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The first two kinds are those which require no supplement. ‘Of these, some must require no supplement owing to their being already well known, as, “best of all is wealth for a man, at least in my opinion;” because most people think so’. The line here quoted is of uncertain origin. There was a famous σκόλιον, drinking-song or catch, usually attributed to Simonides, which Athen., XV 694 E, has preserved amongst several that he there quotes; and it is also to be found in Bergk's Collection, Fragm. Lyr. Gr. Scolia, 13. It runs thus: ὑγιαίνειν μὲν ἄριστον ἀνδρὶ θνατῷ, δεύτερον δὲ καλὸν φύαν γενέσθαι, τὸ τρίτον δὲ πλουτεῖν ἀδόλως, καὶ τὸ τέταρτον ἡβᾷν μετὰ τῶν φίλων. This is repeated by Anaxandrides in some iambics of his Thesaurus, Fragm. I (Meineke, Fr. Comm. Gr. III 169), and quoted by Athen. immediately after the σκόλιον as a parallel or illustration. Anaxandrides does not know the author; ὁ τὸ σκόλιον εὑρὼν ἐκεῖνος, ὅστις ἦν. Plato has likewise quoted it in Gorg. 451 E, and elsewhere (see Stallbaum's note). The Scholiast on this passage says, τὸ σκόλιον τοῦτο οἱ μὲν Σιμωνίδου φασίν, οἱ δὲ Ἐπιχάρμου. On which Meineke, u. s., note, says ‘Nonne igitur pro ἡμῖν legendum ἐμίν, et ipse ille versus, ἀνδρὶ δ᾽ ὑγιαίνειν κ.τ.λ., Epicharmo tribuendus?’ The trochaic metre is doubtless in favour of this supposition, but that shews on the other hand that it could not have formed part of the scolion above quoted, which is in quite a different measure: and also, supposing it to be taken from that, it would be a most improbable and unmeaning repetition of the first line. If therefore Meineke is right in attributing it to Epicharmus, it must have belonged to another and independent scolion. Another scholium in Cramer, Anecd. Paris. on Ar. Rhet. has τὸ “ἀνδρὶ δ᾽ ὑγιαίνειν ἄριστον” Σιμωνίδου ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τῶν σκολιῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπῶν. οἳ δ̓ Ἐπιχάρμου. Meineke, u. s. Simonides at all events has something like it, οὐδὲ καλᾶς σοφίας χάρις, εἰ μή τις ἔχει σεμνὰν ὑγίειαν. This places health at the head of the list of goods: another distich, quoted in Ar. Eth. Nic. I 9, Eth. Eudem. init., as ‘the Delian inscription’ ἐπὶ τὸ προπύλαιον τοῦ Λητῴου (Eth. Eud.), Theogn. 255, and (in iambics) Soph. Fragm. Creus. (Stob. CIII 15, Dind. Fr. 326), places health second in the order, or rather, perhaps, leaves the question open. Ariphron of Sicyon (Athen. XV 702 A) wrote a hymn to Health, beginning ὑγίεια πρεσβίστα μακάρων; he also regards it as the greatest of all blessings, σέθεν δὲ χωρὶς οὔτις εὐδαίμων ἔφυ, line 8. See in Bergk, Fr. Lyr. Gr. p. 841 [p. 984, ed. 2]. Comp. Philem. Fr. Inc. 62, αἰτῶ δ᾽ ὑγίειαν πρῶτον, εἶτ̓ εὐπραξίαν κ.τ.λ. ‘Whereas others (the second kind, of division 1) (though previously unknown) are clear the very moment they are uttered, provided you pay attention to them,’ (or perhaps, ‘the moment you cast your eye upon them)’. Comp. Top. Γ 6, 120 a 32, 34; b 15 and 30, E 4, 132 a 27. ἐπίβλεψις Anal. Pr. I 29, 45 a 26, ἐπιβλέψεων Ib. V 17, προσεπιβλέπειν Ib. V 21 (from Waitz). Upon the whole I think the comparison of these passages is in favour of the former of the two interpretations: and so Victorius. οἷον κ.τ.λ.] ‘as “no lover is inconstant in his affection.”’ Eur. Troad. 1051, quoted again, Eth. Eud. VII 2, 1235 b 21.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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