Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams

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Type 4735
(formerly typ/2807)

Ὁ μὲν Σολομῶν ᾀσματοψαλμογράφος
ἔφθη προειπὼν γραφικαῖς παροιμίαις·
“Μήπω νικησάτω σε γυναικός, τέκνον,
ἐπιθυμία πλὴν ἰδίας ἀλόχου·
κἂν γὰρ γλυκύτης ἐκρέῃ τῶν χειλέων
αὐτῆς τὰ πρῶτα, κἂν δοκῇ σοι, τεκνίον,
μέλι γλυκαῖνον οὖσα καθάπερ ἄλλο·
ἀλλ’ ὕστερον, φεῦ, προξενεῖ σοι πικρίαν
πυκνοῖς ὀϊστοῖς σὸν δαμάζουσα κέαρ.”
Καὶ ταῦτα γλῶττα Σολομώντειος ἔφη.
Ἄθρει, θεατά, τοιγαροῦν τὴν τῆς βίβλου
ἐρωτικὴν πλακεῖσαν ὑφὴν καὶ φράσιν
καὶ νοῦν ἔχουσαν ἀφροδισίων τρόπων,
ἥτις καθαρῶς ἐστι πρῶτον γλυκύτης,
ἐς ὕστερον δ’ αὖ πικροπυρφόρον βέλος·
ἀρχῆς τὸ λοιπὸν ἁπάσης σκόπει τέλος.
Text source M. Marcovich, 2001, Eustathius Macrembolites, De Hysmines et Hysminiae amoribus libri XI, München-Leipzig: XXIII-XXIV
Text status Text completely known
Editorial status Not a critical text
Genre(s)
Metre(s) Dodecasyllable
Subject(s)
Tag(s)
Translation(s)
  • Solomon, writer of odes and psalms,
    declared in his scriptural proverbs,
    “Never, my son, let desire for a woman
    overcome you, except for your own wife.
    For even if sweetness flows from her lips
    at first, even if she seems to you, my son,
    as sweet as any honey,
    later – alas – she will induce bitterness,
    taming your heart with incessant arrows.”
    And this Solomon’s tongue uttered also:
    “Contemplate, spectator, the erotic style
    and expression that makes up this book
    and describes the course of physical love;
    at first it is unalloyed sweetness
    but later a bitterly caustic dart.
    Consider the end of every beginning.”
    Language
    English
    Source(s)
    E. Jeffreys, 2012, Four Byzantine Novels, Liverpool: 177
  • Salomon Cantico-psalmographus,
    Scripturisticis praemonuit proverbiis.
    Ne te, fili, mulieris vincat
    Concupiscentia, uxorem praeter tuam.
    Nam dulce quid eius labris effluit
    Primum, licet tibi fili videatur
    Mel dulce, si quid aliud.
    At postea hau amaritudem praebet,
    Crebris cor telis pungens tuum.
    Et haec Salomonis os protulit.
    Vide spectator quidem amatoriam
    libri texturam et dictionem,
    mores venereos tractantem,
    quae prima dulcedo pura est.
    In posterum vero telum ignitamarum
    Principium de cactero cuncti specta finem.
    Language
    Latin
    Source(s)
    I. Hardt, 1810, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum graecorum Bibliothecae Regiae Bavaricae. Cod. CCCXLVIII-CCCCLXXII continens (vol. 4), Munich: 252-253
Comment This epigram was also written in the now lost, 16th-century manuscript Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria C. VI. 13 (Pasini 239).
Bibliography

Primary

I. Hardt, 1810, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum graecorum Bibliothecae Regiae Bavaricae. Cod. CCCXLVIII-CCCCLXXII continens (vol. 4), Munich: 252-253
Number of verses 16
Occurrence(s)
Related type(s)
Acknowledgements
Contributor(s)
Cristina Cocola, Anne-Sophie Rouckhout

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Identification Vassis ICB 2005, 527: "In fabulam Eustathii Macrembolitae de Hysmines et Hysminiae amoribus"
Permalink http://dev.dbbe.ugent.be/types/4735
Last modified: 2026-01-19.
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