Lille Stesichorus

[4] The fragment is significant also in the history of colometry since it includes lyric verses that have been divided into metrical cola, a practice usually associated with the later career of Aristophanes of Byzantium.

The papyrus packing material inside the case was covered with ancient Greek script, including fragments of previously unknown poetry, a discovery that was made much later and which was published in 1976 by Ancher and Meillier (see References below).

Five years later it was still possible to comment: "Time has dealt more harshly with Stesichorus than with any other major lyric poet ... no passage longer than six lines is quoted from him, and papyrus finds have been meagre.

"[13] That same year, 1967, Edgar Lobel published the papyrus remnants of another three poems, which were later included in Page's Supplementum Lyricis Graecis in 1974, the longest however just twelve lines.

Thus the sudden appearance of the Lille Stesichorus in 1976, with over one hundred and twenty consecutive lines, thirty-three virtually intact, was a cause of considerable excitement in scholarly circles.

Jocasta may be thought to emerge from her speech as a strong woman who seeks practical solutions to the plight of her sons even while feeling distress and anxiety for them: "Taken as a whole the passage is remarkable for its combination of great emotional power and the dignity of traditional epic diction.

Aristophanes of Byzantium is known to have converted such lyrical "prose" into lines of verse, varying in length and meter according to cola, and it is to his efforts for example that we owe the manuscript tradition for Pindar.

It has been assumed that he was an innovator in this practice of colometry but the Lille Stesichorus is the work of an earlier scribe and the lyrics are written in lines according to cola, not in the manner of prose (See Turner 1987 in the References).

[nb 2] Is my appointed lot, and their fate has been spun, Let the fulfilment of an abhorrent death be mine this instant Rather than make me endure that terrible, pitiful aggravation of my pain, My sons within the palace dead, or the city in the foe's hands.

For I can anticipate how all this may end, One of you keeping the palace, to dwell by the springs of Dirke, The other taking the gold and all your dear father's possessions, to live in exile, Whomever the rolling dice allots first place according to Fate.

ἀλλ' ἄγε, παίδες, ἐμοῖς μύθοις, φίλα [τέκνα, πίθεσθε, τᾴιδε γὰρ ὑμὶν ἐγὼν τέλος προφα[ίνω, τὸν μὲν ἔχοντα δόμους ναίειν πα[ρὰ νάμασι Δίρκας, τὸν δ' ἀπίμεν κτεάνη καί χρυσὸν ἔχοντα φίλου σύμπαντα [ πατρός, κλαροπαληδὸν ὅς ἂν πρᾱτος λάχηι ἕκατι Μοιρᾱν.

that both of you may gain release from that doom foretold By the prophet of Apollo, If it is true what men say, that the city of Cadmus and his heirs Are guarded by Zeus, Ever deferring until a distant tomorrow the evils Destined to claim our race.

τοῦτο γὰρ ἂν δοκέω λυτήριον ὔμμι κακοῦ γένοιτα πότμο[υ μάντιος φραδαῖσι θείου, ἄι γ' ἐτεὸν Κρονίδας γένος τε καὶ ἄστυ [ φυλάξει Κάδμου ἄνακτος, ἀμβάλλων κακότατα πολὺν χρόνον [ ἃ βασιλείαι πέπρωται γενέ[θ]λαι.