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Two Lunatic Notes

Author(s): M. L. WestReviewed work(s):Source: Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 50 (1983), p. 46Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20183746 .

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TWO LUNATIC NOTES

1. P.Here. 243 VI (Philodemus, De Pietate p.13 G; A.Henrichs, CronacheErcolanesi 5 ,1 975 ,1 2) hcxi Mouca[io]v u?v 'opcpeOc o[t?v] a?xf?c (se. CeXfivric)Yev?c[?]ai cpnc?v ... "ce?nvo[ ] n" 6' "Icov aux?v [X?y]ei. To be addedto the poetic fragments of Ion of Chios. His tragedies hardly come intoquestion; as between his lyric and his elegiac poetry, it is to be notedthat it was in elegiacs (fr. 30) that he referred to" Pherecydes of Syros,with whom Musaeus might be classed as a theologian. The letter before thefinal n in the word cited from Ion was y, rt, or t. I conjecture that the

word was ceAnvo [ne] xf), formed on the model of oioiiexfic. It is not reportedelsewhere that Musaeus actually came from the moon, only that he was theson of the Moon, but the one rather implies the other. Epimenides (DK 3 B 2)claims birth from the Moon, and at the same time refers to the NemeanLion's fall from the moon, as if to provide a precedent for his own journeyfrom there. This leads on to:

2. Diogenes Laertius 1.114 (on Epimenides) Aeyexai ?? ?be hcxl Tipcoxoca?xov taiax?v Aeyoi. This is usually taken to mean that Epimenides claimedto be a reincarnation of Aiakos, but this cannot be got out of the Greek,even with Casaubon's change of Tipc5xoc xo npcoxov, or Diels's substitution ofa?x?c a?xov. The prima facie meaning is, "He is said to have been the firstto call himself Aiakos"; but that is stark nonsense. I suggest that ataxovis a corruption of (?iaxov, i.e. ceAnviaxov. The use of the ancient planetarysymbols in manuscripts of literary authors is attested from at least thetenth century on. Mr N.G.Wilson, whom I consulted on this point, cited theVenice Aristotle of AD 954 (Marc. Gr. 201), where 6? occurs for f|?ioc. Ifwhat Diogenes wrote was that Epimenides was said to have been the first tocall himself "lunatic", this is not to be taken as a direct quotation from apseudo-Epimenidean poem but as a tendentious or satirical distortion ofhis claim to be and to have descended from the Moon.

London M.L.West

SCHWERLICH ZUFALL

"Das ist schwerlich Zufall". Wie h?ufig begegnet dieser Satz bei wissenschaftlichen Beweisf?hrungen.

Am 19. Mai 1982, eine Minute vor Beginn eines Seminars ?ber das griechische Symposion, da fuhr auf der Strasse vorbei ein Auto mit SchildzeichenKYL 1X .

Das ist schwerlich Zufall.London M.L.West

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