Meaning a theatre of evils.
Cratinus [sc. uses the phrase].[1] Some [sc. say that the phrase arose] because of the Hydra,[2] others because of the fact that the Argives carried away the sacrifice-refuse there;[3] for it was in
Lerna that Danaos deposited the heads of the sons of Aigyptos,[4] and probably as an insult he ordered [the Argives(?)] to throw ill-omened things there.
Others [sc. quote the phrase as]
Lerna of evils.[5]
*le/rnh qeatw=n: a)nti\ tou= kakw=n qe/atron. *krati=nos. oi( me\n dia\ th\n *(/udran, oi( de\ dia\ to\ tou\s *)argei/ous ta\ kaqa/rmata e)kei= a)pofe/rein: o( ga\r *danao\s e)n th=| *le/rnh| ta\s kefala\s tw=n *ai)guptiadw=n a)pe/qeto, kai\ w(s ei)ko\s e)f' u(/brei e)ke/leuse ta\ dusoiw/nista e)kei= r(i/ptein. oi( de\ *le/rnh kakw=n.
Same entry in
Photius,
Lexicon lambda204 Theodoridis; similar one in
Hesychius lambda689 and
lambda 690,
Pausanias the Atticist lambda11, a scholion to Lucian,
Marine Dialogues 8.2,
Zenobius 4.86 and other paroemiographers (
Apostolius 10.57, [
Diogenianus] 6.7, Gregorius 4.23).
The Lerne in question (
Lerna in later sources and, via Latin, commonly in English) was a well-watered and, in parts, marshy place near the sea south of Argos [
Myth,
Place] (see web address 1:
Pausanias 2.36.6-37.6). Thus another interpretation of the phrase might be 'quagmire of spectators', or 'cesspool of spectators' (see n. 3 below). The place was most famous for being the site of one of the Labours of Herakles, the killing of the Lernaian Hydra (see n. 2 below).
[1]
Cratinus fr. 347 Kock (392 K.-A.).
[2] Because the Hydra, like a theatre audience, had many heads; cf. generally
upsilon 57.
[3] cf. scholion to Lucian,
Zenobius,
Apostolius (see general note above). For 'sacrifice-refuse' see
kappa 36.
[4] After they had been cut off by his daughters; cf.
Pausanias 2.24.2 (web address 2).
[5] e.g. scholion to Lucian,
Zenobius,
Apostolius (see general note above); or "Others [sc. interpret the phrase as]... (e.g.
Pausanias the Atticist lambda11).
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