In the sixth century of the Christian era Agathias Scholasticus produced a new edition of the Greek Anthology, taking the editor’s privilege of including a generous share of his own epigrams. His period marked the transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages. During his lifetime the eastern emperor Justinian required citizens to profess Christianity, suppressed the pagan rhetors, and ended government support for the neo-Platonic Academy. Agathias himself was steeped in pre-Christian tradition; many readers suspect he had only a veneer of Christianity. He was a substantial historian, continuing Procopius’ History of Justinian, while practicing as well as a lawyer and civic activist. As pater civitatis he assumed the management of the renovation of the public latrines in Smyrna, inspiring him to write epigrams celebrating the salutary improvement he had brought, but also moralizing: “All the extravagance of mortals and their expensive dishes excreted here have lost their previous charm.” (GA 9.662 and 642)
The fifth book of the Anthology, titled "Amatory Epigrams” contains twenty-three poems by Agathias, virtually none of which expresses simple, straightforward passion. The poet himself problematizes his erotics in an epigram lamenting the unsuitability of each option for love object. (302) Every choice, he laments, is accompanied by inconvenience. Neither courtesans, nor virgins, nor wife, nor other men’s wives, nor widows, nor serving maids will do. One might as well, he concludes, imitate Diogenes and choose masturbation.
Though that conclusion hardly sounds romantic, Agathias is nonetheless capable of deploying certain familiar romantic tropes: the complaint of a watchful duenna (289), the lover’s subjugation by the beloved (299) or suffering a sleepless night and hoping for a dream, at least, of love. (237)
Other epigrams cover a surprisingly broad range. They include conversational pieces such as a graduate student’s letter home missing his girlfriend and male friend (292), a comment on the isolation of women (297), and a simple declaration of heterosexuality. (278) Though considering age in general the enemy of desire (273), he appreciates the sexiness of an old lady. (282)
A group of his epigrams depend upon word games and jeux d’esprit. In one (218) he describes what seems to be an adulterous intrigue using names adapted from contemporary drama, while in another he plays on the mythological associations of the name of Ariadne. (222)
Another group of Agathias’ poems testify to the power of symbolically displaced, or fetishized eroticism. For instance, in one (285) he kisses her “girdle” instead of her flesh, while in another he relishes the cup that has touched her lips. (261) In others he addresses the lamp that has overseen his amours (263), and describes the gift of a “coif” that can becomingly bind her midriff. (276)
In general the poets of the Anthology are as likely to speak of one night stands with prostitutes or men as of enduring affairs of the heart. Thus Agathias’ casual and worldly persona is likely less a reflection of his own emotional sensibility as of the norms of his age. In the proem to his edition of the collection as a whole he suggests that poetry is primarily a source if pleasure for the surfeited or jaded appetites of his listeners.
This pose is explicit in the introductory verses which take the form of an address to his audience, a cultivated company headed by the leading local cavalry officer. They would have enjoyed a dinner as lavish as the host could make it. Wine was certainly flowing. Perhaps it was before the flute-girls that Agathias would have been asked to present some elegant epigrams, the best of earlier times mixed with a number of the new.
This dramatic setting is useful reinforcement to Agathias’ opening image.
Agathias declares that he means to spread a verbal πανδαισία, for which Liddell and Scott offer the glorious if slightly mystifying definition “a complete banquet, a banquet at which nothing fails.” He fears that the guests may be already sated (ἐμπεπλησμένους) with literature, stuffed, indeed, to belching (τὰ σιτία προσκόρως ἐρυγγάνειν) with the magnificent and varied board of poetry already available from earlier eras.
The weight of the greatness of Greek tradition is evident in the poet’s heavy use of convention in metrics, imagery, and theme. Yet, after a rhetorical claim that he expects a reader to be indulgent toward his work out of courtesy alone, he promises to provide novelty. (l. 20) The poem has little to say about love itself and a good deal about barriers to love. While it is true that most love literature from all ages is concerned with overcoming such obstacles, their description is usually accompanied by considerable praise of the beloved. Agathias’ poem takes the passion for granted and speaks only of impediments.
The poem appeals to me for its decadence. Reminiscent of the great Pervigilium Veneris, the poem implies a refined pleasure in simply contemplating the barriers to satisfaction, maintaining the lover’s sustained pre-orgasmic condition. I am reminded of the Daoist sexual regimen which eschewed completion of the sexual act in an effort to build qi. One might consider Agathias’ poem and others like it as the product of a hedonism for which simple love has gone flat or, whether alternatively or simultaneously, as a contemplative exercise, a kind of meditation on desire.
translation note
Believing the modern ear to be deaf to the ancient meters, even apart from the change from quantitative to accentual/syllabic prosody, I have not attempted to duplicate the elegiac couplets characteristic of the epigram form. Instead the whole thing is basically in iambic hexameter, a rare choice in English. There is most often a line by line correspondence between Greek and English. An extra syllable hangs on the end like a prolonged sigh.
Greek Anthology 5.294
The envious old woman lay next to the young,
fixed crosswise over all the broad expanse of bed,
extended like a bastion to block invaders there.
My lady’s veiled by ample folds of sheets and quilts.
Her so conceited handmaid barred the entry door.
She lies asleep, weighed down with too much unmixed wine.
Still unafraid, I reached out with my hand to lift
and open up the bar that latched the door. The draft
from one quick wave of cloak then quenched each fiery torch.
I slinked through crosswise softly through the room,
Avoiding then the sleeping guard I pulled myself
in further, underneath the bed frame, lying prone
I pulled myself up just a bit to lean against
the wall and propped up there I then did face my love.
Caressing both her breasts I lightly kissed her face.
My lips played all about and felt her softness there.
The only prize I captured was her lovely mouth.
The only sign I had of my advance that night
I haven’t breached the walls of her virginity.
That still remains untouched. For now I will not try.
The ramparts will not stop me. Should all go my way,
I’ll weave a wreath for you, o Cypris of love’s spoils.
ἡ γραῦς ἡ φθονερὴ παρεκέκλιτο γείτονι κούρῃ
δόχμιον ἐν λέκτρῳ νῶτον ἐρεισαμένη,
προβλὴς ὥς τις ἔπαλξις ἀνέμβατος: οἷα δὲ πύργος
ἔσκεπε τὴν κούρην ἁπλοῒς ἐκταδίη:
καὶ σοβαρὴ θεράπαινα πύλας σφίγξασα μελάθρου
κεῖτο χαλικρήτῳ νάματι βριθομένη.
ἔμπης οὔ μ᾽ ἐφόβησαν ἐπεὶ στρεπτῆρα θυρέτρου
χερσὶν ἀδουπήτοις βαιὸν ἀειράμενος,
φρυκτοὺς αἰθαλόεντας ἐμῆς ῥιπίσμασι λώπης
ἔσβεσα: καὶ διαδὺς λέχριος ἐν θαλάμῳ
τὴν φύλακα κνώσσουσαν ὑπέκφυγον ἦκα δὲ λέκτρου
νέρθεν ὑπὸ σχοίνοις γαστέρι συρόμενος,
ὠρθούμην κατὰ βαιόν, ὅπη βατὸν ἔπλετο τεῖχος:
ἄγχι δὲ τῆς κούρης στέρνον ἐρεισάμενος,
μαζοὺς μὲν κρατέεσκον: ὑπεθρύφθην δὲ προσώπῳ,
μάστακα πιαίνων χείλεος εὐαφίῃ.
ἦν δ᾽ ἄρα μοι τὰ λάφυρα καλὸν στόμα, καὶ τὸ φίλημα
σύμβολον ἐννυχίης εἶχον ἀεθλοσύνης.
οὔπω δ᾽ ἐξαλάπαξα φίλης πύργωμα κορείης,
ἀλλ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἀδηρίτῳ σφίγγεται ἀμβολίῃ.
ἔμπης ἢν ἑτέροιο μόθου στήσωμεν ἀγῶνα,
ναὶ τάχα πορθήσω τείχεα παρθενίης,
οὐ δ᾽ ἔτι με σχήσουσιν ἐπάλξιες. ἢν δὲ τυχήσω,
στέμματα σοὶ πλέξω, Κύπρι τροπαιοφόρε.
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