LOST PLAYS ABOUT THESEUS: TWO NOTES

At Mnemosyne n.s. 24, 1971, 295 f., W. J. W. Koster published a hitherto unnoticed Triclinian scholium on Aristophanes, Vespae 303, xa ev 0T]oei anoisaia xa>v jicuocov lupei/cai and drew the proper conclusion1): "ex hoc scholio efficimus parodiam Euripidis ampliorem esse quam ex unico scholio hue pertinenti, quod hucusque editum est (ad v. 313, 1.33 37 Db.; cf. fr. 385 et 386 N.2), apparuerat." Schol. Ven. on 313 gives the dramatic context of the parodied Euripidean passage: KQay'iaxa sooxeiv] o Xoyoc ex 0T]oea)c Evqijuoov. enei yacy xauxa Xeyovoiv oi xaxxojievoi Jiaioec eic soccxv xcp Mivcotcxijqu) x.x.e. Elsewhere I have given reasons for thinking (as J. Hartung did) that Theseus was a satyr play rather than a tragedy2): the nugatory nature of fr. 382 N.2 and the evidently comically exaggerated bloodiness of fr. 384 N.2, which resembles the rantings of Cyclops9 Polyphemus and Syleus* Heracles (fr. 687 N.2) more than anything said by even the worst barbarian-villains in Euripidean tragedy. A satyric Theseus would closely adhere to the herodefeats-villain narrative pattern dramatized in Euripides' satyric Busiris, Cyclops, Sciron, Syleus> and perhaps Theristae3), and could