Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams

Type 3119
(formerly typ/1238)

	Ἐγώ, Διονύσιε, τολμῶ καὶ λέγειν
	ὡς οὐκ ἐπλάσθης ἐν γυναικὸς κοιλίᾳ,
	ἀλλ᾽ ἀγγέλοις μάλιστα συντεταγμένος
	ἄνωθεν ἦλθες ἐκ πόλου, φύσις ξένη,
	βροτοῖς ἀπαγγέλλουσα πάντα πρὸς μέρος
	τὰ τῶν ἀΰλων ταγμάτων ὅπως ἔχοι.
	Οὕτω γινώσκεις τὰς ἀΰλους οὐσίας·
	οὕτω θεωρεῖς ἐνθέους θεωρίας·
	οὕτω φανεροῖς τὰς φύσεις τῶν ἀγγέλων·
	οὕτω - τὸ μεῖζον - ἄγγελος σὺ τὴν φύσιν.

Title(s)	Εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Διονύσιον ἕν<εκεν -c. 32->
Text source	M. De Groote, 2012, Christophori Mitylenaii Versuum Variorum Collectio Cryptensis, Turnhout: 80
Text status	Text completely known
Editorial status	Critical text
Genre(s)	Author-related epigram
Person(s)	Poet Christophoros of Mytilene < Lesbos < Greece - PBW: Christophoros/13102/
Metre(s)	Dodecasyllable
Subject(s)	Pseudo-Dionysios the Areopagite (5th c. - 6th c.)
Tag(s)	Praise of the author
Translation(s)	On Saint Dionysios because of… I am so bold, Dionysios, as to say that you were not born from a woman’s womb, but that you had a place among the angels and came down from heaven, an alien nature, to proclaim to mortals in every detail the immaterial ranks, the nature of each. This is how you know the immaterial beings; this is how you contemplate divine contemplations; this is how you reveal the natures of the angels; this is how, above all, you too are an angel. Language English Source(s) F. Bernard, C. Livanos, 2018, The Poems of Christopher of Mytilene and John Mauropous, Cambridge (MA): 173-175
Comment	Edition by De Groote, poem n.86 (2012: 80).
Bibliography	Primary A. Bandini, 1764, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Mediceae Laurentianae (vol. 1), Florence: 50 F. Bernard, C. Livanos, 2018, The Poems of Christopher of Mytilene and John Mauropous, Cambridge (MA): 173-175 S. De Groot 2021, Readers' Perspectives on Early Christian Texts. Book Epigrams in the Byzantine Manuscripts of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Gent: 181-185 E. Mioni, 1992, Catalogus codicum Graecorum Bibliothecae Nationalis Neapolitanae (vol. 1.1), Rome: 47 Secondary S. De Groot 2021, Readers' Perspectives on Early Christian Texts. Book Epigrams in the Byzantine Manuscripts of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Gent: 198-203 Bibliography category to be determined E. Kurtz, 1903, Die Gedichte des Christophoros Mitylenaios, Leipzig: 54-55
Number of verses	10
Occurrence(s)	[19150] ἐγὼ διονύσιε τολμῶ καὶ λέγειν [29/01/1348] FLORENCE - Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (BML) - Plut. 5, Cod. 26 [29/01/1348] (f. 1r) (10 verses) [24720] ἐγὼ διονύσιε τολμῶ καὶ λέγειν [14th-15th c.] FLORENCE - Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (BML) - Plut. 5, Cod. 26 [29/01/1348] ((gen.) Flyleaf) (6 verses) [18921] Ἐγὼ διονύσιε τολμῶ κ(αὶ) λέγ(ειν) [13th c.] NAPLES - Biblioteca Nazionale - gr. II A 10 [13th c.] (f. 4r) (10 verses) [18943] Ἐγώ, Διονύσιε, τολμῶ καὶ λέγειν [14th c.] NAPLES - Biblioteca Nazionale - gr. II B 5 [1326-1375] (f. 2v) (10 verses) [22917] Ἐγὼ διονύσιε τολμῶ καὶ λέγειν [14th c.] VIENNA - Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ÖNB) - suppl. gr. 1 [14th c.] (f. 5r) (10 verses)
Acknowledgements	Contributor(s) Lotte van Olmen, Rachele Ricceri, Sien De Groot, Anne-Sophie Rouckhout The credits system has been implemented in 2019. Credits from before the new system was in use might be incomplete.
Identification	Vassis ICB 2005, 166: "Christoph. Mitylenaeus, In s. Dionysium"
Permalink	https://www.dbbe.ugent.be/types/3119

Last modified: 2024-10-21.

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