Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams

Type 4581
(formerly typ/2658)

Ἔρωτα πικρόν, ἀλλὰ σώφρονα βίον
ὁ Κλειτοφῶντος ὥσπερ ἐμφαίνει λόγος·
ὁ Λευκίππης δὲ σωφρονέστατος βίος
ἅπαντας ἐξίστησι, πῶς τετυμμένη
κεκαρμένη τε καὶ κατηχρειωμένη,
τὸ δὴ μέγιστον, τρὶς θανοῦσ’ ἐκαρτέρει.
Εἴπερ δὲ καὶ σὺ σωφρονεῖν θέλῃς, φίλος,
μὴ τὴν πάρεργον τῆς γραφῆς σκόπει θέαν,
τὴν τοῦ λόγου δὲ πρῶτα συνδρομὴν μάθε·
νυμφοστολεῖ γὰρ τοὺς ποθοῦντας ἐμφρόνως.
Title(s) Φωτίου πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, ἄλλοι δέ φασιν Λέοντος τοῦ φιλοσόφου, εἰς τὴν βίβλον Λευκίππης
Text source H. Beckby, 1965, Anthologia Graeca. IX-XI (vol. 3), München: 124-125
Text status Text completely known
Editorial status Critical text
Genre(s)
Person(s)
Poet
Leon the Mathematician/the Philosopher (790-869) - PBE: 4834 - PMBZ: 15604: "Personenkennziffer: 4440/corr."
Metre(s) Dodecasyllable
Subject(s) Leukippe and Kleitophon
Tag(s)
Translation(s)
  • The story of Clitophon almost brings before our eyes a bitter passion but a moral life, and the most chaste conduct of Leucippe astonishes everyone. Beaten, her head shorn, vilely used, and, above all, thrice done to death, she still bore all. If, my friend, you wish to live morally, do not pay attention to the adventitious beauty of the style, but first learn the conclusion of the discourse; for it joins in wedlock lovers who loved wisely.
    Language
    English
    Source(s)
    W. Paton, 1917, The Greek Anthology. Book 9 (vol. 3), Cambridge: 107
  • L'amerture de l'amour, mais une vie chaste, voilà ce que l'histoire de Clitophon nous met en quelque sorte sous les yeux. Mais la vie si chaste de Leucippe ravit tout le monde en extase; on admire comment, battue, les cheveux coupés, outragée, et par-dessus tout, trois fois en danger de mort, elle tenait bon. Si tu veux aussi être vertueux, ami, ne t'attache pas à l'aspect accessoire du tableau, mais retiens avant tout le dénouement de l'histoire: il unit ceux qui aiment avec chasteté.
    Language
    French
    Source(s)
    P. Waltz, 1957, Anthologie Grecque. Tome VII: Anthologie palatine, Livre IX, Épigrammes 1-358 (vol. 7), Paris: 80-81
  • Zwar bittre Liebe, doch ein reines Leben wird
    durch Kleitophons Geschichte gleichsam offenbar.
    Leukippes reines Leben reißt uns alle hin,
    wie sie geschlagen ward, wie man das Haupt ihr schor,
    wie man sie schnöd behandelte und sonderlich
    wie dreimal sie, schier tot schon, dennoch alles trug.
    Wenn, Freund, auch du ein reines Leben führen willst,
    schau nicht auf Einzelheiten der Erzählung hin,
    mach dich mit der Geschichte Sinn zuerst bekannt,
    der dieses Paar, das keusch gelebt, zur Hochzeit führt.
    Language
    German
    Source(s)
    H. Beckby, 1965, Anthologia Graeca. IX-XI (vol. 3), München: 125
Comment The authorship of the epigram is disputed in the lemma of the Anthologia Palatina, but Leo the Philosopher is preferred by modern critics due to the opposed opinions of Photius in his Bibliotheca (codd. 87, 94).

The epigram also precedes Achilles Tatius' Leukippe and Kleitophon in the 18th-century manuscript Athens, EBE 2142.
Bibliography

Primary

Secondary
Number of verses 10
Occurrence(s)
Acknowledgements
Contributor(s)
Julián Bértola, Renaat Meesters, Anne-Sophie Rouckhout

The credits system has been implemented in 2019. Credits from before the new system was in use might be incomplete.
Identification
Permalink https://dbbe.ugent.be/types/4581
Last modified: 2020-12-02.
Creative Commons License
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