¹ Suidas, s.v. Ἀγαθίας, calls it κύκλος τῶν νέων ἐπιγραμμάτων, the lemma to AP iv 3 συλλογὴ νέων ἐπιγρ., a scholion on the same poem συναγωγή. Agathias himself describes it only in general terms (Hist., pref., p. 6.9 f. Bonn).

² Of this there is no doubt: Agathias himself says so quite explicitly in the preface to the Cycle (AP iv 3.115) and in the preface to the History (loc. cit.). Cf. also Suidas s.v. G. Highet's claim (OCD ¹ s.v. Anthology p. 56a) that Agathias included ‘large sections’ of the anthologies of Meleager and Philip is certainly mistaken.

³ See all editions (and translations) of the Antholology, and all the standard handbooks and histories of Greek literature: even E. Stein, usually so cautious in such matters, adopts the general view (Histoire du Bas-Empire ii (1949) 697). The only exception known to us is G. Highet, (loc. cit.), who without any reasons gives ‘about A.D. 570’ as the date of publication: this is certainly too late (below, p. 24).

⁴ All references in this article, unless otherwise stated, are to books of the Palatine Anthology, the ‘Planudean Appendix’ being cited after the conventional (though erroneous) fashion as xvi.

⁵ Anth. grecque i (1928) xxiii n. 3.

⁶ De Anth. Pal. quaestiones, Diss. Leips. (1894) 61.

⁷ Stein, , Bas-Empire ii 517–8.Google Scholar

⁸ E.g. Beckby, H., Anth. Graeca i (1957) 67 Google Scholar (though see below, p. 11). Preisendanz, K., DLZ lxxx (1959) 183 Google Scholar, says ‘um 560’.

⁹ Cf. Beckby 69, Waltz i xxviii.

¹⁰ Beckby 70, Waltz xxx.

¹¹ Beckby 71–2, Waltz xxxi f., Gow, A. S. F., The Greek Anthology: Sources and Ascriptions (Hell.Soc. Suppl. Publ. ix, 1958) 12 f., 45 f.Google Scholar We are assuming, against Gow (p. 13), that Planudes did use the Palatinus directly (among other sources): cf. Cameron, Alan, CQ n.s. xv (1965) 222, n. 3.Google Scholar

¹² Gow, and Page, , The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams I (1965) xx, xlviii.Google Scholar

¹³ i.e. where ‘what precedes or follows is anonymous or ascribed to unknown poets’ (Gow, op. cit. 22).

¹⁴ v 216–302. 257, by Palladas, is probably an intruder—see below.

¹⁵ Other such sequences—AP vi 54–84, ix 614–81. On the other hand Cephalas broke up and rearranged the Cycle poems in ix according to subject-matter: cf. Basson, J., De Cephala et Planude (Diss. Berlin 1917) 21 f.Google Scholar

¹⁶ See Gow, op. cit. 54 f.

¹⁷ It may be conjectured that the name Tribonian appeared in the original Cycle, though not a single poem by him appears in either Planudes or the Palatinus. For Suidas s.v. Ἀγαθιας says that Agathias was a contemporary of Paul the Silentiary, Macedonius the consul and Tribonian. This cannot be the famous jurist Tribonian, so bitterly attacked by Procopius in the Secret History, for he was dead by 542 ( Stein, , BE ii 407 Google Scholar), when Agathias was no more than 10. But there was a younger Tribonian, perhaps a son, who wrote, according to Suidas (s.v. Τριβωνιανὸς Σιδήτης) a large number of poetical works. And one of his poems was entitled Μακεδόνιος, ἤ περὶ εὐδαιμονίας—surely named after Macedonius the consul (below, p. 17). It is not unreasonable to suppose that Tribonian, like Paul and Macedonius, contributed a few of his shorter poems to the Cycle. Julianus Scholasticus too should perhaps be added (ix 481: for his sobriquet μετέωρος, cf. Bowra, , Byz. Zeit, liii (1960) 3).Google Scholar ix 647, firmly embedded in a Cycle-sequence, is ascribed by Plan, to an otherwise unknown Pompeius (adesp. in Pal.).

¹⁸ It will be seen that with respect to the lesser names our list differs considerably from that suggested by Beckby (i 89–90). As will be shown below, there is an obvious case for including Gabriel, Julian the Antecessor, Synesius Scholasticus and Theodorus the proconsul, all of whom Beckby omits. On the other hand he does include Diogenes and Phocas, though the one poem of each that is preserved does not really occur in a ‘Cycle-sequence’ (vii 613, ix 772). It is possible that xvi 313, by Michael Grammaticus on Agathias himself comes from the Cycle, but it has the appearance of being an inscriptional poem written for a statue of Agathias, perhaps after his death. Beckby also includes Damascius (vii 553), but again the one poem by him is not in a proper Cycle-sequence and Damascius could not easily be called a contemporary of Agathias. As for Eutolmius, his poems belong rather to Palladas' Sylloge than to the Cycle (cf. Cameron, Alan in CQ n.s. xv (1965) p. 217 Google Scholar): three of his four poems occur next to poems by Palladas (vi 86, vii 608, 611) and the fourth (ix 587) is not in a Cycle-sequence.

¹⁹ This is some four years before the usual date of 536 (e.g. Niebuhr, pref. to Bonn ed., xiv), but the dating depends on that of the earthquake which destroyed Berytus, which should be put in 551, not 554 (below, p. 11). The whole question will be discussed in a forthcoming monograph on Agathias.

²⁰ Stein, , BE ii 776.Google Scholar

²¹ BE ii 837. But the bridge was certainly finished by 563, for Paul the Silentiary mentions it in his ekphrasis (H. Soph. 930 f.).

²² Du Cange's certain emendation for Planudes' Πλακίδου.

²³ Cf. Janin, R., Constantinople Byzantine ² (1964) 135.Google Scholar

²⁴ For this feature of his style cf. CQ n.s. xiv (1964) 317 f.

²⁵ Cf. Stein, , BE ii 799.Google Scholar

²⁶ Stein, , BE ii 371 n. 2.Google Scholar

²⁷ On the equivalence of the curator civitalis and the πατὴρ πόλεως, cf. Jones, A. H. M., Later Roman Empire (1964), iii 242 n. 4.Google Scholar The pater was particularly occupied with the care of public buildings: Hanton, , Byzantion iv (1927–1928) 114 f.Google Scholar

²⁸ Byz.-neugr. Jahrb. iii (1922) 163 f.

²⁹ For sources see Stein, , BE ii 783.Google Scholar

³⁰ Regularly used in honorific epigrams of any high office— Robert, , Hellenica iv (1948) 42 n. 4.Google Scholar

³¹ Epp. 28, 37, 64, 71, 72 etc.

³² Janin, op. cit. 148–9.

³³ Stein, , BE ii 803.Google Scholar

³⁴ ἔπαρχος and ὕπαρχος seem to have been used indiscriminately for the urban and praetorian prefectures: cf. Dölger, , Byz. Zeit xl (1940) 180 f.Google Scholar, Robert, op. cit. 45 f.

³⁵ Jalabert, and Mouterde, , Inscr. grecques et latines de la Syrie ii (1929)Google Scholar no. 348 (cf. 349).

³⁶ On Cyrus of Panopolis, , see Historia xiv (1965) 473, 498.Google Scholar

³⁷ E.g. Schemmel, , Neue Jahrb. f. Pädagogik xii (1909) 450 Google Scholar, Downey, , Speculum xxx (1955) 598 etc.Google Scholar It is clear however that the earthquake which destroyed the city must be that of 551, mentioned by Malalas p. 485.8 and Theophanes, AM 6043 Google Scholar; cf. Stein, , BE ii 757 n. 5.Google Scholar The confusion in modern writers concerning Agathias' notice of the earthquake at Hist. ii 15, which is crucial for the whole of his chronology, must be reserved for future discussion.

³⁸ And does not square with his acceptance of Sakolowski's 558 at i 67.

³⁹ Collinet, , Histoire de l'école du droit de Beyrouth (1925) 55 f.Google Scholar (who dates it correctly to 551).

⁴⁰ Cf. Stadtmueller, , Anth. Graeca ii (1899) xxii.Google Scholar

⁴¹ It is unfortunate that Beckby accepts Julian's consulate (iv 738).

⁴² Vandersleyen, C., Chronologie des préfets d'Egypte de 284 à 395 (1962), 146.Google Scholar The Ἰουλιανὸς ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων of Pap. Cairo 67060 is probably only an ex-praeses, as Maspéro suggests in his note ad loc.

⁴³ Stein, , BE ii 477.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ For sources, see Stein, , BE ii 784.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Chron. Pasch. p. 624 Bonn.

⁴⁶ Stein, , BE ii 454 n. 2.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Stein, , BE ii 779 n. 4.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Stadtmueller, ii xxii–iii, Waltz, , Anth. gr. vii (1957) xlv.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Stein, , BE ii 454 Google Scholar n. 2.

⁵⁰ The lemmatist wrongly identifies the ἄνασσα with Euphemia, wife of Justin I.

⁵¹ So that the lemmatist to vii 603 is wrong to assume that the young, unmarried man of that poem is John again.

⁵² Cf. Boak, A. E. R., The Master of the Offices in the Later Roman and Byzantine Empires (1919) 150.Google Scholar

⁵³ Collinet, op. cit. 190–1.

⁵⁴ Stein, , BE ii 441 n. 4.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ In spite of his obvious (and well attested) importance, Callinicus is nowhere discussed in Dunlap, J. E.'s monograph, The Office of the Grand Chamberlain in the Later Roman and Byzantine Empires (1924)Google Scholar, nor even included in his list of known chamberlains.

⁵⁶ εἰς εἰκόνα, the standard lemma to such poems on works of art. εἰκών can mean either statue or painting, and in many cases it is impossible to say which is meant. Professor Cyril Mango informs us that in the case of imperial officials represented with the insignia of their office it is more likely to be a statue, but some even of these must be paintings (e.g. i 36: cf. 1.6 χρώμασι). According to Professor Mango the εἰκών of Callinicus cannot actually have represented him lulling the Emperor to sleep, since the conventions of Imperial iconography would not have permitted such an undignified scene: this detail must therefore be Leontius' own comment on the picture.

⁵⁷ Stein, 599 n. 4.

⁵⁸ Stein, 745.

⁵⁹ Stein, 784, 786.

⁶⁰ Justinian, , Edict viii 6.Google Scholar

⁶¹ 724 n. 1 fin.

⁶² Hist., pref. 11.9 Bonn and passim.

⁶³ HE iv 24, v 24: cf. Zacharias rhetor etc.

⁶⁴ according to John the Lydian (loc. cit.), and cf. Procopius, Anecd. 24.23.

⁶⁵ Stein, 725 n. 2 fin.

⁶⁶ Cf. Vasiliev, A. A., Dumbarton Oaks Papers iv (1948) 29 f.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Aristaenetus, Ep. i 26, Apollinaris, Sidonius Carm. xxii 268 Google Scholar; cf. Vasiliev, op. cit. 47–8.

⁶⁸ Janin, op. cit. 223.

⁶⁹ Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology ² (1906) 337.

⁷⁰ Cf. the index to vol iv of Haury's Procopius, s.v. Λέων 3 (p. 273 of the 1964 reprint).

⁷¹ Cf. Seeck, O., Die Briefe des Libanius (1906) s.w.Google Scholar

⁷² For the honorary consulate, see Courtois, C., Byzantion xix (1949) 37 f.Google Scholar, and R. Guilland, ib. xxiv (1954) 545 f. Many more honorary consuls from the sixth century might be added to Guilland's list.

⁷³ Cf. Historia xiv (1965) 482.

⁷⁴ Paolo Silenziario (1916) 12. Cf. also Corbato, C., Annali Triestini xx (1950) 224.Google Scholar The latest editor of Paul's epigrams ( Viansino, G., Paolo Silenziario: Epigrammi, Torino (1963)Google Scholar) offers no biographical data whatever. See below p. 210 following.

⁷⁵ History of later Greek Literature (1932) 390 f. The suggestion was first made by Stadtmüller, and is repeated by Veh, O., Zur Geschichts-schreibung u. Weltauffassung des Prokop von Caesarea iii 19 Google Scholar, Wiss. Beilage z. Jahresb. 1952/3 des Gymn. Christian-Ernestinum Bayreuth.

⁷⁶ Veniero, op. cit. 147 compares AP xii 71 (Callimachus), xii 72 (Meleager) and Propertius i 5.9.

⁷⁷ Cf. Meleager, , AP xii 23 Google Scholar and see K. F. Smith on Tib., l.c.

⁷⁸ Suidas, for what it is worth, says that Agathias

⁷⁹ E.g. Sakolowski, op. cit. (n. 6) 63, Waltz, i xxiii.

⁸⁰ Cf. Historia xiv (1965) 470, n. 2.

⁸¹ Janin, op. cit. 388.

⁸² Jones, A. H. M., Later Roman Empire (1964), ii 533, 705 f.Google Scholar

⁸³ Stein, , BE ii 433 n. 4.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Justinian, Nov. 22 ad fin.

⁸⁵ Stumpo, , L'Epigramma a Constantinopoli nel secolo VI dopo Cristo (Palermo, 1926) 16.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Agathias himself seems to have had some acquaintance with the last philosophers of the School of Athens—cf. Hist, ii 30, p. 130 f.

⁸⁷ Cf. Bandini, , Cat. Cod. Graec. Laur. ii (1768) 368.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Cf. Gow, , Theocritus i (1950) lxxxiii Google Scholar contra Wendel, C., Überlieferung u. Enslehung der Theokrit-Scholien, Abh. Gött. (1920) 77–8.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ For the predominance of classical motifs in the Cycle, cf. Mattson, A., Untersuchungen z. Epigrammsammlung des Agathias, Lund (1942) 46 f.Google Scholar This is especially true of the erotic epigrams. Viansino, op. cit., points out in his commentaries on Paul's erotic epigrams the poetic antecedents of many of the feminine names.

⁹⁰ Janin, op. cit. 153. See also Guilland, R., Byzantion xxiii (1953) 192.Google Scholar For Zonaras' erroneous ascription of this poem to Agathias, see a forthcoming discussion by Averil Cameron in Byzantion.

⁹¹ E.g. Janin, 167, Viansino, 57.

⁹² Viansino, loc. cit., erroneously takes him to be a jurist, and appears to identify him with the Domninus who was professor of law at Berytus c. 450 (cf. Collinet, op. cit. (n. 33) 138)—a century too soon! In any case, the poems must refer to some official building activity, not normally the work of professors of law.

⁹³ Stein, , BE ii 779 n. 4.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ The palace known as τὰ Λομνίνου in Constantinople is perhaps named after him (cf. Janin, op. cit. 346).

⁹⁵ Cf. Waltz, 5 f., Beckby, 70.

⁹⁶ Cf. Sophocles, Byz. Lex. s.v., Haury's index verb. to Procopius, s.v., etc.

⁹⁷ Stein, , Studien z. Gesch. des byz. Reiches (1919) p. 28 n. 2.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ Grégoire, , Recueil des inscr. grecques chrét. d'Asie-mineure i (1922) 100 bis.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ Geffcken, P-W no. 21, places him in the first century A.D., on the thinnest of grounds.

¹⁰⁰ CSEL xxxv 235.16.

¹⁰¹ Justin's career to date— Stein, BE ii 744 f.Google Scholar

¹⁰² For the topos, cf. e.g. Aristides, , Laud. Romae 365 Google Scholar, Claudian, , Cons. Stil, iii 155 f.Google Scholar

¹⁰³ E.g. AP ix 813, 803, Corippus, , Just. i 55 f.Google Scholar, 264 f., iv 280.

¹⁰⁴ Cf. also ibid. 39 f.: ‘cui vincere fas est indomitas gentes et barbara subdere regna’.

¹⁰⁵ BE ii 697.

¹⁰⁶ The same view of Justinian's last years is. expressed more scathingly by Procopius, Anecd. 18.29,. and cf. BG iii.32.9, 35.11.