ABSTRACT
It might seem strange to want to investigate the military culture of Menander, an author who is portrayed by the biographical tradition as a mild and gentle man, described by a famous fable of Phaedrus as introducing himself to Demetrius of Phalerum unguento delibutus, vestitu fluens. .. gressu delicato et languido, 1 that is, to use the old translation of an English poet, Christopher Smart, 2 ‘in flowing robes, bedaub’d with nard, / and saunt’ring tread’, so that Demetrius can definitely call him (line 15) by the epithet cinaedus, which became, in the chaste version of Smart, ‘that fribble’.
