MediaEval 2015 - The NNI Query-by-Example System for MediaEval 2015
(Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
Transcript of (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
-
8/9/2019 (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
1/7
Mediaeval Rhodian Love-PoemsAuthor(s): H. F. TozerSource: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 1 (1880), pp. 308-313Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/623628 .
Accessed: 08/02/2015 11:15
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 89.34.228.69 on Sun, 8 Feb 2015 11:15:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hellenichttp://www.jstor.org/stable/623628?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/623628?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hellenic
-
8/9/2019 (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
2/7
308
MEDIAEVAL
RHODIAN
LOVE-POEMS.
MEDIAEVAL RHODIAN LOVE-POEMS.
THE
study
of
mediaeval
Greek
literature has
lately
ex-
perienced
a serious loss in the
early
death of Dr. W.
Wagner,
who
by
his
Medieval
Greek
Texts,
published
for the
English
Philological
Society,
his
Carmina
Graeca Medii
Aevi,
and other
works
on the same
subject,
has deserved
well
of all who
are
interested
in
the
writings
of that
period.
Not
the
least
import-
ant
addition
to
our
knowledge
of
this branch of literature
is
that which he made shortly before his death by publishing
The
Alphabet
of
Love
('O
X4bd/pro9
Toqr~
d
y7nrq,
Leipzig:
Teubner).
The
manuscript
from
which
this
is
printed
for
the
first
time was
discovered
by
him in
the British
Museum
during
the
spring
of
1878,
and it
contains a
collection
of
love-poems
in
the
usual Greek
ballad-metre,
which were
partly
arranged
according
to their initial
letter;
this
system
Dr.
Wagner
has
introduced
throughout,
whence the
name
The
Alphabet of
Love.
The place of their composition is shown by internal evidence
to
have
been
Rhodes,
for
in
one of
the
poems
the
writer
repre-
sents
her
lover,
who
has
gone
into
foreign
lands,
as
saying
that
he had
left her
in
that
island-
'
V
K
6p'
V,
Tq'V
d0tlo'a,
qvT\V
ePo8ovT?\v
6?0,qa.
(No.
xxxii.
11.)
Their
date
was
some
time
during
the two
centuries
preceding
the
capture
of
Constantinople by
the
Turks;
most
probably
in
the middle or the latter half of
the fourteenth
century.
We
find
in
them
the
mention of
the
Turcopuls
or Turkish
mer-
cenaries,
who
were
employed by
the
Byzantine emperors,
and
of
the
Venetians and
Genoese,
who
were
then
the
most influen-
tial
powers
in
the
Levant;
and the
admiration
expressed
for
This content downloaded from 89.34.228.69 on Sun, 8 Feb 2015 11:15:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
3/7
MEDIAEVAL
RHODIAN
LOVE-POEMS.
309
objects
in
the
imperial
palace,
or
in
the
possession
of the
emperors-such
as the
porphyry
pillar,
and the
imperial
icon
of the
Virgin;
mentioned in the
poem
of which a translation is
given
below-seems to
imply
that the
Byzantine empire
had
not
yet
reached the last
stage
of
decline,
and that its influence
was
still felt in the island. Now this was the
period
of the
occupation
of Rhodes
by
the
Knights
of St. John
(A.D.
1309-1522),
and
consequently
the cavaliers who are
so
con-
stantly
mentioned here are none other than the members of
that
military
order;
and the
passages,
like that
already
quoted,
which imply a somewhat migratory life on the part of some of
the
writers,
refer to their
visits to
Western
Europe;
as
where
one of
them
says--
BeXw
a'
ray
w
'
Tv pafyxtdv,l~rmcoq,
iXpdt,
t dpyyrow.
(No.
xxxiii.
2.)
In
fact,
the
whole
collection is
the
amatory
correspondence
which
passed
between
them
and the ladies
of the
island.
They
are 112 in number, ranging from distichs to poems of some
length,
for one contains more than
fifty
lines.
Unlike
most
modern Greek
love-poems,
they
are addressed as
well
by
women to
men as vice
versd,
and
the
compositions
of
the
fair
sex are
not less
impassioned
than
the others.
In
the
present
arrangement
the
poems
of the
two
sexes are
frequently
made
to
alternate,
so
that
a sort
of
amoebean character
prevails.
Their
directness of
expression,
fulness of
metaphor,
and
highly
coloured diction, are thoroughly lyric; and they may fairly
be
described,
not
only
as
superior
to
anything
of
the
kind
in
modern Greek
literature,
but
as
deserving
a
high
place
among
amatory poems.
The
dialect,
notwithstanding
their
early
date,
is
almost
pure
Romaic,
though
here
and there we
meet
with an
unusual
tense-form,
and oi
is
frequently
used
as
the
negative,
though
not
to the
exclusion
of
86v.
With
a
view
to
popularise
them,
Dr.
Wagner
has
appended
a
German translation
through-
out,
in
which
the
metre
and
much of the
spirit
of the
original
is
retained.
By
means
of
this
notes
are
rendered
almost
unnecessary,
but
there
is
a
complete
glossary
at
the
end
of the
volume,
com-
piled
with the
editor's usual
care and
learning; though
it
is
difficult to
understand
why
so
many
words
should
have
been
included
which will
be
found
in
any
modern Greek
lexicon.
This content downloaded from 89.34.228.69 on Sun, 8 Feb 2015 11:15:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
4/7
310
MEDIAEVALRHODIAN
LOVE-POEMS.
Though
scarcely anything
like
indelicacy
is
to
be discovered
in
the
poems,
yet,
as
Dr.
Wagner
remarks,
they
bear witness
to a
corrupt
state of
society,
and to the
demoralising
influence
of
the
military
orders
on those
amongst
whom
they
lived. This
is
corroborated
in what we find a
century
and a half
later
in
Emmanuel
Georgillas' poem
on the
great
visitation
of
Rhodes
by
the
plague
in 1498
(Tb OavatIcv
7rqiv
P6Tov),
which
describes
the
great beauty
of the ladies
of the
island,
the
rich
attire
worn
by
both
sexes,
and their
luxurious
feasting.
I
sub-
join
one
of the
longer
of the Rhodian
poems
together
with
a translation, premising that modes of expression,and transitions
in
sentences,
which
hardly
seem out of
place
in
the
original,
will
easily
be felt
to
be
harsh
or
abrupt
in
English.
It
is worth
while
to
call the attention of
those who
are
interested in the
subject
to
the
fact
that in
the same
manuscript
volume
which
contains
these
poems
(Additional
MSS.
No.
8241)
Dr.
Wagner
found
a
mediaeval
Greek
Achilleis,
which he had not
time
to
transcribe.
IdvTa,
tcvpd
pov,
eyd7rov
0e,
ical
ad,
yanrc
we
7rXreov.
&
7t
XrTepo
ve, vyep,
KL
,
v wrXrpocopauat,
'pCpqre
roVJ9
pOTe
'ro&9
Icap8&to•'oyTa'rd&•e,
#7roT1
dXav Ical
•vre(terav
e
tCxea
la a2v
iapitdv
pov.
5
Icwa7raTareic
al
K
6Olet
ra
,ra
0tiXXa
rq
xicapS6te
ov,
IcK
C
v TOb
tV
ica
,
To
b pedaq,
pe at
'7)y/.era
0ov.
xcvpi
p.ov,
er'
'at
6
~
oa
Xpav3ropeXcrdpt%
7TroV eXetC
icXcica/.ara
rToroXaXa
e re'ioav
al
p,
&ehStwpay.
'rot
&tapoiv
ica~
err'vov
to,
'otr
i
oe
~4t•frovrv,
10
caKa
ry(o,
xvpa,
w4
eITva,
7roTC
OrKe
c
Xbpraod
-e,
7rvra
ta
,
cal
'reOv,4,,
ic
pa
p/ov,
va
c
7rrvco.
e(v 'urat
c&OVLtv
op7vp
ov
7roJ
a0TEKe
9
7T
7raXaTrv,
orov
covmrt'wet5
e
o
facr
tXeIab
I
plve& XoyoO&nC,
T97
4;c
rrotwa
elic6vtpav,
roD
paactXe^0
y3
6Xs'tv,
15
Kai
6y
r(yCdiaV8 i
rta
x
cal
86fa
TCv
apx6fYrTv.
This content downloaded from 89.34.228.69 on Sun, 8 Feb 2015 11:15:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
5/7
MEDIAEVAL
RHODIAN
LOVE-POEMS.
311
I
ever
loved
thee,
lady
mine,
and
yet
my
love
increases.
If
thou believ'st
not,
slender
maid,
if
thou art not
persuaded,
Then
ask,
I
pray
thee,
ask
the
Loves that
fire the soul with
passion,
The
Loves who
brought
and
planted
thee
within
my
heart's
enclosure.
5
But
thou dost rend
and
trample
down the
flowers of
my
affection,
Yet
dear and near
art
thou to
me,
the nail
and flesh
no
nearer.
Thou art the
river,
lady
mine,
that flows
with
gold
and
honey,
So
many
are
the braided
locks that
wave
and
are
thy
glory:
The
passers-by
that
drink
thereof
thirst
not
again
for
ever,
10
But,
lady,
since
I
drank
of
thee,
I
never
have
been
sated,
I
ever
thirst,
and
ever
long,
lady,
to drink
thy
fountain.
Thou
art
the
shaft of
porphyry
that stands within
the
palace,
By
which
the
Emperor
sits in
state,
the
Logothete
gives
judgment
;
Thou
art
Our
Lady's
imaged
form,
worn
on the
Emperor's
bosom,
15 And
foreign
princes
honour
thee,
and
chieftains
magnify
thee.
This content downloaded from 89.34.228.69 on Sun, 8 Feb 2015 11:15:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
6/7
312
MEDIAEVAL
RHODIAN
LOVE-POEMS.
deov
o'atT
77r;
VIura
ij
SpootQ
Iac
j
I
rdXv?
70ro
XGL~ovO,
Kait beryyoga71roo7Treptvv
Kai
i~so?rOTv
7479a7,
Kal
7ti
allryiq
abyepwO',
r,
o
a
70raXa'rtoi
•cXavYXa.
EaOb'
at
T
ao7pov
'obpavoV,
T70O
KaltroTv
Tb
XovUAoLat,
20
KaL
xcdpa
'roXv~kevTro9
AC
Tb
wroXbyv
Xolydptv,
eCarr
70
O
T
K
`XtoKD
b
x6icXtoa
4
eL
AbC'rvatv
-cat,
ict
a
7'r
'A8d/aov
'17)vY
Xhevpav
7
7ti
7rayl8a
~e'a
' rat,
Soro &ica'r*evKali 'VptTrev 7rroXXcV captai%
•E•
a'at,
t
a•rn'b
'&S
ta
T7a
XaXoi)v
vav
y7rovXtvivi
'arat,
25 K
ctv '-rv7
v
\
'7roKcot/LO',r
4
by7Trvov
(
/ov aUXOrrW.
di/C/fl
Ka
a0
ot
Ep0WEg
'roXX•t
/
rvpavvoitrtv
icvp
pov,
b rav
0VUv7la
ica
/3X&
owe
'9 Two
voiv
pov,
IcXovt'e&ra
I
cap
8
Ta
pov
caa•l
0ele'at
&04v
TobbPXXov,
avaa•revdo
dE'y apstatd, ,v
/Eqpropw
aTrop•vest,
30
&
'rto
e
prlv yarrryov
ara~do
'
q
v
xap&s6
pov,
coa•v
aXaip&
o'8ro/pov
oTTreL
rc
o'aweoca
piov,
7TOvXoyt0crp6V
p.OV
artavar
~al oXAa
(ov
T
t
.•k4Xl.
This content downloaded from 89.34.228.69 on Sun, 8 Feb 2015 11:15:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 (Pp. 308-313) H. F. Tozer - Mediaeval Rhodian Love-Poems
7/7
MEDIAEVAL
RHODIAN LOVE-POEMS.
313
Thou art
the
cooling
dew of
night,
the hoar-frost of
the
winter,
The moonlight of the eventide, the sunshine of the daytime,
The
planet
bright
that leads the
dawn,
the
lamp
that
lights
the
palace.
Thou
art
the
star of
heaven
above,
the blossom
of the
meadow,
20 A land
by
all
much
coveted,
a land of
many
treasures.
From
forth
the circle of
the
sun
thou
art the one
pure
daybeam,
The single rib from out the side of our first father taken;
'Tis
thou
who
many
hearts
of men with
flames of love
hast
kindled,
Among
the
vocal
nightingales
thou
art a tuneful
songstress
:
25
When
I
betake
myself
to
rest,
e'en
in
my
dreams
I
see
thee.
And
many
other are the forms
in
which the
Loves
torment
me
For,
lady,
when
I
think
of
thee,
when
in
my
mind
I
bear
thee,
My
heart
of
hearts
is
deeply moved,
it
quivers
like an
aspen,
My
inmost breast is torn
with
sighs,
I
can
no
more
endure
it,
30 For
that
thy
love
has found its
way
into
my
soul's
recesses,
And
like
a
sharp
two-edged
sword
cruelly
rends
my
heart-
strings,
And
all
emaciates
my
limbs,
and
robs
me
of
my
reason.
H. F.
TOZER.
IT.
S.-
V
OL T.
Y
This content downloaded from 89.34.228.69 on Sun, 8 Feb 2015 11:15:32 AM
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp