Joannes Tzetzes
1. JOANNES (
Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης), a Greek grammarian of Constantinople.
The period when he flourished may be gathered from his own statement, that he wrote one hundred years after Michael Psellus (
Chil. 11.719), and from the fact that he dedicated his Homeric Allegories to Irene Augusta, the wife of Manuel Comnenus. who died A. D. 11 58.
The father of Joannes Tzetzes was Michael Tzetzes. His another's name was Endocia (
Chil. 5.611).
He was himself named after his paternal grandfather, a native of Byzantium. a man of some wealth, who, though not a learned man, showed great respect for scholars (
ib. 615). His maternal grandmother was of a Basque or Iberian family.
The earlier part of his life he spent with his brother Isaac at home, where they received various wholesome precepts from their father, urging them to prefer learning to riches, power, or precedence. (
Chil. 3.157, 4.566, &c.)
At the age of fifteen he was placed under the instruction of tutors, who not only carried him through the usual routine of study, but taught him Hebrew and Syriac (comp.
Chil. 6.282).
His writings bear evident traces of the extent of his acquirements in literature, science, and philosophy, and not less of the inordinate self-conceit with which they had filled him.
He boasts of having the best memory of any living man. (
Chil. 1.275, 545.)
He styles himself a second Cato or Palamedes (3.160); and says that he knows whole books off by heart (10.681, comp. 6.407. 475, 8.182, 9.752, 10.340, 364, 12.13, 118,
καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἕτερα ἐθέλοι τις μανθάνειν,
εἰ ἀπὸ στήθους οἴδαμεν λέγειν πειράσθω). Another subject on which he glorifies himself is the rapidity with which he could write, comparing it to the speed of lightning (12.119, 8.269, 526,
καὶ νόει τὸ ὀξύτατον τῆς Τζέτζου διανοίας).
He talks of
Τζετζικὰς ἐρεύνας, as models of investigation,
ἐν αἷσπερ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐκ χάους ἀνατρεχει (12.75, 126).
It is not much to be wondered at that others had not so exalted an opinion of him as he had of himself (12.97).
The neglect of his fellow-countrymen even excites in him the fear that Constantinople would be given up to the barbarians, and become itself barbarous (12.993, &c.).
He complains with bitterness that the princes and great men of his age did not appreciate his merits. but left him to get a livelihood by transcribing and selling his writings, of which they nevertheless expected copies to be sent them gratis (5.941, comp. 9.369).
He speaks of Irene Augusta as the only person of high station from whom he had received any thing (11.48), and even in this instance he complains that the sums promised him for his Homeric Allegories were kept back by those who should have paid him (9.282, &c.). Further biographical particulars have not come down to us.
Works
A large part of the voluminous writings of Tzetzes is still extant.
The following have been published.
This consists properly of three poems, collected in one under the titles
Τὰ πρὸ Ὁμήρου,
τὰ Ὁμήρου,
καὶ τὰ μεθ̓ Ὅμηρον.
The first contains the whole Iliac cyclus. from the birth of Paris to the tenth year of the siege. when the
Iliad begins.
The second consists of an abridgment of the
Iliad.
The third, like the work of Quintus Smyrnaeus, is devoted to the occurrences which took place. between the death of Hector and the return of the Greeks.
The whole amounts to 1676 lines, and is written in hexameter metre.
It is a very dull composition, all the merits that are to be found in which should be ascribed to the earlier poets from whom Tzetzes derived his materials. Our knowledge of this composition is of comparatively recent date.
A fragment of one hundred and forty-eight lines, from the Antehomerica, was published by F. Morel, under the title
Iliacum carmen Poetae Graeci cujus nomen ignoratur. A fragment of twenty lines from the Posthomerica was published by Dodwell in his
Dissertationes de veteribus Graecis et Romanis Cyclis, p. 802. In 1770 G. B. von Schirach published from a manuscript formerly at Augsburg, now at Munich, the whole of the Antehomerica, with the exception of about one hundred and seventy lines, a portion of the Homerica, and the fragment of the Posthomerica which had been published by Dodwell.
The missing portion of the Antehomerica, together with the whole of the Posthomerica, was found in a manuscript at Vienna by T. C. Tychsen, who sent a copy of it to F. Jacobs.
A copy of a manual script of the Homerica was obtained from England, and a complete edition of the three poems was published by Jacobs in 1793, with a commentary.
A more correct edition is that of Immanuel Bekker (Berlin, 1816).
Another extensive work of Tzetzes is that known by the name of
Chiliades, consisting in its present form of 12,661 lines.
The name
Chiliades was given to it by the first editor, Nic. Gerbelius, who divided it, without reference to the contents, into thirteen divisions of 1000 lines, the last being incomplete. Tzetzes himself called it
βίβλος ἱστορική, and divided it into three
πίνακες, as he termed them; the first of which contains one hundred and forty-one narrations, and ends at
Chil. 4.1. 466. Hereupon follows an epistle to one Joannes Lachanes, in which the contents of the first table are repeated and accompanied with moral observations.
The second
πίναξ extends from
Chil. 4.1. 781 to
Chil. 5.192, and contains twenty-three narratives.
The third contains four hundred and ninety-six stories.
It consists of six hundred and sixty chapters or divisions, separated into three masses. Its subject-matter is of the most miscellaneous kind, but embraces chiefly mythological and historical narratives, arranged under separate titles, and without any further connection.
The following are a few of them, as they occur : Croesus, Midas, Gyges, Codrus, Alcmaeon, the sons of Boreas, Euphorbus, Narcissus, Nireus, Hyacinthus, Orpheus, Amphion, the Sirens, Marsyas, Terpander, Arion, the golden lamb of Atreus, the bull of Minos, the dog of Cephalus, Megacles, Cimon, Aristopatira, the victories of Simonides, Stesichorus, Tyrtaeus, Hannibal, Bucephalus, the clothes of the Sybarite Antisthenes, Xerxes, Cleopatra, the Pharos at Alexandria, Trajanus and his bridge over the Danube, Archimedes, Hercules, &c.
It is an uncritical gossiping book, written in bad Greek in that abominable make-believe of a metre, called
political verse (
ἡμαζευηένοι στίχοι,
Chil. 9.283), of which the following is a sample : --
οἶδας δὲ πάντως ἀκριβῶς πῶς πᾶσαν οἶδα βίβλον
ἐκ στήθους τε καὶ στόματος οὕτως ἑτοίμως λέγειν,
οὐδὲ γὰρ μνημονέστερον τοῦ Τζέτζου θεὸς ἄλλον
ἄνδρα τῶν πρίν τε καὶ τῶν νῦν ἐζέφηνεν ἐν βίῳ.
(
Chil. 1.275.)
It is followed by an appendix, in iambics, and some prose epistles.
It contains, however, a great deal of curious and valuable information, though, as Heyne has shown, the bulk of it was obtained by Tzetzes at second hand. Fabricins (
Bibl. Graec. xi. p. 243, &c.) has a list of above 400 writers quoted by Tzetzes in this work.
The author appears to have contemplated a series of such productions, of which this was only the
Α῎λφα. Various appendices or scholia to it, and a collection of 107 prose epistles are yet unpublished.
Editions
The first edition of this work was published by Gerbelius in 1546. The best edition is that of Kiessling (Lips. 1826), though much still requires correction and supplementation (see Struve,
Ueber den politischen Vers der Mittelgriechen, 1828, and in the
Krit. Biblioth. 1827, 3. p. 241, &c.; comp. Dübner, in the
Rhein. Mus. 4.1). Some insignificant scholia on the Chiliades by Tzetzes are published in Cramer's
Anecdota. Oxon. (3.350, &c.).
3. On the Education of Children
An iambic poem on the education of children is printed in the editions of the Chiliades.
A series of mythical and epic narratives, in 777 political lines, entitled
θεογονία, was discovered by Immanuel Bekker, and published in the
Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie, 1840.
A versified treatise
περὶ μέτρων, and another
περὶ διαφορᾶς ποιητῶν (Cramer,
Anecd. Oxon. 4.302, &c.; Welcker,
Rhein. Mus. 4.393, &c.; Meineke,
Com. Gr. ii. p. 1245-1254, v. p. 3).
An equally worthless poem or collection of verses,
περὶ Πινδαρικῶν μέτρων (Cramer,
Anecd. Paris. 1.59-162).
7. Versified Scholia
Some versified scholia on Hermogenes (Cramer,
Anecd. Oxon. iv. p. 1-148).
Lines
περὶ ῥημάτων αὐθυποτάκτων (Bekker,
Anecd. vol. iii. p. 1088-1090).
An
ἐξήγησις on the
Iliad of Homer.
Editions
Published by G. Hermann, together with the work of Draco of Stratonicea, on metres (Leipzig, 1812).
10. Scholia on Hesiod
Editions
Printed in the editions of Hesiod by Trincavelli (Venice, 1537), and
Heinsius (Leyden, 1603).
Unpublished works
Of the unpublished works of Joannes Tzetzes, the most considerable is :
1. The Homeric Allegories
The Homeric Allegories (
ὑπόθεσις τοῦ Ὁμήρου ἀλληγορηθεῖσα or
μετάφρασις Ὁμήρου), consisting of some 6000 political lines. Tzetzes mentions this work in the Chiliades (5.7, 776, 9.282, &c.). Besides this there are,
2. Scholia on the Halieutica of Oppian
Scholia on the Halieutica of Oppian.
Expositio Isagoges, seu Libri de V. Vocibus Porphyrii, in political verses.
4.
An epitome of the rhetoric of Hermogenes
In political verses.
(comp.
Chil. 11.361).
6. Letters
A collection of 107 letters (see above).
7. On the Canon of Ptolemy
A treatise on the Canon of Ptolemy.
8. Short Pieces
Various short pieces, epigrams, &c.
Sources
For an account of the manuscripts in which these are found the reader is referred to Fabricius,
Bibl. Gr. vol. xi. p. 215, &c., comp. 1.403, &100.6.352.
Further Information
Schöll,
Geschichte der Griech. Litteratur, vol. iii. p. 84, &c.; Bernhardy,
Grundriss der Griechischen Litteratur, vol. ii. p. 1070.
