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## Miszelle

### Francesco Sironi*

# Hecale μαῖα: a Note on Callim. Hec. fr. 80 Hollis

https://doi.org/10.1515/phil-2021-0106

**Keywords:** Callimachus, Hecale, Homer, Eurycleia, Homeric Hymns

Fr. 80 Hollis (263 Pfeiffer) is preserved by *Suda ε* 1990 (lines 1–5) and *Etym. Magn.* p. 442.30 (lines 1–2). In his edition, Pfeiffer lays out the words in four lines:<fnref n="1" />

ἔθι, πρηεῖα γυναικῶν,
τὴν ὀδόν, ἤν ἀνίαι θυμαλγέες οὐ περόωσι.
πολλάκι σεῖο <γε>, μαῖα, φιλοξείνοιο καλιῆς
μνησόμεθα· ἧυνὸν γὰρ ἐπαύλιον ἔσκεν ἅπασιν.

Pfeiffer’s solution produces a conjectural lacuna of one syllable at line 3, which he first filled with <γε> before repenting later.<fnref n="2" /> Unconvinced by Pfeiffer’s σεῖο <γε>, Maas suggests two more extended lacunae and proposes a different division of the words in the *Suda*. This results in a five-line reconstruction<fnref n="3" /> that Hollis accepts in what is now fr. 80 of his edition:<fnref n="4" />

ἔθι, πρηεῖα γυναικῶν,
τὴν ὀδόν, ἤν ἀνίαι θυμαλγέες οὐ περόωσι.
<          > πολλάκι σεῖο,
μαῖα, <          > φιλοξείνοιο καλιῆς
μνησόμεθα· ἧυνὸν γὰρ ἐπαύλιον ἔσκεν ἅπασιν 5

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<footnote n="1">1 Callimachus, vol. I, ed. R. Pfeiffer, *Oxford 1949*, 254–255.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2 Callimachus, vol. II, ed. R. Pfeiffer, *Oxford 1951, 120*: “γε numquam post genetivum pron. poni videtur”. Other solutions have been proposed to fill this metrical gap: καὶ σέο (Toup); σεῦ καὶ (Schneider); σῆς ὦ (Wilamowitz); σεῖο <δὲ> (Mair).</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3 Apud Pfeiffer (n. 1) 507, who adds that πόλλακι σεῖο is found at the end of the line elsewhere in *Callimachus* (*Hymn* 4.119).</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 *Callimachus, Hecale*, Second Edition with Introduction, Text, Translation, and Enlarged Commentary by A. S. Hollis, *Oxford 2009*, 102.</footnote>

<footnote>*Corresponding author: Francesco Sironi, Università degli Studi di Torino, Dipartimento di Studi Storici, via Sant’Ottavio 20, 10124 Torino, Italy, E-Mail: francesco.sironi@unito.it*</footnote>
I would like to draw attention to a possible solution for line 4. This proposal has the benefit of filling out the lacuna – at least partially – while also offering evidence in favour of Maas’ five-line reconstruction. Let us consider the whole sentence from the end of line 3 to the beginning of line 5. Somebody is addressing Hecale, now dead, promising that she will be remembered along with her welcoming hut. These lines could well belong to the conclusion of *Hecale*,<fnref n="5" /> balancing it out with frr. 1 and 2 Hollis, which contain the first lines of the poem:<fnref n="6" />

(fr. 1) Ἀκταίη τις ἔναιεν Ἐρεχθέος ἔν ποτε γουνῶι

(fr. 2) τίον δέ ἐ πάντες ὄδιται
ἔρα φιλοξενίης· ἔχε γὰρ τέγος ἀκλήιστον

The identity of the speaker in fr. 80 is debated. Some think these words are spoken by Theseus; others believe they belong to the poet, but they probably are to be ascribed to Hecale’s neighbours, as Wilamowitz and Reitzenstein saw.<fnref n="7" /> Hecale is addressed as μαῖα, a title “particularly recalling the way Eurycleia is addressed in the *Odyssey*”.<fnref n="8" /> As Hollis himself points out, the character of Hecale is influenced by the literary figures of Eumaeus and Eurycleia.<fnref n="9" /> I think that the key to the lacuna in line 4 lies in these Homeric elements. There are twelve occurrences of μαῖα in the *Odyssey*, eleven of which in direct addresses to Eurycleia.<fnref n="10" /> In five cases μαῖα is immediately followed by the adjective φίλη, always at the opening of the

<footnote n="5">5 This was first suggested in A. F. Naeke, *Opuscula philologica. Volumen II. Callimachi Hecale*. Fragmenta collegit et disposuit A. F. Naeke, Bonn 1845, 281–282 (posthumously edited by F. T. Welcker).</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 Cf. A. S. Hollis, “The beginning of Callimachus’ Hecale”, *ZPE* 115, 1997, 55–56; L. Lehnus, “Ipo-tesi sul finale dell’*Ecale*”, *ZPE* 117, 1997, 45–46 (now in L. Lehnus, *Maasiana & Callimachea*, Milano 2016, 131–132); Hollis (n. 4) 264.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, “Über die Hekale des Kallimachos”, *Nachrichten von der Kö-niglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften und der Georg-Augusts-Universität zu Göttingen*, 1893, 731–747, at 737 n. 1 (now in U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, *Kleine Schriften*, II, Berlin 1941, 30–47, at 37 n. 1); R. Reitzenstein, *Epigramm und Skolion. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der alexandri-nischen Dichtung*, Gießen 1893, 235 n. 2. A similar collective *Nachruf* for a passed-away woman is to be found in Callim. fr. 228.9–10 Pfeiffer, where the citizens of Alexandria extol the figure of Arsinoe II.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Hollis (n. 4) 178.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 Cf. Hollis (n. 4) 6. On the connections between the figure of Eurycleia and the character of Hecale, see M. Skempis, ‘*Kleine Leute’ und große Helden in Homers Odyssee und Kallimachos* Hecale, Berlin/New York 2010, 315–345. Callimachus’ modelling of Hecale on Eurycleia was observed in later ancient literature; cf. L. Lehnus, “Una scena della *Ciris* (vv. 220 ss.): Carme e l’*Ecale* di Callimaco”, *RIL* 109, 1975, 353–361 (now in L. Lehnus, *Maasiana & Callimachea*, Milano 2016, 19–25).</footnote>

<footnote n="10">10 Hom. *Od*. 2.349; 2.372; 19.16; 19.482; 19.500; 20.129; 23.11; 23.35; 23.59; 23.81; 23.171. Only once in the *Odyssey* is μαῖα used in addressing another character, i.e. Eurynome (17.499).</footnote>
line with the only exception being *Od.* 23.35. If we consider the influence of Eurycleia on the character of Hecale, it would be reasonable to conjecture the use of a Homeric *iunctura* such as μᾶτα φίλη by Callimachus at the beginning of line 4.<fnref n="11" /> This formulaic reference to Eurycleia would be perfectly fitting alongside the hospitable καλιή which recalls Eumaeus, the other Homeric model for Hecale. Not only does the restoration of the word φίλη after μᾶτα correspond with Homer’s habitual depiction of Eurycleia that Hecale is partly modelled on, but it also clarifies the origin of the lacuna. Given the form φιλοξείνοιο, which occurs immediately afterwards, we can see the corruption as a case of *saut du même au même*, due to the sequence φιλ- which opens both φίλη and φιλοξείνοιο.<fnref n="12" /> This also supports Maas’ arrangement of the words on five lines.

Line 4 should therefore be read as follows:

μᾶτα <φίλη > φιλοξείνοιο καλιῆς

Only a few syllables are needed to complete the line. Since both σεῖο and φιλοξείνοιο καλιῆς depend on μνησόμεθα (line 5), a conjunction is expected to link the two genitive forms: καί – placed right after μᾶτα φίλη – might be a good candidate. If we accept this, then only one long and one short syllable are missing. Assuming that the scene takes place in Hecale’s hut or in its surroundings, we might think of τῆσδε, referring to καλιῆς. It has already been pointed out that fr. 80 Hollis is reminiscent of the typical closing of a Homeric Hymn.<fnref n="13" /> The closing line of a short *Homeric Hymn to Demeter* presents a similar combination of καί and a form of the deictic ἤδε in the same metrical position right after a vocative (*Hymn. Hom.* 13.3): χαῖρε θεὰ καὶ τήνδε σάου πόλιν, ἄρχε δ’ ἀοιδῆς. The parallel is all the more meaningful if one considers that Callimachus himself later imitated this line in the final salutation of his hymn to Demeter (*Hymn* 6.134): χαῖρε, θεὰ, καὶ τάνδε σάω πόλιν ἔν θ’ ὀμονοίᾳ.<fnref n="14" /> The supplement καὶ τῆσδε would therefore be appropriate for the hymnic resonance of the passage and for the Callimachean usage.

A possible restoration of fr. 80.4 Hollis would then be:

μᾶτα <φίλη, καὶ τῆσδε> φιλοξείνοιο καλιῆς

<footnote n="11">11 Callimachus uses φίλη in the same metrical position in *Hymn* 4.226 and fr. 110.9/4a Pfeiffer.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 The proximity of φίλη and φιλοξείνοιο might be read as a figura etymologica entailing two aspects of the loving atmosphere surrounding Hecale: she is loved (μᾶτα φίλη) by her neighbours because her hut ‘loves’ (i.e. welcomes) every guest seeking refuge (φιλοξείνοιο καλιῆς).</footnote>

<footnote n="13">13 Cf. Naeke (n. 5) 281; Callimaco, *Inni Epigrammi Ecale*, vol. I, introduzione, traduzione e note di G. B. D’Alessio, Milano 1996, 328 n. 107.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">14 Cf. Callimachus, *Hymn to Demeter*, Edited with an Introduction and Commentary by N. Hopkinson, Cambridge 1984, 183.</footnote>
At any rate, regardless of how the rest of the line is reconstructed, the word φίλη is
what probably followed μαῖα, as confirmed both by the Homeric model that the
phrase recalls and by the sequence <φίλη, > φιλοξείνοιο.

**Acknowledgements:** I wish to thank Prof. Luigi Lehnus and Prof. Giovanni Bene-
detto for their useful comments on earlier drafts of this note and Prof. Hans Han-
sen for carefully proofreading my English and improving this contribution with
his precious advice. I am also grateful to the anonymous referees for their valu-
able suggestions. I am solely responsible for any shortcomings.