The Homeric Hymn To Demeter 403-4 and Chiasmus in Conversation

Abstract

THE HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER 403-4 AND CHIASMUS IN CONVERSATION In the Hymn to Demeter we are concerned with Demeter's speech to Persephone and Persephone's reply (393-433). The two speeches are too long to quote in full. In the manuscripts, and also in the papyrus (P. Oxy. 2379) of the 3rd century A.D., lines 403-4 appear as aÔtiw ênei m°ga yaËma yeo›w ynhto›w tÉ ényr≈poiw. / ka‹ t¤ni sÉ §japãthse dÒlƒ kraterÚw polud°gmvn; However this sequence has raised doubts, as ka¤ is not a natural connection here, and Ruhnken proposed a lacuna after 403. This was accepted by Allen-Halliday-Sikes, who comment "The construction is broken and a lacuna necessary". However N.J. Richardson rejects the lacuna, in his comment ad loc.: "If there was a lacuna after 403 ... it existed already when the papyrus was written. But more probably the text is sound, and there is an abrupt break in the sense. Demeter's question in 404 refers to the rape, not to Persephone's having eaten in Hades, and Persephone answers her in 414ff" 1). However a consideration of Persephone's reply to Demeter may give some support to Ruhnken's suggestion. The reply falls into two parts: first Persephone tells how Hades made her eat the poppy seed (406-13), and then she relates the story of the rape (414-33). A transition clearly separates the two parts: …w d° mÉ énarpãjaw Kron¤dev pukinØn diå m∞tin / 'xeto patrÚw §me›o f°rvn ÍpÚ keÊyea ga¤hw / §jer°v ka‹ pãnta di¤jomai …w §ree¤neiw (414-6). The reply as a whole is knit together by ring-composition whereby Persephone's opening words toigår §g≈ toi m∞ter §r°v nhmert°a pãnta (406) are recalled at the end of her speech: taËtã toi éxnum°nh per élhy°a pãntÉ égo-reÊv (433), while the same thought appears in the transition: §jer°v ka‹ pãnta di¤jomai …w §ree¤neiw (416). It seems likely that the speech of Demeter, in spite of the tear in the Mosquensis at its beginning, was also enclosed by a ring, and that ka‹ t¤ni sÉ §japãthse dÒlƒ kraterÚw polud°gmvn (404) recalls t°knon mAE =ã t¤ moi s[Ê ge pãssao n°ryen §oËsa] br≈mhw (393 f., suppl. A. Goodwin), provided, of course, that 404 refers to the eating of the pomegranate seed. If Persephone's reply is twofold , we might expect Demeter to ask two questions. However on Richardson's view there is only one question (404), which he takes as referring to the rape, and which is answered by Persephone in 414 ff. As a result 406-13 are left with no direct relation to Demeter's speech. It is true that …w §ree¤neiw (416) shows that the second part of Persephone's speech must be in reply to Demeter, but it does not follow that the first part cannot also be in reply to Demeter. With Ruhnken's lacuna, however, and a supplement such as efip¢ d¢ p«w sÉ ¥rpajen ÍpÚ