Abstract

Many are the misrepresentations that luxuriate on the subject of later Greek comedy. It is still possible to read in standard works, for instance, that the main theme of middle comedy was food, and that Alexis of Thurii was Menander's paternal uncle (so theSudafirst, and far too many others since). Yet among such inaccurate fancies there are just a few whose charm counterbalances their unauthenticity. My own favourite is an anecdote about Alexis that remains little known (Edmonds omits it from his collection oftestimonia); it appears to derive from the χρεῖαι attributed falsely to Aristotle (Stob.Flor.50. 83 Hense;Gnom. Vat.46 Sternbach=Gnom. Vind.36), and runs as follows: ‘One day, when the comic poet Alexis was a very old man, he was observed walking along with great difficulty.

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