conclude that the word refers to some special post in the theatre.
Verse 276, in which the identity of the bird Medus is the subject of inquiry, contains a parody of a passage from Aeschylus' Edonians:
s 2TOT E a-0 ,6 povcro-o,avlW aTrorTO opvis optcaftrrn.
Direct quotation ends with pova-6oavru, the rest of the line being the work of Aristo- phanes. The identity of Medus being still unknown to the speaker, uovr-o6avrvg must have reference to something visible to the eye, and Wieseler long ago took it as proof that the bird was carrying a musical instrument.5 The word aroirog might conceivably be given the meaning suggested above for E'eSpov X(apav e'Xcov. The epithet opEqt,drr1, seems to leave less room for debate. Euripides had applied it to the Cyclops (Troades, 436) the year preceding the performance of the Birds, and it would not be surprising if Aristophanes had borrowed it from that source. In this connection attention has, of course, been called to Birds, 836, where Euelpides says of the cock that he is
"suited to dwelling upon the rocks "; but in line 276 the speaker does not yet know Medus to be a cock, if such is indeed the fact, which some scholars doubt. Why, then, the term opeG/ar71 ?
5 Adversaria in Aeschyli Prometheum Vinctum et Aristophanis Ares, Gottingen, 1843, pp. 50 ff.
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THE BIRD RIDDLE REEXAMINED Some light seems to be shed upon that question by line 279,
erepos atv Xov KaretXto) bw g oppv1f oroo.
Because of the various meanings inherent in the word X6o'ov, scholars both ancient and modern have proposed various interpretations. One scholium takes it to mean the crest of the helmet, and that meaning has had the greatest vogue with modern critics. But another scholium reads: eT Tl-wo0 X6f'ov KacLx/.evos. That would appear to be the only acceptable interpretation in view of the verb which accompanies XAo6ov, for that verb is very common in the sense of seizing or occupying some point of vantage, while to say that our bird has seized a crest of a helmet would be most surprising in such a context.
The idea of Xdabog dominates lines 290-293, with which the poet dismisses con- sideration of his four outlandish birds in order to herald the entry of the chorus proper:
290 Ev. Trtog aev ovv KXeCovvJuo , y' Cv OVK asTrejaXE rTO X6oov;
Il&. aXXa E,vroT& t ITroO3 ') Xrwcoo- 71 TC 'rv opvewv;
X) ' rv 8tavXov XOov; Emr. oo'rrep ot Kape/ pEv ovv
E' 6Fo)v OIKOVL1V (' ya akaXea c oVeEKa.
Line 290 naturally has led to the belief that X&ko, means crest, for it would be absurd to speak of throwing away a hillock. But absurdity is precisely the role of Euelpides, and both his comrade and Hoopoe rightly ignore the buffoonery. Line 291 has a more serious purpose. There we find the word Xd<wo<xn, a word occurring nowhere else and presumably coined for this occasion. From its formation it should naturally refer to some action, and the reply of Hoopoe, that the birds " like the Carians, dwell on X\6ot for the sake of safety," however jocular the allusion to the Carians, should leave no doubt that our word means hillock. Yet the scholia on the passage, as so often happens, reveal the uncertainty of ancient critics regarding the real meaning of the written word: s r6cv Kapc6v ra EXvpa KaTaXap,/3avovTcov (possibly reflecting the verb of line 279) 8ta TO arTpaTcimKovs Elvat, 7)n OT Ev TrETpatL (cKOVV vEp acTaXEaa%, 7) OT&
Xo6>ov EXoV-Lv Er TVlV Kpav&v. A second scholium contains similar material, with the exception that the final alternative is lacking, an alternative quite obviously having no warrant in the text of line 293, but originating in the absurd jest of line 290, which has always been the chief obstacle in the way of a correct understanding of the whole situation.
But a final difficulty was created by the query (line 292), j 'iri 8avXov 7iXOov. It so happens that &8avXo,, " double-pipe," signifies most commonly the foot-race in which the runners round the post at the the posoft end at the course and return to the starting- line. Although occasionally it was applied to a double channel of one sort or another, for some strange reason it seems not to have been used of the double-pipe so commonly depicted in Greek art as a musical instrument and possibly the one normally used to
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H. LAMAR CROSBY
accompany the drama. Yet it is worth noting that &tavXtov is attested by Hesychius and by a scholium on Frogs, 1282 to denote " an air on the flute in the interval of the choral song," and also that &8avXeAo has been found in a papyrus to denote the rendering of such an air.
Perhaps the scholiasts who dealt with our passage may be pardoned for assuming a connection between &avXog and the well-known foot-race, but they should have known better than to suggest that such a race was run exclusively by hoplites.
Undoubtedly they have been misled by the poet's word-play on Xo&boo. Suidas (s. v.
8&avXog) seems to differentiate very clearly between 8tavXos and the &rXtrr7 8p St'/zoo.
Pausanias (V, 8, 3) records that the former was added to the Olympic program in the 14th Olympiad (ca. 720 B.C.). Whether hoplites entered that event so early is not certain, but at least a fragment of a black-figured Panathenaic amphora, whose date is said to be about 550 B.C., bears the likeness of a nude male and the legend,
8LavXopp6o,o elf/.6 In Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. des antiq. gr. et rom., s. v. cursus, we are told that "no ancient author speaks in formal terms of a race in armor a stade in length; but we hear frequently of a 81avXos in armor." A footnote offers as evi- dence Birds, 292 and the scholium thereon and also Pausanias, II, 11, 8 and X, 34, 2.
Neither of the passages in Pausanias has more significance toward the interpretation of Birds, 292 than the scholium on that line, for the runner mentioned in the one, though said to be a native of Sicyon, is named Granianus and therefore may safely be assigned to the Roman period, and the other passage refers to a contest held in
A.D. 160-164. Armed runners occur frequently on Greek vases, but with no clue as to the precise race in which they run.
Thus we are left without any reliable evidence to show that in the time of our play hoplites competed in the 8tavXoq. At any rate, that race was not reserved for hoplites. Why, then, assuming for the sake of argument that our four birds were made conspicuous by huge crests,7 should their appearance have suggested the ItavXo ? By this time it should be fairly obvious that the difficulty over Xokoo and 8&avXog, and therefore over the correct motivation of the whole passage, owes its origin to the poet's fondness for word-play. The setting of our play is a rocky region remote from human habitation. When the two Athenians reach the home of Hoopoe, there ensues the following colloquy (lines 52-55).
Eu. There must be birds about, I'm sure of that.
Let's make a noise and we shall soon find out.
Pei. Then harkye; bang your leg against the rock.
Eu. And you, your head; and there'll be twice the noise.8 6 See E. N. Gardiner, Athletics of the Ancient World, p. 134.
7 Wieseler, op. cit., p. 39, observes that the flamingo at least should have no crest.
8 I use the translation of B. B. Rogers.
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THE BIRD RIDDLE REEXAMINED
Earlier in the scene (lines 20-21) Euelpides, addressing the daw to whom he had trusted for guidance, exclaims,
Where are you gaping now ? Do you want to lead us Against the rocks? There's no road here, I tell you.
It is these rocks which the poet jestingly dignifies with the name Xo&foI, and when the four strange birds file into the orchestra, as they in succession seat themselves upon one or more of the rocks, their so doing may properly be termed X640)orrI. If we may believe the poet, they do so for safety's sake, that is, to be out of the way of the chorus and no doubt close to the nest of Hoopoe. What their function is to be is hinted at in the pun on the word 8&avXo. If Aristophanes employs that term in place of the conventional avXot, he is not only etymologically safe but also purposely humorous, trusting to the well-known keenness of his audience to get the point that seems to have eluded critics, who of course had not the assistance of the ocular demonstration.
It seems to be commonly assumed that but one piper was provided for each play.
The evidence on that point is scanty and is drawn from vase paintings and the words of ancient grammarians. If the paintings never depict more than a single piper, neither do they depict a whole chorus. The single piper would suffice to fix the setting, and the space at the artist's disposal was limited. The literary evidence is mostly late and inconclusive. Haigh finds no difficulty in believing that our play at least had four musicians.9 The highly lyric nature of the Birds may well have warranted more pipers than usual, and it may be that the special attention paid to them in the scene we have been discussing was in recognition of the fact that the poet was treating his audience to something of a novelty both with regard to the number of his pipers and in the manner of their handling. As a rule the piper arrives and departs without there being a word of warning in the text that he exists.
H. LAMAR CROSBY
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
' The Attic Theatre8, pp. 270-271.
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The Altar of the Twelve Gods in Athens Author(s): Margaret Crosby
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Hesperia Supplements, Vol. 8, Commemorative Studies in Honor of Theodore Leslie Shear (1949), pp. 82-103+447-450
Published by: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1353886 .
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