they produced a grandiose effect. Euripides used nearly the same number of forms in -ωμα,[1] and some of them frequently. πέπλωμα, a more pretentious word than πέπλος, occurs in all three tragic poets, and is put in the mouth of Euripides by Aristophanes in a parody in Ach. 426 δυσπινῆ πεπλώματα[2]; cf. πέπλος in 423. A few lines farther on in the Acharnians (432) the same character, the rag-stitcher Euripides (ὁ ῥακιοσυρραπτάδης), is made to employ ῥακώματα in the same position, the end of the line, and with the same tragic swagger. He had used in succession first the poetic λακίδας πέπλων (423), then πεπλώματα, and now ῥακώματα. ῥακώματα, the poetic form of the homely word rags (ῥάκη 433, 438, ῥάκια 412, 415) has the appearance of being a comic coinage, the tragic ending being added for the sake of bombast. It occurs nowhere else in the literature.
The sphere of use of forms in -ευμα derived from verbs in -εύω and -εύομαι may be defined with more exactness. Their great frequency in Euripides and rarity in Herodotus, Thucydides, and the orators are the striking facts about them. This becomes evident if one leaves out of account βούλευμα, κέλευ(σ)μα, στράτευμα, and τόξευμα, which are common in both poetry and prose, ἐπιτήδευμα and πολίτευμα, which are common in prose, and the familiar words πνεῦμα (πνέω), ῥεῦμα (ῥέω), χεῦμα (χέω). Then it appears that Aeschylus has 12 forms in -ευμα, Sophocles 9, and Euripides 38, while on the other hand Herodotus has no example, Thucydides uses only ἱκέτευμα, νεῦμα, and σκύλευμα, and of the orators only three have examples: Isocrates and the pseudo-Demosthenes use παίδευμα, Aeschines ἀλαζόνευμα, and Demosthenes πονήρευμα. Formations of this kind that had such a large and varied use in tragedy,[3] Aristophanes felt free to take up
- ↑ Aeschylus has 34, Sophocles 21, and Euripides 28.
- ↑ Cf. Nauck, Trag. graec. frag2., p. 443 and adesp. 42.
- ↑ Cf. θαλάμευμα (= θάλαμος) Eur. Bacch. 120, lyric passage; λάτρευμα (= λάτρις) Tro. 1106, lyr. pas.; πόρθμευμα (= πορθμός) Aesch. Ag. 1558, lyr. pas.; γαμήλευμα (= γάμος) Cho. 625, lyr. pas.; κήδευμα (= κηδεστής) Soph. O. T. 85, Eur. Or. 477; πρέσβευμα (= πρεσβευτής) Eur. Suppl. 173; κινδύνευμα (= κίνδυνος) Soph. Ant. 42, O. C. 564, Eur. I. T. 1001; νύμφευμα (= νύμφη) Eur. Tro. 420; ἅγνευμα (= ἁγνεία) Tro. 501; τύμβευμα (= τύμβος) Soph. Ant. 1220; σκώπευμα (= σκώψ) Aesch. fr. 79; θεράπευμα (= θεραπεία) Phoen. 1549, lyr. pas.; ἡγεμόνευμα (= ἡγεμών) Phoen. 1492, lyr. pas.; τύρευμα (= τυρός) El. 496, Cycl. 162.
