CUP (2021) p/b 304pp £24.99 (ISBN 9780521614818 (p/b))
Oxford’s Regius Professor of Greek has gone on record with the observation that there seemed to be a marked increase in the attention paid by scholars to the Anthologia Palatina, and here, right on cue, comes this Green-and-Yellow edition of a selection of Hellenistic Epigrams: and a selection it assuredly is: the content of its 140 epigrams comprise about one ninth of the homonymous epigrams edited by Gow and Page in 1965.
The six sections of S.’s (compact) Introduction comprise (1) The Origins of Literary Epigram, (2) ‘Genres’ of Hellenistic Epigram, (3) ‘Fictive and ‘Inscribed’ Epigrams, (4) Formal and Literary Aspects of Hellenistic Epigrams (in eight sections, including Language and Style, Dialect, and Metre), (5) Transmission (Epigram Collections, Sources of the Text), and (6) Organizing Principles of this Anthology. The first epigrams were inscribed on stone, often on graves or dedications to the gods; by the end of the fifth century one famous poet, Simonides, was explicitly connected with the form. By the Hellenistic period, the form had become diverse and innovative, imagining scenes that could not have been recorded with an inscription (e.g. the deaths of sea creatures or insects), or drew on themes and subject matter from (e.g.) elegy, lyric or mime: S. also singles out amatory epigrams and ‘ecphrastic’ epigrams, containing descriptions or appreciations of art, as part of a ‘broader Hellenistic discourse’ on the power of art to imitate life.
On dialect (basically Ionic or Doric), it is worth remembering the sage comment of Gow and Page, Hellenistic Epigrams (HE, p. xlv): ‘the dialect of many epigrams presents an editor with a tiresome and insoluble problem’: that said, S. makes a commendable effort to set out what can or cannot be accepted with a reasonable amount of confidence, with a further note on phonology and orthography, including ‘hyperdoricisms’ and some basic grammatical forms. The section on metre includes six ‘Laws’, where S. presumably draws on Annette Harder’s Aetia (2012) and West’s Greek Metre (1982): for a really full treatment of metre, see Gow and Page, Garland of Philip (GPh) (1968), pp.xxxvii-xlv.
(5) Transmission: Epigram Collections and Sources of the Text. S. takes us briskly through this minefield: see HE pp xxxii-xlv for a full (and most daunting) account. S. does not provide a section specifically devoted to Ascriptions, another minefield, though he points out that not all the epigrams ascribed to Simonides may be truly his: Plato also had many epigrams attributed to him: how many, if any, were composed by him, we cannot tell. Finally, S. sets out the Organizing Principles of this Anthology within three main headings (the last of which also has four subheadings). Individual poems are grouped by authors, and authors are themselves arranged alphabetically within four chronological groups. It may be worth adding that almost all the selections, with the main exception of those epigrams of Posidippus which come from the Milan papyrus, can be found in the venerable (1916) five volume Loeb edition by W.R.Paton of the Greek Anthology, since it finds no place in the Bibliography.
The editors of this series had cautioned against the inclusion of epigrams with complicated textual problems; such matters as do arise are treated briefly in the commentary, and the apparatus criticusis kept spare. Here it becomes relevant to cite from the Preface: ‘Since the publication of those works (sc. HE and GPh), new scholarly attitudes and approaches have helped transform our understanding of the form and its literary and cultural context, as have papyrological discoveries: epigrams are better appreciated as works of literature, as are the ancient collections in which they were assembled’. This approach is reflected in the Commentary, with plentiful detail to introduce each poet and each poem: the result is a commentary of great thoroughness and substantial length (but was it necessary to tell us that Posidippus violated Tiedke’s Law? He did not do so in the poems given here).
The selection of 140 epigrams includes poems by 26 poets, led by Calliimachus, who is well represented, with all (but one ) of his best-known epigrams; other well-known poets are Theocritus (but are the epigrams truly his?), Posidippus, with items from the Milan papyrus, Leonidas and Antipater of Sidon; and room is found for such as Erinna (whose existence was denied by Martin West, improbably, says S.) and even the shadowy figure of Moero (but her spelling is in doubt). It is obviously impractical to notice here what S. has to say about each and every poem, or even poet (what a pity that Crinagoras, that well-connected boulevardier and deplorably casual versifier lived after the period covered by S.). However, S. introduces each poet, giving such biographical details as can be ascertained or surmised, and setting them in their wider (especially literary) context; the poems are given helpful headings, with not only their numeration in the Selection, but also (typically) identifying references to the Anth. Pal. and to HE or GP.
Some instances of S.’s methods are noteworthy. In that well-known epigram of Callimachus (LXIV in this selection) in which he expresses disdain for epic poetry, and describes his fastidiousness and contempt for the vulgar, he yet in the final couplet changes tack, mourning that his passion for a young boy has been pre-empted by a rival. So here, says S. it seems that Callimachus is not, after all, being unduly ‘picky’. S. goes on to consider the wording of the final couplet, with its puzzling syntax; he gives four possible interpretations (who is saying ‘The boy belongs to another’? is it Echo or the τις who also appears?). It seems impossible to decide: Gow and Page are equally puzzled. Incidentally. S. does not cite the two-line retort ascribed to Apollonius of Rhodes. In LVII, where Philippos mourns the early death of his son Nicoteles, ‘his great hope’, S. says that it means that the father had hoped to benefit from his son in future years—but is such a mercenary meaning justified? May not Philippos simply have hoped for great things from a promising young lad?
A curious choice is LXXXVII, in which Theocritus, in four rather inconsequential lines, appropriately written in scazons (‘limping iambics’) addresses the tomb of Hipponax. The epigram, says S. ‘depicts Hipponax not as indiscriminately hostile, but as a discerning judge of character and capable of kindness towards the deserving’. Perhaps so: but why ever was Theocritus, founder of pastoral, addressing Hipponax, a notably scurrilous poet who lived some 250 years before his time? (Incidentally, the lines include a relatively rare word, κρήγυος found once in Homer, and ‘misunderstood’, say LSJ, by Theocritus; the word may, says S., have been used by Hipponax, to suit his ‘Ionian’ voice.). However, Hipponax was not the only earlier poet to be hymned in this selection; Hesiod is referred to in both LXVI (Callimachus) and CXX (Alcaeus—obviously not the lyric poet), where he appears in the old genitive form, -οιο (not mentioned by S. in his summary of Doric forms on p.11). There is a curiosity in the final couplet of CXXXIV (by Meleager—him of the Garland), which the poet concludes with a trilingual greeting, Syrian (σαλάμ). Phoenician, and Greek (though the Phoenician word, ναίδιος, is unattested; S. does not mention Scaliger’s suggestion αὐδονίς): as S. observes, this epigram is the final one of three, in which Meleager tells his literary and geographic autobiography (Tyre, Gadara, Cos) and where he says that ‘everyone shares a common cosmos’—true enough, but how widespread was this broadmindedness?
As already noted this is a commentary on a generous scale—230 pages for 30 odd pages of text—but this is understandable, and indeed necessary for the students envisaged by the publishers, who may yet find some of the epigrams hard to translate as well as difficult when they seek to glean their Innigkeit. There is a Bibliography, but no Index Verborum (contrast the 20 double-column pages in HE, of course a work on a far larger scale). It remains the case that a student will do well to have available the works of Gow and Page. At just under £25, the softback edition provides undeniably good value.
Colin Leach