Studia graeca et latina Gothoburgensia LXXI STAFFAN WAHLGREN THEODORE METOCHITES’ SENTENTIOUS NOTES SEMEIOSEIS GNOMIKAI 61–70 & 72–81 A CRITICAL EDITION WITH INTRODUCTION, TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND INDEXES THEODORE METOCHITES’ SENTENTIOUS NOTES SEMEIOSEIS GNOMIKAI 61–70 & 72–81 STUDIA GRAECA ET LATINA GOTHOBURGENSIA LXXI Theodore Metochites’ Sententious Notes Semeioseis gnomikai 61–70 & 72–81 A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation, Notes, and Indexes by staffan wahlgren © Staffan Wahlgren 2018 ISBN 978-91-7346-993-7 (printed) ISBN 978-91-7346-994-4 (pdf ) ISBN 978-91-7346-995-1 (e-pub) ISBN 978-91-7346-996-8 (mobi) ISSN 0081-6450 ISSN 2002-2131 Kriterium (Online) http://doi.org/10.21524/kriterium.5 Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia, volume 71 Editor: Gunhild Vidén This volume is published within the framework of Kriterium, a quality hall- mark for Swedish academic books. All Kriterium publications undergo peer review according to set guidelines, and are available as open access publica- tions at www.kriterium.se Printed with a grant from Herbert & Karin Jacobssons Stiftelse Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Box 222, 405 30 Göteborg [email protected] Print: Stema, Borås 2018 Abstract Title: Theodore Metochites’ Sententious Notes. Semeioseis gnomikai 61– 70 & 72–81. A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation, Notes, and Indexes Author: Staffan Wahlgren Language: Ancient Greek and English ISBN: 978-91-7346-993-7 (printed) ISBN: 978-91-7346-994-4 (pdf ) ISBN: 978-91-7346-995-1 (e-pub) ISBN: 978-91-7346-996-8 (mobi) ISSN: 0081-6450 ISSN: 2002-2131 Kriterium (Online) DOI: http://doi.org/10.21524/kriterium.5 Keywords: Sceptical philosophy, the ignorance of man, changes of fortune, the usefulness of mathematics and geometry, ‘Live hidden’, the duties of a good Christian, politics, marriage, war, peace This volume contains a critical edition, with an English translation and notes, of chapters 61–70 and 72–81 of the Semeioseis gnomikai (‘Sententious notes’) of the Byzantine statesman Theodore Metochites (1270–1332). The introduction gives an extensive, partly new, description and assess- ment of the manuscripts as physical objects and in their relationship to each other. The manuscripts discussed, and used in the edition, are the Par. gr. 2003 (P) and Marc. gr. 532 (M), both of the fourteenth century, and, wher- ever M is illegible, the Scor. gr. 248 (E), a sixteenth-century copy of M. In the edition, the reading of P (including the corrections by the main copyist, Michael Klostomalles, as well as a manus secunda) is generally adopted as the authoritative text. The volume concludes with a bibliography, an index of passages, and an index of names. The discussion in the essays touches upon several subjects, more or less related to each other. Among these are the ignorance of man and the diffi- culty of knowing anything, and the moral side of seeking an active life as opposed to ‘living hidden.’ Contents Preface. ix INTRODUCTION . xi 1. The manuscripts . xi 1.1 The Paris manuscript (P: Parisinus gr. 2003) . xi 1.2 The Venice manuscript (M: Marcianus gr. 532 [coll. 887]) . xiv 1.3 The Escorial manuscript (E: Escorialensis gr. 248 [Y.I.9]) . xx 2. The relationship of the manuscripts to each other. xxii 2.1 E . xxii 2.2 P and M . xxvi 2.2.1 Differences with semantic/syntactic implications . xxvii 2.2.2 Differences without semantic/syntactic implications . xxxi 2.2.3 Summary . xxxiv 2.3 Corrections by the main scribes . xxxvi 2.4 Corrections by P2: P2 = M. xxxvii 2.5 Other corrections by P2 . xxxviii 2.6 Corrections by M2 . xl 2.7 Multiple correction . xli 2.8 Earlier editions: Müller and Kiessling . xli 2.9 Remaining errors in the tradition . xlix 3. The present edition . l 3.1 Accentuation and orthography . liii 3.2 Punctuation . liv 3.3 Earlier editions . lv 3.4 Apparatus fontium et parallelorum . lv TEXT, TRANSLATION AND NOTES . 1 Bibliography . 205 Index of passages . 207 Index of names. 214 Preface This volume contains an edition and a translation of the essays 61–70 and 72–81 of the Semeioseis gnomikai of Theodore Metochites. A theme com- mon to all of these texts is hardly discernible. The essays from number 72 discuss the vita contemplativa vs. the vita activa, and at the beginning of this essay the theme is programmatically stated. Man’s ignorance and inability to foresee the future seem to weigh permanently on our author’s mind, and his thought proceeds by association. My heartfelt thanks are due to Dr. Karin Hult, professor of Greek at Göteborg University. Karin is first and foremost the editor ofSemeioseis gno- mikai 1–26 & 71 and 27–60 (and of more essays to come), and my work has been made considerably easier by the existence of her books (Hult 2002 and 2016). It was Karin who, in her capacity of director of the Metochites project, entrusted me with the editing of the essays presented here in the first place, and I would like to thank her for constructive criticism and for preparing my manuscript for publication. Also, I thank Prof. Dr. Gunhild Vidén, series editor in charge of the pub- lication of this book in Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia, and I extend my thanks to the anonymous referees for several helpful suggestions. My deepest gratitude is due to Ms. Charlotte Lehmann, Universität zu Köln, for criticism and help with layout and, not least, for a great many con- tributions to the apparatus fontium et parallelorum. I am grateful to Dr. Börje Bydén for his careful reading of parts of my edition and translation, and for his advice. I also thank Prof. Dr. Panagiot- is A. Agapitos and Ms. Kalliope Pougiourou, Nicosia, and members of the Greek seminars of Lund and Göteborg universities, as well as my Trondheim colleagues, for various kinds of help and criticism. Further, I would like to thank Mr. Andreas Stiebe for technical support and help to prepare the manuscript for publication. As always, I am indebted to my parents, Bengt and Inger Wahlgren, and to my sister, Dr. Lena Wahlgren-Smith. Jon van Leuven† had the unenviable task of correcting my English. He suggested several improvements, and for this I acknowledge my lasting grat- itude. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Bibliothèque nationale of Paris, the Biblioteca Marciana of Venice, and the Real Biblioteca del Monasterio, San Lorenzo del Escorial, for services rendered. Inevitably there will be some differences between the policies adopted in the present volume and others within the project, although less so than we had reason to believe some time ago. Such lack of uniformity may seem like a disadvantage. However, since the principles to be applied when editing Byz- antine texts are anything but universally agreed upon, this may eventually turn out to be in the interest of scholarship. Trondheim in November 2018 Staffan Wahlgren Introduction 1. THE MANUSCRIPTS Apart from the MSS treated below, there are several apographs of the Paris- inus gr. 2003; these are not discussed here nor used for the present edition.1 1.1 The Paris manuscript (P: Parisinus gr. 2003) Collated from microfilm.2 The MS was inspectedin situ in May 2007. Bibliography: Hult 2002, Agapitos & al. 1996, Omont 1888, 177. See also Bydén 2003, Lamberz 2000, Prato 1991, and Ševčenko 1962. Parchment codex, I+287(6) folia, 265–270x195–200 mm., first half of 14th c. (see further below). Parchment The parchment is white-yellowish, of good to excellent quality and with little difference between the two sides; there are but few knuckle marks. The first leaves are somewhat darkened, and there are some signs of worm. Lines to the page, ruling, quires, foliation, etc. There are generally 33 lines to the page. There is a simple system of ruling: two vertical lines through the whole page within which the text is contained; further, one horizontal line for each line of text. After one paper leaf, the MS consists of 36 quaternions of which the first is mutilated: there is a leaf missing between ff. 2 and 3. The last leaf of the last 1 See Hult 2002, xxxiif., and Arco Magrì 1982. I am much indebted to earlier work (especially Hult 2002 and the standard catalogues) for my descriptions of the MSS. All the three main MSS have been inspected in situ for the present volume, and there are several points on which it has been possible to make additions to previous knowledge. 2 The MS can now be accessed at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8514389m/f1.image.r=Grec%202003. xii SEMEIOSEIS GNOMIKAI 61–70 & 72–81 quire is glued to the back of the book. At the bottom of f. 7v there is a quire signature. Thereafter there are regular quire signatures at the bottom of the recto of the first leaf of each quire (quire signature nr. 20 appears one folio too early). There are two sets of foliation, both with Roman numbers, above right on the recto. The first of these (1–278) is in a blackish-brown ink (P2?) and starts with the first essay, on the first leaf of the second quire; the last independent leaf bears no number of this kind. The second set of numbers (1–286), in blue ink, is more recent and starts from the first parchment leaf. Contents On the first paper leaf there is some bibliographical information. The first two parchment leaves, originally empty, are flyleaves. On f. 1v Andreas Darmarios has written: θεοδώρου μεγάλου λογοθέτου τοῦ μετοχίτου ὑπομνηματισμοὶ καὶ σημειώσεις γνωμικαὶ διὰ κεφαλαίων ρκ´ διῃρημέναι. Ff. 3–7 contain a pinax; for an edition of this see Hult 2002, 5–19.