Type 4152
(formerly typ/2248)
| Ἐτελειώθη σὺν Θεῷ καὶ τὸ παρὸν πτυκτίον | |
| τὸ πόνημα, τὸ σύγγραμα, ἡ εὐτελὴς Διόπτρα, | |
| διὰ χειρὸς ἁμαρτωλοῦ μοναχοῦ τὲ καὶ ξένου | |
| μηνὶ μαΐῳ δώδεκα ἰνδικτιῶνος τρίτης· | |
| κύκλος σελήνης δέκατος, ἡλίου εἰκὰς τρίτη | |
| ἔτους ἑξάκις χίλια καὶ ἑξακὸς πρὸς τούτοις, | |
| πρὸς δὲ καὶ τρία ἕτερα ἐπὶ τούτοις τυγχάνει. | |
| Ἂν δὲ τὸ ὄνομα τοὐμὸν μαθεῖν ἐθέλῃς, φίλε, | |
| ἰδοὺ καὶ τοῦτο γράφω σοι καὶ ψηφίσας εὑρήσεις. | |
| Ὀκτὼ γράμματα ἔχω καὶ εἰσὶν ἄμφωνα πέντε· | |
| τρισύλλαβός εἰμι, νόει με· αἱ δύο πρῶται | |
| ἀνὰ δύο γράμματα ἔχει ἑκάστη, ἡ λοιπὴ δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ· | |
| τοῦ παντὸς δὲ ὁ ἀριθμὸς ἑκατοντάδες τρὶς τὸ τρὶς | |
| καὶ δεκάδες δὶς τετράκις· ἤγουν ὁ πᾶς | |
| ψῆφος τοῦτων ἐννακὸς ὀγδοήκοντα. |
| Text source | K. Bentein, K. Demoen 2012, The Reader in Eleventh-Century Book Epigrams, in F. Bernard, K. Demoen (eds.), Poetry and its Contexts in Eleventh-century Byzantium, Farnham/Burlington, 69-88: 82 |
| Text status | Text completely known |
| Editorial status | Not a critical text |
| Genre(s) | |
| Person(s) | |
| Metre(s) | |
| Subject(s) | Philip Monotropos (12th c.) (monotropos) |
| Tag(s) | |
| Translation(s) |
'With the help of God the present book has also been finished – this work, this book, the modest Dioptra – by the hand of a sinful monk and stranger. It was finished on the twelfth of May, in the third year of the current indiction. It was the tenth year of the cycle of the moon and the twenty-third year of the solar cycle, in the year six thousand six hundred and three. If you want to learn my name, dear friend, behold I describe this too for you and you will find it by calculating. I have eight letters and five consonants. I am composed of three syllables, recognize me. The first two syllables each have two letters. The last syllable has the remaining ones. On the whole the numerical value is: three times three hundred and four times twenty, or, the total sum of those: nine hundred and eighty. |
| Comment | The first nine verses are written in political verse, the riddle from v. 10 onwards is written in rythmical prose (cf. Bentein-Demoen (2012: 83): "passage in prose (or in awkward metrical attempts)"). According to Vassis (2005: 260), the epigram has 13 verses. Bentein-Demoen (2012: 83): '(...) we should call this an eleventh-century epigram ‘by extension’, as it was originally written in 1095 but no longer occurs in an eleventh-century manuscript.' The answer to the riddle is 'Philippos', the author of the Dioptra. A variant of the second part of the epigram (from verse 8 on, the riddle on the author’s name) has been preserved in several manuscripts (type 30701) after a laudatory book epigram by Konstantinos Bestes Granatos (type 4055). |
| Bibliography |
Primary
|
| Number of verses | 15 |
| Occurrence(s) |
|
| Related type(s) |
|
| Acknowledgements |
Contributor(s)
The credits system has been implemented in 2019. Credits from before the new system was in use might be incomplete. |
| Identification | Vassis ICB 2005, 260: "Philippus Solitarius, Subscr. in Dioptram" |
| Permalink | https://www.dbbe.ugent.be/types/4152 |
Last modified: 2024-05-14.
