Una via impercorribile: osservazioni su AP, 7, 50

Archimedes’ epigram AP, 7, 50 aims to dissuade poets from emulating Euripides. As already done by Callimachus in the prologue to the Aetia (fr. 1, 25-28 Pf.), the author combines the Hesiodean image of the two antithetical routes (Op., 287-292) with the traditional metaphor of the poetic path. This paper deals with the relationship between Hesiod and the epigram, particularly considering the resumption and reuse of words from the model. Then, it focuses on the description of Euripides’ poetic path as an only apparently ἐπίρροθος one (v. 3). This term, which does not fulfil the context in its Homeric meaning ‘helper’, has motivated several textual emendations. Nevertheless, some etymological and morphological remarks allow us to justify the transmitted text: ἐπίρροθος means here ‘easy / quick to run over’.