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Dramatic Technique in Menander's Dyskolos - Armin Schäfer: Menanders Dyskolos. Untersuchungen zur dramatischen Technik, mit einem kritisch-exegetischen Anhang. (Beiträge zur Klassischen Philologie, 14.) Pp. 145. Meisenheim (Glan): Anton Hain, 1965. DM. 18.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2009

Colin Austin
Affiliation:
Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Abstract

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Reviews
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1966

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References

page 291 note 1 Nearly 20 separate editions have appeared since 1959. There are no less than 14 pages to Schäfer's useful bibliography which takes us to 1963. The new collective publication from East Germany, Menanders Dyskolos als Zeugnis seiner Epoche (Berlin, Akademie-Verlag, 1965) is more a ‘Zeugnis unserer Epoche’ than anything else.

page 292 note 1 Two new editions have since appeared, that of J.-M. Jacques in the Budé series (Paris, 1963), with a judicious and illuminating introduction, and that of E. W. Handley (London, 1965) with a full and excellent detailed commentary. It is encouraging to see that on very many points Schäfer and Handley have independently reached the same conclusions (e.g. on 149, 282, 523, 596–9, 681, 805, to mention only a few of the more notable cases). On the whole, Handley differs from Lloyd-Jones more often than Schäfer does. He occasionally reverts to the Pap. text, but in some at least of these places (e.g. at 230, 568, 830) I would prefer to emend.

page 292 note 2 e.g. the scene of asking at the door is first burlesquely taken up by Sikon and then transferred to the realm of pure fantasy in Act v—Sostratos' sermon to his father amusingly echoes and distorts some of the points made by Gorgias in his discourse on the instability of wealth.

page 292 note 3 The lover's attempts fail lamentably, one after the other'and yet he boasts of what he thinks is his own achievement.

page 292 note 4 See also his notes in Gnomon xxxvi (1964), 751755.Google Scholar

page 293 note 1 A few minor points. Misprints: p. 71 παιδε⋯α, p. 72 n. ⋯νθρώπωι, p. 138 (on 775) ἄμαχος, p. 139 (on 786) οὔ μοι δοκεῖς, p. 143 (on 924) ἄγρας. P. 134 (on 596–9) Winnington-Ingram, p. 143 (on 936) Jacques. P. 132 (on 548) Vorschlägen, p. 136 (on 724) scheint mir (not ‘mit’). P. 111 and passim: the proper abbreviation of Lloyd-Jones is Ll.-J., not LJ. P. 115 bottom (on 94): ν⋯ Δ⋯α at the beginning of the sentence is not ‘ohne Anschluss und Sinn’: see Handley's attractive supplement and Ar. Mu. 217, Lys. 933. P. 121 (on 235): for ⋯δε referring to someone offstage, see Newiger, , Rh.M. cviii (1965), p. 237, n. 26Google Scholar and Lloyd-Jones, , C.R. Ixxix (1965), 241 f. P. 130 (on 500)Google Scholar: Handley took παῖ to refer to Getas, not Knemon. If the supplement is right, I would rather take it as an interjection: see my note on Misoum. B→5 in my review of Turner's edition below. P. 139 (on 789): οὕτω(ς) (Kassel) has also been suggested by Foss. P. 140 (on 811): Stob. has πολλ⋯ν, Pap. πολλω (not vice versa).

page 293 note 2 e.g. p. 45: comparison of the opening scenes of Dysk. with those of the Curculio, p. 49: the Hayra given as model for an ideal περιπ⋯τεια, p. 71: Süss's observations on ‘Komödienschluss’ now vindicated by the Dyskolos (see also the note taking into account Fraenkel's reservations), p. 89: the role of Gorgias compared to that of Habrotonon in Epitr., pp. 94–95, 108–9: detailed examination of character portrayal in the other plays of Menander. Finally, the whole section on the Aulularia, which takes us beyond Ludwig's Philologus article and discusses the possibilities of how the play may have ended.

page 293 note 3 e.g. pp. 78 f.: Kayser's Das sprachliche Kvnstwerk.

page 293 note 4 Pp. 104 f. Schäfer here has been misled by Strindberg. To say that the end of L'Avare betrays a ‘groBe Mangel an komischer Weisheit’ because Harpagon ‘ist kein Mensch mehr’ (my italics) is beside the point. Schafer's lively description of the scene shows that he is unconsciously aware of its comic effect. Harpagon is indeed a ‘seelenloser Automat’, not only here, but throughout the play: what is important is not the portrayal of the character (who is interested in him as a human being and would like him to repent or be punished?) but the dramatic sequences, the amusing and absurd conflicts this lunatic is faced with. Du mécanique plaqué sur du vivant, as Bergson has well said. Molière was too good a poet to do what Strindberg would have him do: had he given us, with deep psychological insight, a convincing picture of an individual miser, the result would have been sinister and depressing, and there would have been no comedy left.