Molossus+Bacchius in the New Stesichorus Fragment ("P.Lille 76abc") Gentili, Bruno
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1979; 20, 2; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 127

Molossus + Bacchius in the New 
Stesichorus Fragment (P.Lille 76abc) 

Bruno Gentili 

THE NEW POEM by Stesichorus in dactylo-epitrites presents in 
the epodic clausula a metrical sequence - - - v - -, which 
I have called molossus + bacchius, 1 a terminology which I 

subsequently sought to confirm and elucidate in my recent paper on 
the prehistory and formation of the hexameter: 2 "Resta infine la 
stretta concordanza con I' Erijile nel nesso - - - v - - (in clausola 
epodica) che io ho descritto come mol + ba, lasciando aperto il pro­
blema della sua valenza temporale con ritmi trocaici e giambici. 
Non credo all'ipotesi avanzata da Haslam, di ravvisarvi un aristo­
fanio con longum in luogo del biceps - vv - v - - : proprio nello stesso 
Stesicoro, fr.223,4 P., l'aristofanio ricorre nella forma consueta 
coriambo baccheo - v v - v - -, in combinazione con l'enoplio e non 
in clausola strofica: 

\ I ~I \ I 'e" XOI\WCap,Eva OLyaJLOVC 'TE Kat 'TptyaJLovc 'Tt T)ct. 

Now M. Haslam in a recent article in this journal writes: 3 

"I certainly cannot accept Gentili's molossus + bacchiac (ap. ed.pr. 
350) as a meaningful analysis-does Stesichorus deal in such enti­
ties?" Such a judgement appears inconsistent with Mr Haslam's 
description (p.36) of the structure - - - v - - in terms of the usual 
Maasian symbols - -e-, spondee+cretic+long syllable, which 
seem to me devoid of meaning. Furthermore he writes (pp.37-38): 
"Supposing that the second long syllable could not be true longum, 
I suggested that it was contracted biceps, though I expressed unease 
over its failure to take the lighter, disyllabic form ["Stesichorean 
Metre," Qy,adUrbCC 17 (1974) 37f]. Now that we have two or three 
more examples (210, 231, 294 <?Jnfi.~~. [), the second syllable being 
every time long, this suggestion loses whatever plausibility it may 

1 Ap. ed.pr. (CRIPEL 4 [1976J 287ff) 350. 
2 Qp.adUrbCC 26 (1977) 12. 
3 "The Versification of the New Stesichorus (P.Litte 76abc)," GRBS 19 (1978) 37 n.17. 

127 



128 THE NEW STESICHORUS FRAGMENT 

have had. The verse is just - - - v - -, scarcely to be 'analysed' at 
all. It is a peculiarly dragging line, I daresay devised by Stesichorus 
himself for its weightiness: an authentic Stesichorean curiosity." 

Therefore if the second long syllable of the structure in question is 
a true long (and what else could it be ?), since it occurs again at vv. 
210, 231 and 294 of the new poem, the hypothesis that the whole 
sequence is an aristophanean (- vv - ~ - - ), as Haslam suggested, 
must be abandoned. As a result, no other possibility of analyzing the 
structure under discussion would exist: we would have to surmise that 
we are faced with a 'dragging' verse,4 whose slow heavy rhythm had 
somehow stimulated the fancy of the poet. Leaving aside such un­
grounded hypotheses, however, one must point out that on p.37 n.16 
Haslam has indeed suggested a line of interpretation by correctly 
comparing Pindar, Pyth. 1 str. 3, which is composed in dactylo­
epitrites, - - - v - - - v -. This he describes with the usual 
symbols propounded by Maas as - -e-e; but in fact it is nothing 
other than molossus + bacchius + cretic, a metrico-rhythmic figure 
which, with respect to the Stesichorean dimeter,5 has been increased 
by one metron, the cretic. 

As is well known, the molossus is at home among the bacchii and 
cretics, and by reason of its 'temporal' value (six tempora) is often 
associated with iambic, trochaic, ionic and choriambic metra: 

Simon. fr.521.4 P. ., • I 
OVTWC a p.eTaCTaCtC 
- - - v _ v - mol ia 

Timoth. PeTS. 103 (791 P.) 'YO"7Ta~ OP"7vdJSEt KaTelxovT' dSvPlLtP 
v __ 1_ - -I v - - v - - ba mol ba ba 

preceded by ba ia ia ia, followed by glyc (v v v _ v v _ v ~ ).6 

Aesch. PV 581 '" 600 SetAalav 7TapaKo7Tov iSSe TelpEtc 
- - -I v ~ v - v - - mol ia ba (dim iall) 

4 For the benefit of non-specialists I may indicate that the term is usual in the metrical 
studies of Miss A. M. Dale. 

5 See in Pindar also the following equivalent structures: trimeter u v - - u - - - v_ 

(01.13 ep. 6), and dimeters vv __ u_ -, _v __ v __ (Isthm. 3/4str. 5; Nem. 11 ep. 6). 
In place of the molossus these have in the first metron the ionic a min. and the trochaic 
epitrite. 

6 For the colometry if. Wilamowitz, Timot/zeos, Die Perser (Leipzig 1903) p.31; Diehl, 
Anth.ryr.Gr. IP p.185. Page's colometry is implausible. 



BRUNO GENTILI 129 

Aesch. Sept. 321 '" 333 OZKTPOV ytxp 7TO'\W &8' <1yvylav 
- - - v v - _ v v - mol ton zonA 

Aesch. Sept. 120 'ApY€'OL yap TrOALq.La Kao/Lov 
---I-v_v-- mol cr ba (ithyph) 

123 ' 4>' A' /LwvpOVTaL ovov xa LVOL 
v ___ v_1 v __ ba CT ba (ithyph) 

126 7TpoclcTavTa£ 7TCX'\cp '\aXOVT€C 
v ___ v_lv __ ba cr ba (ithyph) 

Dochmiac series are inserted between the three verses. 

Soph. OC 513", 525 Tae OEt'\alae a7Topov rpavElcac 

x - - - v v -I v - - mol cho ba (aristoph) 

Note the alternation mol", ba in responsion. 

Soph. El. 482-485", 497-500 OV yap TrOT' a/Lvaeu, e' <> 4>veae 'EAAavwv rXvag, 
'c;," \ \ \' \ ' ,/..' , ovo a 7TaI\CXLCX XCXI\KOTrI\CXKTOe cx/L",cxl<"'le YEvve 

- - v - - _ v - ta ta 

- - - - v -I mol cr 
__ v ___ v_ ta ta 

x - - - v -v II ba (fOol mol) cr 

Here mol cr and ba cr are obviously the contracted or syncopated forms of 
the iambic dimeter acatalectic and have been unanimously interpreted as 
such by W. Kraus 7 and H. A. Pohlsander. 8 It is in fact an instance of two 
iambic tetrameters: 

Soph. Trach. 523f a 0' €VW7TLC a{3pa 
T7],\CXVYE'i TrCXP' DXOcp 
___ v __ 1 

___ v __ II H 

The two lines conclude a dactylo-epitrite period: 
v_vv_v __ 1 

vv ____ vv_vv __ 1 

_10.1 ____ vv_vv __ 1 

vv ___ vv_vv __ 1 

mol ba 
mol ba 

enh 
ion enh 
epitr enh 
ion hem f 

The second of these two schemes appears already in Pindar, Pyth. 9, str. 1 
and 3. In this case also mol ba is unanimously interpreted as a syncopated 
form of the iambic dimeter catalectic. 9 

7 Strophengestaltung in der griechischen Tragodie (SitzWien 231.4, 1957) 152. 
8 Metrical Studies in the Lyrics of Sophocles (Leiden 1964) 53. 
g Cf. O. Schroeder, Sophoclis cantica (Leipzig 1907) 46: "dimetra duo iambica (molosso­

bacchea)" ; Pohlsander, op.cit. (supra n.8) 137. 



130 THE NEW STESICHORUS FRAGMENT 

From this rapid and basic list of examples, which could be ex­
tended to include also Pindar's dactylo-epitrites (I shall discuss this 
elsewhere), two factors emerge with indisputable clarity: the rhyth­
mical ambivalence of the molossus and the function of the dimeter 
mol + ba '" dim ia". 

Now if we take into account the structure of the strophic clausula 
in the poem on the Lille papyrus: x - v - v - v - x ia + rei;:; ('" dim ia 
hypercat) ,10 we are justified in maintaining that in the epodic clausula 
the molossus must be understood as a contracted form of the iambic 
epitrite and that the whole verse is the equivalent of the iambic 
dimeter catalectic-a structure which fulfils the function of the 
clausula suited to a dactylo-epitrite context, just as in Sophocles' 
Trachiniae. 

Many years ago 1 was of the opinion that molossus + bacchius and 
molossus + iambic monometerll were to be identified as forms of the 
ithyphallic and of the lecythian with a long syllable in the second 
sedes in place of the short - x - v - -, - x - v - v - .12 Such identifi­
cation was already maintained by O. Schroeder/3 at least for the 
molossus + iambic mono meter. Haslam seems to assent to this thesis, 
though his formulation is not clear.14 I am no longer confident as to 
the correctness of this hypothesis. Certainly the verse in Aleman 
fr.14 P. x_v_v \-x_ v_-, which appears to have the scheme 
rei;:; + ithyph, would be a strong argument in favour of the identity of 
mol ba with the ithyphallic if there were not other equally persuasive 
solutions possible.1s 

I believe that I have demonstrated that the nexus molossus+ 
bacchius is not just a Stesichorean curiosity but a rhythmic figure 
well attested in Greek poetry-and a very ancient one, as is proved 
by the new poems of Stesichorus. 

It is significant that it is precisely in a Sicilian ode, Pythian I, 
written for Hiero and in dactylo-epitrites, that Pindar has introduced 

10 Cf. Gentili, op.cit. (supra n.2) 10, 14, 16. 
11 Cf. Simon. fr.52 1.4, quoted above. 
12 B. Gentili, Metrica dei Greci (Messina 1950, repro 1958) WI, 158; idem, Polinnia. 

Poesia greca arcaica 2 (Messina/Firenze 1965) 325. 
13 Grundriss der griechischen Versgeschichte (Heidelberg 1930) 83. 
HArt.cit. (supra n.3) 37 n.16: "the verse [mol+ba] is reminiscent [italics mine] of the 

ithyphallic ... , which often serves as a dactylo-epitrite clausula in tragedy (and if. 
Simonides PMG 76.7)." 

15 R. Pretagostini, QuadUrbCC 26 (1977) 72. 



BRUNO GENTILI 131 

two elements typical of the metrical style of Stesichorus, who lived 
and worked at Himera: the so-called disyllabic anceps (str. 6 
_ v v _ v v _ ~ _ v v _ v v - _ v - _ ) 16 and the trimeter __ _ 

v - - - v - (str. 3), which in its first two metra repeats the very 
scheme of Stesichorus' dimeter. 

ISTITUTO DI FILOLOGIA CLASSICA, UNIVERSITA DI URBINO 

February, I979 

16 Cf. B. Gentili, in Problemi di metrica classica (Genova 1978) 22ff, and op.cit. (supra n.2) 
17.