Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams

Type 6383
(formerly typ/4343)

	Ἄκοσμα ταῦτα τοῦ Κομητᾶ πάντ’ ἔπη.
	Κομητά, Θερσίτης μὲν ἦσθα. Πῶς δέ γε
	Ἀχιλλέως πρόσωπον εἰσέδυς, τάλαν;
	ἄπαγε ταῦτα τῆς ἀμούσου καρδίας
	καὶ βάλλε γ’ ἐς κόρακας ἢ κύφων ὕπερ
	τὰ κοπρίας γέμοντα σαθρίαν ἔπη.

Text source	K. Demoen 2019, Epigrams on Authors and Books as Text and Paratext, in M. Kanellou, C. Carey, I. Petrovic (eds.), Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine Era, Oxford, 66-84: 79
Text status	Text completely known
Editorial status	Not a critical text
Genre(s)	Author-related epigram Text-related epigram
Person(s)	Poet Konstantinos Rhodios (10th c.) - PMBZ: 25973: "Personenkennziffer: 23819"
Metre(s)	Dodecasyllable
Subject(s)	Achilleus Kometas (9th-10th c.) Thersites
Tag(s)	Address to the author Criticism of the author Polemic Reference to content of the book Scholium
Translation(s)	'All these verses by Cometas are rubbish. Cometas, you were another Thersites. So, how did you dare to impersonate Achilles, you wretch? To hell with these products of an unpoetic mind! Go and be hanged, throw them over your hump, these verses full of the rottenness of dung!' Language English Source(s) K. Demoen 2019, Epigrams on Authors and Books as Text and Paratext, in M. Kanellou, C. Carey, I. Petrovic (eds.), Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine Era, Oxford, 66-84: 79 'Kometas, you were another Thersites. So, how did you dare to impersonate Achilles, you wretch? To hell with these products of an unpoetical mind! Off to the gallows, off to the pillory with these verses full of the rottenness of dung!' Language English Source(s) M. Lauxtermann, 2003, Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres (vol. 1), Vienna: 109 'Tous ces vers sans grâce sont de Komètas. Oh Komètas, tu n'étais qu'un Thersite : pourquoi t'es-tu affublé du masque d'Achille, misérable ? Au diable ce produit d'un coeur étranger aux Muses; aux corbeaux, coquin, ou plutôt au dépotoir ces vers pleins de fumier.' Language French Source(s) P. Lemerle, 1971, Le premier humanisme byzantin. Notes et remarques sur enseignement et culture à Byzance des origines au Xe siècle, Paris: 167 'Pas beaux, tous ces vers, Cométas. Cométas, tu n'étais qu'un Thersite! Pourquoi donc, misérable, vouloir singer Achille? Retire ces produits d'une âme sans poésie, et jette aux corbeaux ou par-dessus ta bosse ces vers qui ne sont que fumier et pourriture.' Language French Source(s) R. Aubreton 1969, La translittération d'Homère, Byzantion, 39, 13-34: 16
Comment	Scriba J (Konstantinos Rhodios) wrote this down next to AP XV.40. Dübner (1888: 526) and Demoen (2019: 79) consider the poem as two epigrams. In their view, the first verse is a monostich followed by a subsequent poem of five verses.
Bibliography	Primary H. Beckby, 1965, Anthologia Graeca. XII-XVI (vol. 4), München: 290 F. Buffière, 1970, Anthologie Grecque. Tome XII: Anthologie palatine, Livres XIII-XV (vol. 12), Paris: 147 F. Dübner, 1888, Epigrammatum Anthologia Palatina cum Planudeis et Appendice nova epigrammatum veterum ex libris et marmoribus ductorum (vol. 2), Paris: 526 F. Pontani 1982, Lo scoliaste e Cometa, in Studi in onore di Aristide Colonna, Perugia, 247-253: 252-253 Secondary R. Aubreton 1969, La translittération d'Homère, Byzantion, 39, 13-34: 16 B. Baldwin 1985, The Homeric Scholarship of Cometas, Hermes, 113, 127-128: 128 A. Cameron, 1993, The Greek Anthology from Meleager to Planudes, Oxford: 310 M. Caprara 2000, La risurrezione di Lazzaro in una parafrasi del IX secolo (Cometa, Anth. Pal. XV 40), ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ, 24, 245-260: 245 M. D'Ambrosi 2006, La produzione esametrica di IX-X secolo nell’Anthologia Palatina: Ignazio Diacono, Anastasio Questore, Cometa, Costantino Rodio, Rivista di cultura classica e medioevale, 48, 87-122: 109 M. Lauxtermann, 2003, Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres (vol. 1), Vienna: 109-110 M. Lauxtermann, 2019, Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres (vol. 2), Vienna: 238 P. Lemerle, 1971, Le premier humanisme byzantin. Notes et remarques sur enseignement et culture à Byzance des origines au Xe siècle, Paris: 167 display 5 more references (8 in total) hide 5 references (8 in total)
Number of verses	6
Occurrence(s)	[24524] ἄκοσμα ταῦτα τοῦ κομητᾶ πάντ’ ἔπη [10th c.] PARIS - Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) - suppl. gr. 384 [10th c.] (f. 46r -- (alt.) p. 705) (6 verses)
Acknowledgements	Contributor(s) Cristina Cocola, Maria Tomadaki, Kristoffel Demoen, Julián Bértola, Anne-Sophie Rouckhout The credits system has been implemented in 2019. Credits from before the new system was in use might be incomplete.
Identification	Anthologia Graeca, XV.40 Vassis ICB 2005, 25: "Constant. Rhodius*, Scholium"
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Last modified: 2020-12-10.

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