Over the years in which this work was conceived and took shape, scholarship on ancient epigram has flourished: several general studies on the topic have been recently published (see, e.g., C. Henriksén [ed.], A Companion to Ancient Epigram [2019]; M. Kanellou, I. Petrovic and C. Carey [edd.], Greek Epigram [2019]); single-authored editions with commentary keep lining up (e.g. L. Floridi, Edilo [2020]; D. Sider, Simonides [2020]); and further works are routinely announced as forthcoming.
This elegantly produced volume introduces a wide selection of authors and poems from roughly the late fourth to the late second century bce, and it includes work by the most relevant epigrammatists of this time frame, with special focus on the interaction between literary and epigraphic epigram, which meets scholarship's current trends on the genre. It fits in well with the long tradition of epigrammatic editions with commentary: not only does it meet their high standards, but it also proves to be an easily usable and helpful resource, at all levels of experience, to understand a crucial phase in the development of the genre's history.
The introduction, preceded by a list of abbreviations and closed by the list of sigla, falls into two parts: the first section explores the origins of the literary epigrammatic genre, its Hellenistic typologies as well as the distinction between literary and inscriptional epigram. The second part focuses on technical and formal aspects of this poetic genre, such as language, style and metre, and on the transmission of the epigrammatic collections: it is a bit surprising that the mention of the Vienna papyrus (p. 15) is not accompanied by any bibliography, given that it has enjoyed considerable attention recently – see particularly L. Floridi and F. Maltomini, Aegyptus 94 (2014). Similarly, the so-called Syllogae minores are briefly presented (p. 16) without any reference to their main, and only thorough, study (F. Maltomini, Tradizione antologica [2008]).
The text is accompanied by an extensive and helpful critical apparatus, which is not consistently positive or negative throughout though. The lines are numbered as though each epigram was part of a single, long poem: this old-fashioned system, also employed for cross-referencing, is modelled after that used by A.S.F. Gow and D.L. Page in their editions, which is slightly confusing and is perhaps something worth explaining.
The selection of epigrammatists and poems appears on the whole self-contained and well arranged. However, a section clarifying the criteria for inclusion of certain epigrams and the reasons why others were ruled out would have been welcome in the introduction, which reads as a little under-referenced, especially in comparison with the commentary. There are some unexpected absences such as Nossis AP 7.718 and Call. AP 7.525 (a companion piece to AP 7.415, which is included). The commentary occupies most of the volume: each group of epigrams is put together by author in roughly chronological order and introduced by biographical remarks. The edition ends with a bibliography and indexes of subjects, Greek words and passages discussed. Some core bibliography is surprisingly missing, such as D. Geoghegan's commentary on Anytes’ poems (1979), A.-M. Vérilhac, ΠΑΙΔΕΣ ΑΩΡΟΙ (1978–1982) or V. Garulli, Byblos Lainee (2012), especially pp. 179–83 on the relationship between no. LXXIV by Posidippus and an inscriptional epitaph from Notion.
The commentary is admirably balanced and assures that the exegesis of each poem can be independent and cover all the main problems each text presents: there is an excellent harmony between literary interpretation and more lexical or philological remarks. The commentary offers valuable insights for the appreciation of individual epigrams, precise observations on grammar, language and dialect as well as guidance for construing the syntax or understanding the grammatical structures, although some of the notes in the commentary include excerpts of untranslated text or omit morphological details.
S. does an excellent job of explaining the often complicated context and obscure meaning of each epigram as well as of putting into dialogue poems by different epigrammatists through lexical and thematic affinities, even with (later or earlier) poems not featured in the selection. The commentary includes enlightening remarks that attest S.'s sensitivity for the genre and its subgenres: see, for example, at no. LXXI, l. 8, the observation on μναμόσυνον, which – as correctly highlighted (p. 167) – is originally used here to indicate the deceased woman's remembrance of her still living husband, rather than the preservation of the memory of the dead on the part of the living, which is conventional in epitaphs. At no. XXII, l. 4 (p. 87), S. stresses that, although the dead's name, Calliteles, is commonly attested, the meaning ‘Beautiful End’ possibly lurking in it suggests irony in an epigram on the lack of importance of a marked tomb. S. shows a fine awareness of the taste for variation and a sound grasp of the epigrammatic conventions at no. CII, l. 1 (p. 217), where he points out that the beginning of Dioscorides’ poem is modelled after the usual incipit of funerary epigrams ‘this is the tomb of X’.
Nonetheless, from time to time the general information to contextualise each poem is slightly incomplete: see, for example, the introduction to no. LVIII (p. 139) on the series dedicated to Timon, where Jul. Aegypt. AP 7.577 is left out; or the introduction to no. CXIX (p. 245), where it would have been wise to specify the date of the battle of Cynoscephalae (197 bce). At times too little space is dedicated to textual problems: see, for example, at no. LXXI, l. 4, the case of λευρά, a Corrector's amendment in the margin of the Palatine manuscript, which has the meaningless λύρα in textu, while Pl bears the reading λυγρά. However, S., who accepts λευρά, dismisses the discussion by simply asserting that his chosen reading is ‘a variation of the conventional epithet of bones, λευκά’ (p. 167), annotated by C, too.
There are some lapses and minor slips such as ‘probably not in Leonidas’ native Sicily’ at p. 99: Leonidas was a native of Tarentum, which is in Puglia. In no. XXVII, l. 1, the meaning of the expression ἡ πίθων σποδός is ‘probably the ash of (a person who consumed) barrels of wine’ (p. 95) for S.; actually, the expression refers at the same time to Maronis’ great talent as a drinker (‘pulveriser or crusher of amphoras’, i.e. ‘who drinks everything until the last leftover’) and to her status as dead: see Anon. AP 6.291.1 Βάκχου κυλίκων σποδός, with reference to the drinker Bacchylis’ ability to absorb as much wine as possible (yet here the original sepulchral reference of the dead as dust got lost, because Bacchylis is alive). Typos are rare.
The volume is certainly an attractive and accessible edition for both students, including those approaching the genre for the first time, and more mature scholars. It represents a significant advancement towards promoting the writing of commentaries on multi-authored, rather than single-authored, epigrammatic selections, and clearly encourages the long-awaited process of updating Gow's and Page's editions despite their still indisputable value.
