NEW LITERARY TEXTS

The most economical equation is:
(1) speaker A = Moschion = son,
(2) sister = daughter,
(3) speaker B = parent of A,
though other arrangements are possible.

While such characters are standard in New Comedy, one play does suggest itself. If lines 3–6 are correctly restored, there is a more than fleeting resemblance to Terence's Hauton Timoroumenos The Self-Tormentor, 964 ff., when Chremes, having determined to give his son Clitipho's inheritance into the keeping of his daughter's husband, says:

Though the resemblance is not strong enough, especially in the rest of the column, to identify this fragment very securely with Terence's Greek antecedent, it does suggest possible lines of restoration: lines 7–13 might well be part of a father's speech about the benefits of such an arrangement, and lines 19–25 an argument between father and son.

Since the beginnings and ends of lines are lacking, part distribution is tentative. The easiest division, following the papyrus, gives one speaker (B) [κ]αὶ σοῦ μέρος τί; And what part of yours?, treats πῶς ἐμοῦ; How of mine? as an interjection of A, with B continuing until πονηρόν evil/wretched (line 5). Therefore, σοῦ your, σῆς your (f.), and σῶν your (pl.) all refer to the same person—A. Restorations are given exempli gratia by way of example.

I am more grateful than I can say for the help I have received from Professor E. W. Handley and from the late Professor T. B. L. Webster.