A Poem of Thanks: P. Wat. Ia and Ib

P. Wat. Ia and rb date uncertain A POEM OF THANKS 44 x 35 cm Plate I (I a illustrated) INTRODUCTION This papyrus, retrieved from a rubbish dump on the site formerly occupied by the University of Waterloo, contains an epigram in four verses followed by a number of signatures. The poem is an expression of thanks to language teachers, and so the signatures are presumably those of the students. The poem's addressees were apparently female, as indicated by the genders of the pronoun in line I and the adjective at the end of line 2: it is not known for certain how many teachers there were, though the existence of two copies of the poem (Ia and lb, with the same signatures, though in different arrangements) suggests that there were two of them. The hand is a competent though undistinguished example of the strenge Stil,1 the "severe style" marked by contrast between broad and narrow letters. The style was popular in the second and third centuries A.D., and its most famous example is probably the Bacchylides papyrus P.Lond. 733. 2 The modulus of the hand of our papyrus, with its long vertical strokes in p, v, and 91Tov tj~aTa navTa: Literally "undying for all days." Not content with one common poetic expression for "everlasting" or "forever," "Georgos" has decided to use two, and side-by-side no less. This farmer is laying it on with a trowel. or more aptly, a pitchfork. Why this verbiage ? Again, see below, on evepyecITlc. 3-4. XaplV ... ~Vllc6IJEe): The use of the simple verb rather than the compound might be considered a bold stroke if it had any point, but I can see none in this case. The more common expression is crrrol1Vncac6al XaplV: see West's note on Theogony 503. It may be noted that the Hesiodic passage also refers to evepyec1ll, a word which appears in this couplet to devastating (to me, at least) effect. 5ee next note. 4. evepyec{nc: An uncomfortable feeling that started with a