Anthologies and Anthologists 103second part of the Sylloge Parisina and AP XII often have the same epigrams
in the same order^60 , it would seem that PCP was one of the many sources used
by Cephalas for the compilation of his anthology.
The redactor of PCP can doubtless be identified with Constantine the
Sicilian since the pederastic epigrams in the Sylloge Parisina start with his
delightful poem on Eros, the Love Song in anacreontics^61. Constantine the
Sicilian wrote the poem ™n neöthti pa5fzn, oÊti spoyd1fzn, as the lemma at-
tached to it states. Born in c. 825–830^62 , Constantine will have written the
poem when he was still a student at the Magnaura school or shortly afterwards;
but he may have added it to PCP in a later stage. For obvious reasons PCP
must have been compiled before c. 870, when Constantine suffered his crise de
conscience and publicly disavowed his former teacher, Leo the Philosopher. In
the Love Song Constantine describes an unfortunate encounter with Eros: one
day he catches sight of him, chases him in vain, and is then struck “below the
waist” by the arrows of the little devil. In need of moral support the poet begs
the chorus of his companions to join in the singing: “My friend, spend sleepless
nights like Achilles singing in sweet harmony with the warbling nightingales. I
have experienced the charms of love, but I do not find anywhere the way out.
Give me a companion along the paths of song, to sing with me of Eros”. Since
all the epigrams in PCP can be said to celebrate the power of Eros, PCP is in
a sense the fulfillment of Constantine’s appeal to his fellow poets “to sing with
him of Eros”. Thus the ancient epigrammatists and Constantine meet in the
timeless space of intertext, where poetry is a substitute for real life and a
compensation for the sorrows of love. Love may be unattainable, but one may
“spend sleepless nights” with one’s friends and confess to them one’s deepest
desires. Constantine the Sicilian’s Love Song is an appropriate introduction to
PCP, for it shapes a fictitious setting of unrequited love and male bonding, and
thus provides a context in which homo-erotic poetry may be read, interpreted
and relished. Though Constantine wrote the poem when he was still a young
man, he shows a remarkable erudition for someone his age. The poem abounds
with all sorts of literary reminiscences: Moschus’ Runaway Love, Longus’ Daph-
nis and Chloë and ancient epithalamia^63. The borrowings from Moschus’ delight-
(^60) See CAMERON 1993: 242.
(^61) Ed. CRAMER 1841: 380–383 and MATRANGA 1850: 693–696. The lemma attached to the
poem in Par. Suppl. gr. 352 does not mention the author. The index of Barb. gr. 310
preserves the original title: to ̄ aJto ̄ (i.e. Kznstant5noy grammatiko ̄) îŸd1rion ™rztikñn di\
änakr6[ontoß], Ýper ðÍsen ™n neöthti pa5fzn, oÊti spoyd1fzn, Çlaben dê tën Üpöqesin ™k
melùd5aß tinñß ãädom6nhß ™n g1mù: see GALLAVOTTI 1987: 39 and 49–51 and NISSEN 1940: 66–
67.
(^62) See LAUXTERMANN 1999a: 170, n. 27.
(^63) See R.C. MCCAIL, Byz 58 (1988) 112–122, CAMERON 1993: 249–252 and CRIMI 2001: 40–43.