Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantium and the Crusades

Education, learning, literature, and art 

Page 11

Another contemporary of the Comneni, John Tzetzes, who died probably at the close of the twelfth century, is of considerable importance from the literary, historical, and cultural point of view, as well as from the point of view of classical antiquity. He received a good philological education in the capital and for some time was a teacher of grammar. Then he devoted himself to literary activity by which he had to earn his living. In his writings John Tzetzes missed no opportunity to speak of the circumstances of his life; he depicted a man of the twelfth century living by literary work who constantly complained of poverty and misery, served the rich and noble, dedicated his writing to them, and often manifested his indignation at the too small recognition of his services. One day he fell into such want that of all his books none was left him but Plutarch. Lacking money, he sometimes lacked necessary books and, relying too much upon his memory, made in his writings a great number of elementary historical errors. In one of his works he wrote, For me my head is my library; with our complete lack of money we have no books. Therefore I cannot name exactly the writer. In another work he wrote of his memory: God has shown in life no one man, either formerly or now, who possesses a better memory than Tzetzes. The acquaintance of Tzetzes with ancient and Byzantine writers was indeed very considerable; he was familiar with many poets, dramatists, historians, orators, philosophers, geographers, and literary men, especially Lucian. Tzetzes' works are written in rhetorical style stuffed with mythological and historical references and quotations, are full of self-praise, difficult and rather uninteresting to read. Among his numerous writings is the collection of his 107 letters, which in spite of their literary defects, is of some importance both for the biography of the author and for the biography of the persons addressed. A Book of Stories (βίβλος ἱστοριῶν) written in so-called political, or popular meter, a poetical work of historical and philological character, consists of more than 12,000 lines. Since the time of its first editor, who divided the work, for convenience of quotation, into the first thousand lines, the second, and so on, it is usually called Chiliads (Thousands). The Histories or Chiliads of John Tzetzes were described by Krumbacher as, nothing but a huge commentary in verse on his own letters which, letter after letter, are interpreted in them.

The relation between his letters and Chiliads are so close that the one may be considered as a detailed index to the other. This reason alone deprives Chiliads of any great literary significance. Another scholar, V. Vasilievsky, severely remarked that Chiliads are from a literary standpoint complete nonsense, but that sometimes they really explain what remained dark in prose, that is, in Tzetzes' letters. Another large work by John Tzetzes is Allegories to the Iliad and Odyssey, written also in political verse; it is dedicated to the wife of the Emperor Manuel, the German princess Bertha-Irene, who was called by the author the most Homeric of queens (ὁμηρικωτάτη), i.e., the greatest admirer of all-wise Homer, sea of words, a bright moon of full moon, the light-bringer who appears washed not by the waves of ocean, but by the light-bringer (sun) itself who in its splendor appears from its purple bed. Tzetzes aim was, by giving the contents of the poems of Homer, one after another, to expound them, especially from the point of view of allegorical interpretation of the world of gods represented by Homer. In the beginning of his Allegories Tzetzes said conceitedly, Thus, I am starting my task, and striking Homer with the staff of my word, I shall make him accessible to all, and his unseen depths will appear before everyone. This work, declared Vasilievsky, also lacks not only good taste, but also sound sense. Besides these works John Tzetzes left some other writings on Homer, Hestod, scholia (critical or explanatory marginal notes) to Hesiod, Aristophanes, some poetry, and some others. Not all of the works of John Tzetzes have been published, and some of them seem to have been lost.

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