¹ This paper has a long history. In its earliest form (1995) it was read and commented on by Professor Parsons, P. J., DrWest, M. L., and DrHall, E., to whom many thanks. Parts of it were delivered to the Corpus Christi Classical Seminar in Oxford in Michaelmas, 1997Google Scholar; again, thanks are due to those who attended for their comments and suggestions. A final debt of thanks is owed to Professor C. Collard and CQ's anonymous referee.

² See further Kugelmeier, C., Reflexe früher und zeitgenössicher Lyrik in der alien attischen Komödie (Stuttgart & Leipzig, 1996), 255–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³ The quasi-dramatic qualities of the Cyclops are accepted by Sutton, D. F., QUCC n.s. 13 (1983), 37–43,Google ScholarZimmermann, B., Dithyrambos: Geschichte einer Gattung (Göttingen, 1992), 127–8,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and West, M. L., Ancient Greek Music (Oxford, 1992), 364–6.Google Scholar

⁴ Cf. D.S. 15.6; Machon fr. 9 Gow; Sopater fr. 23 Kaibel; Cicero, Att. 4.6.2; Plu. Tranq. 12; Paus 1.2.1; Lucian. Cal. 14; Σ Ar. Pl. 179; Suda Φ 397; Joh. Tzetz.^| in Pl. 290 pp. 83–4 Positano, etc.

⁵ Ed. Positano, L. M.Joh. Tzetzae commentarii in Aristophanem (Groningen & Amsterdam, 1960), 83.Google Scholar

⁶ The scholia vetera have been edited by Chantry, M., Scholia vetera in Aristophanis Plutum (Groningen, 1994).Google Scholar The scholia as recorded in PMG and Campbell's Greek Lyric vol. 5 (Cambridge, MA & London, 1993) are taken from Dübner, F., Scholia Graeca in Aristophanem (Paris, 1877),Google Scholar and are now out of date. I have therefore refrained from giving parallel references to PMG for these.

⁷ See also Wilson, N. G., Scholars of Byzantium (London, 1983), 193–4.Google Scholar

⁸ Risch, E., Wortbildung der homerischen Sprache (Berlin & New York, 1974 ²), 138,Google Scholar tentatively derives Γαλατєὶα from γάλα, but we would expect Γαλακτ-єὶα if this were the case (cf. the formations γαλακτο-πότης, γαλακτ-ώςηϚ). The use of γαλα- as a first term is more ancient (cf. the old formation γαλα-θη-νός ‘young, tender’ ‘taking milk’), but we cannot explain the presence of tau (the suffix is -єιος/єια). γάλατος is occasionally found as a genitive in the documentary papyri (see Chantraine, P., Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque [Paris, 1990],Google Scholar s.v. γαλα), but this would not provide evidence for earlier formations on the stem.

⁹ Sanders, L. J., Dionysius I of Syracuse and Greek Tyranny (London & New York, 1987), 1–40,Google Scholar discusses in detail the hostile tradition relating to Dionysius, and presents Philoxenus' poem, together with much other material, in the context of the party opposed to Dionysius in Athens in the first half of the fourth century.

¹⁰ Webster, T. B. L., Studies in Later Greek Comedy (London, 1970 ²), 20–1.Google Scholar

¹¹ Arnott, W. G., Alexis: The Fragments (Cambridge, 1996), 141.Google Scholar

¹² The text and most of the apparatus are Kassel's. I have omitted the less relevant parts of Kassel's apparatus, and included (ex. grat.) a suggestion by Susemihl.

¹³ Trans. Halliwell, S., The Poetics of Aristotle (London, 1987), 32–3.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Tkatsch, J., Die arabische Übersetzung der Poetik des Aristoteles und die Grundlage der Kritik des griechischen Textes (Vienna & Leipzig, 1928–32).Google Scholar

¹⁵ See Lobel, E., The Greek Manuscripts of Aristotle's Poetics (London, 1933), 10.Google Scholar

¹⁶ See Bywater, I., Aristotle's Poetics (Oxford, 1909), 116–17,Google Scholar and also xxxix-lx on scribal correction in the Renaissance manuscripts of the Poetics.

¹⁷ According to Phaenias, Argas was an author of obscene verse, and he was known to Plutarch as a writer of particularly bad nomes (Phaenias fr. 10 Wehrli, Plu. Dem. 4; cf. Ε Aeschin. 2. 99).

¹⁸ Holland, G. R., Leipziger Studien 7 (1884), 192ff.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Musso, O., Lo specchio e la sfinge: Saggi sul teatro e lo spettacolo antico e moderno (Florence, 1998), 73.Google Scholar

²⁰ See Denniston, J. D., The Greek Particles (Oxford, 1954 ²), 66–8.Google Scholar

²¹ Vahlen, ed.³ 1885.

²² RVEΘ are the most important MSS for the scholia on Plutus; the scholion in the Aldine edition (p. 68 Chantry) clearly derives from one of these or from a similar text.

²³ Bergk, T., Poetae Lyrici Graeci (Leipzig, 1853 ², 1867³, 1882⁴),Google Scholar suggested that from this part of the poem came a proverb recorded in Diogenes (7.82 = PMG adesp. 966 π⋯ρ έπί δαλòν έλθóν), who notes a Cyclops as the source (άπò οτ⋯Κύκλωποςςς ू μεταϕορά). However, the attribution is not certain, and Page did not include the fragment in the corpus. It is not mentioned in the first edition of Bergk (1843).

²⁴ Bergk (n.23). Again, the passage is omitted from the first edition.

²⁵ So Holland (n. 18), 192–6.

²⁶ Melanippides: Marm. Par. Ep. 47; Suda, μ 454. Timotheus: Suda, τ 620. Telestes: Marm. Par. Ep. 65; Aristox. fr. 117 Wehrli; Plin. N.H. 35.36.109.

²⁷ The evidence for soloists in the classical dithyramb is generally weak; Ba. 18 is the most widely accepted case of a dithyramb requiring a soloist, but there is no positive evidence for such a theory beyond the form of the poem. There is no definite statement that the dithyramb admitted soloists until [Arist.] Probl. 19.15, but the period to which this passage refers is unclear; it is likely to be the later fourth century. It would indeed be odd if such an innovation, had it occurred earlier, had escaped notice.

²⁸ It is unclear whether the Marsyas referred to is Marsyas of Pella (late fourth century B.C.), or the younger Marsyas of Philippi.

²⁹ Riginos, A. S., JHS 114 (1994), 105–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarHammond, N. G. L., by contrast, believes that the details 'are likely to be right'; see A History of Macedonia vol. 2 (Oxford, 1979), 257, n. 2.Google Scholar

³⁰ In a late scholion in cod. Reg. (Parisinus gr. 2821: c. 1370) there is another direct reference to an actor: οΰτω γàρ πεποίηκε τòΚύκλωπος ύποκριτूν είσαγóμενον (p. 87 Chantry, ed. Scholia recentiora, 1996). The scholia in Reg. are derived from the works of Thomas Magister and the first Triclinian edition, and in cases such as this have little independent value.

³¹ Gomperz, T., Jahrb. f. klass. Philol. 133 (1886), 771–5.Google Scholar

³² Berglein, L. A., De Philoxeno Cytherio dithyramborum poeta (Göottingen, 1843), 35–6.Google Scholar

³³ See Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., The Dramatic Festivals of Athens, rev. Gould, J. and Lewis, D. M., (Oxford, 1968 ²), 177.Google Scholar

³⁴ Zimmermann (n. 3), 127–8.

³⁵ Argued unconvincingly by Comotti, G., QUCC n.s. 31 (1989), 107–17.Google Scholar

³⁶ P. Maas, RE 9.391–92; Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., Dithyramb, Tragedy and Comedy (Oxford, 1962 ²), 52–3.Google Scholar

³⁷ Wescher, C. and Foucart, P., Inscriptions recueilliés à Delphes (Paris, 1863), no. 5.58, 11.Google Scholar