Michaelis Pselli Historia Syntomos 9783110866841, 9783110112191

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MICHAELIS PSELLI HISTORIA SYNTOMOS

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CORPUS FONTIUM HISTORIAE BYZANTINAE CONSILIO SOCIETATIS INTERNATIONALIS STUDIIS BYZANTINIS PROVEHENDIS DESTINATAE EDITUM

VOLUMEN XXX

SERIES BEROLINENSIS EDIDERUNT H.-G. BECK • A. KAMBYLIS • R. KEYDELL (f)

WALTER DE GRUYTER BEROLINI ET NOVI EBORACI MCMLXXXX

MICHAELIS PSELLI HISTORIA SYNTOMOS EDITIO PRINCEPS

RECENSUIT, ANGLICE VERTIT ET COMMENTARIO INSTRUXIT W. J. AERTS

WALTER DE GRUYTER BEROLINI ET NOVI EBORACI MCMLXXXX

Gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft

CIP-Titelaufnahme

der Deutschen

Bibliothek

< Michael Psellus>: [Historia Syntomos] Michaelis Pselli Historia Syntomos / rec. Anglice vertit et commentario instruxit W. J. Aerts. — Ed. 1. — Berolini ; Novi Eboraci: de Gruyter, 1990 (Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae ; Vol. 30 : Series Berolinensis) ISBN 3-11-011219-1 NE: Aerts, Willem J. [Hrsg.]; GT

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Psellus, Michael. [Historia Syntomos. English & Greek] Michaelis Pselli Historia syntomos / recensuit Anglice vertit et commentario instruxit W. J. Aerts. — Editio princeps. p. cm. — (Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae ; v. 30. Series Berolinensis) English and Greek. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-89925-300-8 (U.S.) 1. Rome — History — Empire — 30 B.C.-476 A.D. 2. Byzantine Empire — History — To 527. 3. Byzantine Empire — History — 527-1081. I. Aerts, W. J. II. Title. III. Title: Historia syntomos. IV. Series: Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae ; v. 30. V. Series: Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae. Series Berolinensis. DG270.P7613 1990 937'.06 —dc20 90-2796 CIP

© Copyright 1990 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-1000 Berlin 30 Dieses Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Printed in Germany Satz und Druck: Arthur Collignon GmbH, Berlin Buchbinderische Verarbeitung: Lüderitz & Bauer GmbH, Berlin

IN MEMORIAM HERMANNI J. SCHELTEMA IURIS ROMANI PROFESSORIS GRONINGANI, QUI HOC OPUS INCOHAVERAT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the beginning of the seventies the late Prof. Mr. H. J. Scheltema, professor of Roman Law and famous editor of the Basilica, brought together a group of colleagues, collaborators and students for the study of a text of Michael Psellos, which had remained unnoticed until then. This reading group consisted of the late Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Visser, Prof. Scheltema, his collaborators Mr. J. H. A. Lokin, Mr. N. van der Wal, Mr. W. J. Zwaive, and further Mr. G. A. A. Kortekaas, Mr. J. M. M. Hermans, the students Mr. G. Hazenberg and Mr. Z. von Martels, and myself. This co-operative endeavour, useful, stimulating and pleasant as it might be, neither tended to accelerate matters nor made them more accurate. In the end it was decided that I would prepare an edition of the text for publication in a periodical. This, however, turned out to be an impossible option: not only was the text too extensive for publication in a periodical, but also there were too many problems asking for commentary, too many parallels requiring broader reconsideration, and last but not least, it seemed to be suitable to make a full translation of the text. In addition, I became more and more convinced that the authorship of Psellos was far from probable. Pursuing this conviction took considerable time. That I have nevertheless decided, after long consideration, to maintain the name of Michael Psellos in the title of this book, found its justification in the fact that I did not like to interfere with the discussion to come. I completed this work shortly before the XVI th International Byzantine Congress held in Vienna, and I found the publisher E. Forsten of Bouma's Boekhuis at Groningen prepared to bring out the book. An announcement was made for the Congress. During the Congress I was invited by Prof. Dr. H. Hunger, Vorsitzender der Kommission zur Herausgabe des Corpus Fontium Historiae Bj^antinae, who had glanced over my copy, to make it available for the CFHB. On the one hand I felt honoured by this invitation and Mr. Forsten made no objection to free the way for a publication in the Corpus, on the other I was sent into a direction with many incalculable complications. Publication in Holland according to CFHB standards turned out not to be very realistic and the matter was put before Prof. Dr. H. G. Beck and Prof. Dr. A. Kambylis, who adopted the work for the Series Berolinensis. Prof. Kambylis' very great experience and his warm interest in the subject created an atmosphere of fruitful discussion of the many puzzling passages in which this seemingly harmless text abounds. I am not only very grateful to him for his cooperation, but perhaps even more for his intervening at several

VIII

Acknowledgements

levels to see the work published in accordance with my conception. I am also grateful to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and its reviewers for making the publication financially possible. I thank the Publisher's House Walter de Gruyter and especially Prof. Dr. H. Wenzel and his staff for their kind efficiency. And, of course, I wish to thank many others. There is Mr. Dale Carr who has spent many a weekend with me in order to make my English translation as adequate and English as possible. There is my studentassistant Miss Martha Sebens who prepared the Name and Word Indices. There are the secretaries Mrs. M. de Vries-Hemmes, Mrs. A. Eekhof-Koekkoek and Mrs. L. van Moorsel-Darneviel who at different stages typed the text, commentaries, translation, indices etc. I also wish to apologize to those who as early as 1981 showed their interest in the publication and have had to wait till now for its realisation. Even if the delay was not in proportion to the improvements of the edition, they can be sure that this is a better one than the 'blue-print' of 1981. To conclude: it seemed well suited to me to dedicate this work to the initiator of the project, the late Professor H. J . Scheltema.

INTRODUCTION The Work and its Author The title of the Historia Sjntomos, of which the editio princeps is presented here, names as its author the 'very most famous, honourable Psellos' (o epiKuSeaTOtTOS UTTgpTipos o YEAAOS). If this statement is correct, I can feel relieved of the obligation to repeat what has been said on the life and works of this Byzantine polyhistor by many others.1 The one thing for me to do is to consider on which occasion and I or at which point in his career Psellos could possibly have written this short History, which seems to be intended as a 'mirror of princes'. 2 Here one meets with a series of difficulties. One of the most serious is the fact that Psellos himself, who is anything but averse to self-glorification, does not say a word about this other historical activity next to his Chronographia.3 In Const. IX, LXXIII Psellos ventures his ideas about historical writing. The chapter makes clear not only that Psellos is thinking of only one activity of his own in this field, namely his composition of the Chronographia, but also that he rejects for his own work the common approaches, such as annals and chronicles. It is out of the question, in my opinion, that Psellos would not have mentioned here his other historical work, the Historia Sjntomos, either to adstruct his skill in the field or to distance himself from a conception he had practiced himself earlier, if he had already completed that work at the moment he wrote the passage mentioned. Neither does Psellos in the outline of his own education {Const. IX, XXXVI) make reference to any activity in historical writing. 4 As has been said, the Historia Sjntomos seems to be intended as a mirror of princes. Thus it is a rather obvious supposition that Psellos wrote this work for use in the education of the young Michael VII. But neither is there in the second part of the Chronographia an allusion to such a work, 1

2

3

4

E. g. Renauld in his edition of Michel Psellos, Chronographie, Introduction, H. Hunger HPLB, I 372 ff. See chapter 15, where the author his (unknown) addressee invites "either to imitate the good deeds of the emperors, or to criticise and to despise the bad ones". The first line of the Chronography has clearly be intented to follow up the end of the History of Leo Diaconus. It seems clear, that, if the Historia Syntomos is a work of Psellos, it did not exist at the moment he started his Chronographia (see also Introd. p. XII). Psellos refers to his rhetorical and philosophical activities and the necessary preparatory studies.

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Introduction

nor does the Historia Sjntomos (e. g. 10,61) itself make the slightest indication of the personage, who is addressed to, though Psellos in his Chronographia more than once includes this kind of indication (espec. Const. IX, XXVIII, 4 - 1 0 , Mich. VII, XI 10, ibid. XIII 12). On the other hand one should notice that in the description of Michael VII's interests there are some points which recall the Historia Sjntomos-. Michael loves "characteristic wise words, Laconian sayings, sentence-books ... etc." The Historia Sjntomos comprises, indeed, a considerable number of sayings of a series of emperors. As far as I was able to find out, only a few of these sayings come from the common collections of apophthegms, or have parallels in other writings. None of them is related to the Laconian sayings. Taking all the arguments together: from Psellos' own utterances rises little or no reason to believe that Psellos actually wrote a Historia Sjntomos. In relation to this question it is necessary, however, to deal with a statement of Scylitzes in the Proem to his l u v o y i s 'Icrropicov. A IIKEAICOTTIS SISOCCTKOCAOS, says he ( 3 , 1 8 Thurn), and o KOCO' fiiaas vhrceTos TCOV cov KAL UTrepTi|_ioppr|KÓTes oì TCOV ÊATTÎSCOV 5IAYEUCR6ÉVTES EAEEIVOTOTO KaTaaq>0TTOuai ÇriaavTa ÉTTI TT)Ç àpxfis, pàAAov 8è OÛTCÙÇ EÎTTEÏV "8UCTTuyriCTavTa', r||JÉpaç è£t|KOVTCX TTpôç TOÏÇ 36 2eßfipos.

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