Timocles Comicus fr. 6

ὦ τᾶν, ἄκουσον ἤν τί σοι δοκῶ λέγειν.
ἅνθρωπός ἐστι ζῷον ἐπίπονον φύσει,
καὶ πολλὰ λυπήρ’ ὁ βίος ἐν ἑαυτῷ φέρει.
παραψυχὰς οὖν φροντίδων ἀνεύρετο
ταύτας· ὁ γὰρ νοῦς τῶν ἰδίων λήθην λαβὼν 5
πρὸς ἀλλοτρίῳ τε ψυχαγωγηθεὶς πάθει,
μεθ’ ἡδονῆς ἀπῆλθε παιδευθεὶς ἅμα.
τοὺς γὰρ τραγῳδοὺς πρῶτον, εἰ βούλει, σκόπει,
ὡς ὠφελοῦσι πάντας. ὁ μὲν ὢν γὰρ πένης
πτωχότερον αὑτοῦ καταμαθὼν τὸν Τήλεφον 10
γενόμενον ἤδη τὴν πενίαν ῥᾷον φέρει.
ὁ νοσῶν τι μανικὸν Ἀλκμέων’ ἐσκέψατο.
ὀφθαλμιᾷ τις∙ εἰσὶ Φινεῖδαι τυφλοί.
τέθνηκέ τῳ παῖς ∙ ἡ Νιόβη κεκούφικε.
χωλός τις ἐστί∙ τὸν Φιλοκτήτην ὁρᾷ. 15
γέρων τις ἀτυχεῖ ∙ κατέμαθεν τὸν Οἰνέα.
ἅπαντα γὰρ τὰ μείζον’ ἢ πέπονθέ τις
ἀτυχήματ’ ἄλλοις γεγονότ’ ἐννοούμενος
τὰς αὐτὸς αὐτοῦ συμφορὰς ἧττον στένει

Iambic trimeter

1 versum om. Ath. CE | ὦ τᾶν Gesner: ὦ τάν Stob. | δοκῶ Stob.: μέλλω Ath. A || 2 ἅνθρωπός tacite Kaibel: ἄν- codd. || 3 λυπήρ’ Stob. A: -ρά Stob. SM, Ath.: λυπρὰ Eust. || 4 οὖν Stob. : γοῦν Ath. | ἀνεύρετο Walpole : -ατο codd. || 6 τε codd. :τ’ ὢν Richards | ἀλλότρια … πάθη Headlam || 7 ἅμα codd. : θ᾽ἅμα Stephanus || 9 ὁ μὲν ὢν Ath. CE : ὁ μένων Ath. A : ὤν μὲν Stob. || 11 ἤδη Ath. : οὕτω Stob. || 12 τι μανικὸν Stob. : δὲ μανικῶς Ath. || 15 ἐστιν Ath. A | ὅρα Ath. C || 18 ἄλλοις Stob., Ath. CE : ἢ ἄλλοις Ath. A || 19 αὐτοῦ Ath. A ante corr., CE, Stob. MA : αὑτ- Ath. A post corr., Stob. S | ἧττον στένει Stob. : ῥᾷον φέρει Ath.

K. APOSTOLAKIS, Timocles. Introduction, Translation, Commentary, Göttingen 2019, 52-53

Timocles’: [fr. 6, 1-19 K.-A.]

The comic poet Timocles, claiming that tragedy is of great use to one’s life, says in Women Celebrating the Dionysia: [fr. 6, 1-11 K.-A.]

Listen, my good sir, and see if what I say makes sense to you.
Man is by nature a creature born to suffer
and life brings many sorrows with in.
He therefore invented these distractions form anxieties.
For the mind, forgetting its own cares 5
and entertained at someone else suffering,
goes away pleased and at the same time educated.
First consider, if you will, how the tragic poets
benefit everyone. For someone who is poor,
once he realizes that Telephus was poorer than he is, 10
then endures his poverty more easily.
One who suffers from madness thinks of Alcmeon.
Someone has an eye disease? Phineus’ sons are blind.
Someone’s child has died? Niobe can console him.
Someone is a cripple? He looks at Philoctetes. 15
And old man falls in hard times? He learns about Oineus.
For when a person understands that all the misfortunes
that have happened to other people are worse than his own,
will then groan less about his own calamities

The fragment has been handed down by two different sources: 1) in its entirety in the section of Stobaeus’s Anthologium (IV 56, 19) dedicated to consolatory texts (παρηγορικά); and 2) only the first eleven verses, as recorded by Athenaeus of Naucratis in Deipnosophistae (VI 223b). Here, Timocles states that, like tragedy, he recounts familiar material (speeches he has heard at the dinners he describes) and does not need to invent anything. The literary content suggests that the text was part of a debate on the characteristics of tragedy and comedy, and that the persona loquens could be a personification of Tragedy or Poetry (see in this regard Apostolakis 2019: 55).

In verses 1-7, the speaker addresses someone directly, asking them to listen to what he is about to say. This is foreshadowed by the maxim that human life is suffering (cf. e.g. Philem. fr. 92, 1-2 K.-A., Posidipp. fr. 32, 1-2 K.-A.). The central theme of the fragment is then introduced: tragedy has the power to fascinate and educate the audience, whose troubled soul can find peace and learn from what it has seen on stage. Therefore, tragedy is a therapeutic and didactic creation. In this sense, Timocles’ reasoning departs from Plato’s theory, which criticises tragedy as an imitation that only perceives appearances and is unable to arrive at the truth (Rp. 601a-603b). Plato also argues that the pleasure derived from witnessing the misfortunes of others ultimately has depressing consequences for oneself (Rp. 606b). Conversely, it aligns with Aristotle’s view that mimesis and learning are interconnected (Po. 1448b5-19). Evoking awe and pity through dramatic events fosters contemplation of one’s own circumstances and offers valuable insights (cf. Po. 1449b24-28). However, Aristotle argues that tragedy should evoke pleasure through imitation, inspiring compassion and fear (Po. 1453b9-14). In contrast, the speaker of fr. 6 K.-A., on the other hand, seems to rely solely on the audience’s confrontation with the suffering heroes. In any case, it is worth noting that the terminology used by Timocles fits well within the context of contemporary reflection on tragic poetry.

In verses 8-16, the persona loquens provides a list of tragic heroes, each exemplifying a different misfortune: Telephos (poverty), Alcmeon (madness), the Phineides (blindness), Niobe (loss of children), Philoctetes (disability) and Eneus (wretched old age). It is likely that these names do not refer to specific dramas, but rather to tragic archetypes. However, it should be noted that they are all protagonists of fifth-century BC tragedies (except the Phineids; cf. trag. adesp. fr. 10a Kn.-Sn., Phineidai), which suggests that Timocles may have been inspired by footage of palaiai in the fourth-century BC. Conversely, it is equally likely that the comic poet had contemporary tragic plays in mind; the references to Alcmeon in the tragedies of Timotheus (TrGF I ² 56), Astydamas II (TrGF I ² 60) and Theodectes (TrGF I² 72), and to Eneus in the tragedy of Chaeremon (TrGF I² 71) suggests as much.

Finally, in verses 17-19, the speaker reports that the audience compares their own misfortunes with those of the tragic heroes and realises that they should lament less than they would have done had they not witnessed such events on stage. This may be a parodic detorsio of the assumptions of tragic katharsis: here, the aim is not to purify the spectator’s soul and uplift them, but to provide superficial consolation by observing others’ misfortunes and taking comfort in the knowledge that someone else is suffering more.

R. KASSEL – C. AUSTIN (edd.), Poetae Comici Graeci, VII: Menecrates-Xenophon, Berolini-Novi Eboraci 1989, 758-759; K. APOSTOLAKIS, Timocles. Introduction, Translation, Commentary, Fragmenta Comica 21, Göttingen 2019, 52-67.

J. BERNAYS, ‘Timokles und Lessing’, RhM 34, 1879, 615-616; M. POHLENZ, ‘Die Anfänge der griechischen Poetik’, NGG, 1920, 142-178; R. KASSEL, Untersuchungen zur griechischen und römischen Konsolationsliteratur, München 1958, 8-9, 70-72; S. HALLIWELL, ‘Learning from Suffering: Ancient Responses to Tragedy’, in J. Gregory (ed.), A Companion to Greek Tragedy, Malden (Mass.) 2005, 394-412; S.D. OLSON, Broken Laughter: Select Fragments of Greek Comedy, Edited with Introduction, Commentary, and Translation, Oxford 2007, 169-172; A.H. Sommerstein, Talking about Laughter and other studies in Greek comedy, Oxford 2009, 116-117; R.M. ROSEN, ‘Timocles’ fr. 6 K-A and the Parody of Greek Literary Theory’, in C.W. Marshall, G. Kovacs (edd.), No Laughing Matter: Studies in Athenian Comedy, London 2012, 177-186; J. HANINK, ‘Literary Evidence for New Tragic Production: The View from the Fourth Century’, in E. CSAPO, H.R. GOETTE, J.R. GREEN, P. WILSON (edd.), Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century B.C., Berlin-Boston 2014, 191-200; M. ORNAGHI, ‘Paradigmi condivisi o coincidenze tragiche?: Il fr. 6 K.-A. di Timocle e la Poetica di Aristotele’, GIF 72, 2020, 87-110.

comedy, mesē, Timocles, Dionysiazousai, Atheneus, Deipnosofisti, Stobaeus, tragedy, plot, consolatio, katharsis, emotions.

[Vivian Navarro]