Papadopoulou, Ioanna, and Leonard Muellner, eds. 2014. Poetry as Initiation: The Center for Hellenic Studies Symposium on the Derveni Papyrus. Hellenic Studies Series 63. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_PapadopoulouI_MuellnerL_eds.Poetry_as_Initiation.2014.
Chapter 1. Some Desiderata in the Study of the Derveni Papyrus
Column IV
ὁ κείμ[ενα] μετ̣α̣θ̣[έσθαι οὐκ ἐῶν, οὗ δ’ ἔργον] ἐ̣κ̣δ̣ο̣ῦναι
μᾶλλ[ον ἃ] σ̣ίνεται̣ [τὰ] σ̣[ύμπαντα, οὗτος οὖν] τ̣ὰ τῆς τύχης γῆ̣[ν]
οὐκ εἴ̣[α λα]μβάνει̣ν̣.
A stronger punctuation after σύμπαντα is also possible, so that οὗτος οὖν vel sim. might start a new sentence.
τὸ μ̣[έγεθο]ς̣ οὐχ ὑπε̣ρβάλλων· εἰ γά̣[ρ τι εὔ]ρους ἑ[ωυτοῦ
ἐκβήσετα]ι̣, Ἐρινύες̣ νιν ἐξευρήσου̣[σι, Δίκης ἐπίκουροι.
Column V
αὐ̣τοῖς πάριμεν̣ [εἰς τὸ μα]ν̣τεῖον ἐπερ̣[ω]τήσο̣ν̣τ̣ε̣[ς]
τῶν μαντευομένω̣ν̣ [ἕν]εκεν. εἰ θέμι[ς ταῦτ]α̣ δ̣ρ̣ᾶ̣ν̣,
ἆ̣ρ̣᾽ Ἅιδου δεινὰ τί ἀπ̣ιστοῦσι;
6 ἀπ̣ιστοῦσι KPT : ἀ[πισ]τοῦσι Janko
7 πρ̣αγμάτων KPT : πρ̣[α]γμάτων Janko.
In all these cases Janko notes “Ts.1 haud recte” and follows “ed.” [Ts.1 = “readings and conjectures by K. Tsantsanoglou in Laks and Most 1997:9–22, with his edition of columns 1–7 (93–128)”; ed. = Parássoglou’s and Tsantsanoglou’s readings as they appeared in the unauthorized edition of the P.Derv. in ZPE 47 (1982)]. What happened is simply that between “ed.” and “Ts.1” (and, naturally, Ts.3 = KPT), in other words some time between 1982 (date of the unauthorized edition) and 1993 (date of the Princeton colloquium), we joined a small piece (F 5a) to the top of F 12, which contained the letters in question: 5 ω̣ν̣, 6 π̣ιc, 7 αγ. The fragment figures in its right place in plate 5 of our edition.—The distance between the group F 5a + 12 + 13 + 11 and G 10, as accepted by KPT and Janko, even if an adjustment of a millimeter might be necessary, does not allow the supplements 7 ἕκαστ[α], 8 ὑπὸ τ̣[ῆς] proposed by Janko, especially if one accepts, as Janko {5|6} does, the supplement 9 νενικημέν[οι, οὐ] μανθ[άνο]υσιν. In order to attain perfect alignment, we proposed 7 ἕκαστ[ον], 8 ὑπό [τε γὰρ]. Janko is correct that we should have published τ̣[ε and not [τε. Janko is also right that an ι is added supra lineam in 8 ἁ̣μαρτης̣.
Etymology—or rather, weird etymology—is the δαιμονία σοφία that, emanating from Euthyphro of Prospalta, overtook Socrates. The latter decides to contemplate names and/or nouns (περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐπισκέψασθαι) by making use of this wisdom today, but to conjure it away tomorrow and find some priest or sophist to purify him and his collocutors. Of the thinkers named by Epicurus, it is to Antisthenes that the saying ἀρχὴ παιδεύσεως ὀνομάτων ἐπίσκεψις is attributed (fr. 38 Decleva Caizzi), no matter what meaning modern pedagogy attaches to it. As for the purification that Socrates feels he is in need of, it does not seem unrelated to the description of the etymologists by Epicurus as “deranged,” “madmen,” and “frenzy-stricken” (παρακόπτειν καὶ μαίνεσθαι, καὶ βακχεύουσιν αὐτοὺς εἰκάζει)—as well as to the initial impression of numerous modern scholars, who saw the Derveni author as a raving lunatic.
κα[ὶ γὰρ] παραγραμ̣μίζ[ουσι]
535τὰ τ̣[ῶ]ν̣ θεῶν [ὀνόμα-]
τα, [κα]θάπερ Ἀν̣[τισ-]
θέ[νης] τὸ κοινό[τατον]
ὑποτ<ε>ίνων ἀν̣[αφέρει]
τὰ κατὰ μέρος [τῆι θέ-]
540σει καὶ διά τι̣[νος ἀπά-]
της ἔτι πρότ[ερον·]
My proposals, no more than trivial παραγραμματισμοί, are 537 τὸ κοινὸ[ν ὄνομ᾽], 538 ἀν̣[αιρεῖ] (iam Obbink olim), 539 [συνέ]|σει (etiam Obbink olim), 541 ἔτι πρότ[εροι.]:
535τὰ τ̣[ῶ]ν̣ θεῶν [ὀνόμα-]
τα, [κα]θάπερ Ἀν̣[τισ-]
θέ[νης] τὸ κοινὸ[ν ὄνομ᾽]
ὑποτ<ε>ίνων ἀν̣[αιρεῖ]
τὰ κατὰ μέρος [συνέ-]
540σει καὶ διά τι̣[νος ἀπά-]
της ἔτι πρότ[εροι.]
ἔτι πρότεροι is the subject of the second part of the comparative clause—καὶ (καθάπερ) διά τινος ἀπάτης ἔτι πρότεροι. What Antisthenes proposes by implication (ὑποτείνω) is the employment of the common noun, that is θεός, but rejects and discards τὰ κατὰ μέρος, the particular proper names, say Cronus, Zeus, Hera, Demeter, and so forth. He makes this rejection in a shrewd manner. Others before him had done the same thing through some kind of trickery. Epicurus is not completely hostile to Antisthenes. While he disapproves of his use of etymology and the elimination of the particular gods, he recognizes that his proposal is made prudently. The word συνέσει, if correctly restored, has to do with Antisthenes’ sagacity and not with the craft of those who, in the myth, forced the different gods on humankind. The sentence proceeds by antitheses: τὸ κοινὸν ὄνομα vs. τὰ κατὰ μέρος, ὑποτείνων vs. ἀναιρεῖ, συνέσει vs. διά τινος ἀπάτης.
In column XIII (I 26)]μγ̣[
In column XIV (C 10)]μ̣δ
In column ΧΧ (D 4)ν̣
In column XXI (D 6)]ν̣α
In column XXVI (Α 6)]ν̣
In column XXIV some random traces conspire to give the impression of letters, H being the most conspicuous; however, not only are the letters more than what are needed for a number, but they are also written lower than the other number-letters; some traces at the usual height are inscrutable to me. At XXVI (Α 6) the lower part of a ν is clear, but I am not sure if the low trace of a curve that follows is compatible with the digamma as written in the fourth/third century (like a c with its high and low ends extended horizontally). If μγ̣ (=43) is correctly read at XIII, being eight columns after λε (=35) at V, this would verify that the letters are really column numbering. The same holds for ]μ̣δ (=44) at XIV, for ν̣ (=50) at XX, for ]ν̣α (=51) at XXI, if ν̣ were confirmed, and for ]ν ̣ at XXVI, if we might read ]νϝ̣. Of these, the number ν̣ of XX is suspicious, as its size is smaller than the rest. Column XXIV does not help.
References
Footnotes