Introduction
Eustathios of Thessalonike (ca. 1115/20–1195/98) can safely be considered one of the most successful competitors in the intellectual arena of twelfth-century Byzantium, in which, among others, figures like John Tzetzes and Theodore Prodromos also competed.Footnote 1 Having completed the traditional enkyklios paideia, Eustathios started his career as an official in the imperial bureaucracy and a teacher in grammar and rhetoric. Over time he worked his way up to the position of μαΐστωρ τῶν ῥητόρων, head of rhetoricians and official court orator under Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180), and was eventually appointed archbishop of Thessalonike, the second city of the empire.Footnote 2 A thorough familiarity with classical literature was imperative for anyone pursuing a career in the complex and sophisticated apparatus of imperial or patriarchal bureaucracy, and even more so for every intellectual aspiring to follow a career path similar to that of Eustathios and his fellow literati. It was necessary not only to have knowledge of the Hellenic heritage, but also to be able to put this knowledge to creative use in practice and prove oneself erudite, elegant, and eloquent by weaving quotes from and allusions to classical authors into writings of one's own.Footnote 3
In the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad, Eustathios expresses the intention to cater to the needs of such intellectuals who are to write works of rhetorical prose.Footnote 4 He states that the Parekbolai provide them with useful thoughts, suitable words, and solemn gnomes to weave into their writings; draws attention to Homer's admirable methods and techniques for the rhetoricians to imitate; and discusses myths and historical accounts from which material can be drawn.Footnote 5 One of the many ways in which the Parekbolai cater to prose writers is manifest in the presence of numerous recommendations for the re-use of Homeric verses in specific contexts,Footnote 6 the practical use of which can be observed in Eustathios’ and his students’ oratory.Footnote 7 In this paper, I will argue that the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad is a practical example of the kind of rhetorical writing in which the lessons included in the Parekbolai are intended to result. In the proem, Eustathios employs four images with regard to Homer as a poet and himself as a commentator, presenting Homeric poetry as the song of the Sirens, Homer as an Ocean of learning and a host receiving his guests, and the commentator as a cook.Footnote 8 By means of these images, I will explore how Eustathios perceives the relationship between poet, commentator, and readership, while at the same time advertising himself as a skilful rhetorician.
1. Homeric poetry as the song of Sirens
The proem opens with a reference to the Sirens episode in Odyssey 12, in which it is related how Odysseus manages to pass by the island of the Sirens unharmed by their enchanting and wisdom-providing, yet fatal, song.Footnote 9 He blocks the ears of his companions with wax, whereas he himself listens to the song while safely tied to the mast of the ship. Homeric poetry, Eustathios suggests in the first lines of his proem, is like this enchanting song of the Sirens:
Τῶν Ὁμήρου Σειρήνων καλὸν μὲν ἴσως εἴ τις ἀπόσχοιτο τὴν ἀρχὴν ἢ κηρῷ τὰς ἀκοὰς ἀλειψάμενος ἢ ἀλλ’ ἑτέραν τραπόμενος, ὡς ἂν ἀποφύγῃ τὸ θέλγητρον. μὴ ἀποσχόμενος δέ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ᾠδῆς ἐκείνης ἐλθών, οὐκ ἄν, οἶμαι, οὔτε παρέλθῃ ῥᾳδίως, εἰ καὶ πολλὰ δεσμὰ κατέχοι, οὔτε παρελθὼν εἴη ἂν εὔχαρις.Footnote 10
Perhaps it would be good if someone kept clear of Homer's Sirens to begin with, by blocking his ears with wax or by steering another course, in order to escape the spell. But suppose he did not keep away, but made his way through that singing, he would not at all, I think, easily disregard it, even though many bonds bound him, nor would he, when he has disregarded it, be graceful.Footnote 11
After Homer the Sirens were frequently used in literature and art, sometimes with positive connotations as representations of wisdom and beauty in speech, at other times with negative undertones as symbols of the dangers of sensual pleasure.Footnote 12 Especially relevant to the current context is the reception of the Sirens in the ancient debate on the role of poetry in education, a role that was criticized by Plato, mainly because of the fictionality and frivolity of its mythical components.Footnote 13 In response to Plato's criticism of poetry, many attempts were made to reconcile poetry and education, a well-known example of which is Plutarch's ‘How the Young Man Should Study Poetry’. Plutarch admits that poetry may contain disturbing and misleading elements, but argues that, at the same time, it includes material that is pleasant and nourishing for the youthful mind. He presents his addressees with a choice between two approaches towards poetry: to block the ears of the young with wax and steer another course in order to avoid poetry altogether, or to guide and guard their reading of poetry by tying them to the mast of reason in order to protect them from being carried away by pleasure.Footnote 14 It is the second option that is preferred by Plutarch, who sets forth a way of safely reading poetry in the remainder of his essay. Plutarch's essay served as a source of inspiration for the programmatic treatise on studying ancient literature by Basil of Caesarea.Footnote 15 In Basil's view, too, poetry contains a mixture of good and potentially harmful material. It is the deeds of virtuous men presented in poetry that one should study and imitate, whereas one should block one's ears with wax as Odysseus did whenever poetry speaks of evil deeds.Footnote 16
Eustathios revives the debate on the problematic status of poetry at the outset of his proem and presents the same two options as Plutarch and Basil: you can either choose to avoid listening to the Sirens and reading Homeric poetry altogether by blocking your ears or steering another course, or you can make your way through the Sirens’ singing and read Homeric poetry, the option which is of course preferred by the author of monumental commentaries on both the Iliad and Odyssey. Yet Eustathios warns those who decide on the second option: it is difficult as well as undesirable to travel through the Sirens’ singing without paying heed; only if you pay proper attention to their song will you leave as a graceful or elegant (εὔχαρις) person. I interpret this warning as a recommendation for the serious study of Homeric poetry: only the person who pays proper attention when reading Homer and is willing to learn from it, will in the end become graceful, knowing how to use Homeric poetry in a manner that proves him to be educated and eloquent. The reference to the Odyssey at the beginning of the proem serves as a leçon par l'exemple of such an eloquent and erudite use of Homeric poetry and gives a practical example of what the reader can learn not simply from reading Homeric poetry, but from studying Homeric poetry with the help of Eustathios’ Parekbolai.
Eustathios’ allegorical interpretation of the Sirens episode in the Parekbolai on the Odyssey sheds further light on the implications of this image regarding the relations of poet, commentator, and readership.Footnote 17 Like Plutarch, Eustathios interprets Odysseus as the ideal philosopher, whose philosophical knowledge provides him with the steadfastness – represented by the ropes by which Odysseus is tied to the mast – that is required to listen to and enjoy the Sirens’ song/poetry without any serious risks. In Eustathios’ view, Odysseus is a true politikos philosophos, who combines theory and practice by putting his theoretical knowledge to good use for the sake of his fellow citizens.Footnote 18 The song of Sirens/poetry is a source of such theoretical knowledge (θεωρία), from which the philosopher should take what he needs in order to enrich his own learning (λόγος) in form and content, as a result becoming a Siren himself.Footnote 19 He should not stay with the Sirens and linger in the realm of theoretical knowledge longer than necessary, but proceed to action. While Odysseus is the ideal philosopher, his comrades are inferior souls who have not yet reached the highest level of philosophical education. Since they are unable to resist the allure of the Sirens’ song/poetry, their ears need to be blocked with wax, that is to say, with the philosophical lessons of the ideal philosopher.
In his interpretation of the Sirens episode, Eustathios further argues that Homer himself draws a parallel between the song of the Sirens and his own poetry, with their twofold aim of teaching and giving pleasure as the common denominator.Footnote 20 This parallel invites us to connect the image in the proem with the positions of Eustathios as a commentator/teacher and his readers, who are to read Homeric poetry with the help of the Parekbolai. If Homer is the Sirens, Eustathios is Odysseus: he is the perfect intellectual who is able to read Homeric poetry without being swept away by its enchanting beauty. He has gained knowledge by listening to Homer's Sirens and puts this knowledge to good use by transferring it to his readers. In the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad, Eustathios states that he produced the work not for the learned (λόγιος) man, since for such a man, equal to Eustathios in learning, the Parekbolai have nothing new to offer. Instead, he aims at the beginning student, and at anyone who is educated but needs a reminder – the intermediate reader so to speak.Footnote 21 These less experienced readers need guidance in order to safely read Homeric poetry and be enriched by the knowledge inherent in it, guidance that is provided by the philosopher Eustathios in his Parekbolai. He will show his readers how to enjoy Homeric poetry and move on to the study of other authors with more knowledge than before.
2. Homer as water-providing Ocean
Moving from the enchanting beauty of Homer's poetry to the great authority of The Poet, Eustathios compares Homer to the Ocean, which surrounds the earth and provides all rivers, springs, and wells with water:Footnote 22
ἐξ Ὠκεανοῦ μὲν γὰρ ποταμοὶ πάντες, πηγαὶ πᾶσαι, φρέατα πάντα κατὰ τὸν πάλαι λόγον· ἐξ Ὁμήρου δέ, εἰ καὶ μὴ πᾶσα, πολλὴ γοῦν παρεισέρρευσε τοῖς σοφοῖς λόγου ἐπιρροή.Footnote 23
For from the Ocean arise all rivers, all springs, all wells, according to the old saying; and from Homer, if not the whole, at least much of the stream of learning flowed to the wise men.
The ‘old saying’ to which Eustathios refers is in fact a passage from the Iliad, which makes it into another leçon par l'exemple of how to use Homeric poetry in writings of one's own.Footnote 24 The image of Homer as Ocean was commonly used in antiquity and beyond to express the relationship between Homer and later authors: just as the Ocean provides all rivers etc. with water, so does Homer provide all authors after him with learning. Dionysios of Halikarnassos, for instance, argues that Homer's style has the perfect mixture of harsh and elegant elements, to which the style of all later authors is inferior. In his view, Homer is the summit on which everyone's gaze should be fixed and, in Homer's own words, the Ocean from which all rivers, the entire sea, all springs, and all wells have their water.Footnote 25 In his treatise On the sublime, Pseudo-Longinos expresses the relationship of Homer and later authors in terms of a spring (νᾶμα) from which among others, but first and foremost, Plato drew.Footnote 26 In the same treatise he also compares Homer to an Ocean, although in a different context: in his old age, with his talents waning, the poet is like an Ocean retreating into itself and laying quiet within its own confines.Footnote 27
In Eustathios’ own time, the image is repeatedly employed by John Tzetzes, for instance in his Allegories on the Iliad. In the prolegomena of this work, Tzetzes states that he was commissioned to make accessible and passable for everyone the ‘great and deep Ocean of Homer, which tightly binds in a circle the whole world around’ (τὸν μέγαν τὸν βαθὺν ὠκεανὸν Ὁμήρου, / τὸν πᾶσαν περισφίγγονται κύκλῳ τὴν οἰκουμένην). In the same prolegomena he designates the poet as ‘the all-wise Homer, the sea of learning, albeit filled with nectar, not salt water’ (ὁ Ὅμηρος ὁ πάνσοφος, ἡ θάλασσα τῶν λόγων, / πλὴν γέμουσα τοῦ νέκταρος, οὐχ ἁλμύρων ὑδάτων).Footnote 28 Eustathios presents Homer as the Ocean not only in the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad, but also in the proem on the otherwise lost commentary on Pindar, where he argues that the small streams of lyric poetry remain far from the great ocean of Homeric poetry.Footnote 29 Also worth mentioning is the proem of the Parekbolai on the Odyssey, which resembles the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad in rhetorical refinement and partly addresses the same topics. As in the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad, in the Parekbolai on the Odyssey Eustathios argues that even though the subject matter of the Odyssey, strictly speaking, concerns only the adventures of Odysseus, Homer still managed to make it into a great poem.Footnote 30
Ὁ δ’ ἀλλὰ ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα πολλὰ τεχνασάμενος τὴν στενὴν ἀτραπὸν τῆς τοῦ βιβλίου περιπετείας εὐρύναι πρὸς πεδιάδα λογογραφίας ἐξίσχυσε, καὶ ὡς ἐκ χειμαῤῥώδους λιβάδος, πλήθοντας ῥητορείας ἐξέῤῥευσε ποταμούς, ὁποῖοι οὐχήκιστα καὶ τὴν Ἰλιάδα περιλιμνάζουσιν. εἰ καί τις Τιμόλαος, ὁ εἴτε Λαρισσαῖος εἴτε Μακεδὼν εἴτε καὶ ἄμφω, λειψυδρίαν οἷον ἐκεῖ καταγνοὺς τοῦ ποιητικοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ, ὠχετήγησε μισγαγκείας τινὸς δίκην, σιέλους ὥσπέρ τινας ἢ μύξας τὰ παρ’ ἑαυτοῦ.Footnote 31
However by devising these and many similar things Homer was able to expand the narrow path provided by the basic change of events in the book into a plain of story writing and caused rivers to overflow with rhetoric as though from a swollen stream, the very same kind of rivers that surround also the Iliad in particular. And if a certain Timolaos, either from Larissa or Macedonia or both, seems to have accused this poetic Ocean for lacking water and irrigated it by ditches as in a place where waters meet, his own additions were but drops of spittle or snot.
In Eustathios’ view, Homer expanded the fabula by adding additional episodes, as examples of which he lists Telemachos’ journey, the long conversation at the banquet of the Phaiakians, and the episode in Eumaios’ hut, in which Odysseus tells his servant many lies.Footnote 32 These and similar episodes, noted throughout both Parekbolai, make the Odyssey as well as the Iliad into a river overflowing with rhetoric.Footnote 33 There is therefore no point in carrying more water to the sea. Timolaos’ attempt to do so by making an Iliad in which each Homeric line was followed by one of his own, is nothing more than adding drops to the great poetic Ocean.Footnote 34 For Eustathios, Homer is the ‘teacher of every art of learning, from which all rivers and all fountains of learned methods lead as though from an Ocean’ (ὁ πάσης τῆς ἐν λόγοις τέχνης καθηγητής, ἐξ οὗ οἷά τινος Ὠκεανοῦ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσαι λογικῶν μεθόδων πηγαί).Footnote 35 It is interesting to note that Eustathios here attributes to Homer all learning, every type without exception, whereas in the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad as quoted above (see p. 6) he expresses a reservation: it is not all, but much of the stream of learning that originates from Homer the Ocean. This reservation may hint at that other important source of wisdom, the Holy Scripture as a source of Christian learning.
3. Homer as a host at a banquet of learning
In various places in the Parekbolai Eustathios presents Homer as a host arranging abundant banquets for his guests, that is to say, his readers, to dine on. He is a ‘versatile banqueter for his attentive listeners’ (ποικίλος. . .τοῖς φιλακροάμοσι δαιταλεύς), who provides ‘those who are eager to learn with a varied full banquet’ (ποικίλην καὶ αὐτὸς πανδαισίαν τοῖς φιλομαθέσιν).Footnote 36 In the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad Homer is presented as a host who not only feeds his guests but also offers them a place to stay:
οὐδεὶς γοῦν οὔτε τῶν τὰ ἄνω περιεργαζομένων οὔτε τῶν περὶ φύσιν οὔτε τῶν περὶ ἦθος οὔθ’ ἁπλῶς τῶν περὶ λόγους ἐξωτερικούς, ὁποίους ἂν εἰπῇ τις, παρῆλθε τὴν Ὁμηρικὴν σκηνὴν ἀξεναγώγητος, ἀλλὰ πάντες παρ’ αὐτῷ κατέλυσαν, οἱ μὲν ὡς καὶ διάγειν παρ’ αὐτῷ μέχρι τέλους καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ συσσιτίων ἀποτρέφεσθαι, οἱ δὲ ὥστε χρείαν ἀποπλῆσαί τινα καὶ συνεισενεγκεῖν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τῷ λόγῳ τι χρήσιμον.Footnote 37
Thus, no one of those who investigated the things above, nor of those who investigated nature, or ethics, or pagan literature in general, whatever kind one would mention, passed by Homer's tent without being welcomed as a guest, but they all lodged with him, some to stay with him until the very end and to live off his banquets, others to fulfil a need and to gain something useful from him for their own work.
The parallel between banquets and literature, between the host and the author, is often drawn by authors before Eustathios, a well-known example of which can be found in Athenaios’ Deipnosophistai, an important source for Eustathios’ Parekbolai. One of the learned banqueters states that Aischylos designated his tragedies as nothing but ‘the leftovers of Homer's great dinners’ (τεμάχη. . .τῶν Ὁμήρου μεγάλων δείπνων).Footnote 38 Similar imagery can be found in Old Testament wisdom tradition, in which it is Wisdom personified who hosts a banquet of knowledge, as is for instance the case in Proverbs 9, where Wisdom calls the ignorant to eat the food and drink the wine at her banquet of learning.Footnote 39 Homer's banquet consists of the many useful things to be found in his poetry, as a result of which he is ὁ τῆς σοφίας τρόφιμος,Footnote 40 which may be interpreted both passive and active here: Homer both is fed by wisdom with the result that he becomes wise himself and in his turn is able to feed others with his wisdom.
As Homer's guests Eustathios expressly mentions astronomers, physicists, and ethical philosophers, completing his list with all authors of pagan literature without further specification. With astronomy, physics, and ethics as the three traditional parts of philosophy, this list basically divides Homer's guests into philosophers and other authors, with the philosophers receiving most emphasis. If we think back to Eustathios’ allegorical interpretation of the Sirens episode as discussed in Section 1, this centrality of philosophy comes as no surprise: it is especially theoretical knowledge that can be gained from Homer's Sirens, which is to be put to good use by the philosopher. In the light of the same allegorical interpretation, it is likely that Eustathios prefers the second option presented in the image of the host, i.e. to take something useful from Homer for writings of one's own and move on, rather than to stay with the poet for the rest of one's life. The philosopher should not linger in the realm of theoretical knowledge, but put the acquired knowledge into practice.
Eustathios extends the image of a host receiving his guests to himself and his Parekbolai. In the second part of the proem, which provides an introduction to the content and method of the Parekbolai,Footnote 41 Eustathios states that his work provides the readers with many useful things, as do the Homeric epics. He indicates that he has not presented this material as one continuous exegesis, but as individual units that can be studied separately:
πρὸς δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐδὲ ἐκτέταται τὸ προκείμενον ἔργον εἰς ἓν ὕφος καὶ σῶμα κατὰ συνέχειαν ἀδιάστατον, ἵνα τῷ ἀδιακόπῳ ἀποκναίῃ τὸν ἐντυγχάνοντα καὶ δυσεύρετον ἔχῃ τὸ κατάλυμα, ἀλλ’ ἕκαστον τῶν χρησίμων καθ’ αὑτὸ ἰδίᾳ κεῖται καὶ περατωθέντος αὐτοῦ μετάβασις ὡς ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἐπὶ ἕτερον γίνεται. καὶ οὕτως ὁ διὰ τοῦ συγγράμματος τούτου ἐρχόμενος συχνὰ οἷον καταλύων ἀναπαύεται.
In addition to the other things, the present work has not been spun out as one web or body in a continuous sequence,Footnote 42 in order not to wear out the reader by its uninterruptedness and not to provide a lodging that is difficult to find (δυσεύρετον τὸ κατάλυμα), but every useful thing stands apart, on its own, and the transition from something that is finished off to something else is as if starting afresh. Thus, the person who goes through this book often takes rest as if lodging (καταλύων).
Rather than an elaborate exegesis (πλατεῖα ἐξήγησις), the arrangement of Eustathios’ Parekbolai is like a selection of useful things, arranged in a convenient order (ὡς ἐν ἐκλογῇ κατὰ ἀκολουθίαν εὐσύνθετον).Footnote 43 The division of the work in separate units allows the reader an occasional breathing space and makes it possible to take a break every now and then, after which it feels as if starting anew. In the proem on the Parekbolai of the Odyssey the advantages of the ‘parekbolic’ design are formulated more explicitly:
ἔσται δὲ ἡμῖν κἀνταῦθα ὡς καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰλιάδι τῆς μεταχειρίσεως ἡ ἐπιβολὴ οὐ κατὰ ἐξήγησιν ἧς ἄλλοις ἐμέλησεν, ἀλλὰ κατ’ ἐκλογὴν τῶν χρησίμων τοῖς ἐπιτρέχουσι καὶ μὴ ἐν εὐχερεῖ ἔχουσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἐπαφιέναι τῷ τῆς ποιήσεως πλάτει σχολαίτερον.Footnote 44
Here (sc. in the Parekbolai on the Odyssey), just as in the Iliad, our method of handling the subject will not be through exegesis, which others have concerned themselves with, but through collecting useful passages for those who run through the work and cannot easily permit themselves to go in a leisurely way into the breadth of the poem.
The Parekbolai, then, are presented as a useful and efficient tool for those who are competing in the intellectual arena, as a reference work that can be conveniently consulted by anyone in need of a learned quotation or eloquent allusion, to be used either with or without the text of the Iliad in hand.Footnote 45 Speaking in terms of the image of the host, the design of the Parekbolai on the Iliad prevents the work from becoming a lodging that is difficult to find (δυσεύρετον τὸ κατάλυμα) and enables the reader to take a rest from time to time as if lodging (καταλύων) as the commentator's guest. In other words, like the men lodging with Homer, Eustathios presents his readers as lodging with him, suggesting that the Parekbolai are a source of learning, too. Those who study the Parekbolai will obtain a share of wisdom, like Homer's readers obtained from Homer.
4. The commentator and the poet as cooks
In a famous passage in the Gorgias, Plato draws an analogy between rhetoric and cookery, arguing that neither can be called an ‘art’ (τέχνη); they are instead mere ‘practices’ (ἐμπειρίαι) falling under the category of ‘flattery’ (κολακεία).Footnote 46 Despite the derogatory context in which the parallel occurs in the Gorgias, after Plato it became a literary topos to speak of the composition of literature, whether rhetorical or poetical, in terms of cookery, with the author as a cook preparing the food of his writings.Footnote 47 In the introductory epistle of the Parekbolai on Dionysios Periegetes, Eustathios presents himself as having mixed a crater of wine, and as serving his addressee, John Doukas, the marrow scraped from Dionysios’ poetical bone.Footnote 48 In the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad Eustathios compares his own efforts to the activities of cooks. Imagining that there is someone who accuses him of merely collecting older material without contributing anything new, Eustathios stresses the merits of his work:
οὐ χρὴ δὲ ἀναπεσεῖν οὐδὲ νῦν τὸν ἀκούσαντα τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐν τούτοις ἀκολουθεῖν, ὡς δυνατὸν ὂν καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖθεν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐρανίσασθαι. πρῶτον μὲν γάρ, καθάπερ τοῖς μαγειρεύουσι χάρις, οὐχ’ ὅτι τὰ μὴ ὄντα δαιτρεύουσιν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τὰ ἐπιπόνως ἔχοντα τοῦ συναγαγεῖν αὐτοὶ ἀγείραντες εἰς ἓν παρέθεντο, οὕτω καὶ ἡμῖν ἔσται τι χάριτος, ὅτι πόνου δίχα οἱ περιτυχόντες ἔχουσι πολλαχόθεν ἐπισυναχθὲν τὸ ζητούμενον. εἶτα, εἰ καὶ ἀγέρωχόν τι καὶ γαῦρον ὁ λόγος ἔχει, οὐκ οἶδα, εἰ μή τινες τῶν ὑπονώθρων μόλις περιτύχοιεν ἐκείνοις, ἐξ ὧν πολλὰ τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἠράνισται. εἰ δέ τι ἐν διαφόροις καὶ προσεπινενόηται, αὐτό, φασί, δείξει.Footnote 49
Also now, however, it is not necessary for the one who has heard that we follow the example of the ancients also in these things (i.e. in allegorical interpretation) to lose interest, as if it is possible also for him to collect for himself such things from there. For firstly, exactly as there is gratitude for cooks not because they prepare things that did not exist before, but because they have put together into one things that are toilsome to bring together, having gathered them together themselves, so too will there be some gratitude for us, because without toil the readers have at their disposal what they seek, gathered together from many sources. Next, – even though the statement contains something arrogant and haughty – I think some somewhat dull people could hardly read those works from which much of the information here provided is collected. But if in other places something is invented in addition, it will, they say, be self-evident.
Cooks receive appreciation for bringing together ingredients into one delicious dish – ingredients that are not always easy to find – rather than creating new things from scratch. The same holds for commentators: Eustathios should be appreciated for presenting the reader with material gathered together from many sources and conveniently arranged in one work. At the risk of sounding arrogant, he underlines both at the beginning and at the end of the passage quoted that we must not think that it would be possible for just anyone to find and understand the sources that he consulted. In other words, only someone as learned and as acquainted with the ancient sources as he is would be able to produce such a commentary. Thanks to Eustathios’ efforts, the reader effortlessly has at hand all he needs when studying the Iliad.
To acknowledge that much of the material is derived from older sources is not to say that nothing new can be found in the Parekbolai. Making use of an old proverb, Eustathios argues that the work itself will show his own contributions. In Plato's Theaetetus Socrates employs the same proverb, viz. αὐτό δείξει (‘the event itself will show’), with regard to the search for the definition of knowledge: only through searching for it can Socrates and Theaetetus in the end be successful in finding it. An ancient scholion on this passage in Plato is particularly helpful for understanding the meaning of the proverb. It explains that ‘αὐτό δείξει’ was the answer given by a man who led the way through a river, when he was asked whether the water was deep: ‘the event itself will show,’ that is to say, ‘we'll find out by trying.’Footnote 50 With the proverb, then, Eustathios says in fact that anyone who wishes to find out what he himself contributed, should read the Parekbolai, while he at the same time rhetorically embellishes his proem by weaving in a proverb.
Whereas in the proem Eustathios as a commentator is compared to a cook, throughout the Parekbolai Homer is repeatedly presented as a cook, with his poems as delicious dishes. The Iliad is like an admirable banquet of rhetoric (θαυμασίαν οἵαν δαιταλουργίαν ῥητορείας), while the Odyssey is still a rich dish (καρύκευμα), even though it is made of ‘the leftovers of the Iliad’ (τὰ τῆς Ἰλιάδος ἐλλείμματα), since the poet, as it were, completes the story of the Iliad by relating events such as the scheme of the wooden horse and the death of Achilles.Footnote 51 Homer used various poetical techniques as the spices (ἀρτύματα or ἡδύσματα) of his delicious dishes, to which Eustathios draws attention throughout the Parekbolai. Examples of such spices are similes, jests, and historical accounts about events that happened before the period of Achilles’ wrath, which may take the form of old Nestor's memories.Footnote 52 These spices yield various favourable results, of which Eustathios lists several examples in his notes on the battle scene of Iliad 5.Footnote 53
Ποιεῖ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ πυκναῖς ἱστορίαις ἀρτύει τὸν τόπον τοῦτον ἅμα καὶ τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ἐνάγων εἰς πολυμάθειαν, ὡς καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις τόποις, καὶ τοὺς ἀριστέας τῶν Ἀχαιῶν σεμνύνων, ὡς ἀξιολόγων Τρώων περιγινομένους, καὶ τὴν ποίησιν καταποικίλλων, καὶ τὸ ὕπτιον δὲ τῆς διηγήσεως ἀνιστῶν εἰς γοργότητα τῇ παρεμπλοκῇ τῶν ἱστοριῶν, καὶ ἑαυτὸν δὲ δεικνύων ἐν ἱστορίαις πολύϊδριν. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ποιήσει ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις διὰ τὰς αὐτὰς αἰτίας.Footnote 54
He (sc. the poet) creates these things and seasons (ἀρτύει) this place with numerous historical accounts, while at the same time bringing the listeners to much learning, as he does in other places, too, and exalting the chiefs of the Achaeans, because they prevail over Trojans of note, as well as bringing variation to his poem, and raising the flatness of the narrative to a vigorous style by weaving in historical accounts, and showing himself as having much knowledge in historical accounts. He will also do this elsewhere in many places for the same reasons.
The historical accounts that Eustathios speaks of here consist of the background information that Homer provides on the Trojan warriors who fall at the hands of the Greeks in Iliad 5. About Pedaios, for instance, it is recorded that he was the bastard son of Antenor, who was nevertheless reared by Antenor's wife Theano with loving care; next, the killing of Hypsenor is related, who was the son of a high-minded and widely honoured priest of Skamandros named Dolopion.Footnote 55 Such accounts are a means for the poet not only to educate his audience, but also to display his own wide learning. On the level of style, it brings variation to the account of the battle and prevents the narrative from becoming dull, creating a vigorous style instead.Footnote 56 Eustathios states that Homer also inserts such historical accounts in other places for the same reasons, reasons which he elsewhere also ascribes to other ‘poetical spices’.Footnote 57
Tzetzes, too, speaks of Homer as a cook, yet employs the image in a more limited way: Homer uses the nectar of myth as the dough of his poetry, leaving it to ferment so as to sweeten the poem.Footnote 58 While Eustathios also perceives myth as a sweet ingredient of Homeric poetry,Footnote 59 he extends praise to Homer as a cook for preparing a rich dish seasoned with many poetic spices. By using the image of the cook both for himself as a commentator and for Homer as a poet, Eustathios may be said again to put himself on a par with Homer and underscore the overall image of the relationship between poet, commentator, and their readership as presented throughout the proem: just as Homer feeds his readers with the well-seasoned food of his learning, so too does Eustathios serve his readers a rich dish, consisting of carefully selected and conveniently arranged information.
Conclusion
With its allusions to classical literature, proverbs, rich imagery, and compact language, the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad differs much from the core of the work, an observation which also holds for the proems of the Parekbolai on the Odyssey and the Parekbolai on Dionysios Periegetes, the latter having the form of an introductory epistle addressed to the person commissioning the work. In the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad, Eustathios puts his own lessons into practice and gives an example of the kind of text one can learn to compose by studying the Parekbolai. The work provides the reader with suggestions for the re-use of Homeric verses in specific contexts, proverbs to weave into the text, and information on Homeric techniques such as the simile and the insertion of historical accounts that might ‘season’ one's writings. All this material, gathered together from many sources, is conveniently arranged in the Parekbolai so as to provide an efficient tool for those striving to prove themselves educated and eloquent in their writings.
The rhetorical refinement of the proem serves to display Eustathios’ great rhetorical skill and wide learning, advertising him as a prominent intellectual. He is like Odysseus listening to the Sirens, and like the wise men dining on Homer's banquets and staying at Homer's lodging, as he has drawn wisdom from the Ocean of learning and transfers his knowledge to his readers. His cookery is not altogether different from Homer's, his Parekbolai being a rich dish of useful information, the ingredients of which are gathered together from places that are not accessible to anyone lacking his erudition. He has conveniently arranged this wealth of information so as to form a comfortable lodging for his guests, who like Homer's guests stay with him and dine on his learning. The proem, then, leaves the reader convinced not only of the value of studying Homeric poetry, but especially of the usefulness of Eustathios’ Parekbolai, and eager to rise to the heights of Eustathios’ rhetorical skill.Footnote 60
