Pind. Nem. 11.11: Ἀρκεσίλαν o Ἁγησίλαν? Considerazioni intorno a una varia lectio

This article focuses on the varia lectio Ἀγησίλαν provided by cod. B instead of κεσίλαν, for Pind. Nem. 11.11. Ἀγησίλαν is usually rejected as unmetrical (Henry) or corrected into Ἁγεσίλαν (Maas), but the comparison with other Pindaric proper names – such as Ἁγησίας, Ἁγησίδαμος and Ἁγησίμαχος – suggests that we print Ἁγησίλαν (Schroeder). This form would provide a metrical responsion between hemm and cho cr which is attested also in Aristoph. Vesp. 274 282. By adopting Ἁγησίλαν, we should infer that the father of Aristagoras of Tenedos, the young laudandus of em. 11, was named Agesilaos: if so, we could not exclude that Aristagoras’ brother was Theoxenus, the other ‘son of Agesilaos’ (υἱὸν Ἁγησίλα) praised in Pind. fr. 123 Maehl., as some scholars first suggested.