IL SUCCESSO DELLA PAROLA: ESCHINE ED EUPOLI NEL I LIBRO DEL DE RHETORICA DI FILODEMO (PHLD., RHET. I, PHERC. 250, FR. 1 SUDHAUS)

In 1896 Sudhaus published PHerc. 250 as one of the fragmenta incerta from Philodemus’On rhetoric. Fragment 1 is very lacunose and, although the editor princeps had integrated the upper part thanks to a quotation from Aeschines’ In Timarchum, the lower part of this column remained obscure. I will offer a new reading of this fragment, now assigned to the first book of On rhetoric, in which I have recognized a verse from Eupolis’ Demoi (fr. 102 K.A. = fr. 94 Kock). Thanks to this quotation, I was able to understand the meaning of the entire fragment and to frame it in the context of ancient rhetoric and, in particular, Philodemean rhetoric: Philodemus in this part of Book I is talking about technicity of rhetoric and about the different instrumenta that bring different types of ῥητορική to success.