A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1200 TZETZES. TZETZES.
Irene Augusta, the wife of Manuel Comnenus, who dred and forty-eight lines, from the Antehomerica,
died A. D. 1158. The father of Joannes Tzetzes was published by F. Morel, under the title Iliaculz
was Michael Tzetzes. His mother's name was carmen Poetae Graeci c3jus nomen ignoratur. A
Eudocia (Ciil. v. 611). He was himself named fragment of twenty lines from the Posthomerica'after his paternal grandfather, a native of Byzan- was published by Dodwell in his Dissertationes de
tium, a man of some wealth, who, though not a veteribus Graecis et Ro-manis Cyclis, p. 802. In
learned man, showed great respect for scholars 1770 G. B. von Schirach published from a manu(ib. 615). His maternal grandmother was of a script formerly at Augsburg, now at Munich, the
Basque or Iberian family. The earlier part of his whole of the Antehomerica, with the exception of
life he spent with his brother Isaac at home, where about one hundred and seventy lines, a portion of
they received various wholesome precepts from their the Homerica, and the fragment of the Posthofather, urging them to prefer learning to riches, merica which had been published by Dodwell.
power, or precedence. (Ciil. iii. 157, iv. 566, &c.) The missing portion of the Antehomerica, together
At the age of fifteen he was placed under the in- with the whole of the Posthomerica, was found in
struction of tutors, who not only carried him a manuscript at Vienna by T. C. Tychsen, who
through the usual routine of study, but taught him sent a copy of it to F. Jacobs. A copy of a manuHebrew and Syriac (comp. Chit. vi. 282). His script of the Homerica was obtained from England,
writings bear evident traces of the extent of his and. a complete edition of the three poems was
acquirements in literature, science, and philosophy, published by Jacobs in 1793, with a commentary.
and not less of the inordinate self-conceit with A more correct edition is that of Immanuel Bekker:which they had filled him. He boasts of having (Berlin, 1816). 2. Another extensive work of
the best memory of any living man. (Chil. i. 275, Tzetzes is that known by the name of Cliliades,
545.) He styles himself a second Cato or Pala- consisting in its present form of 12,661 lines. The
medes (iii. 160); and says that he knows whole name Chiliades was given to it by the first editor,
books off by heart (x. 681, comp. vi. 407, 475, Nic. Gerbelius, who divided it, without reference
viii. 182, ix. 752, x. 340, 364, xii. 13, 118, Kal to the contents, into thirteen divisions of 1000
oea &Aha'eTepa eOe'Aoi TiS rcaveOdea, d dorb lines, the last being incomplete. Tzetzes himself
a7T'ous oo'ayev A~eY, rt wetpcdoeco). Another sub- called it BifAos lfr-opttci, and divided it into three
ject on which he glorifies himself is the rapidity 7ri'YaKes, as he termed them; the first of which
with which he could write, comparing it to the contains one hundred and forty-one narrations, and
speed of lightning (xii. 119, viii. 269, 526, Kal ends at Chil. iv. 1. 466. Hereupon follows an
VdeL 7Tb 0dV7a'rov is TSE TC7OV 8aIvoLfas). He talks epistle to one Joannes Lachanes, in which the
of TeTrKU&ar ipeuvas, as models of investigation, contents of the first table are repeated and accomE; alo7rep h7 XisOela f'l XdOUS &,aJ'p/ xeL (xii. 75, panied with moral observations. The second
126). It is not much to be wondered at that Irivat extends from Chil. iv. 1. 781 to Cdlil. v. 192,
others had not so exalted an opinion of him as he and contains twenty-three narratives. The third
had of himself (xii. 97). The neglect of his fellow- contains four hundred aud ninety-six stories. It
countrymen even excites in him the fear that Con- consists of six hundred and sixty chapters or divistantinople would be given up to the barbarians, sions, separated into three masses. Its subjectand become itself barbarous (xii. 993, &c.). He matter is of the most miscellaneous kind, but emcomplains with bitterness that the princes and great braces chiefly mythological and historical narramen of his age did not appreciate his merits, but tives, arranged under separate titles, and without
left him to get a livelihood by transcribing and any further connection. The following are a few
selling his writings, of which they nevertheless of them, as they occur: Croesus, Midas, Gyges,
expected copies to be sent them gratis (v. 941, Codrus, Alcmaeon, the sons of Boreas, Euphorbus,
comp. ix. 369). He speaks of Irene Augusta as Narcissus, Nireus, Hyacinthus, Orpheus, Amphion,
the only person of high station from whom he had the Sirens, Marsyas, Terpander, Arion, the golden
received any thing (xi. 48), and even in this in- lamb of Atreus, the bull of Minos, the dog of
stance he complains that the sums promised him Cephalus, Megacles, Cimon, Aristopatira, the
for his Homeric Allegories were kept back by victories of Simonides, Stesichorus, Tyrtaeus, Hanthose who should have paid him (ix. 282, &c.). nibal, Bucephalus, the clothes of the Sybarite AnFurther biographical particulars have not come tisthenes, Xerxes, Cleopatra, the Pharos at Alexdown to us. andria, Trajanus and his bridge over the Danube,
A large part of the voluminous writings of Archimedes, Hercules, &c.
Tzetzes is still extant. The following have been It is an uncritical gossiping book, written in bad
published. 1.'IhLaKac. This consists properly of Greek in that abominable make-believe of a metre,
three poems, collected in one under the titles TA called political verse (!asviev'o aoi-Xoi, Chil. ix.
irpb'Obupov, a'h'Opicpov, eall a' esO0' "UOjrpov. 283), of which the following is a sample: -
The first contains the whole Iliac cyclus, from the o\Fa 81Ogov
os acs aK6~ ~,'S ~P,~O^T waav, oa fltCCo,
birth of Paris to the tenth year of the siege, when,
ds a-,T0oUs TIe Kai 0Trdt.Ta'roS o-ros E'o'T/AJ,xSeEW,,
the Iliad begins. The second consists of an abridg- oi o s v
ment of the Ilias. The third, like the work of Ov E Iap i-v miphi-e K i- P ios'q'ov is's iiAov
Quintus Smyrnaeus,. is devoted to the occurrences Chit j62 - \
which took place between the death of Hector and (hi.. 275.)
the return of the Greeks. The whole amounts to It is followed by an appendix, in iambics, and some
1676 lines, and is written in hexameter metre. It prose epistles. It contains, however, a great deal
is a very dull composition, all the merits that are of curious and valuable information, though, as
to be found in which should be ascribed to the Heyne has shown, the bulk of it was obtained by
earlier poets from whom Tzetzes derived his mate- Tzetzes at second hand. Fabricius (Bibl. Graec.
rials. Our knowledge of this composition is of xi. p. 243, &c.) has a list of above 400 writers
colparatively recent date. A fragment of one hun- quoted by Tzetzes in this work. The author ap