Gnomic Epigrams 261Kaò moò do5h ge Cristñß sygkakoyce¦sqai
óron5moiß ändr1si te kaò soózt1toiß
Èper syneyóra5nesqai mzro¦ß älögoiß.
“May Christ grant that I endure adversity together with sensible and
prudent men, rather than enjoy the company of irrational fools”^52. In many
respects the collection of Kassia’s epigrams resembles the so-called “sacro-
profane” gnomologies, such as the one compiled by Georgides, where we find
not only quotes from the Bible and the church fathers, but also sayings and
maxims of pagan authors^53. Looking at the sources of Kassia, we can distin-
guish two categories, profane and religious: (a) some Menander, Palladas, a few
verses by Euripides and Theognis (which she probably culled from a gnomol-
ogy), and the Aesopic material treated above; (b) the Bible, Gregory of Nazian-
zos as well as a number of monastic epigrams (see below)^54. It is worth noticing
that Georgides made use of almost the same range of sources^55. Georgides was
a monk, just as Kassia was a nun. And like her, he will have composed his
gnomology primarily for the monastic milieu he was living in. However, the
large number of manuscripts that have come down to us also bears testimony
to its rapid dissemination among laymen. The same can be said about most
“sacro-profane” gnomologies, a genre that flourished in the ninth and tenth
centuries: the authors are monks writing for monks, but their gnomologies are
read by laics as well. The reason for this remarkable success is the fact that
these compilations provide all sorts of gnomae, not only religious ones, but also
texts that are of interest to people living outside the cloister.
Given the mixed character of these “sacro-profane” gnomologies, it is often
difficult to establish whether a particular gnome should be interpreted in a
Christian sense or not. In the poetry of Kassia, for instance, it is not always
clear what the concept of uil5a stands for. Friendship, obviously, but what sort
of friendship? Let us look at the following three epigrams:
U5lon gn8sion 9 per5stasiß de5xeiº
oJ g2r äpost8setai to ̄ óiloym6noy.
“A crisis will reveal a true friend; for he will not desert the one he loves”.D7o óilo7ntzn tën ™n Crist/ óil5an
œsasmñß oJk Çnestin, äll\ Çriß m@llon.(^52) Ed. KRUMBACHER 1897a: 359 and 365; translation (with some minor adjustments):
TRIPOLITIS 1992: 118 and 126.
(^53) See ODORICO 1986: 3–11.
(^54) For the sources used by Kassia see KRUMBACHER 1897a: 341–344 and ROCHOW 1967: 240,
n. 648, 649 and 652.
(^55) See ODORICO 1986: 31–33 and 293–297 (the index auctorum).