Type 4248
(formerly typ/2345)

Πολύδωρον Ἑκάβης τε καὶ τοῦ Πριάμου παῖδα
ὁ Πολυμήστωρ ἔκτεινεν, ὁ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν κατάρχων,
ἀφ’ οὗ τὴν Τροίαν ἔμαθεν Ἕλλησι πορθηθῆναι.
Καὶ κτείνας εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ἔρριψε τὴν ἐκεῖσε,
καίπερ λαβὼν παρὰ πατρός, ὅπως αὐτὸς φυλάσσοι,
Ἑκάβης αἰχμαλώτου δε οὔσης ἐν Χερρονήσῳ.
- Ἐκεῖ γὰρ καὶ τὸ στράτευμα ὑπῆρχε τῶν Ἑλλήνων. -
Ὄναρ φανεὶς Πολύδωρος τῇ σφῇ μητρὶ Ἑκάβῃ,
ὅπως αὐτὸν ἀπέκτεινεν ὁ Πολυμήστωρ λέγει,
καὶ τὰ λοιπά δε σύμπαντα λεπτομερεῖ τῷ λόγῳ.
Οὕτω κατ’ ἔπος λέγει δε διὰ τοῦ Εὐριπίδου·
ἥκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα τε καὶ πύλας ἀφεὶς σκότου
ἔκτοτε τοῖς φυγοῦσι δε δεινῆς ἐξ ἀρρωστίας,
ὡς ἐγερθεῖσιν ἐκ νεκρῶν, λέγομεν τὰ τοιαῦτα.
Τοῖς μὴ μαθοῦσι γράφομεν, οὐ τοῖς μαθοῦσι, ταῦτα.
Text source P. Leone, 1968, Ioannis Tzetzae Historiae, Napoli: 314
Text status Text completely known
Editorial status Critical text
Genre(s) Text-related epigram
Person(s)
Poet
John Tzetzes (12th c.) - PBW: Ioannes/459/
Metre(s) Decapentasyllable
Subject(s)
Tag(s) Reference to content of the book
Translation(s) Polydorus, the son of Hecuba and Priam,
was killed by Polymestor, king of the Thracians,
after he had heard that Troy had been destroyed by the Greeks;
he killed him and threw him into the sea nearby,
even though he had received him from his father for protection,
And while Hecuba was held captive in the Chersonese
‒ since the army of the Greeks was there ‒
Polydorus appeared to his mother Hecuba in a dream,
and told her how Polymestor had killed him.
All the rest is also treated in detail in the story.
Thus he (Polydorus) says, word for word, voiced by Euripides:
“I come as a shadow leaving the hollows and the gates of the dead”.
Whereafter we say this expression to those who have escaped
from a terrible sickness, as if they have risen from the dead.
We write this for those who do not know, not for those who do.
Language
English
Source(s)
M. Tomadaki, E. van Opstall 2019, The Tragedians from a Byzantine Perspective: Book Epigrams on Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, Medioevo Greco. Rivista di storia e filologia bizantina. (MEG), 19, 193-220: 214
Bibliography
Number of verses 15
Occurrence(s)
Acknowledgements Information on the type courtesy of Krystina Kubina.

The credits system has been implemented in 2019. Credits from before the new system was in use might be incomplete.

Identification Vassis ICB 2005, 636: "Ioann. Tzetzes, In Polydorum"
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Last modified: 2022-09-19.