Anthologies and Anthologists 10710; two verses not copied by Planudes; APl 387, nos. 6, 5, 8, 7 and 9^75.
Palindromes are totally nonsensical, of course, but may betray a certain men-
tality. Two of the palindromes deal with Photios and Leo the Philosopher,
respectively: soò t/ óztò soUñß Étz ówtioß and n/ ™lat2 më ̧nht2 soUñß 4th
no8mata l6zn^76. The texts can hardly be translated but mean something like:
“Let the wise Photios come to you with his light” and “Useless thoughts forged
by the mind are baneful, wise Leo”. By putting the word soóöß right in the
middle, the author of the two palindromes makes clear that he is opposing two
types of wisdom, religious and profane. There can be little doubt that the
author sides with the camp of Photios. Photios is the light shining forth,
Photios is the intellectual guide leading the way. Conversely, the profane
wisdom of Leo the Philosopher is useless, if not downright pernicious.
Cephalas, Constantine the Sicilian and the anonymous author of the two
palindromes pay lip service to the ideas of Photios. After c. 870 the Greek
Anthology continues to be studied, but with the death of Leo the Philosopher
dies the ideal of an enlightened hellenism. From that moment on, the legacy of
hellenism has to be christianized in order to become acceptable.
**
*
A Collection of Classicistic Epigrams: AP XV, 28-40
The small collection of epigrams copied at the end of the B manuscript, AP
XV, 28–40, illustrates the ideological turnover from Leo to Photios, from
unreserved enthusiasm for the ancients to a sort of classicism in Christian
disguise. The collection was unquestionably compiled before 902, because the
lemma attached to AP XV, 32 leaves no doubt that Arethas had not yet
become archbishop when the collection was made. It cannot be excluded that
the small sylloge was already to be found in the original Cephalas, but I am
inclined to think that the epigrams were added to the anthology of Cephalas in
what was undoubtedly one of its earliest apographs. The reason is the duplica-
tion of Theophanes’ epigram at AP XV, 35. If the sylloge had been put
(^75) See GALLAVOTTI 1989: 52–59 and 62–65, and STERNBACH 1900: 298–301. GALLAVOTTI 1989:
56–57 and 64 thinks that the initial collection consisted of 19 palindromes; however,
since nos. 13–19 are not found in a fixed order in the manuscripts, I would suggest that
they are later additions to the collection.
(^76) There can be no doubt about the identity of this L6zn, for the last eight palindromes
including the one on L6zn are entitled in the various mss. containing the collection:
L6ontoß Uilosöóoy.