Riddle

“And there is the following one by Panarces, according to Clearchus in his treatise On Riddles, that etc.

'Tis fabled that a man and not a man Saw and saw not a bird and not a bird Upon a tree and no tree, and struck at it And struck not with a stone and not a stone.

..that is, a eunuch, a bat, a fennel, and a bit of pumice.12

Athenaeus Doctors at Dinner [on riddles]

“It is like the equivoques at a dinner-party, or the children's riddle about the eunuch who struck at the bat and what it was perched on and what the missile was.”

Plato Republic

“A riddle （recorded） by Clearchus”

Scholiast on Plato Republic

1 the word translated ‘strike’ can mean both ‘to aim at’ and ‘to hit’; cf. Sch. Arist. 4. 14, Eust. 713. 10, Suid. αἶνος , Trypho Rh. Gr. 8. 736 W, Choerob. Rh. Gr. Spengel 3. 253, Phot. νυκτερίδος αἶνος

2 For mentions of other Elegiac poems or poets of the Athenian Age see Paus. 5. 25. 4 （Hippias）, Diog. L. 2. 104 （Theodorus, cf. Ath. 3. 122 b, 14. 618 e?）, Aeschin. in Tim. 136 （Aeschines）.