(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

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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


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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.




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.




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.




6/7

312

MEDIAEVAL

RHODIAN

LOVE-POEMS.

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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

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(pp. 308-313) h. f. tozer - mediaeval rhodian love-poems

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