| Text source |
R. Meesters, R. Praet, F. Bernard, K. Demoen 2016, Makarios' cycle of epigrams on the Psalms. Bodleian Baroccianus 194, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 109(2), 837-860: 848-849
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| Text status |
Text completely known |
| Editorial status |
Not a critical text |
| Genre(s) |
Author-related epigram
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| Person(s) |
- Poet
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Ignatios Methymnaeos
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| Metre(s) |
Dodecasyllable
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| Subject(s) |
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| Tag(s) |
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| Translation(s) |
-
'Listen to David, our own Orpheus.
He strikes the lyre of his mystical melody
and silences the wild beasts of our passions
when nature, deviating from what is fitting,
lapses into savage deformities'.
- Language
- English
- Source(s)
-
R. Meesters, R. Praet, F. Bernard, K. Demoen 2016, Makarios' cycle of epigrams on the Psalms. Bodleian Baroccianus 194, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 109(2), 837-860: 849
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vv. 3-5:
'and he puts the animal passions to silence, when nature deviating from what is seemly falls into beastly monstrosities'.
- Language
- English
- Source(s)
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M. Lauxtermann, 2003, Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres (vol. 1), Vienna: 205
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'Aurem Davidi cede, nostroque Orpheo;
Movet citharam mysticae melodiae:
Jubeat vero silere voluptatum feras,
Cum oblita servare decorum, natura
Incauta currit ferina in scelera: (...)'.
- Language
- Latin
- Source(s)
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J. Pitra, 1884, Analecta sacra spicilegio Solesmensi parata (vol. 2), Paris, Tusculum, Venice: 440
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'Audi Davidem nostrum Orpheum.
Citharam pulsat mysticae melodiae,
tacere autem facit passionum ferociam,
quando natura ab officio aberrans
ad belluinas convertitur infamias. (...)'.
- Language
- Latin
- Source(s)
-
I. Hardt, 1806, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum graecorum Bibliothecae Regiae Bavaricae. Cod. CCXXXIV-CCCXLVII continens (vol. 3), Munich: 49-50
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| Comment |
The spiritual valour of David is contrasted to the pagan inferiority of Orpheus. Meesters et al. (2016: 852): 'At verse 3, the words
τῶν παθῶν τὰ θήρια constitute a metaphorical reference to the myth of Orpheus. Whereas this pagan hero beguiled wild animals (see, again, poem 2 [i.e. Type 1895 - DBBE]), the Christian David tames the animals which here stand as metaphors for human passions'.
In the ms. Milan, Bibl. Ambr. B 106 (966-7, f.5r), this epigram is ascribed to a certain Ignatios. Follieri (1957: 107-108) for metrical reasons supposes that the author of this poem is most likely the ninth century poet Ignatios the Deacon. However, Lauxtermann (2003: 205, n.21) argues against this attribution, claiming that 'the lemma attached to the epigram in the Ambrosian ms. does not seem very trustworthy'.
Follieri (1957: 106): 'indubbiamente il più diffuso degli epigrammi su Davide'. The poem appears in approximately twenty manuscripts, with three of them from the eleventh century.
The poem also occurs in the 16th-century manuscript Monac. gr. 295 (f. 122r-v), where it does not function as a book epigram. |
| Bibliography |
Primary
-
V. Beneševič, 1911, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum graecorum qui in monasterio Sanctae Catharinae in monte asservantur. Codices manuscripti notabiliores bibliothecae monasterii Sinaitici ejusque metochii Cahirensis, ab archimandrita Porphyrio (Uspenskio) descripti (vol. 1), Saint-Petersburg: 22-23
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C. Castellani, 1895, Catalogus codicum graecorum qui in bibliothecam D. Marci Venetiarum inde ab Anno MDCCXL ad haec usque tempora inlati sunt, Venice: 120
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E. Follieri 1957, Un carme giambico in onore di Davide, Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici (RSBN), 9, 101-116: 107
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I. Hardt, 1806, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum graecorum Bibliothecae Regiae Bavaricae. Cod. CCXXXIV-CCCXLVII continens (vol. 3), Munich: 49
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G. Parpulov, 2014, Toward a History of Byzantine Psalters, Plovdiv: 216
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J. Pitra, 1884, Analecta sacra spicilegio Solesmensi parata (vol. 2), Paris, Tusculum, Venice: 440
display 3 more references (6 in total)
hide 3 references (6 in total)
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| Number of verses |
5 |
| Occurrence(s) |
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| Related type(s) |
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| Acknowledgements |
The credits system has been implemented in 2019. Credits from before the new system was in use might be incomplete.
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| Identification |
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| Permalink |
https://www.dbbe.ugent.be/types/1865 |
