REVIEW: Ian Storey, Fragments of Old Comedy, Volumes i-iii (Loeb)

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2012.02.26


Ian C. Storey (trans.), Fragments of Old Comedy, Volume I: Alcaeus to Diocles. Loeb classical library, 513. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 2011. Pp. xlvi, 449. ISBN 9780674996625. $24.00.


Ian C. Storey (trans.), Fragments of Old Comedy, Volume II: Diopeithes to Pherecrates. Loeb classical library, 514. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 2011. Pp. xi, 520. ISBN 9780674996632. $24.00.


Ian C. Storey (trans.), Fragments of Old Comedy, Volume III: Philonicus to Xenophon; adespota. Loeb classical library, 515. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 2011. Pp. xi, 464. ISBN 9780674996779. $24.00.


Reviewed by Athina Papachrysostomou, University of Patras (athinapap@upatras.gr)

An edition of Old Comedy’s fragmentary material accompanied by an English translation has long been a desideratum for classicists in general and in particular for those among us who have a special interest in fragments. Kassel's and Austin’s key edition of Poetae Comici Graeci marked a crucial step towards a better and fuller understanding of fragmentarily surviving Greek Comedy; Storey’s three-volume edition marks another.


....
Particularly praiseworthy is Storey’s effective handling of comic material surviving on papyri; I am specifically thinking of the way he handles the cases of Cratinus Πλοῦτοι fr. 171, Eupolis Δῆμοι frr. 99-101, Μαρικᾶς fr. 192, Προσπάλτιοι fr. 259, etc., where he achieves a sensible rendering of these badly mutilated papyri scraps. Laudable is also his attempt to assign most of Eupolis’ unassigned fragments (II.236-265)