Epigrams on Works of Art 173in fact functions as a book epigram celebrating the author of the homilies. One
certainly cannot pretend that the epigram was re-used indiscriminately,
simply because it floats from one context to another^63. For, with all its empha-
sis on Gregory’s doctrinal expositions, the epigram perfectly fits into its new
context. It is actually quite an appropriate homage to the author of the
homilies, for if we had not known what its original purpose was, no one would
have suspected that it was not an authentic book epigram.
Thus we see that the text of Theod. St. 67 serves as part of an encomiastic
hymn, as an epigram on a work of art, and as a book epigram. The words
remain practically the same, but the contexts differ. Since the context largely
determines how a poetic text should be interpreted, we are faced with three
totally different interpretations of the same text, all three of which can be
equally defended.
**
*
Byzantine Charioteer Epigrams
The Planudean Anthology contains a series of Byzantine epigrams that
describe images of famous sixth-century charioteers, which were depicted on
the ceiling of the imperial gallery at the Hippodrome^64. This epigram cycle
(APl380–387) does not derive from the original anthology of Cephalas, but
from one of its oldest apographs: Pla – an apograph produced at the behest of
Thomas the Patrician and Logothete tou Dromou in the first quarter of the
tenth century^65. The epigrams are written in paroxytone dodecasyllables that
are prosodically correct according to Byzantine standards, but deviate from
the rules of ancient Greek prosody: for instance, the short iota in Kznstant¦noß
(384. 1; 385. 1) or the long upsilon in Poró7rioß (380. 3; 381. 2). The epigrams
elaborate on the typically Byzantine theme of ‘pictorial liveliness’: the pictures
are so true to nature and so lifelike that you would almost think that the
(^63) This ‘re-using’ of epigrams is not without parallel in Byzantium. For instance, Marc. gr.
53 (a. 968) contains four hexametric distichs on Basil the Great’s homily In S. Christi
generationem: ed. RUDBERG 1961: 63–64. These four book epigrams, I would suggest,
originally served as epigrams on pictures of the Nativity. See, for instance: d6rkeo
parq6non ¢de g1la proc6oysan än1ndrzß / kaò per1tzn t5ktoysan äpeiröcronon basil‰a
(“Behold the Virgin here, as she, untouched by a man, pours forth milk and gives birth
to the timeless Lord of the universe”).
(^64) See CAMERON 1973: 188–200.
(^65) See chapter 3, pp. 115–116.