κυαμοτρὼξ Ἀττικός in Paulus Silentiarius, Descriptio 125: No Allusion to Simplicius

Ronald C. McCail

doi:10.1017/S0068673500003321

κυαμοτρὼξ Ἀττικός in Paulus Silentiarius, Descriptio 125: No Allusion to Simplicius

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2018

Ronald C. McCail

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Ronald C. McCail: Affiliation:
Edinburgh University

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In a recent discussion of the fortunes of the neoplatonist Academy at Athens after A.D. 529, Mr A. Cameron has interpreted lines 125–7 of Paul the Silentiary's Description of St Sophia as an allusion to Simplicius:

'Tis no bean-eating Athenian who judges these lines, but men of piety and like disposition, men in whom both God and Emperor take pleasure. The clear implication of this abrupt and pointed allusion is that there were in Athens impious men of ‘unlike disposition’ in whom neither God nor Emperor took pleasure… The obvious candidate for Paul's barb would seem to be Simplicius…

Type: Research Article
Information: Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society (Second Series) , Volume 16 , 1970 , pp. 79 - 82

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068673500003321 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 1970

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^{page 79 note 1} I.e. .

^{page 79 note 2} P.C.Ph.S. n.s. XV (1969), 23 Google Scholar, see also 24f., 29. Diehl, C., Justinien (Paris, 1901), p. 565 Google Scholar takes this as an allusion to contemporary Athens, but does not connect it explicitly with the neoplatonists, as Mr Cameron claims. The editor of Paul's Description, L. Friedländer, saw no contemporary allusion in the lines, see Johannes von Gaza und Paulas Silentiarius (Leipzig and Berlin, 1912), p. 270.Google Scholar

^{page 79 note 3} See his addendum, p. 29.

^{page 80 note 1} Agathias is recounting how Arcadius made the Persian emperor Isdigerdes I guardian of his infant son Theodosius, and of the whole Roman empire.

^{page 80 note 2} Since Paul is declaiming inside the Patriarchate (lemma lines 80–1), (127) could be a reference to the combined secular and ecclesiastical character of his audience; the words . would apply as well to bishops as to secular magistrates, considering the clergy's power in the civic administration at this time. See Jones, A. H. M., The Later Roman Empire (Oxford, 1964), II, 758;Google Scholar Mandić, D. in Byzantion (1964), p. 355.Google Scholar Nevertheless, Menander Rhetor recommends praise of in his rules for encomiastic speeches ( Rhetores Graeci ed. Spengel, (Lipsiae, 1856), III, 368).Google Scholar Hence it would perhaps be wrong to assume too precise a reference in line 127.

^{page 80 note 3} Loc. cit. n. 2 above. See also Guignet, M., Grégoire de Nazianze, orateur et épistolier (Paris, 1911), p. 274.Google Scholar

^{page 80 note 4} Line 115. As Friedländer points out (op. cit. p. 269), this line sums up the poet's answer to the misgivings expressed in the preceding lines. The next lines proceed to one aspect of the emperor's , namely his bold action in attempting such a work as St Sophia. Thus means, in relation to Justinian, the liberty taken in presuming to conceive the church (so 115), but in relation to Paul it means the liberty taken in presuming to describe it (so 121, 131).

^{page 80 note 5} Following Friedländer, I accept Graefe's conjecture for , although the form does not occur elsewhere.

^{page 81 note 1} Scholia Vetera in Aristophanis Equites ed. Mervyn Jones, D. (Groningen–Amsterdam, 1969), pp. 16 f.:Google Scholar (sc. ) . In the Periclean age, the Boulē was chosen by sortition, the generals and other officers by direct election, see Hignett, C., A History of the Athenian Constitution (Oxford, 1967), p. 227.Google Scholar The Boulē is , Thucy. 8.66.

^{page 81 note 2} So Friedländer on line ‘ ist der bissige Richter nach Aristophanes' Rittern 41”. An illustration of what Aristophanes meant when he called Demos a is provided by Knights 746 ff. Cleon bids Demos hold an assembly and pass judgement between him and the Haggis-seller. When Demos insists on holding the assembly on the Pnyx, and not at his house-door, the Haggis-seller exclaims . For the various interpretations of the last line, see the scholia ad loc. I am grateful to Dr E. K. Borthwick for drawing my attention to this passage.

^{page 81 note 3} is, of course, syntactically independent of . The only other instance of is active, Dion. Hal. 7.4. 5 .

^{page 82 note 1} Gaza, John of, Descriptio I, 20 Google Scholar ; Agathias, , Hist. 4. 1. 8 Google Scholar . Paul's allusion differs from these in being pejorative, but this should not mislead us into believing that it contains more than it does. There is another pejorative Athenian allusion in George of Pisidia, De Vanitate Vitae 103 Google Scholar, (P.G. 92. 1589).