Plutarch, Life of Nicias 29.542cd
M = reading of the whole MS tradition
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ δι’ Εὐριπίδην ἐσώθησαν. μάλιστα γὰρ ὡς ἔοικε τῶν ἐκτὸς Ἑλλήνων ἐπόθησαν αὐτοῦ τὴν μοῦσαν οἱ περὶ Σικελίαν, καὶ μικρὰ τῶν ἀφικνουμένων ἑκάστοτε δείγματα καὶ γεύματα κομιζόντων ἐκμανθάνοντες ἀγαπητῶς μετεδίδοσαν ἀλλήλοις. τότε γοῦν φασι τῶν σωθέντων οἴκαδε συχνοὺς ἀσπάζεσθαί τε τὸν Εὐριπίδην φιλοφρόνως, καὶ διηγεῖσθαι τοὺς μὲν ὅτι δουλεύοντες ἀφείθησαν, ἐκδιδάξαντες ὅσα τῶν ἐκείνου ποιημάτων ἐμέμνηντο, τοὺς δ’ ὅτι πλανώμενοι μετὰ τὴν μάχην τροφῆς καὶ ὕδατος μετελάμβανον τῶν μελῶν ἄισαντες. οὐ δεῖ δὴ δὴ Reiske : δὲ M θαυμάζειν ὅτι τοὺς Καυνίους τοὺς Καυνίους Reiske : τοῦ καυνίου m : του καυνείου m φασὶ πλοίου προσφερομένου τοῖς λιμέσιν ὑπὸ ληιστρίδων διωκομένου μὴ δέχεσθαι τὸ πρῶτον, ἀλλ’ ἀπείργειν, εἶτα μέντοι διαπυνθανομένους εἰ γιγνώσκουσιν ἄισματα τῶν Εὐριπίδου, φησάντων δ’ ἐκείνων, οὕτω παρεῖναι καὶ συγκαταγαγεῖν συγκαταγαγεῖν Lindskog : συγκατάγειν m : καταγαγεῖν m τὸ πλοῖον.
Some were even saved because of Euripides. For it seems that of the Greeks who lived outside Greece, the Sicilians were particularly passionate about his poetry, and whenever people arrived on the island gave little samples and tastes of it, they learned them by heart and eagerly passed them on to one another. On this occasion, at any rate, they say that of those were saved, many greeted Euripides warmly and some recounted that they had been freed from their enslavement after they had recited whatever they could remember of his poems; others, that when they were wandering around after the battle, they had been given food and water after they sang some of his lyrics. Indeed, we should not wonder at the story that the Caunians, when a ship put in near the harbour whilst pursued by pirates, at first did not receive it, but kept it away; then, however, when they had enquired whether they knew songs of Euripides, and the crew answered in the affirmative, they allowed them to bring the ship to harbour.
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