Elizabeth Archibald - Apollonius of Tyre Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations-Brewer (1991)

APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Medieval and Renaissance
Themesand Variations
For Mike,
sine quo non
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE
THEMES AND VARIATIONS
Including the text of the
Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri
with an English translation
Elizabeth Archibald
D. 5. BREWER
© Elizabeth Archibald 1991
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted undercurrentlegislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
withouttheprior permission of the copyright owner
First published 1991 by D.S. Brewer, Cambridge
DS. Breweris an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF
and of Boydell & BrewerInc.
PO Box 41026, Rochester, NY 14604, USA
ISBN 0 85991 316 3
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Archibald, Elizabeth
Apollonius of Tyre: medieval and Renaissance
themes and variations.
L Title
18.09
ISBN 0-85991-316-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Archibald, Elizabeth, 1951—
Apollonius of Tyre : medieval and Renaissance themes and
variations : including the text of the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri
with an English translation / Elizabeth Archibald
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-85991-316-3 (alk. paper)
1. Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri. 2. Apollonius of Tyre
(Fictitious character) — Romances — History andcriticism.
3. Apollonius of Tyre (Fictitious character) — Romances.
4. Literature, Medieval - Roman influences.
5. European literature —
Romaninfluences. 6. Romances, Latin — Appreciation — Europe.
I. Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri. English & Latin. 1991 II. Title.
PA6206.A63A73 1991
873'01-dc20
91-9332
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Great Britain by
St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
CONTENTS
Preface
Abbreviations and Conventions
Contents of Appendices I andII
PART ONE
l.
Introduction to the Historia Apollonii
27
45
2.
Sources and Analogues
$.
The Circulation of the Apollonius Story in the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance
4.
TheInfluence of HA
52
5.
Problemsin the Plot
63
6.
Genre, Reception and Popularity
81
ART TWO
l'reface to the text and translation
lext of the Historia Apollonii with facing translation
Notes on Passages Marked with an Asterisk
Appendix I: Latin and Vernacular Versions of HA to 1609
182
Appendix II: Medieval and Renaissance Allusions to the Story of
Apollonius
217
Select Bibliography
235
Index of Manuscripts Cited
241
Cieneral Index
245
PREFACE
Myquestfor Apollonius of Tyre has lasted almost as long as his own adventures,
and like them has ranged over many counties.It began in Cambridge, where I
first read the Historia Apollonii as an undergraduate.I forgot him for a few years
after 1 went down, but when I entered the Medieval Studies Program atYale I
becameinterested in him again, and decided to write my doctoral dissertation on
the medieval and Renaissance Apolloniustradition. This book has grown out of
my dissertation.
Like Apollonius, I have had to solve some riddles, and many scholars have
helped me generously during my quest. Mygreatest debts of gratitude at Yale are
to Prof. Ingeborg Glier and Prof. Thomas M. Greene, mydissertation advisers;
Prof. Marie Boroff, Prof. Warren Ginzburg and Prof. Lowry Nelson, Jr., the
official readers of my dissertation; and Prof. John Boswell and Dr Alice Miskimin, who had no formal responsibility for my progress, but contributed enormously to the completion of the dissertation and the book through their
teaching, advice and friendship. At Cambridge Prof. Michael Lapidge first introduced me to Apollonius, made many helpful comments on an earlier draft of chis
book, and has been an invaluable friend and adviser for twenty years; and Prof.
Pcrer Dronke generously read the text and translation, and suggested a numberof
clegant improvements.
All who work on Apollonius are indebted to Dr G. A. A. Kortekaasfor his
magnificent edition of the Historia Apollonii (1984). His work is largely devoted
to the Latin tradition, and to the early Middle Ages; like the proverbial dwarf on
a giant's shoulders, I have found his book invaluable in looking farther afield in
the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and I am grateful to him for his
generous support and assistance. Many other colleagues and friends have contbuted ideas and references, lent me books, puzzled overtranslations, initiated
inc into the mysteries of various greatlibraries, checked references, and provided
intellectual and moral support. Special thanks are due to Christopher Baswell, A.
S_ (i. Edwards, Abigail Freedman, Simon Gaunt, Ralph Hexter, Anne Higgins,
Keith Hopkins, Sarah Kay, David Konstan, Michael Reeve, Anne Walters
Robertson, Gareth Schmeling, Elizabeth Sears, Joanna Waley-Cohen, Nigel
Wilson, and Robert Yeager, and to John Garnons Williams, who designed and
thew the map.
Apollonius hadall the books he needed to solve the riddle in his book-chests,
ut Lam not so fortunate, and [am enormously indebted to the many American
and European libraries where lH have worked. 1 should like to thank the staff in all
the libraries whose resources (especially manuscripts) were made available to me
viii
PREFACE
for their courteous and efficient assistance. The reference librarians at the
Sterling Memorial Library and the Beinecke Rare Book and ManuscriptLibrary,
Yale University, and at the Cambridge University Library deserve special thanks
for all the help they have given me over the years; and more recently the
Bielefeld Universitatsbibliothek has proved an excellent source of Apollonius
material.
Parts of chapters 1 and 2 appeared in a different form as ‘Fathers and Kings in
Apollonius of Tyre’, in Images of Authority: Papers presented to Joyce Reynolds on the
occasion of her 70th birthday, ed. M. M. Mackenzie and Charlotte Roucché,
Cambridge Philological Society Supplement 16 (Cambridge, 1989); parts of
chapter 6 appeared in a different form as 'Apollonius of Tyre in Vernacular
Literature: Romance or Exemplum", in Groningen Colloquia on the NovelIll, ed.
H. Hofmann(Groningen, 1990). I am grateful to the publishers for permission to
reproduce this material.
Much of this book was written in King’s College, Cambridge. 1 am grateful to
the Provost and Fellows for for enabling me to work in such beautiful surroundings, and for financing my word processor and several trips to conferences where
I could talk to other Apollonius enthusiasts.
Last but by no means least, I am infinitely indebted to my husband for his
patience and support. He has given advice, read innumerable drafts, cooked
nourishing meals, and generally joined in my quest for Apollonius. Like some
medieval quests, it cannot be conclusively completed, but I could never have got
even this far without him.
Elizabeth Archibald
Bielefeld, August 1990.
ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS
Abbreviations
AA
AASS
BL
BN
Bodl.
CCCM
CCSL
CFMA
FETS
ELH
ES.
HA
JEGP
Laurent.
LCL
MGH
MLN
MLR
Hs.
NM
OS.
ONB
PL.
MLA
hw
RA, Ra,
RB, RB,
RC
RES
RE
SATE
SHAW
Auctores Antiquissimi (in MGH)
Acta Sanctorum.ed. Johannes Bollandus, revised J. Carnandet(Paris,
1863-1948)
British Library, London
Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris
Bodleian Library, Oxford
Corpus Christianorum continuatio medievalis (Tumhout, 1953—)
Corpus Christianorum series latina (Turnhout, 1966)
Classiques francais du moyen áge
Early English Text Society
Joumal of English Literary History
Extra Series
Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri
Journal of English and Germanic Philology
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence
Loeb Classical Library
Monumenta Germaniae historica (Hanover, 1826—)
Modem Language Notes
Modern Language Review
new scries
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen
Original Scries
Osterrcichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna
aola cursus completus, series latina, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris, 184464
Publications of the Modem Language Association of America
Pauly’s Realenzyclopddie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, ed. C.
Wissowaetal. (Stuttgart, 1894-1980)
recensions of HA (sce pp. 8-9)
Review of English Studies
Romanische Forschungen
Société des anciens textes frangais
Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Philosophisch-historische Klasse
x
SS
TLF
Vat.
ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS
Scriptores (in MGH)
Textes littéraires frangaises
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
Conventions
It would be impracticable to include in the notes full citations for all the versions
of the Apolloniusstory, so editions and secondary literature are listed in Appendix I, where the versions are described in more detail. Where there arc several
modem editions of a text, the one from which I quote is marked by an asterisk.
Forsimilar reasons,allusions to the story are quoted in full, with translations, in
Appendix II. The reference numbers for the two Appendices, which are listed on
pp- xi-xiii and are also included in the General Index, will be given when a
version is first mentioned in each chapter. A full list of manuscripts is given in
the Index of Manuscripts Cited.
The names of the characters vary a good deal among the versions (and
sometimes within them). To avoid confusion, I use the standard forms of the
names in HÀ throughout, except in discussing texts where they have been
substantially altered.
All citations from classical texts are from the Loeb Classical Library edition,
unless otherwise stated.
CONTENTS OF APPENDICES I ANDII
Appendix I: Latin and Vernacular Versions of HA to 1609
V1. Gesta Apollonii
V2. Old English Apollonius
V3. Lambert of St. Omer,Liber Floridus
V4. Godfrey of Viterbo, Pantheon
V5.Bem Redacton
V6. Carmina Burana, (O Antioche, cur decipis me)
V7. Kong Apollon af Tyre
V8. Old French Fragment
V9. Thidreks Saga af Bem
V10. Libro de Apolonio
V11. Gesta Romanorum
V12. John Gower, Confessio Amantis
V13. Middle English Fragment
V14. Brussels Redaction
V15. Heinrich von Neustadt, Apollonius von Tyrland
V16A,B. Italian Prose Versions (Tuscan)
V17. Italian Prose Version (Tuscan-Venetian)
V18. Antonio Pucci, Istoria di Apollonio di Tiro in ottava rima
V19. Czech Version
V20A,B. Dutch Printed Versions
V21. London Redaction
V22. Vienna Redaction
V23. Le violier des histoires romaines
V 24. Le romant de Appollin roy de Thir (Garbin’s version)
V25. Heinrich Steinhéwel, Die hystory des Ktiniges Appollonii
V26. German Prose Version
V27. Diegesis polupathous Apolloniou tou Turou
V 28. Hystoria de Apolonio
V29. Confisyón del Amante
V 30. Jacob Falckenburg, Britannia
V3. Markward Welser, Narvatio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio
V 32. Robert Copland, The Romance of Kynge Apollyn of Thyre
V 33. Lawrence Twine, The Patteme of Painefull Adventures
VM. Gilles Corrozet, Histoire du roy Apolonius prince de Thir
V 35. Francois de Belleforest, 1H Histoires Tragiques
xii
CONTENTS OF APPENDICES I AND II
V36. Hans Sachs, Der kónig Apollonius im Bad
V37. Greek Rhymed Version
V38. Hungarian Version
V39. Polish Version
V40. Juan de Timoneda, El Patrartuelo
V41. Eine schóne und kortwylige Historia vam Kóninge Apollonio (Moller's version)
V42. George Wilkins, The Painefull Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre
V43. William Shakespeare (and ?), Pericles Prince of Tyre
Appendix II: Medieval and Renaissance Allusions to the Story of
Apollonius
A1. Venantius Fortunatus, Opera Poetica
A2. Theodosius pelegrinus, Desitu terrae sanctu
A3. De dubiis nominibus
A4. Bequest of Abbot Wando of St Wandrille
A5. Will of Everard, Marquis of Friuli
A6. Chronicon Novaliciense
A7. Fulcher of Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana
A8. (?Fulcher of Chartres), Gesta Francorum expugnantium Hierusalem
A9. Honorius Augustodunensis, Imago Mundi
A10. Guerau de Cabrera, Cabra Juglar
A11. Lamprecht, Alexanderlied
A12. Chrétien de Troyes (?), Philoména
A13. William of Tyre, Chronicon
A14. Aye d'Avignon
A15. Amaut Guilhem de Marsan, Ensenhamen
A16. Geoffrey de Vigeois, Chronicon Lemovicense
A17. Godfrey of Viterbo, Memoria Seculorum
A18. Henricus Septimellensis, Elegia de diversitate fortunae et philosophiae
consolatione
A19. Poéme Moral
A20. La Chanson de Doon de Nanteuil
A21. Jean Renart, L'Escoufle
A22. Jacques de Vitry, Historia Hierosolymitana
A23. Oui de Cambrai, Barlaam et Josaphas
A24. Wilbrandus de Oldenburg, Peregrinatio
A25. Kyng Alisauruler
A26. Flamenca
A21 A chantar mer un discortz
A28 Berrand de Paris en Rouergue, Guordo, ie us fas un sol sivventes l'un
A2. Adam de Sucl, Distuhis of Cato
AO. Yuteniua Regis Franchorum et filie in qua adidteriaem comite volat
CONTENTS OF APPENDICES | AND II
A31. Pedro IV of Aragon, poemto his son
A32. Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
A33. John Capgrave, Life of St. Katharine of Alexandria
A34. Ballad attributed to Alfonso el Sabio
A35. Robert Henryson, Orpheus and Eurydice
A36. Pimlyco or Runne Red-cap
A31. Ben Jonson, On the New Inn. Ode to Himself
xiii
PART ONE
Introduction to
the Historia Apollonii
Strange, shapeless, improbable, as in its entirety is the ‘mouldy
tale’, as Jonson called it, of Apollonius, there is need in anyfinal
estimate to pay tribute to the vencrablenessofits history and
to the enduring appeal made by what might well be called the
first of our western ‘romansd’aventure’.
LauraHibbard!
The Historia Apollonii is a unique example of a ‘novel’ from late antiquity which
was knownand enjoyed throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance,
and maintained unbroken popularity and an almost unchanging plot from the
fifth century to the seventeenth, and beyond. The crushing adjective ‘mouldy’
with which Ben Jonson dismissed Pericles Prince of Tyre [V43], the dramatization
in which Shakespeare had at least a hand, is appropriate only in terms of the
antiquity of the story? Public opinion throughout the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance was against Jonson, judging from the numerous manuscripts and
printed versions of the story which survive. At the latest count the HÀ text
appears in one hundred and fourteen Latin manuscripts, written between the
ninth and the seventeenth centuries; vernacular versions were produced all over
medieval Europe,as far afield as Denmark and Greece, Spain and Bohemia. The
first vernacular version was produced in England, and is the earliest known
English ‘romance’ (it must be the only fictional narrative to survive in Old,
Middle and Modern English). Numerous printed versions appeared in Latin and
!
Laura Mibbard, Medieval Romance in England (London, 1924; rp. New York, 1960), p.
17
Ben Jonson’s disparaging comment on Pericles appears in his poem ‘On The New Inn:
Odle to Himself’, and is quoted in Appendix I1, A37. The various adaptations of the
Historia Apollonii (cited hereafter as HA) are listed chronologically in Appendix I, and
the allusions to the story in Appendix lH. When à. version. or an. allusion. is first
mentioned in cach chapter, the reference used in the appropriate Appendix: will fe
given in square brackets: the Contents of both appendices, and the ceference numbers,
are gaven on pp. xi xin
4
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
in various vernaculars before the end ofthefifteenth century, and were frequently reprinted thereafter. The story of Apollonius therefore offers an unusual and
exciting opportunity for the study of literary transmission, reception and taste
during a period crucial to the formation of Europeanliterary culture.
In spite of the importance of HA as a late classical narrative which was
extremely popular throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, relatively litle
work has been done on it in this century. Until recently the standard text was
that of Riese, revised in 1893; a number of new versions ofthe story, both in
Latin and in vemaculars, have been discovered since then.? There has been a
striking resurgence of interest in Apollonius in the 1980s. In 1981 Tsirsikli
published an edition of the two main versions of HA; she offers no literary
commentary, but concentrates entirely on editorial problems and textual apparatus.* The magisterial edition by Korrekaas appeared in 1984; as well as the two
main versions of the text, it includes detailed discussion of the language and style
of HA,and of its origins, and descriptions of almost all the known manuscripts.
In 1985 Konstan and Roberts published a text and commentary designed for
students, with a very brief introduction. A new Teubner edition by Schmeling
containing three versions of the text appeared in 1988." Over the last decade
Hunt has published a number of articles on textual problems in HA (sce the
Sclect Bibliography). Those who wish to read the text in Latin, and to wrestle
with the textual variants and attendantdifficulties, are therefore well served. For
those who need help with the Latin text, or who do not read Latin at all, there
are a number of English translations available, but some have considerable limitations (for translations into other languages see the Bibliography). Swann's
rendering of the version in the Gesta Romanorum was published in 1876: the
Latin text which he used differs somewhat from the standard HA text, and his
translation of it is rather archaic.? Turner's translation of 1956 is much more
readable (if rather free), but was produced only in an expensive Golden Cockcrel
Press limited edition of four hundred copies. The version by Pavlovskis is closer
to the Latin than Turner's but not so readable, and it is not easily accessible
outside the United States.!° There is a more satisfactory new translation by
Sandy, but it has only a very brief introduction,as it is part of a collection of
~
>
-^
3
A. Riese, ed., Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri, 2nd edn, Bibliotheca Teubneriana (Leipzig,
1893; rp. 1973).
D. Tsitsikli, ed., Pod Apollonii Regis Tyri, Beitráge zur klassischen Philologie 134
(Kónigstein/Ts.,
O. A. A. amn Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri, Mediacevalia Oroningana 3 (Groningen, 1984). Page references arc to this study unless otherwisestated.
David Konstan and Michael Roberts, ed., Historia Apollini Regis Tyri, Bryn Mawr Latin
Commentaries (Bryn Mawr, Pa., 1985).
Gareth Schimeling, edi; Eiistorta Apolloni Regis Tyri, Bibliotheca Teubneriana (Leipz,
| 9HH)
Rev Chatles Swann, tr, Gesta Bomanonam, 16v. Wynnaid Plooper (London, 1876; 1p.
<
| ondon & New Yoik, 1959), pe 459 99
Wo
Paul Parner te, Apodlonnas of Dye, BF listomia Apoll Regis Lyn (E ondon, 1956)
foe avlovsbis, uu Pv Sanyof Apollonia. Kangeof Dore (D awrence,; Ka, 1978)
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
5
translations of ancient novels.” Turner, Pavlovskis and Sandy all used Riese's
text.
Asfor critical studies of HÀ and the later Apollonius tradition in the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance, there are few, and those which aim to be comprehensive all date from the last century: Singer (1895), Smyth (1898), Klebs (1899).!2
Klebs and Singer wrote in German, and their work has not been translated; the
one English account (Smyth) is unfortunately the most superficial of the threc.
All three critics organized their discussions of the medieval and Renaissance
versions of HA according to language, rather than date; and they concentrated
on establishing textual relationships, rather than discussing the ways in which
changes in theplotrelate to theliterary history of the period, or the reasonsfor
the astonishing popularity of the story of Apollonius. Some good work has been
done onindividual versions, especially the Spanish Libro de Apolonio [V10] and
Gower's account in the Confessio Amantis [V12], and also of course on Pericles.
But sometimes scholars working on a later version praise or blame the authorfor
details or patterns which can in fact be traced back directly to HA; and scholars
working on HAoften ignore useful clues from the long afterlife of this remarkable work.
Mystudyis intended to provide information on HA andits many descendants
for students and scholars working in a variety of areas: ancient romance, medieval Latin, medieval vernacular literatures (especially romance), Shakespeare,
the early history ofprinting, the history of the novel. In no sense doesit replace
the magisterial edition of Dr Kortckaas, which is indispensable for detailed study
of HA,especially in relation to language and manuscript tradition. | have taken
overhis text, with minoralterations; and I am greatly indebted to his analysis of
the Latin manuscripts, and his account of the probable origins of the story, as
well as his very learned comments on manyaspects of the medieval tradition. My
own interest lies mainly in charting the later progress of the story as both sentence
and solaas, to use the literary criteria of Chaucer’s Host. Why was the ‘mouldy
tale’ so popular? What was its attraction for an Anglo-Saxon translator in the
late tenth century and for Shakespeare six hundred years later? Was the plot
often adapted to suit currentliterary tastes, or was there a permanentfashion for
an unsophisticated tale of shipwreck and separation, a family divided and reunited! Its popularity does seem to have waned after Shakespeare's time, which is
why | have decided to end my study in 1609, the yearof the publication of the
quartoof Pericles. But versions of the story continued to appear in England and
on the Continent in later centuries, and in the twenticth century the recogni-
~
Gerald N. Sandy, tr, The Story of Apollonius King of Tyre, in Collected Ancient Greek
Novels, ed. B. P. Reardon (Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, 1989), pp. 736-72.
S. Singer, Apollonius von Tynes: Untersuchungen tiber das Fortleben des antiken Romansin
spdtern Zeiten (1 Lille, 1895; rp. Hildesheim & New York, 1974); A. LH. Smyth, Shakespeare’s Pericles and Apollonaas of Tyre: A Saaly im Comparative Literature (Philadelphia,
1898; rp. New York, 1972); Fo Klebs, Die Przahhang von Apolloniaats Tyri: eine
geschitliche Unterechtng uber due laemiche Utfonm und iie spateren. Bearbeiningen
(Berlin, 1899)
6
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
tion scene in Pericles between father and daughter inspired Eliot's poem
Marina.¥
In the chapters which follow, I discuss the structure and literary qualities of
the Latin text of HA, and its major themes;its possible sources and analogues,
literary and historical; the medieval and Renaissance versions to 1609; the influence of the Apollonius story on other medieval and Renaissance texts; problems
and inconsistencies in the plot-structure of HA, and the solutions offered by
somelater versions; the question of its genre, and its reception over the centuries. The text of HA is not a new edition, but is based on that of Kortekaas (see
pp. 109-10 below for further discussion). The translation is intended to be
accurate rather than elegant; | have tried to keep as close as possible to the
original, even where the cost was a rather pedestrian rendering (those who would
enjoy a freer and more spirited style are recommended to read Paul Turner's
version, which is engagingly illustrated by Mark Severin). The appendices contain a catalogue of versions of the story in chronological order, with select
bibliography, and a chronological lise of the allusions to the story in medicval
texts.
Onfinishing this book some readers may well wish to consult the latest
edition of a particular version of the story of Apollonius, in Latin or in a
vernacular. It has not been possible for me to offer a full commentary on HA or
any othertext, nor have I been able to devote as much space as I had originally
hoped to comparative studies of particular scenes or motifs. But | hope that such
readers will find that their specialist studies are more fruitful when they are
armed with a wide range of information which has not previously been available
in English and in one volume.
The HAText
It is easy to trace the history of HÀ forwards from thelatefifth or early sixth
century, when the earliest surviving texts were probably composed. Tracing its
history backwards from this point is much more problematic. Scholars have long
been divided over the question of the language and form of the Ur-text of HA.
One group, including Schmeling, the most recent editor, follows Klebs, who
argued from the evidence of coins, inscriptions and social customs that it was a
popular Latin text from the third century A.D., which was Christianized by a
fifth- or sixth-century redactor.'* Klebs identified all the passages which hc
considered to be later additions; as Kortekaas comments, not much ofthestory is
left once they are subtracted (p. 124). Rohde, on the other hand, believed in a
WTS. Ehot, Collected Poems 1909. 1962 (London, 1963), pp. 005. 6.
15 Klels, pp. 228: 80, B. E Perry, The Arcu Romances A Literary Hliestor alb Account óf
theii Onyims, Sather Classical Lecttes 97 (Berkeley & London, 1967), pp. 294. V245;
"hne ling ed. PEAS p VI
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
7
Greek original behind the existing Latin text, and manyscholars share his view.
Kortekaas argues persuasively for a Creek original composed in Syria in the late
second or early third century A.D., which was the basis for the Latin version
composed in centralItaly in the late fifth or carly sixth century. His arguments
include not only the parallels with Hellenistic romance plots, but also the considerable number of words and phrases which make better sense whentranslated
back into Greek.'* He dismisses Klebs’ use of coins as reliable evidence for dating
or provenance, arguing that there was considerable confusion about the monetary system, and that readers would not have expected the authorto be accurate
or up to date (though he notes that at least some of the evidence would suit a
Greekoriginal better than a Latin one).!? As for the inscriptions, also invoked by
Klebs as evidence of an early date for the Ur-text, Kortekaas argues thatarchaisms would be quite natural in a work of this nature, particularly since
commemorative inscriptions composed in previous centuries were visible everywhere in the classical world. To counter Klebs' idea of a Christian redactor
tinkering with an earlier pagan text, he points out that the vocabulary in HA
which is also well attested in Christian texts all seems well integrated into the
narrative, and is very unlikely to have been addedat a later stage of composition.
In fact there are two fragments of Greek papyrus, possibly from the sametext,
dated to the third century A.D., which mention an Apollonius: in the Florentine
fragment, a beautiful queen appears at a banquet and with the king pours libations to Apollonius and Dionysius; the Milanese fragmentis hard to reconstruct,
but seems to describe a princess making advances to an Apollonius.'® Ir is
tempting to identify the Apollonius of these papyri with the hero of HA,butI
E
-
s
15 E. Rohde, Der griechische Roman und seine Vorlaufer, 3rd edn W. Schmid (Leipzig, 1914;
rp. 1974), pp. 435-53; he did not accept the opening episode of Antiochus' incest as
part of his Ur-text, a point to which I shall return below.
Kortckaas, pp. 97-125. Ralph Hexter has questioned this argument, pointing out that
Grecisms can be accounted for by the influence of Greek and literature translated from
Greek: see his review of Kortekaas’ edition in Speculum 63 (1988), 186-90, esp. p. 189.
See Kortekaas, pp. 122-3 and 129-30; for other recent comments see R. DuncanJones, The Use of Prices in the Latin Novel’, in The Economy of the Roman Empire:
Quantitative Studies, 2nd edn (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 251-6; Italo Lana, Studi su il
romanzo di Apollonio di Tiro (Turin, 1975), pp. 103-17; L. Tondo, ‘Sul senso del
vocabolo pecunia in eta imperiale’, Studi Classici e Orientali 26 (1977), 283-5; M. R.
Nocera la Giudice, ‘Per la datazione dell’ Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri', Aui della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, Classe di Letrere, Filosofia ¢ Belle Arci, 55 (1979), 27384; J.-P. Callu, ‘Les prix dans deux romans mincurs d’époque impériale’, in Les
dévaluations à Rome: époque républicaine et impériale 2, Collection de l'école frangaise de
Rome 37 (Rome, 1980), pp. 187-212. The consensus of opinion seemsto be that the
references to coins and values would suit a Latin composition in the third century
A.D., though Kortekaas argues that some of themreflect the Greek origins of the story.
The coins were probably still familiar in the fifth century, even if the sense of their
value was uncertain, Cleally the figures. river are. intended to. reflect well on the
generosity or worthiness of the Characters,
for texts and discussion see Eo Cones in Papin della Università degli Sisi di Milano VI,
ed.
Claudio allai and Mariangela. Vandomi (Milan,
1977), pp.
36.
D] owe my
8
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
share Conca's doubts, since the scenes described above do not seem to fit the
story as we haveit. The fragments do raise an important problem about the
hypothesis of a Greek original. Although 1 find Kortekaas' arguments convincing, the contents of his Greek Ur-text must remain very shadowy. In its present
form HA cannotbe an exacttranslation, and evenifit is an abbreviated epitome
it must include considerable refashioning, for instance in the passages where
there are borrowings from Latin metrical sources. Does the patchwork of borrowings from Latin metrical descriptions of a storm at sca in c. 11 represent a
comparable description in the Greek text, or is it an original addition in the
Latin?'® Do theriddles borrowed from Symphosius(fourth orfifth century A.D.)
in the recognition scene between Apollonius and his daughter (cc. 42-3) replace
similar passages in the Greek text, or is this an innovation by a Latin author? If
the latter, how did the recognition scene develop in the Greek text? Unless by
some miracle a large chunk of a Greek version emerges from the sands,very little
can be said about it other chan that it probably existed, but may have been very
different from the story as we know it (see Kortekaas’ speculations, pp. 125-31).
Scholars in both camps agree that HA as we haveit today must represent a
significant reworking of an Ur-text, whether Greck or Latin: even if we had a
choice in the matter, the Latin version would deserve to be considered in its own
tight. HA survives in at least one hundred and fourteen manuscripts, but few
provide identical texts. There are two main versions, known (after Klebs) as RA
and RB; there are also a number of mixed texts, categorized as RC, which
contain elements of both RA and RB. RA and RB vary only in details: both tell
exactly the same story. RB is terser than RA, but often adds details which are
logically desirable, and gives names to a number of minor characters who are
anonymousin RA (the doctor, Stranguillio’s daughter, the pimp’s overseer). The
Latin of RA contains more vulgarisms; RB is more classically correct. Kortckaas
believes that the RA version was written in thelate fifth or early sixth century,
probably on the basis of an epitome of a Greek text, and that it was revised
within half a century by the author of RB, who may have had access to a fuller or
better version of the Creek text. He argues that RB is an attempt to improve RA
in language, style and contents (pp. 95 and 116-21). Both contain some incorrect readings, but RA, thefuller text, is usually preferred when only one version
*
knowledge of the existence of these papyri to a paper recently given by Prof. Niklas
Holzberg; see his comments in "The lH Historia Apollonii and the Odyssey’, in Groningen
Colloquia on the Novel MI, ed. 1. Hofmann (Groningen, 1990), pp. 91-101, esp. p. 97.
M. Mazza accepts the fragments as part of a lost narrative on. which HA was loosely
based: sec his comments on pp. 610-13 of 'Le avventure del romanzo nell'occidente
latino: La PHisteria Apollonii Regis. Dyr!, in Le transformagioni della cultura. nella tarda
antichia, ed. Claudia Oiuffrida and Mario Maza, 2 vols (Kore, 1985), IL pp. 597. 645.
K Svoboda, discussing: this problem, pomts out that while the. insertion. of. verse
passages in a prose narrative was common in antique amd oriental folk Birerature, i was
not claraciensti of Greek "romances", see "Uber die "Geschichte des Apollonius von
H yrus" Son Chanstena bo Novotny ocogenano oblata, ed E. Soecbsiz and W— Hlosek
(Prae, 1267), Pp 2168
74 esp pp 2109 70
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
9
is to be edited or translated: 1 have followed this convention, though I give
significant RB variants and additionsin the notes.”
Only three texts of RA survive, two of which are incomplete.?! Theearliest,
Laurent. MS plut. LXVI 40, ff. 62r-70v (hereafter A), which contains three
substantial fragments, dates from the ninth century and was written at Monte
Cassino. The only complete version is preserved in BN MSlat. 4955, ff. 91-15r
(hereafter P), a fourteenth-century text of Italian origin. This text uses more
classically correct Latin than A, and sometimescorrectsit; the writer (or his
source) must have had access to a better version of RA. The third is a RC or
‘mixed’ text in a twelfth-century manuscript, Vat. lat. 1984, ff. 167r-184r, in
which about 200 interlinear emendations from RA are preserved. Fifteen texts
based on RA but differing in length and also in text are known, and are
categorized as Ra; the earliest, a fragment preserved in Budapest, Országos Széchényi Kónyvtár MSlat. 4, dates from the tenth or eleventh century.
The RB version is found, with slight variants, in seven manuscripts. The
earliest is Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Vossianuslat. F 113, ff. 30v—38v,
probably written in Tours in the ninth century, which Kortcekaas uses as his base
text although it breaks off at c. 36. For the final section of the story he uses
Oxford, Magdalen College MS 50,ff. 88r-108r, a twelfth-century text apparendy
written in England. Texts more loosely based on RBare found in atleast fifty
manuscripts, and can be divided into five distinct groups, Tegernsee, Stuttgart,
Erfurt, Bern and Rf.
Certain key details and episodes can be used to check whethera text is from
RA or RB.For instance, in RA texts Apollonius’ wife is named Lucina (through
a misunderstanding of a phrase in c. 25); in RB texts she remains anonymous. In
RA Tarsia puts ten riddles to her unrecognized father; in RB there are only seven.
Passages found in RB but not RA include additionsto the conversation between
Apollonius and Antiochus in c. 4, a conversation between Apollonius and his
helmsmanin c. 8, the 'resurrection' of Tarsia in c. 50, and the information that
Apollonius wrote an accountof his adventuresin c. 51.
Synopsis of HA
At this point it may be helpful to the reader who is not familiar with HA to give
a synopsis of the plot. Ir is necessarily rather detailed, so that the reader can
7 Both RA and RB are edited in parallel by Riese, Kortekaas and Tsitsikli; Schmeling
edits RA, RB, and also RC, printing oneafter the other.
8 Fora catalogue and analysis of all the known Latin PLA manuscripts see Kortekaas, pp.
14 96, and 413 18. For discussion of one which he was not able to inspect, sec A.
Vidmanova, ‘Dre Oltmater PH8lands hift dei Hikstma Apollmu Regis Tyr’, Faene 24
(1986), 99. 105
10
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
follow the discussion of the omissions and additions in the various later versions
of the story. The synopsis is based on RA: important variants in RB are added in
square brackets.
cc. 1-3: King Antiochus of Antioch seduces his beautiful only daughter. Sheis
appalled and wants to kill herself, but her nurse persuades herto give in to her
father. To get rid of her many suitors he sets them a riddle about his incest:all
whofail to solve it (and even those who succeed) are beheaded.
cc. 4-7: Prince Apollonius of Tyre arrives at Antioch and solvesthe riddle, bur
the king rejects his answer, and gives him thirty days’ grace. Apollonius retums
to Tyre and checks his solution in his library, but fearing Antiochus he leaves
secretly for Tarsus, to the greatgrief of his people. Antiochussecretly despatches
an assassin to Tyre, but hearrivestoo late; so the king puts a price on Apollonius’
head.
cc. 8-10: Apollonius arrives in Tarsus and learns of his proscription from
Hellenicus, a Tyrian. He meetshis friend Stranguillio, and asks for refuge in the
city. Stranguillio explains that there is a desperate famine: Apollonius dispenses
corn free to the starving citizens, who are so grateful that they offer him refuge in
defiance of Antiochus, and also erect a statuc to him.
cc. 11-18: Apollonius moves on to Cyrene; a storm blows up and his ship is
wrecked off the coast. He alone reaches the shore, where he is befriended by a
fisherman. He goes into the city of Pentapolis and enters the gymnasium, where
he impresses the king, Archistrates, by his skill in a ballgame and his massage
technique. Apollonius is invited to dinner by the king, but is depressed by rhe
reminder of his change of status. The king's beautiful daughter questions him
about himself, and then plays the lyre to cheer him up. Apolloniuscriticizes her
playing, demonstrates his own superior musical (and acting) skills, and impresses
everyone. Theprincessfalls in love with Apollonius, gives him presents, obtains
her father’s permission to study with him, and becomesill from love; doctors fail
to diagnosehersickness.
cc. 19-27: Three noble suitors pester the king to arrange his daughter's marriage.
Heasks her to choose a husband: she chooses‘the shipwrecked man’, identified
with some difficulty as Apollonius. The king approves, Apollonius agrees, and
the wedding takes place with great festivities. Soon a Tyrian ship brings the news
that Antiochus and his daughter have been killed by a thunderbolt, and that the
throne of Antioch is being kept for Apollonius. He sets off with his pregnant
wife: in a storm she apparently dies in childbirth. Her coffin is put into the sea,
and is washed up at Ephesus. [tis found by a doctor whose ever pupil succeeds
in reviving her She is adopted by the doctor and at her own request becomes a
puestess in the tcmple ol Dana
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
1]
cc. 28-32: Apollonius entrusts his newborn daughter to his friends Stranguillio
and Dionysias in Tarsus, and names her Tarsia. He vows not to cut his nails, hair
or beard till she is married, andsets off for Egypt. Tarsia goes to school with her
foster-sister. When she is fourteen, her dying nurse reveals the truth about her
parentage, and advises her to take refuge at her father's statue if her foster-parents
ever mistreat her. Tarsia visits the nurse's tomb daily. Dionysias is jealous of
Tarsia’s beauty and popularity, and orders her overseer Theophilusto kill the girl.
Reluctantly he waylays Tarsia by her nurse's tomb, but grants her time to pray.
Pirates appear and carry heroff. Theophilus reports that she is dead, but is denied
his reward. Stranguillio is shocked to learn of his wife's plot. Dionysias announces Tarsia's sudden death and has a false tomb built, and thecitizens put a
touching inscription onit.
cc. 33-36: Taria is sold to a pimp in Mitylene. The prince of the city, Athenagoras, also bids for her, but then decides to save moncy by being herfirst client
instead. Tarsia only discovers her fate when the pimp orders her to worship a
statue of Priapus. She wins Athenagoras' sympathy by telling her sad story, which
reminds him of the vulnerability of his own daughter; he and all other clients
respect her and give her money. The angry pimp tells his overscer to deflower
her, but he too pities her, and agrees to help her to carn moneyfor the pimp by
entertaining people in the market-place, playing music and answering riddles.
Sheis very popular and earnslots of money for the pimp, and Athcnagoras keeps
a fatherly eye on her.
cc. 37-47: Apollonius retums to Tarsus; on hearing of Tarsia’s death he is
devastated, andsails off aimlessly, mourning in the hold of his ship. He is driven
by a storm to Mitylene. Athenagoras admires the ship and comes on board. Heis
told of Apollonius’ grief, tries unsuccessfully to cheer him up, and sends for
Tarsia. She sings a song about her misfortunes; Apollonius gives her moncy and
sends her away. Athenagoras sends her back, and she asks Apolloniusa scrics of
riddles, which he solves. Whenshe tries to drag him out of the hold, hchits her,
and she starts to recount her sad history. Apollonius realizes that she is his
daughter. All rejoice, and Athenagoras asks for her hand. Thecitizens agree to
burn the pimp; Apollonius, appeased, gives gencrously to the city, and the
citizens erect a statue of him with Tarsia.
cc. 48-51: Apollonius, Tarsia and Athenagorassail to Tarsus, but on the way an
angelic vision orders Apollonius to go to Ephesus andtell his story in the temple
of Diana; there his wife, now the chief priestess, recognizes him, and the family
reunion is complete. Apollonius makes Athenagoras king of Antioch [Tyre] in
his place. In Tarsus Apollonius denounces Stranguillio and Dionysias [by pretending to summon Tarsia from the dead to accuse them], and they are stoned to
death. The reunited family sails to Cyrene to see old Archistrates, who dies after
a year, leaving his kingdom jointly to his daughter and Apollonius. The fisher:
man and Helleni us arc rewarded for deir services to Apollonius His wife bears
12
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
a son and heir. The king and queen die at a ripe old age [after Apollonius has
written down his adventures and deposited one copy in the temple of Diana at
Ephesusand onecopyin his ownlibrary].
Structure and Style
In its present form HAcertainly reads like an epitome. The narrativeis brisk and
terse: each episode follows on in chronological sequence, without any comment
from the narrator, and often without any logical link. Parataxis is very frequent;
far and away the most common conjunctionis et (and). Northrop Frye picks out
HA as a good example of whathecalls an ‘and then’ narrative, rather than the
more sophisticated ‘hence’ narrative.“ But to describe HA as an ‘and then’
narrative is not to say that it is without structure, as Frye recognizes. On the
contrary,it is a carefully patterned and symmetrical story which derives its unity
from the recurrence of some important themes, in particular father-daughter
telations, kingship, riddles and education. Frye remarks that the conclusion of
the story marks a return to the opening theme(p.49):
At the beginning Apollonius encounters a king whois living in incest
with his daughter, so that his daughter is also his wife; at the end
Apollonius himself is a prince united with his lost wife and daughter.
The story proceeds roward an end which echoes the beginning, but
echoes it in a different world.
But this summary does not do full justice to the complex symmetry of the plot
and thesignificance of the father-daughter theme.
Theplot can be divided into three acts, each focusing on a father's treatment
of his daughter and of hersuitors. Or, seen in another light, each act focuses on
the encounter between Apollonius and an eligible young woman whois her
father's only child. A display of learning and the solution ofa riddle is a feature of
each of these episodes. At the beginning of the story Apollonius comes to
Antioch to court the daughter of Antiochus; through his learning he solves the
riddle and discovers the horrible truth, that the king and his daughter are having
an incestuous affair. At Pentapolis the princess falls in love with Apollonius
because of his learning; she is embarrassed to tell her father frankly that she
wants to marry hertutor, so she describes him as ‘the shipwrecked man’. The
king cannot solve this riddle, but Apollonius can, and so discovers that he
himself is the chosen bridegroom of the princess (a choice unhesitatingly approved by the king). At Mitylene Tarsia puts riddles to Apollonius in an attempt
to cheer him up, remarking that kings are supposed to have no rivals for cleverness. His success in the riddle contest is followed by the recognition scene, in
a
Northeop bye, the Secrdar Nc reptuare
A Stualy of the Sera tare of Romance ( anmbrsdpe,
Ma, 1976), jp. 47 9 *ivolsdarmnabes asinila (int, p 219
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
13
~
=
which he discovers that Tarsia is the daughter he believed to be dead. He then
agrees to her marriage to Athenagoras, her protector. In each of these episodes,
Apollonius encounters a nubile young woman;in each attention is drawnto his
learning; in each he solves a riddle and makes a discovery, pleasant or unpleasant; in each theresult is a dramatic change both in his relationship with the
young womanandin his wholesituation. Each episode hinges on therelationship between a father and his daughter; each fatheris also a ruler; leaming and
riddles are always involved.
There are manyotherforms of symmetry in HA. Thereare three storms, each
crucial to the developmentof the narrative. Thefirst brings him to Pentapolis in
a destitute state which arousesthepity of his future wife; he had left Tarsustosail
to Pentapolis, but intended to arrive there as a king. The second apparentlykills
his wife and makes him abandon his plan to return to Antioch and Tyre; instead
he deposits his daughter at Tarsus and goes off to Egypt to be a merchant. The
third brings him to Mitylene and reunion with his daughter. There are two
assassins, both unsuccessful. Apollonius’ early generosity to Tarsus is matched by
his generosity to Mitylene and Tarsus at the end; commemorative statues are
erected to him in both cities. Often the parallel episodes contain an important
contrast. There are two nurses: the first encourages Antiochus’ daughter to
accept her own father as a husband, the second reveals to Tarsia who herreal
father is. Antiochus' early morning entry into his daughter's bedroom heralds a
brutal rape; when Archistrates' daughter makes an equally early entry into her
father's room, she acquires a tutor who later becomes her husband.
Structural and thematic patterns are not hard to find in HA, but motivation
and characterisation receive short shrift. It is not clear, for instance, why Apollonius leaves the shelter of Tarsus, or why later on he entrusts his daughterto his
friends there and sails off to Egypt (for further discussion, sce chapter 5, p. 70).
There is no attemptto characterize the protagonists as individuals: Apolloniusis
presented as a rich young prince, his future wife as a beautiful and rather spoiled
princess. Such changes in character and behaviour as do occur are required by
ihe plot, and do notindicate any particularly individual characterisation.? Emotionalresponsesare also frequently ignored: Apollonius docs not scem to reciprocate the passion of the princess of Cyrene and shows no enthusiasm when the
king accepts him as a son-in-law, though once married the young couple is
described as blissfully happy.A Similarly there is no suggestion that Athenagoras
is in love with Tarsia until the recognition scene, when hehastensto ask for her
Svoboda argues that the characterisation is very simple, cither good or bad (p. 217).
Kortckaas remarks that Apollonius’ character is developed ‘to a fairly high level’, in
that he is shown as ‘ebullient, energetic and brusque’ in the early part of the story,
‘cautious and charming’ in Cyrene, and ‘humane and worldly-wise’ at the end (p. 125).
| do not agree with all these assessments (especially those on the end, where Apollohius seems tome first emotional and then ruthlessly venyeful)
Lana comments thatthe characterisation is hinted, and: that emoton ts usually ex
pressed by tean, which are plenctal snd frequene (pp Z1 4)
14
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
handas soon as she turnsoutto be a princess; Apollonius agrees at once without
consulting his daughter, whose reactions are never mentioned.
If HA is bare of psychological detail, it is also almost entirely lacking in
descriptive detail of more concrete kinds. There are no accounts of the appearance of the characters, of food or clothes, nor of the various cities which the
protagonists visit in the course of their adventures, not cven of the famous
temple of Diana at Ephesus. The metrical description of the storm in c. 11
stands out as entirely uncharacteristic of the style of the rest of the text. The only
scene in which the writer pauses to include detail is the revival of the comatose
princess, in which the diagnosis of her problem and the accountofthe clever
pupil’s technique for warming her blocked veins indicates considerable interest
in medical science (cc. 26-7).??
WhatI have said so far makes HA sound depressingly wooden,yetit is not.
Whatbrings the story tolife is the dialogue. There is no episode which docs not
contain somedirect speech,andit is here that we must look for clues to characterisation and motivation. These dialogues can produce comedy, asin the scenes
between King Archistrates and the suitors, and Apollonius and the princess (cc.
19-21), the scene between Apollonius and the helmsman who announces the
death of Antiochus (c. 24), and the scene when Athenagoras emerges from the
brothel (c. 34). The writer also uses direct speech to convey emotion very
vividly, letting the characters speak for themselves: so Antiochus’ daughter expresses her shock and shamedirectly to her nurse (c. 2), Apollonius laments the
‘death’ of his bride (c. 25), and later rejoices at the discovery that his supposedly
dead daughteris standing in front of him (c. 45). Similarly the writer does not
commenton Tarsia's desperate plight in the brothel, but lets us hear her naively
showing off her knowledge about the cule of Priapus, and then changing tone
dramatically when the pimpreveals thefull horror of her situation (c. 33). Direct
speech also helps to convey the wickedness of Dionysias: we hear her promise to
give his freedom to the overseer who is to murder Tarsia, and her subsequent
&
25 Neither Svoboda nor Kortekaas addresses the problem of the characterisation of Athenagoras.
The five texts based on the RB version and known as the Bern Redaction add a
~
~~
numberof details to the standard 11A plot (V5; see Kortekaas pp. 19 and 88 ff.): these
include Stranguillio's hospitable reception of Apollonius at Tarsus, a description of the
clothes given to Apollonius by King Archistrates, the slave-dealer’s solicitous care for
Tarsia and othercaptives before they are auctioned, and the pimp’s reactions to Tarsia’s
public performances. These details are not found in other Latin or vernacular versions,
though many medieval and Renaissance versions do fill out the bare skeleton of 11A in
various ways.
Kortekaas considers this medical episode typical of botli romance and New Comedy (p.
126): see A. M. G. Mcleod, "Physiology and. Medicine in a Greek Novel: Achilles
Tati! PLesoappe and Clioplum!, Jourmal of Hellen
Saabes 89 (1969), 97
105; and 1D.
Arinden, 'Romanticizing the Avncwnt Medical Piofession: Bhe horacierization of
lbhe. Physi ian an tbe Caracco Ronan Novel’, Bulletin of the Fflistny of Medicine 48
(1974), V0 V
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONIT
15
refusal to give him the agreed reward, and later her cynical dismissal of Stranguillio's nervous objectionsto her plan to announce Tarsia’s death (cc. 31-2).
The writer does not make use of simile or metaphor, but he is not averse to
wordplay, rhetorical strategies, leamed language, andliterary quotation.4 When
Antiochus hears from Taliarchus the assassin that Apollonius has already left
Tyre, he comments ‘Fugere quidem potest, sed effugere non potest' (7, 14-15: 'he
can flee, but he cannot escape’). He makes frequent use of rhymed or syntactically symmetrical clauses: ‘Plus dabis, plus plorabis’ (34, 21: ‘the more yougive,
the more youwill cry’); ‘qui cum luctatur cum furore, pugnat cum dolore, vincitur amore’(1, 8—9: ‘he struggled with madness, he fought against passion, but he
was defeated by love’). When Apollonius re-enters the royal dining room to
make music, he looks so splendid that the company think him not ‘Apollonitwn
sed Apollinem’ (16, 20: ‘not Apollonius but Apollo’). The oil with which Apollonius anoints himself in the gymnasium in Cyrene is described by a learned
periphrasis as ‘liquore palladio’ (13, 6: ‘the liquid of Pallas’); the phrase is probably borrowed from Ovid (Met. VIII, 275). Finally, the writer’s awareness of
literary tradition, and perhaps his own aspirations, are suggested by thefact that
he describes the storm in c. 11 in a series of hexamcterverses including borrowings from Virgil and Ovid, as well as lesser poets; he also borrows some famous
lines from Books I] and IV of the Aeneid to describe the burning passion ofthe
princess for Apollonius (17, 2 and 18, 1-3).?
Themes
Therecurring themes of father-daughterrelations, kingship, education and riddles are inextricably linked in HÀ, but I shall consider them separately here, so
far as is possible.
(a) Fathers and daughters
Rohde argued that the opening scene of HA, Antiochus’ incest, was a later
addition to the original story, intended to motivate Apollonius’flight from Tyre.
This argument ignores the fact that the death of Antiochus and his daughteris
the catalyst for the second half of the story; and also the remarkable coincidence
that all the male authority figures in HA have only daughters — Antiochus,
Archistrates, Stranguillio, Athenagoras, and Apollonius himself, and that their
attitudes to and treatmentof their daughters are crucial to the plot. Antiochus
<
‘8 See Svoboda, p. 219.
Kortekaas prints abovehis critical apparatus the sourcesfor all the classical borrowings
and echoes which have been traced.
Rohde, pp. 445 ff; and see Perry, pp. 297. 8. The Ephestin doctor whose pupil revives
Apollonius’ wife from hee coma adopts her as his daughier: Elizabeth. HE. HE
emphastes the importance of the father daughter relationship, and sees the opening:
16
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
rapes his daughter and prevents her from marrying by setting a riddle for her
manysuitors, and beheadingall whofail to solve it (and also those who succced).
In his flight from this tyrant Apollonius comes to the court of Archistrates,
apparently also a widower, who indulges and showsoff his clever daughter and
treats her suitors sympathetically. Scranguillio's feelings for his daughter are not
described; but he connivesafter the event in his jealous wife’s plot to assassinate
Tarsia in order to promote their own daughter. When Athenagoras hears Tarsia’s
sad story in the brothel, he pities her in part because he has a daughter of the
same age, to whom the same could have happened;this daughteris never secn or
mentioned again, but while Tarsia remains in the pimp’s power Athenagoras
watches over her‘ac si unicam suam filiam’ (36, 7-8:‘as if she were his own only
daughter’). As for Apollonius, when he becomesa father he immediately entrusts
his daughter to Seranguillio and Dionysias and sails away for fourteen years. But
whenheretumsandis told (falsely) that she is dead,his grief is even greater than
at the apparent death of his wife: he lics in the hold of his ship, refuses to take
any interest in his whereabouts, threatens to kill any man who speaks to him,
and longs for death. It is the reunion with his daughter which revives him from
this desperate state, and restores him to his proper role as a king (sce next
section): the significance of the reunion and the emotion of the father are
marvellously summed up in Pericles, when he addresses his newfound daughter as
‘thou that beget’st him that did thee beget’ (V.i.195).
This line conjures up the spectre of incest, and indeed a numberofcritics
have pointed out that this topic does not disappear from the story with Antiochus. It has been suggested that in an earlier version Apollonius may have narrowly escaped committing incest with his unrecognized daughter (as happened,
apparently, in the lost Alernaeon at Corinth of Euripides which has been suggested
as the source of HA)! Thesituation is certainly suggestive, and the haste with
incest as part of a rhetorical contrast between Antiochus and Apollonius: see More
Essays on Greek Romances (New York, 1945), pp. 157-8 and 185. See also Lana,pp. 41
and 69-71; Mazza,pp. 600 ff.; and Archibald, ‘Fathers and Kings in Apollonius of Tyre’,
in Images of Authority: Papers presented to Joyce Reynolds on the occasion of her 70th
birthday, ed. Mary Margaret Mackenzie and Charlotte Roueché, Cambridge Philological Society Supplement 16 (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 24-40. John R. Maicr makes many
pertinent comments, albeit about the thirteenth-century Spanish version, in "The
-
Libro de Apolonio and the Imposition of Culture', in La Chispa 87: Selected Proceedings of
the Eighth Louisiana Conference on Hispanic Languages and Literatures, ed. G. Paolini
(New Orleans, 1987), pp. 169-76. Maier is a good example of a critic discussing a
vernacular version of HA who completely ignores the earlier Latin tradition, and writes
as if the Spanish poet had invented the aspects of the plot which deal with fatherdaughter relations and patriarchal power.
A. H. Krappe proposed this source in 'Euripides" Alemaeon and the Apollonius Romance’, Classical Quarterly 18 (1924), 57 8 (for further discussion sce p. 29 below).
Orto Rank detects a doubling of Apollonius and Athenaporas: see Das Inzese Motiv in
Duhioy und Sage, 2nd cdo (Leqpap & Vienna, 1926; rp. Darmstadt, 1974), p. 350.
Frye comment thatthe possibility of incest hangs over the story until dhe end (Secular
Sonipiiec, p. 44). Kortekaas speculates that in the oranal story Apollonies tay have
tepeated Antiox hus come (p. 178). See also PLE Goepp, Ihe Nananve Matenal o
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
17
which Apollonius marries Tarsia off to the first available suitor might be taken to
indicate that this temptation must be removed as quickly as possible.?? A hint of
incest might also be detected in Athenagoras’ relationship with Tarsia: he respects and watches overherlike his own daughter when he believes her to be an
untortunate nobody in unwilling thrall to the pimp, but once she tumsout to be
4 princess he demands her hand, although he showed no previous sign of being in
love with her. Merkelbach goes even further, arguing that in the earliest form of
the story Apollonius was the son of Antiochus and his own daughter, though he
cid not know it, and that his solution of the riddle revealed not only Antiochus’
in but also his own danger (he was wooing his unrecognized mother).?
Hciserman remarks on the masculine focus of HA, as opposed to most Greek
romances; he describes the plot as revolving round 'a single basic experience —
the desire older men feel for younger women and vice versa’.* There are two
lungs wrong with this statement. First, he does not mention the proliferation of
fathers and daughters in HA, and the variations on the theme of father-daughter
relations. Second, there is no indication in HA that the younger women reciprocate the desire of older men: the whole point of the initial episode is that
Aanochus rapes his daughter, whois horrified, and would commit suicide if nor
persuaded by her nurse to submit to her father's lust; Archistrates! daughterfalls
in love with Apollonius without any encouragementfrom him (and in any case
lw as hardly an older man); and there is no suggestion that Tarsia feels anything
more than pity for Apollonius when she meets him in Mirylene.
Ihe opening incest episode poses the problem of the relationship between
(athers and daughters in an extreme form, and sets the scenefor variations on the
ile ine, Archistrates is the model father, for he approves his daughter's choice of
husband without hesitation. After encountering these two very different pairs of
(thers and daughters, Apollonius himself becomes a father, and his meeting with
le uniecognized daughter in Mitylene may be scen as a crucial test of his
»haracter. Similarly Tarsia encounters two pairs of fathers and daughters: StranApollonius of Tyre’, ELH 5 (1938), pp. 150-72, esp. p. 161; A. D. Deyermond,
"Monvos folklóricos y técnica estructural en el Libro de Apolonio’, Filologta 13 (1968-9),
1/1 49, esp. p. 134; G. Chiarini, ‘Esogamia e incesto nella Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri’,
Marenali e Discussioni per l'Analisi dei Testi Classici 10-11 (1983), 267-92, esp. pp. 280
uud HH,
Thus would fit with Terence Cave's argument that ‘recognition scenes are by their
nane "problem" moments rather than momentsofsatisfaction and completion’: see
Fcoamitums: A Snuly in Poetics (Oxford, 1988), p. 488. 11e goes on to suggest chat a
potttatc hal order wants the recognition scene to keep menon top, though in some
aeaies the women do have a disturbing and challenging foreknowledge of whatis to
one (pp. 494. 5), Lis wide-ranging study leapfrops the Middle Ages, unfortunately,
voc he does not mention HIA.
"Og Moerkelbach, Roman und Mysteriian in der Antike: Eme Untersuchung zur antiken
Kelgum (Munich and Berlin, 1962), pp. [610 2; he interprets the incest episode as an
Mo ety for the sinfulness of the human soul; in kecpiny with his view that 1A, like
ober anc ient gomances, i really about spiritual iatters and inystery cults.
" 0Nnbuar Plemerman, Phe Novel hefine the Novel (Chi ago, 1977), pp. 204 5 and 215
18
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
guillio, whose dominating wife is prepared to have her murdered because she
outshines their own unattractive and untalented daughter; and Athenagoras,
whopities and protects her because of his feelings for his own daughter. When
Tarsia meets her own father, there is no hint that she feels desire for an older
man: instead he poses a supreme challenge to her strategy (so far successful) of
using her charm and education to eam a decentliving. The revelation oftheir
true relationship is the turning point for both of them, and for the story: reunion
with wife/mother follows shortly, as do the distribution of rewards and punishmentsto the various participants in the story, Apollonius' restoration to his royal
dignity and power and his acquisition of several more thrones, and Tarsia’s
marriage to a prince. The father-daughter relationship which achieved such
unnatural prominence fades from view: Tarsia acquires a husband, and Apollonius is reunited with his wife, who bears him a son andheir, as a signal of a return
to patriliny and normality.?
Lana, whostresses the importance of father-daughter relations in HA,cites as
the most significant sentence in the whole narrative Archistrates’ comment
when he approves his daughter's choice of husband (pp. 70-1): 'Sed ego tibi vere
consentio, quia et ego amandofactus sum pater!’ (22, 8-9: ‘I certainly give you
my permission, for | too became fatheras a result of being in love!’). Falling in
love is seen here asa first step towards fatherhood — and thus towards giving away
one's daughter to another man.In Antiochus’ case, the process is perverted: by
loving his daughter too much, he ceases to be a father and tries to be a husband
to her. Far from being an episode tacked on at the beginning as an afterthought,
as Rohde claimed and Perry accepted, the story of Antiochus’ incest sets up a
crucial theme of father-daughter relationships which is echoed over and over
again throughout the narrative. The incest opening is retained in all the medieval and Renaissance versions discussed here, though it would have been quite
easy to think of another motive for Apollonius’ travels. Though medieval writers
commentonthe horror of Antiochus’ incest, it clearly contributed to the popularity of the story and to its exemplary value (for further discussion see chapter6,
pp. 98 ff.).
(b) Kingship
In HA kingship and kinship are closely linked themes: the main male characters
are presented as authority figures both domestically and politically. Since the
actionis largely domestic (there are no wars, for instance), being a good fatheris
an important aspect of being a good king.* As 1 noted above, there are four
significant fathers whoare also politically powerful (five if we count Stranguillio,
though he does not seem to have any official political position in Tarsus).
5 See Chiarini, p. 285.
^. See Archibald, 'Fathers and Kinjs'. Lana points out that Antio hus i the type of the
ryranit and Acrchistrates of the ideal king (op 41 and 69), but docs not jo so far as Fdo
mi connecting royal and patemal power
U On Apollonius. precise statis see Craretl hinelbling, "Nanpeein and Moraliy in the
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
19
Antiochus, who rapes his daughter, murders hersuitors, sends an assassin after
Apollonius, and proscribes him unjustly, is clearly a tyrannical king.® He dies in
led with his daughter, struck by ‘fulmine dei’ (24, 11: ‘god’s thunderbolt’); which
ved is not specified, but presumably a just deity punishing him for his many
umes. He gets no heir from his sterile andillicit ‘marriage’ to his own daughter:
lis kingdom passes to his enemy and rejected son-in-law Apollonius. Antiochus’
tule is symbolised by the heads of rejected suitors which are mounted over his
palace gate (3, 7), and by the silence of his court: no one addresses him directly
except Apollonius and the steward-cum-hitman Taliarchus (7, 12). Archistrates,
on the other hand, is shown engaged in peaceful and civilised pursuits, exercisinj, feasting, enjoying music; he is never shownin a political role. His benevolenee is made clear by his exemplary conduct as a father, his kindness to the
shipwrecked Apollonius, and his politeness to the importunate suitors. He indulves his daughter’s every whim, unhesitatingly and enthusiastically accepts the
‘destitute Tyrian stranger as his son-in-law, and lives to see the return of his
daughter and son-in-law accompanied by their own daughter and son-in-law
turtcen years later: his dynasty will continue (though he does notlive to see the
bath of his grandson).
‘Antiochus and Archiserates are the extreme points on the scale of good and
tad kings. Athenagorasis curiously shadowy both as a father and asa princeps: he
i^ never shown with his daughter, nor is he shown exercising political authority
(he seems to have no power over the pimp who buys Tarsia). When she is
icvealed to be a princess, Athenagoras asks for her hand, urges his people to
ion trouble by accepting Apollonius’ demandsforjustice against the pimp, and
then leaves Mitylene apparently without a ruler whenhesails off with his bride
usd her father. Later Apollonius makes him king of either Tyre or Antioch (50,
| there wa lacuna in the RA text, but RB and RC give Tyre).
HistorApollonii Regis Tyri', in Piccolo mondo antico, ed. P. Liviabella Furiani and A. M.
arc ella (Naples, 1989), pp. 197-215, esp. pp. 203-4. Schmeling points out that the
text paves conflicting evidence about Apollonius’ status - ‘patriae princeps’ (leading
ateen, or perhaps prince, of his country) in c. 4 (RB, n. 4) king of Tyre at 50, 1; he
onn blades that Apolloniusis at least ‘a man of responsibility in Tyre", buta little later
hc aues that "the desire of Apollonius to engage in business affairs and to do such in
Levpt (28) probably shows his true interests’. | chink Schmeling is being unnecessarily
utteus here: well before the end Apollonius is certainly presented as a king (8, 4-5; 9,
1, 38, 9), and his business in Egypt is never mentioned again. C. Ruiz-Montero points
oat that at 3, 8 the suitors who flock to Antioch are described as 'reges! and 'patriae
prineapes’, as if the two were equally important titles: see ‘La estructura de la Historia
\podlona Regis Fyn’, Cuadernos de Filologta Clasica 18 (1983-4), 291-334, p. 330.
"Maree comments on the doubly of paternal and royal power in the Libro de Apolonio
(ep 120 0D) In Wilkins! novel Pericles (V42; referred to hereafter as Wilkins, to avoid
contbuseon with ihe play) an explicit connection is made between incest and tyranny in
the opening scene (pp. TO. 11 an Muir's edigon): Much perswaston, though to litde
reason, he used, as, that he was her father whome shee was bound to obey, he was a
bey: bat had power tae ommaund
will t
In bricfe; he was a Myrant and would execute his
20
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Antiochusis clearly a bad king, Archistrates is clearly a good king, Athenagoras is neither one nor the other. What about Apollonius himself? We seldom see
him acting as a king: at an early stage in the story heflees from Tyre (an act
which distresses his loyal subjects very much: see c. 7), and he remainsin exile
until the very end ofthe story. Heis offered the throne of Antioch after Antiochus’ death, but his journey there is interrupted by his wife’s apparent death in
childbirth; his reaction to this disaster is to renounce his status both as king and
as father. Turning his back on both Antioch and Tyre, he entrusts his baby
daughter to foster-parents in Tarsus and sails off to Egyptto live as a merchant (a
role which he had strenuously avoided earlier in the episode of the famine at
Tarsus: see c. 10). It is the reunion with his daughter, rather than with his wife,
which restores Apollonius to his royal power and responsibilities. As soon as
Tarsia is identified, he changes his clothes (RB, 45, 13) and begins toassert his
royal authority. Athenagoras describes the men in Apollonius' ship as an army,
and advises the citizens of Mitylene to protect themselves by sanctioning this
powerful ruler's demand for justice against the pimp. In Tarsus too Apollonius
insists on justice against Stranguillio and Dionysias; the citizens hail him as their
king and ‘paterpatriae' (50,7: ‘father of his country’), and he rewardsthe citizens
royally for their cooperation. Soon after his arrival at Cyrene the old Archistrates
dies, and Apollonius inherits the throne jointly with his wife. He also begets a
son whowill break the pattern of female inheritance. Thisis the final indication
of his successful restoration to kingship, a success which includes acquiring a
numberof new kingdoms(it is striking that he neverreturnsto rule Tyre).
The themeof kingship provides one example of the difference between HA
and the Hellenistic romances, which usually concern ordinary citizens - extraordinary in their beauty, but not of royal birth (the Ethiopica of Heliodorus is a
notable exception to this rule)? The responsible exercise of political power is
therefore not a majorissue in these stories, nor do the adventures of the main
characters have political or historical consequences. But in HA the main male
characters are presented as authority figures both politically and domestically:
being a good father is an important aspect of being a good king. As Kortckaas
pointsout, 'setting a good and a bad sovereign over against cach other makes the
HAinto a kind of mirror of monarchswithin thefield of romance’ (p. 126). The
text is not explicitly didactic, but it does contain one overt commenton royal
behaviour. When Apollonius is walking on the beach in Tarsus, he ignores che
first greeting of Hellenicus, a humble Tyrian who wishes to wam him ofhis
proscription (c. 8). The narrator comments: ‘Atille salutatus fecit quod porentes
facere consucrunt:sprevit hominem plebeium’ (‘Apollonius reacted to this greeting as great menare inclined to do: he ignored the lowborn man’). Hellenicus,
undeterred, rebukes him, pointing out that he is poor but honest. These lines are
marked in some manuscripts as noteworthy: a finger in the margin draws attenWU lélunlore, bes ÉFthiopupues CUhéagene et Chanulée), ed ROM. Rattenbury and TW.
| utib,
5 vols (Paris;
1933 45); à
]
R
Morgan as An FEuopian Ney in Collected
Ancient Greek Noch, ed Reardon, pp 9. 588
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
21
tion to them in the twelfth-century Vat. Reg. lat. 718 (f. 207r), for instance.
I his is the only place in the text where Apollonius is directly criticized in any
way (at 31, 28-30 Theophilustells Tarsia that her father should not have left so
much money and rich clothing with her in Tarsus, but I do notthink this is a
scrious criticism)." After this incident Apollonius leads an exemplary life, giving
tain to the starving citizens of Tarsus, speaking humbly to the fisherman who
helps him after his shipwreck, and generously rewarding all those who have
helped him. Approval of his behaviour is shown by the twostatues erected to
lim by the grateful citizens of Tarsus (10, 12 ff.) and Mitylene (47, 7 ff.).
The emphasis on kingship is developed in a number of later versions, most
obviously in Pericles, where there are frequent observations on the properrole of
rulers. Shakespeare may well have been attracted to the story by the fatherilanghrer theme, but kingship was also a favourite topic of his. For instance, when
Pericles solves the incest riddle in the play, he is brave enough to address
Antiochus on the moral responsibility of kings (there is no equivalent speech in
the sources):
Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law's their will;
Andif Jove stray, who dares say Jove dothill?
(Li.104-5)
| ater he expresses concern aboutthe repercussions of Antiochus’ hostility on the
iinocent people of Tyre, describing himself as 'no more butas the tops oftrees /
Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them' (L.ii.31-2). In the play the
biny: of Cyrene is frequently referred to as ‘good king Simonides’: the fishermen
who rescue Pericles after the shipwreck explain that he fully deserves this
iyuhet, and Pericles admires this popular approval (II.1.97-104). Laterstill,
Alanna (Tarsia) reproves Lysimachus (Athenagoras) for visiting the brothel
(IV v.78 -80):
Mar: Do you know this house to be a place of such resort, and will come
into't? ] hear say you're of honourable parts and are the governor
of this place.
Hy snachus makeslight of this criticism at first, and promises ‘my authority shall
sot vce thee’, but by continuing her attack she shames him into forswearing his
old haunts. No such conversation takes place in HA.
With these and other additions too numerous to quote here, the play high*
*o
ance [refer to many manuscripts very briefly in the course of this study, | cite folio
numbers where [quote from the text, but the full references are collected in the Index
Manus npts Cited.
dn Manners and Morality! Schineling argues that this conversation with Elellenicus is
wtended to take Apollonius human and thus more sympathetic (p. 201): 'Apollonius'
high mortal quahiaes make him non-human, but his failure of manners bongs him back
te damon dimensions.” Pam not convinced that a display of bad manners elicits
vinpathy in the teader, though i docs of course eimphlasise Apollonius! anxiety about
Ves dangetous situation
22
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
lights questions about kingship and authority which are merely latent in HA.
The contrast berween Antiochus and Apollonius as rulers is summed up by
Gower, who acts as Chorusin the play, in a few lines at the beginning of ActII
(Chorus. 1-4):
Here have you seen a mighty king
His child, I wis, to incest bring;
A better prince and benign lord
That will prove awful both in deed and word.
These lines show very clearly the link between domestic and political authority
and behaviour whichis a central concern in the story of Apollonius. It is a family
romance,butit is also a cautionary tale about the responsible exercise of power
in public andin private.
(c) Education and Learning
A very important theme throughout HAis learning, which characterizes the
main figures and also plays an important functionalrole in the plot.? Apollonius
is presented as an unusually well educated hero. In RB he comes to Antioch
'fidus abundantia litterarum" (4, n. 5: 'relying on his considerable learning").
When he wants to check his solution of Antiochus' riddle, he consults his
personal library, which consists of 'the riddles of all the authors and the debates
of almostall the the philosophers and also of all the Chaldacans’ (6, 10-11). In
RBversions his library includes both Latin and Greck books, and in the tenthcentury Gesta Apollonii [V1] he consults Hebrew books too; in a twelfth-century
HAtext, Bodl. Laud Misc. 247, he is described as learned in Arabic (f. 204v). In
Pentapolis the princess falls passionately in love with him whensherealizes that
he is ‘omnium artium studiorumque cumulatum’ (17, 1-2: ‘full of every kind of
talent and learning’), and hesalutes her as ‘regina amatrix studiorum’ (17, 12-13:
‘princess wholoves learning’). When she recognizes him years later in the temple
at Ephesus,she hails him as ‘magister . . . quem adamavi nonlibidinis causa sed
sapientiae ducem’ (49, 4-5: ‘the master . . . with whom I fell in love not out of
lust but as a guide to wisdom’). The RB version of the story ends with the
additional detail that Apollonius himself wrote downthestory of his adventures
and lodged one copy in the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and the other in his own
library. Many of the referencesto learning and education in HAare retained in
>
vr
42 Lana devotes a section of his book to che role of culcura in IIA, pp. 75-102 (this
chapterwasalso published separately as ‘Il posto della cultura nella Swria di Apollimiore
di Tiro', Aui della Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, Classe di Scienze tnorali, storiche e
filologiche, 109 [1975], 393-415, but my references are taken from the book). See also
Svoboda, pp. 218-9, and Mazza, pp. 600 ff.
lt is not unknown in the Greek romances for the protagonist(s) to write an account of
the. previous adventures.
in the Ephesaca, foi instance, Hlabrocotmes and Anthto
dedicate in the teinple of Diana at Ephesus ati ins nipiion recounting all heu vicisse
nudes (see Xenophon ot Ephes, Fphesa enam Fili V, ed A Papanibolaon, Biblio:
theca
leubneriana, [Lew 0978], 0G
Amdeison as n bpheum Pale in Collected
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
23
liter versions of the story: Apollonius is always presented as leamed when he
solves the riddles at beginning and end, and he always becomes tutor to the
princess of Cyrene (though in manyversionsit is music that he teaches her). But
only in a few versions does she hail him as her teacher in the recognition scene
(c 4r. the Gesta Romanorum [V11] and Twine [V33]).
Although this learned couple are not in a position to take personal charge of
their daugher's education, it is certainly not neglected: Tarsia is sent to school
with her foster-sister in Tarsus from the age offive (c. 29). In the brothelshetells
the pimp’s servant ‘habeo auxilium studiorum liberalium, perfecte erudita sum'
(46, 1-2: ‘I have the benefit of the study of the liberal arts, | am fully educated’);
she successfully exploits her education in order to earn moncy for the greedy
pimp, by entertaining the public with her eloquence, learning and musicalskill.
Athenagoras sends for her to cheer up Apollonius because ofher ‘ars studiorum'
(10, 27: ‘skill and leaming’). When she asks Apollonius riddles, he expresses
aimazement that one so young should be so learned (cc. 41-2). Not only is the
learning of the main characters, and especially Tarsia, unusual in itself, butit is
also remarkable that it plays such an importantpart in the plot.
‘This stress on learning is by no means characteristic of Hellenistic or of
incdieval romance, though it probably reflects the greater frequency of school
education in classical times (in the earlier Middle Ages school education was
unusual for boys, let alone girls). Some heroes and heroines of both Hellenistic
anc medieval romance are presented as educated,but their learning does notplay
4 functional part in the plot. Ic is hard to think of other examples of a hero
hiec king his solution to a riddle in his extensive library or writing his autobiojraphy, or of a heroinefirst acquiring and then exploiting a liberal arts education,
i1 falling in love with the hero because of his leaming.* According to Chiarini,
however, HÀ does not reflect unmitigated admiration for learning: he argues that
loth Apollonius and his daughter find book learning inadequate in dealing with
the vicissitudes of real life, and chat both must endure muchsuffering and acquire
| tintul experience before they can be restored to royal status (pp. 277 and 282).
(4) Riddles
Fiddles occur in each of the three key episodes in HA, as I pointed out above.
‘a vetal critics have noted the traditional link between riddles and incest storics,
\ncient Greek Novels, ed. Reardon, pp. 125-69). But votive inscriptions were part of
the culture of the time, even if they were usually much briefer than the Ephesiaca. It
aces hythly unconventional for Apollonius to write down his adventures apparently
for his own use, and co send a second copy to Ephesus.
On Larsta’s learning in HA and later versions see Archibakl, * "Deep clerks she dumbs":
The Learned Heroine in Apollonius of Tyre and Pericles', Comparatiw Drama 22 (1988—
2), 289. 303,
AM details concerning education are omitted in Jívedam dreBlaye, the tweltth- century
Liench chansonde geste which borrows che second half of s plot iom HA: sec chapter
Vapp 54 5
24
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
most obviously the Oedipus story. Kortekaas believes that Antiochus’ curiously
self-incriminating riddle is very ancient, and cites an almost identical onc preserved in a graffito from a bath-house at Pergamum.* Zink argues that theriddle
is derived from the one put by the Sphinx to Oedipus: he claims that it makes no
sense in terms ofa father-daughterrelationship, but works perfectly for motherson incest.*? Goolden accepts thatthe riddle is a ‘hard nutto crack’, but explains
it convincingly (if tortuously) in terms of ‘in-law’ relationships, focusing on the
son-in-law whom Antiochus seeks but does not find because heis filling the role
himself. Archer Taylor shows that similar kinship riddles centring on the three
strands of an incestuousrelationship are traditionally popular, and were sometimes used in the later Middle Agesto illustrate the complicated rules of canon
law about mariage impediments.”
Chiarini argues thatriddles have a natural and fundamental association with
incest and exogamy, and points out that ‘incest is not only thefirst sin, but also
the first riddle’ (p. 272). He remarks that the ability to solve riddles has always
been the supremesign of royalty, and cites as an example Tarsia's challenge to
Apollonius that she will go away if he can prove his claim to be a king by
answeringall her riddles (42, 5-6). Oedipus is an obvious example of a stranger
whosolvesa riddle and wins a throne and a wife. The tradition of riddles used as
tests and as entertainmentis both ancient and universal. Ohlert cites Antiochus’ riddle in HA astheearliest example of a riddle connected with wooing, but
offers numerouslater parallels such as the story from the Elder Edda of the dwarf
$
^
*
?
^
-
46 Since no Latin equivalent is known, Kortekaas argues that this parallel supports his
theory of a Greek original behind HA (pp. 112-13). Unfortunately the Pergamum
graffito cannot be accurately dated, and may be quite late, as the baths werestill in use
in Byzantine times.
M.Zink,ed. and tr., Le roman d'Apollonius de Tyr, Bibliotheque mediévale 10/18 (Paris,
1982), pp. 23-4 [V22]; this text is also known as the Vienna Redaction, and I refer to ir
throughout by this title.
See P. Goolden, "Antiochus Riddle in Gower and Shakespeare', RES n.s. 6 (1955),
245-51. He argues that in the HA version of the riddle Antiochusis speaking; Gower,
who was using a corrupt Latin version, obscured the riddle further in his account,
which so baffled the author(s) of Pericles chat in the play it was recast so as to be
understood as spoken by the princess.
Archer Taylor, ‘Riddles Dealing wich Family Relationships’, Journal of American Folk-
lore 51 (1938), 25-37. A numberof early modern antiquarians reported riddles of this
type on the graves ofincestuous couples, such as the following: ‘Cy-git le Pere, cy git la
Mere, / Cy git la soeur, cy git le frere; / Cy git la femme & le mary / Et s'ils ne sont que
deux icy’ (‘Here lies the father, here lies the mother, / I lere lies the sister, here lies the
brother,/ Here lies the wife and the husband, / And there are only two [people] here’).
See Taylor, p. 26; Rank quotes the sameriddle, p. 334. Whether or not such riddles
werereally used as epitaphs, this type of riddle seems to have a very long history.
For surveys of the riddle tradition see Frederick Tupper, The Riddles of the Exeter Book
(London, 1910), Introduction, pp. xi liii; K. Oblert, Rdtsel und Ratselspiele dev alten
Griechen, 2id edi (Berlin 1912, ip. Hillesheun & New York 1979); Archer Taylor, A
Ribhography of Rubies, FF Communications 0126. (Elelsuku 1959), and The Literary
Rubdle befine 1000 (Wherkeley, 1948); and Mark Bryant, Rullles Ancient aud Malem
(London, 1983)
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIA APOLLONII
25
Alvis who had to answer riddles in order to win Thor's daughter (p. 55). He
shows that riddles played an important part in Greek culture: a tradition recorded by the philosopher Heraclitus attributed Homer's death to chagrin athis
failure to solve a riddle (p. 30). References to riddles are found in Plato’s Republic,
in Aristophanes’ Wasps, in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae, in Aulus Gellius’ Noctes
Atticae, in Petronius' Satyricon and in Plutarch's Septem Sapientium Convivium
(Banquet of the Seven Sages). This last offers a particularly interesting parallel
with HA. The wise men discuss the questions put to the king of the Ethiopians
hy the king of the Egyptians, which they describe as ‘a civilized exchange of
questions’ (152F).5' Butit is not only kings who are portrayed as enjoying riddles:
Eumetis (or Cleobulina), daughter of Cleobulus, puts riddles to her father's
yuests. She is said to be famousfor her riddles, which are knownasfarafield as
Vyypt (148D). Cleodorus commentsthatit is alright for Eumetis to put riddles to
other women, but that no sensible man would take them seriously. It then turns
out that he himself is the answer to one of her riddles (154B-C). Here is a good
example of an educated young womanentertaining distinguished men by asking
them riddles, just as Tarsia does both in public and in the ship's hold with
Apollonius.
The series of riddles in HA cc. 42-4 is presented asif they are so difficult that
only Apollonius is clever enough to find answers for them, and only Tarsia is
: lever enough to ask them (see Zink, p. 27). They are part of a battle of wills
herween. Apollonius and Tarsia, in a scene which somecritics take to be potennally incestuous. Yet Tarsia's riddles are not threatening but ‘liberating and
icdemptive’, as Zink puts it. They are intended to cure Apollonius of his melan: holy, and they succeed in a very unexpected way, but only after they have
initially depressed him. Some of them are curiously relevant to Apollonius’
adventures, although they are all taken from the well-known collection of Symphosius: as Zink points out, six of them are connected to water or the sea or
laths, and one to music.
Although the existence of an historical Symphosius has recently been ques! See the comments of Chiarini, p. 275, n. 28. Further evidence for the popular association berween kings and riddles is provided by stories about Solomon. The queen of
‘Sheba cameto visit him expressly to test him with riddles (I Kings 10); and heis said to
lave engaged in a riddle contest with Hiram of Tyre (1 suggest in my discussion of
sources and analogues that this story may have influenced the plot of HA: see chapter
:
43-4).
‘“symphosius’ riddles are edited by F Glorie in Variae Collectiones Aenigmatum Merovingi ac actatis, 2 vols, CCSL 133 and 133A (Turnhout, 1968), II, pp. 611-721. See Zink,
p 29; the same point is made by Chiarini, p. 287. See also Doris Clark, ‘Tarsiana’s
Faddles in the Libro de Apolonio', in Medieval Hispanic Studies Presented to Rita 1 lamilton,
ed. A.D. Deyermond (London, 1976), pp. 31. 45, esp. p. M. The order of the riddles in
HA bears no relation to their order in Symphosius, so that they may well have been
selected for the relevance of thea subject matter, At Matylene the mention of baths
and balls makes Apollonius unhappy at the thought of his lost happiness (the result of
hus meeting with the bang inthe pymmasiam), post as at Pentapolis che sight ofthe moh
banquet made him unhappy atthe thought of his lose wealth
26
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
^
w
See The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book, ed. Craig Williamson (Chapel Hill,
wl
>
^
^
For doubts about Symphosius' existence see F Murru, 'Aenigmata Symphosii ou
x
tioned, the collection of riddles attributed to a person of this name was tremendously popular and influential in the early Middle Ages, not least in AngloSaxon England.” Collections of riddles (in Latin) are attributed to Aldhelm,
Alcuin, Boniface,a certain 'Eusebius', Tatwine of Canterbury, and possibly Bede,
and a large number of Anglo-Saxonriddles are preserved in the Exeter Book and
in Aldhelm’s Enigmata.** This passion for riddles may well have been onceof the
reasons for the translation of HA into Old English. The section containing
Tarsia's questionsis missing from the Old English version,but in view of the great
vogue for riddles at the time,it is hard to believe that they would not have been
included. Indeed the riddles may have contributed to the popularity of the story
in many countries; at least some riddles occur in almost every version.» In a
numberof Latin manuscripts of HA, numbers or pointing fingers in the margin
draw attention to Tarsia's riddles, or they are underlined in red (as is Antiochus’
riddle in somecases). In fact this is the most frequently marked passagein all the
Apollonius manuscripts which I have seen.
Aenigmata symposii”, Eos 68 (1980), 155-8.
1977), and A Feast of Creatures: Anglo-Saxon Riddle Songs, tr. Craig Williamson (Philadelphia, 1982); and Aldhelm, The Fnigmata, mane Poetic Works, tr. Michael Lapidge
and James L. Rosier (Cambridge, 1985), pp.
Someversions change the form of AMm (the Libro de Apolonio, Timoneda
[V40], Pericles); and some give Tarsia local versions rather than repeating the traditional ones from Symphosius (for instance the Libro de. Apolimio and Heinrich von
Neustadt [V15]).
Another indication of interest in riddles appears in à mud twelfth. century German
Thanuscape contamuing HA, Stuttgart, Wurttemberpische Landesbibliothek Hise. Fol.
411, where Middle High German translations of Antiochus’ culdle and two of Larsa’s
are written. itia lite (welfili century hand in the (mons (012 9v and. 245v. sec
Kornekaas p 55 and n. 409)
2
Sources and Analogues
The Apollonius narrative is not a literary invention, either in
its details (with certain possible exceptions) or in the outline
of its plot. It is rather a sophisticated and somewhat garbled
literary version of a traditional story, or, more likely, of a blending of more than onestory.
P. H. Goepp!
‘Ax Goepp shows, many analogues can be suggested for individual episodes in
1A, so that it is unrealistic to look for a single source: it includes themesat least
as old as the Odyssey, some perhaps derived from folklore rather than literary
tacdition, as well as deliberate echoes of Virgil and Ovid. The range of possible
influences, written and oral, literary and historical, depends to some extent on
the date and place of its original composition, and of subsequent reworkings: if
the Ur-text was written in Greek in the Eastern Mediterranean and it (or an
( prtome) was then translated into Latin in Italy in the third century and/or the
til century, by one or more writers steeped in classical and also Christian
writings, the catchment areafor possible sources, analogues and influences would
la particularly wide.
erry cites five possible sources for HA which are not mutually exclusive (p.
V1). rhe notorious (historical) marriage of Antiochus I and his stepmother
“tratonice; the Aeneid, especially Books 1, II, and IV; Euripides! lost Alemaeon of
( ath, ora summary ofits plor (known to us through Apollodorus); a rhetorical
theme such as Seneca’s scenario of a would-be Vestal Virgin who has been
unwillingly incarcerated in a brothel; and a scene from a mime or comedy(as a
model for the passages with the suitors in cc. 19 and 21). All these may have had
influence on the composition or adaptation of HA (although again it depends
on the chronology); but it is clear that most of the themes involved can be found
ii a number of texts besides those cited by Perry. For this reason I shall discuss
percuble sources and analogues under the broader headings of epic, drama, ro-
Gowpp, "Narrative Material; pp 168 9
28
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
mance, Latin metrical works, hagiography, non-fiction, and history (while it
would be unwise to accept historical incidents as direct sources, their possible
influence should not be disregarded).
Epic
The themeof a wandererseparated from his family and enduring various vicissitudes at sea is ancient and universal. In the classical tradition the most obviously
influential examples are the Odyssey and the Aeneid. Apollonius’ tirade against
Neptunein c. 12 is reminiscent of Odysseus’ running feud with the sea god;his
arrival destitute and naked on the shore of Cyrene, where he subsequently mects
a charming and sympathetic princess, recalls Odysseus’ arrival in Phacacia (Book
6); the ballgame which brings about his introduction to the king recalls the
ballgame of Nausicaa by which the sleeping Odysseus is woken (in the same
episode Odysseus washes and anoints himself with oliveoil, as Apollonius docs
in the gymnasium); like the Odyssey, HA ends with a recognition scene between
a long-separated husband and wife, and with the hero's revenge on those who
have tormented his family (in this case his daughter rather than his wife)? The
stories of Apollonius and of Aeneas also have much in common:theflight of a
hero from his own land, the loss of his wife, the storm which leads to his
reception by a rich and beautiful queen whorejects her existing suitors in his
favour, and his eventual marriage to an heiress whose kingdom he will inherit.
Whoever wrote the extant text of HA clearly had the Aeneid in mind, for a
numberof quotations and echoes from Virgil are included (most notably in the
descriptions of the princess’ growing love for Apollonius in the Pentapolis episode, cc. 16-18; these exist in both RA and RB,but are fuller in RA). But
Apollonius differs from most epic heroes in that he never fights a battle or
participates in a war (an omission which some medieval writers felt it necessary
to remedy).
Drama
Both Goepp and Perry remark on the curious setting of Archistrates’ conversations with the suitors, which take place in the street, and on the strong comic
tone of these scenes as opposed to the generally sober narrative (see Goepp, pp.
157-8, and Perry, pp. 306-7). Perry argues that this episode ‘was shaped orig-
5
dn his article on "The Piston Apollbnn and ihe Odyssey', Holbery points out many
further links between the two texts, he Ep that che author of PEA was conse tously
reworking the Fhaeacia episcde in lis eatment of Apollenis! aival at l'entapoles
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
29
inally for a different context and background, that, namely, of a scene on the
stage in a comedy or a mime’. But these are by no means the only scenes which
suggest a link with the theatre. Incest, recognition scenes and family reunions
were familiar themes in classical drama, most obviously in Sophocles’ Oedipus
Tyrannus (though in that case the family ‘reunion’ can hardly be regarded as a
happy ending). Like the story of Oedipus, HA contains riddles, incest, and
recognition scenes: indeed Zink argues that Antiochus’riddle was derived from a
version of the Oedipusstory? But it seems unnecessary, and indeed mistaken, to
insist on a single source for a story containing so many traditional themes, and
Zink's argument is as unconvincing as that of Krappe, who proposed a specific
Greck tragedy as the source of HA: Euripides’ lost Alcmaeon of Corinth, in which
a father is separated from his two children, later buys his own daughter without
recognising her, and narrowly avoids committing incest with her.‘ Krappe explains the absence of pirates and brothel in the Alcmaeon bythe different conventions of drama and novel; but the plot of the Alemaeon would account only
for the final Apollonius-Tarsia section of HA, leaving large question marks over
the opening episode of Antiochus’ incest and the section concerning Apollonius'
marriage andhis wife's ‘death’.
Aristotle's well-known comments onthedifferent types of recognition scene
in chapter 16 of his Poetics attest the widespread popularity of this motif, and the
many variations which could be played on it.5 It was a very commonfeature of
both Greek and Roman New Comedy, which frequently included the linked
motifs of the rape of a girl, the exposure of her child, and a subsequent recognition scene; or, in anotherscenario, offered a finale in which an unwelcome suitor
turns out to be the father or brother of the courtesan heroine, who is free to
inarry her lover once her noble birth has been proved. Euripides is credited with
considerable responsibility for the popularity of the recognition scene, and particularly of external tokens, in New Comedy, but he did not invent this motif,
nor is it likely that he invented the plot of the Alcmaeon.?
Striking parallels between this sort of New Comedy plot and HA can be found
*Zwnk, ed., Le roman d'Apollonius, pp. 25—6.
* Krappe, ‘Euripides’ Alcmaeon’, pp. 57-8; Perry, pp. 306-7 and 313-15. Goeppalso drew
attention to the parallel with the Alcmaeon, apparently independently of Krappe (pp.
160 1). A synopsis of the plot is given by Apollodorus in The Library, III, vii.7.
See also Cave, Recognitions (see raster 1, n.
32).
t
On the development, themes and conventions of Greek and Roman comedy | have
found the following recent studies helpful: Sander Goldberg, The Making of Menander's
(‘omedy (London, 1980); David Konstan, Roman Comedy (Ithaca, 1983); R. L. Hunter,
Ihe New Comedy of Greece and Rome (Cambridge, 1985).
See for instance B. M. W. Knox, 'Euripidean Comedy', in The Rarer Action: Essays in
Honor of Francis Fergusson, ed. Alan Cheuse and Richard Koffler (New Brunswick, NJ,
1970), pp. 68 96 [reprinted in Knox, Word and Action: Essays on the Ancient Theater
(Baltamore, 1979), pp. 250 279]. In Menander’s Epitrepontes (The Arbitrants) several
characters make comments which draw atcention to the frequent use of recognition
ACCME IN trapecdy, and the convent tonal tole of tokens; towards the end of the play one
chanecter remarks ‘And now they buive had à recognition sene, and all is well! (IL
909 10)
30
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
in the Rudens of Plautus, which is based on a lost Greek play by Diphilus.? The
heroine of this play had been kidnapped as little girl by pirates and sold to a
pimp in Cyrene. Whenthe play begins an unwelcomesuitor has abducted her,
and they have been shipwrecked near the house of her longlost father. She takes
refuge in the nearby temple of Venus. Muchintrigue ensuesbefore she is reunited
with herfather and safely betrothed to her lover. The tokens which bring about
the recognition scene are washed ashore in a trunk. There is much here whichis
reminiscent of HA:the separated father and daughter, the heroine sold by pirates
into a brothel, the encounter of the father and his unrecognized daughter (to
whomheis greatly attracted), the heroine's refuge in a temple, the trunk washed
ashore.?
But the Rudens is far from being the only comedy to present interesting
parallels with HA. In Plautus' Poenulus, a father travels round the Mediterranean
in search of his two daughters, who have been abducted and sold to a pimp; he
hires courtesans and interrogates them about thcir origins, and so eventually
finds his daughters.'? Similarly in Menander's lost play Hiereia (The Priestess), a
husbandfinds his longlost wife after overhearing hertelling her story (sce Trenkner, p. 91). The motif of the longlost daughter or wife can easily lead to near-miss
incest, of course: the father in the Poenulus asks the courtesans questions about
themselves, but in Plautus’ Curculio, in a plot similar to the Rudens, the unwelcomesuitor discovers quite unexpectedly that the courtesan he is wooing is his
ownsister.!!
Most of the plays by Plautus which contain parallels with HA are based on
lost Greek comedies: the themes of near-miss incest, recogition and family reunion were already very familiar, courtesans and pseudo-courtesans were frequent
heroines, and pirates were often thevillains responsible for the separation of the
family (though not on stage, of course).!2 The popularity of these themes in
—
Plautus wrote in the late third and early second centuries B.C., and borrowed most of
his plots from earlier Greek comedies. Sophie Trenkner considers the Rudens much the
most ‘romantic’ of his plays: see The Greek Novella in the Classical Period (Cambridge,
1958), p. 95. Trenkner's section on "Themes of Adventure’, pp. 91-160, is extremely
helpful for the study of the classical antecedents of medieval romance.
There may be a deliberate borrowing from the Rudens in Pericles (11.i), as several editors
point out: the comic encounter between the shipwrecked hero and the fishermen who
catch his armourin their nets is very reminiscent of Act IV of Plautus' play, in which
two slaves squabble over ownership of the chest containing the tokens which will
-
10
establish the heroine'origins.
"This seems to be a widespread folktale theme, as Trenkner shows (p. 103); see also
Stith Thompson, Matif Index of Folk Literature, 2nd edn, 6 vols (Bloomington, 1966),
s.v. HII] (recognition through story-telling) and 11151. (story-telling at an. inn or
hostel).
In Curculio there is a reference to the heroine h lost nurse Archestrate (1. 644): this is
the nameof Apollonius’ wife, King Archistrates’ daughter, in some texts of HA,
adeleine Mary Henry discusses the expansion of the role of the courtesan in Middle
ard New Comedy in Menander's Cóownesans and the Greek Coómuc Tradition, Studien zur
klassischen Philologie 20 (Frankfurt aim Main, 1985). Not all heroines in New Come:
dy are required to be haste, but the preservation of virguity is sometimes an important
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
31
dramaprobably reflects a much older narrative tradition, both oral and written,
whichis also reflected in the Hellenistic romances and to some extentin hagiography (see below). In the Hellenistic romancesthe separated lovers often recognize one another on sight ~ they are not separated for very long, and are
desperate to be reunited. But in the comedies, as in the tragedy of Oedipus or the
less easily classified Ion of Euripides, parents and children (orsiblings) have often
been separated for many years, and can converse unrecognized for several scenes,
as Apollonius and Tarsia do. Although the comedies cover a very short span of
time, usually a few days, the plot often depends on events spanning the wholelife
of at least one of the characters: what is dramatized is the equivalent of the
Mitylene episode of HA, andall therest is merely background (often summarized
in a prologue).
Romance
Because of the tack of any text of HA written in the classical period and the
uncertainty about the language in which the story was originally composed, and
because it does not seem to conform to the conventions of the genre, it has
sometimes been neglected or marginalized in studies of the ancient novel as an
unfortunate hybrid.Perry considers it at some length, but in an appendix to his
study of ancient romance (pp. 294-324). Walsh confronts the problem only to
evade it: he excludes HA, ‘the first extant love-romance in Latin’, from his
discussion of the Roman novel on the groundsthat ‘it is better regarded as Greck
ideal fiction composed in Latin'.!* But is it such an obvious example of Greck
ideal fiction? Heiserman describes it as an 'aretalogy': other examples of this
genre, according to him, are Pseudo-Callisthenes’ life of Alexander the Great,
the Clementine Recognitions, and the apocryphal adventures of St Peter and St
Paul.'5 He defines aretalogies as ‘honorific accounts of the marvelous deeds and
-
theme,c.g. in Casina, Curculio and Poenulus. The virgin undersiege is of course a very
ancient theme, but it is worth noting that Tarsia in HA has no particular reason to
remainchaste: she is not married, pledged to a lover, or vowed to a divinity
It may seem surprising to find a uanslation of HAin the recently published Collected
^
-
Ancient Greek Novels, ed. Reardon. The editor justifies his decision on two grounds
(introduction,p. 4): that it may have been originally composed in Greek, and that this
story so similar to the Greek novels played such a significant role in medieval culture.
P. G. Walsh, The Roman Novel (Cambridge, 1970), p. 1. There is no mention of HA in
the recent Cambridge History of Classical Literature, ed. P. J. Easterling and E. J. Kenney,
2 vols (Cambridge, 1982-5), where the Greek survey ends in the third century, and the
Latin in thefifth; bur vol. I contains a useful account of the Greek novel by E. L. Bowie
(pp. 683-99).
Heiserman, pp. 204-5. For a narrower view of aretalogy, defined as miracles or virtuous
deeds performed by gods or holy men, see Patricia Cox, Biggaphy in bate Antupaty: A
Quest for the Holy Man (Berkeley & London, 1983), she quotes HLladas" definition of
aretalopy, ‘a formal account of the remarkable Career of an impressive teacher that was
32
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
>
opinions of extraordinary men’, and describes his chosen texts as ‘documentary
novels centered on males and their psychological and doctrinal problems’. Hage,
on the other hand, sees HA as a typical example of‘trivial literature’, in which
the reader can identify with ‘a beautiful and noble, but in other respects rather
vaguely defined, hero or heroine, who is exposed to the most horrible misfortunes but who nevertheless finally reaches a safe haven, unscathed and happy,
and receives the rewards reserved for virtue'.!ó
Hágg's description is aimed at the Hellenistic romances which constitute
Walsh’s ‘Greek ideal fiction’, such as the Chaereas and Callirhoe of Chariton
(mid-first century B.C./A.D.), the Ephesiaca of Xenophon of Ephesus (?mid-second century A.D), the Clitophon and Leucippe of Achilles Tatius (?late second
century A.D.), and the Ethiopica of Heliodorus (early-mid third or late fourth
century A.D.).'? HA clearly has much in commonwith these texts, as Smyth
pointed out long ago: ‘pirates, sea-storms, dreams, apparentdeath, reunited lovers, etc., were the materials out of which the romances were made’.'® There are
particularly striking correspondences between the plots of HÀ and Xenophon's
Ephesiaca, as many critics have noted; it has been suggested that the surviving
text of the Ephesiaca could be an epitomeof the original, and this could account
for its rapid, summarizing style and what Hágg describes as its 'unashamed negligence of motivation and consistency' (p. 152; he does not, however, accept
the epitome theory). Unlike most protagonists of ancient romance, Xenophon's
hero and heroine are married before their adventures begin, as are Apollonius
and the princess of Cyrene. Ephesus, Tyre, Tarsus and Egypt appearin both rexts
(though it is only fair to note that all were obvious ports of call for travellers in
the Eastern Mediterranean). Xenophon includes an attack by pirates and the
apparent death of the heroine; later she survives an assassination attempt only to
be sold to a pimp, but like Tarsia she manages to preserve her honour (by a
feigned epileptic fit). Like Apollonius, Habrocomes spends some time in Egypt,
and he also encounters a friendly fisherman. Commemorative monuments,
which are so frequent in HA, play an importantpart in the final recognition
scene of the Ephesiaca.
The use of pirates, storms, separations etc. both in the Hellenistic romances
and in HAisless striking, however, than thedissimilarities of style. In its present
form HA conspicuously lacks the sort of historical, topographical, psychological
and social descriptionstypical of Hellenistic romance (perhaps they were present
in the Greek original). HA may qualify as a romance of travel, but not as a
romanceof love — by Hellenistic standards the love-scenes are impossibly tepid.
Moreover, as Bakhtin observes, in Hellenistic romance the action usually takes
I
usedas a basis for moral instruction’, and his view that Philostratus’ life of Apollonius
of Tyana ts the only example of ‘the pattern in all its details’ (pp. 47-8).
Vy, The Noeecl m Antiquity (Oxford, 1983), pp. 147 53; the quotation is taken
from p. 155.
These dates, which are tentative, ate taken from Bowie (scc n. 12 above) and 11555
they differ somewhat fíom these piven by Perry For bibliography see [ayy
anyrh, p
I0, see also Rolle; pp 455
5, and Kortekaas, p.
130
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
33
place between the first meeting and the marriage of the lovers, as if ic were a
nightmare on the eve of their wedding;it is almost extra-temporal, and leaves no
memories to cloud their happiness." HA not only includes Tarsia's life from birth
to marriage (as does Heliodorus’ Ethiopica), but also finishes with Apollonius’
death after seventy-four years of marriage, an unusual ending for a Hellenistic
romance of love and adventure.
I have deliberately restricted this section to Hellenistic romances because |
sce so little connection between HA and the Latin 'novelists! Petronius and
Apuleius. Lana notes that just as in HÀ the gynasium scene leads to an invitation to dinner for Apollonius, so in the Satyricon the heroes meet Trimalchio at
the baths (p. 39); but the Satyricon seems very different from HAin its bizarre
mixture of burlesque and a learned,literary style.? Although there is only onc
verbal echo of Apuleius, in c. 8 (not a particularly striking one), Perry argues for
a numberof parallels and links, particularly in the use of folktales and the way in
which independentstories are joined together without adequate motivation; hc
calls this technique 'contaminatio', and claims that it is much more frequently
found in Latin literature than in Greek (pp. 321—4). His argumentis seriously
undermined if one accepts a Greck origin for HA; but in anycase folktale motifs
are certainly found in the Hellenistic romances too. HA seems to me entirely
lacking in Apuleius’ playfulness and wit, his deliberate ambiguity and challenge
to interpretation which have been so elegantly analysed by the late Jack
Winkler."
Latin Metrical Works
A numberof passages in HA echoor borrow from Latin writers (see the notes to
Kortekaas’ edition). The ten riddles which Tarsia puts to her unrecognized father
are also found in the widely read collection attributed to Symphosius (fourth or
fifth century A.D.): were there also metrical riddles in the Ur-text? There are
many echoes of Virgil and Ovid in the description of the storm in c. 11, but did
the HA authorstring them together himself, or was he copying an existing cento?
Did he compose Tarsia’s song in c. 41, or did he borrow or adapta suitable lyric?
There are no answers to these questions,but it is important to bear them in mind
I» an Bakhtin, Esthétique et théorie du roman, tr. Daria Olivier (Paris, 1978), pp.
m See J.o Sullivan, The Saryricon of Petronius: A Literary Sualy (London, 1968).
^ John J. Winkler, Auctor & Actor: A Narratologwal Reading of Apuleius’ Gollen Ass
(Berkeley & London, 1985). On p. 57 he wrtes: ‘What we have so far surveyed
suppgests an authorial intelligence of lul KGwi à surrepritious bent! Phe same could
not he said forthe authors) o£ 1A
34
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
when considering HA both as a work of Latin literature, and as a translation of
an hypothetical Greck original.??
Hagiography
The themes which appear in HA are notrestricted to fictional narratives designed to entertain; they also appear in early hagiographic texts. So for instance
Theophila in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew undergoes an ordeal in a brothel,
and Thecla in the Acts of Paul suffers a string of vicissitudes similar to those of
Hellenistic romance heroines.” An ordeal in a brothel is a frequent episode in
the lives of early female saints; among those saved from dishonourby miracles of
various kinds are St Agatha (date uncertain), St Agnes (died c. 350), St Dionisia
(died c. 250), St Serapia (died c. 120), and St Theodora (died c. 304).^* The
encounterwith the poor fisherman whodivides his cloak with Apolloniusrecalls
the famous legend of St Martin and the beggar (see Kortekaas, p. 114).
The combination of flight from incest and recognition scene was also used in
an explicitly Christian context in the Clementine Recognitions. This narrative,
which mixes didactic and romance themes, exists in both Greck and Latin
versions dating from the fourth century, apparently derived from a lost Greek
original written in the second or third century which in turn may have been
based on an earlier pagan romance.?5 It takes its name from its young hero,
e
>
u
72 [am grateful to Prof. Michael Lapidge for pointing out to me the importance of these
questions. See also Svoboda, p. 220.
See The Apocryphal New Testament, ed. M. R. James (Oxford, 1924; reprinted and
corrected 1953), pp. 345 and 272ff.; also Hgg, pp. 154-62. Kortekaas has shown that
the authors of RA and RB borrowed from many Christian sources, including the Bible,
and that there is a ‘stylistic relationship’ between RA andItalian hagiography of the
fifth and sixth centuries (see pp. 101—6 and 116-18). For a list of scholars who have
commented on the links between HA and hagiography see Kortekaas, pp. 236-7, n.
582.
See the following accounts in AASS: St Agatha, Feb. I, pp. 599-662 (5 Feb.); St
Agnes, lan. II, pp. 714-28 (21 Jan.); St Dionisia, Mai. III, p. 451 (15 May); St Serapia,
Aug. VI, p. 500 (29 Aug.); St Theodora, April. Ill, pp. 578-81 (28 April). Most of
these stories also appear in the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, ed. J. GC. Th.
Graesse, 3rd edn (Dresden, 1890; rp. Osnabrück, 1969). The miraculous potential of
-^
Tarsia's success in warding off her clients is made more explicit in some later versions:
in Gower's fourteenth-century version [V12], God sends her ‘such grace’ that no man
has the power‘to don hereny vileinie’ (Il. 1428-31); in the fifteenth-century Spanish
Confisyón del Amante based on Gower [V29], God actually makes her clients impotent.
B. Rehm and F. Paschke, eds, Die Pseudoklementinen, Vol. I: Homilien, 2nd edn (Berlin,
1969); vol Il, Rekognitionen in Rufins Ubersetzung (Berlin, 1965) [Die griechischen
christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte 52 aid 41]. There are translations by
Thomas Snuth and others in vols 3 and 17 of The Ante Nicene Christian Library, ed.
Rev. A Roberts and |) Donaldson (Fdinburgh, 1867 and 1870). Perry jives a deciled
synopsis in Appendix Ó, pp. 285: 93, and sce LM, pp 162 4. both Perry and F1M:
note the parallels with PEA, see who Mazza, pp 60260,sdb my commentsin "Ihe Elda
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
35
Clement, later Bishop of Rome, who travels about the Eastem Mediterranean
with St Peter. As Perry notes, the title shows that the recognition episode was
perceived as the most characteristic or important part of the story, although it
constitutes only one episode, by no meansthe longest, in a heavily theological
text (p. 286).
Clement's mother Mattidia, alarmed by the improper advances of her
brother-in-law, used the excuse of a threatening dream to leave Rome
with her elder sons (twins). She was separated from them in a shipwreck, and found shelter with a poor old woman; when her bencfactress
becameparalyzed, Mattidia begged for them both. Clementset out with
his father to look for mother and brothers, but they too becomeseparated, and Clement now regards St Peteras his father.
In the course oftheir travels together, St Peter encounters an old beggar
woman,asks why she cannot workfor herbread, andis told tharshe has
gnawed her hands to the bone for sorrow. Whenhe hears her account of
her adventures, he recognizes her as Clement's mother, reunites her
with her son, and cures her paralyzed hands. They all joumey on
together; their next hosts are two rich and cultivated young men who
turn outto be the twins. St Peter then has an argument with an old man
who denies the existence of God or providence, andjustifies his belicf
in astrology through the experience of a friend whose troubles were
foretold by the stars (so he says). Thefriend's wife ran away with a slave,
and thefriend afterwards learned from his brother-in-law that she had
previously made advances to him, which he had virtuously resisted. St
Peter recognizes him as Clement's father, the family is reunited, and the
father and motherare converted to Christianity.
>
This story of the separation and reunion of parents and children cannot be
regarded as a direct source for HA,but it demonstrates yct again the popularity of
the themes of incest, recognition and family reunion, which are here inserted
into a didactic Christian context. Surely they must have been very familiar,
whether from written or oral sources: like medieval sermon exempla, they were
intended to catch the attention of an audience which was not highly educated.
Another popular narrative in which the separation and reunionoffather, mother
and twin sons functions as a Christian exemplum is the legend of St Eustace,
supposedly a soldier under the emperor Trajan. Clement, Eustace and Apollonius seem to belong to an already established narrative tradition, closer perhaps
from Incest: Two Late Classical Precursors of the Constance Theme’, Chaucer Review
20 (1986), 259-72, esp. pp. 264-7. Kortckaas, however,is dubious (pp. 261-2, n. 722).
‘Trenkner discusses the use of themes common to romance and drama in the Eustace
legend on pp. 103-4. See also G. EL Gerould, 'Forerunners, Congeners and Derivatives
of the Fustace Legend’, PMLA 19 (1904), 335 448; A. Monteverdi, ‘La leggenda di S.
Fostachto’, Std: Mediweoak $ (1909. 1910), 169 229 and. 392. 498; W. Bousset, 'Dic
Ges hichte eimes. Widererkeninuingsmar hens, Nachichten. eon der konighchen Gesell
schaft der Wissenschaften ma Góotmngen, Phlulologisch historische Klasse (1916), 469. 551,
and (1919), 703 7745; HE Delebhaye, La légende de S. Fuscus he; Bulletin de luem
36
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
to folklore than to the Hellenistic romances, a tradition which recounted the
adventures of both parents and children when a family was separated, and which
was interested in the reunion ofall the members of the family, not just a pair of
lovers or spouses. It is to this world of inter-generational relationships that HA
belongs, rather than to the world ofthe self-absorbed andselfish young lovers of
Hellenistic romance.??
Non-fictional Literary Sources and Analogues
y
^
&
t2
3
HA seemsto be a literary hybrid which shares some characteristics and plot
elements with variousclassical literary genres, yet does not fit perfectly into any
single category. It includes several of the motifs from Propp's account of the
characteristics of the folktale: the insignificance of individual feelings and the
lack of logical motivation which he discusses are not typical of classical comedy
or of most Hellenistic romances, but they are certainly characteristic of HA.4
The themes found in HAare very widely used: they can be found in epic, drama,
romance and hagiography, but they appear in non-fictional works too. Perry and
others have noted the parallel between Tarsia’s ordeal in the brothel and a case
in the Elder Seneca’s Controversiae, a collection of rhetorical exercises written in
the first century A.D. in which arguments for both sides of a hypothetical case
are given.”? The case in question concems a would-be Vestal Virgin who claimed
to have preserved hervirginity during a forced sojoum in a brothel. Manyclients
visited her room, she says, but all were moved by her entreaties and gave her
generous presents of money, except for one rough soldier whom she was compelled to kill in self-defence (in the Ephesiaca Anthia is once forced to adoptthis
solution too). The question is whethersheis fit to be a Vestal Virgin, or whether
she is lying and has been polluted. Although this rhetorical exemplum does not
Royale de Belgique 4 (1919), 175-210, Laurel Braswell, ‘Sir Isumbras and the Legend of
St. Eustace’, Mediaeval Studies 27 (1965), 128-151.
Euripides’ Alcmaeon seems to have focused on the father and his lost daughter, and
New Comedyspares a few lines for the vicissitudes of parents, though like the romances it concentrates on the loves of the younger generation.
V. Propp, The Morphology of the Folktale, tr. Lawrence Scott, 2nd edn revised Louis
Wagner (Austin, 1971). Ruiz-Montero analyses the structure of HA according to
Propp's method.
Controversiae 1.2, ‘Sacerdos prostituta". The French version of this argument by Alex-
ander Silvayn (A. Van den Dusche) was translated into English by Lazarus Piot and
published as Declamation 53 in The Oratour in 1596 (see G. Bullough, Narrative and
Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare VI [London, 1966], pp. 371 and 546-8). This text was
first suggested as a source for Pericles by William Elton in ‘Pericles: A New Source or
Analoguc', JFGP 48 (1949), 138 9, E. M. Vaith sensibly responded that the. main
iidfluence was that o the Senecan argument on an early version of EA: see bis "Pericles
Amd Seneca the Elder, CP 5019510), 180. 2 See also borne H1elins, "Phe Saint in
the Brothel Or, Plaquence Rewarled' Shakecarc t^&ntedyd4l (1990), 19.
V?
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
37
seem a likely source for HÀ, Seneca's use of the popular theme of the virgin's
ordeal in a brothel shows again how widespread it was and in how manydifferent
contexts it could appear.
Anotherparallel to an episode in HA appears, improbably, in Vitruvius’ De
Architectura, which was writen at the endof the first century B.C.In the preface
to Book 6 hetells how the philosopher Aristippus of Cyrene (fl. 400-360 B.C.)
was shipwrecked, but was cheered to find some mathematical diagrams drawn in
the sand on the beach where he landed;this reassured him thatcivilized men
lived nearby. He made for the gymnasium,discussed philosophy with the men he
metthere, and wasrichly outfitted by them. The stated moralof this story is that
one should acquire wealth which will survive a shipwreck, in the form of learning, but readers of HA will notice someparallels; Apollonius too makes for the
gymnasium after his shipwreck, and it is education (and musical talent) which
enable him to make good in an unknownland.
Historical Sources
In his discussion of ancient romance,Perry repeatedly stresses the significance of
names, arguing that the romances always haveanhistorical or pseudo-historical
basis, however deeply buried it may be (p. 139):
The romancers were bound by the long-established convention of
serious or ideal narrative, whether in poetry or prose, to write about
presumably historical persons.
He makes this point again very strongly in his discussion of the Byzantine
romance Digenes Akritas (p. 151):
Here again we haveanillustration of the fact that all a romancer needs
for the creation of a new and dramatic story is a name, or a group of
names which are knownto history, legend, or obscure mythology, even
whenthe actions ascribed to such characters by tradition, often vague
and meager, are contradictory to what the romancer chooses totell
about them.
Perry calls this process ‘plasmatic license’ (pp. 151-2). By stressing the significance of names without too much dependenceonhistorical events hesets up an
ideal frame for the investigation of the story of Apollonius — several of the names
of the main characters do have historical counterparts - but he docs not carry his
own method to its logical conclusion, though he does mention Antiochus I's
scandalous marriage to his stepmother Stratonice as a possible source.I shall
9 Nearly à hundred years before the publication of Perry's study, Wilhelm Meyer had
pomted the way in ‘Uber den latemeschen Text der Geshihte des Apollonius von
38
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
argue that there were good historical reasons to connect an Antiochus with an
Apollonius, though not necessarily Antiochus I.
Zink speculatesbriefly about the significance of Apollonius’ name, and links
it to Apollo, god of music and poetry, with whom Apollonius is compared at the
banquet; he also wonders whetherthe author of HA knew that Apollonia was
the nameof the port of Cyrene, the kingdom which Apollonius finally inherits
through his wife?! There were in fact numerouscities called Apollonia in the
Easter Mediterranean lands, including one in Cocle-Syria, a part of the
Seleucid empire which had connections with historical persons named Apollonius (see below). Three of the major characters in HÀ have names connected to
cities: Apollonius, Tarsia, and Antiochus. There is no commentin the narrative
on Apollonius! name. Tarsia is named for Tarsus at herfather's request (c. 28)?
The opening sentence of the story identifies Antiochus, the incestuous father
and persecutor of Apollonius, as the founder of Antioch. Antioch on the Orontes was founded by SeleucusI, first of the Seleucid dynasty who ruled Syria from
the third century B.C.; it was named eitherfor his father or for his son, Antiochus I Soter?? A number ofcritics have argued that Antiochus I wasthe prototype
for the villain of HA.
The remarkable story of the marriage of Antiochus and Stratonice was well
known in antiquity.* Antiochus fell in love with his stepmother and became
desperately ill; a clever physician discovered his secret, and his father Seleucus
renounced his young wife in favour of his son. This marriage, which caused
considerable contemporary and later scandal, has been seen as the modelfor
Antiochus’ incest in HA; indeed Mastrocinque argues that HA is part of a
considerable body of anti-Seleucid propaganda (he does not consider any other
prototype for the romancevillain).?> But the incestuous marriage of the lovesick
Tyrus’, SBAW 2 (1872), 3-28: he argued that, like the Alexander romance, 11A owed
its wide circulation co its historical background and the inclusion of the names of
importancerulers and kingdoms (pp. 3-4).
31 HAc. 16; Zink, ed., Le roman d’Apollonius, p. 34.
31 According to PW,s.v. 'Tarsos' 3, the adjective Tarsios is not connected philologically
with the name of the city; the adjective meaning ‘of Tarsus’ was Tarsikos or Tarseus.
~
-
-
Tarsia’s name may be derived from a patronymic (see n. 47 below). In Timoncda’s
sixteenth-century Spanish version [V40], Apollonius’ daughter is called Politania,
presumably for her mother’s country, which Timoneda calls Pentapolitania.
the complexities of the Seleucid dynasty see PW,s.v. ‘Anciochos’ and ‘Seleukos’; E.
R. Bevan, The House of Seleucus, 2 vols (London, 1902); A. H. M. Jones, The Greek
City (Oxford, 1949); E. M. Abel, Histoire de la Palestine depuis la conquéte d'Alexandre
jusqu'à la conquéte arabe, 2 vols (Paris, 1952); Glanville Downey, A History of Antioch in
Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest (Princeton, 1961).
The principal surviving sources are Valerius Maximus V.7; Plutarch, Life of Demetrius,
c. 38; Appian, Syrian Wars, 59; Lucian, De dea Syria, cc. 17-18; and Julian, Misopogon,
147-8 (according tothis last account, Antiochus did not marry Stratonice until after
his father's death).
Sec lohde, pp. 5 fé, and p. 449, n. V; Perry, pp. 901. 2 and 321; A. B. Brebaart, 'King
Seleucus 1, Antiochus and Scratonice’, Mnemosyne 20, series 4 (1967), 154 64; Attiho
Mistrocinque, Manipolazione cella stoma in eta ellenwacda
1989),
HF, "Varianioni sul eema di Staten el, pp. 10
M8
1 Sel uli e Roma (Rome,
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
39
Antiochus I, made possible by his father’s renunciation of Stratonice, seems very
different from the clandestine rape of an unwilling daughter by the fictional
Antiochus, and much less shocking. In all accounts it is made clear that the
historical Antiochus would rather have died than admit his love, and that it was
his father the king who willingly arranged the marriage.** Moreover Antiochus |
does not seem an adequate model for the generally tyrannical behaviour of the
villain of HA.
Kortekaas, who believes that the earliest Creek version of HÀ was written in
Syria, offers other arguments for Antiochus I as the model for the fictional
Antiochus,such as the fact that the historical king advocated an alliance of Syria
and Cyrene against Ptolemy II of Egypt, and that his daughter Apama married
the king of Cyrene (p. 129). He acknowledges that 'it does not seem impossible
that the original HA did indeed preserve some vague reminiscences of the early
Seleucids, even though they were curiously jumbled’. There were many other
kings called Antiochus in the Seleucid dynasty, however. Haight assumes without further discussion that Antiochus Ill, called the Great, is che modcl; she
admits that his career offers no parallels with that of the fictional villain, but
quotes Bellinger's argument that the story may reflect the marriage of his son
Antiochus to his daughter Laodice (pp. 157-8). But the candidate who seems to
me most promising is his son Antiochus IV Epiphanes,the villain of the Books of
Maccabees, and apparently the most flamboyantofthe line.?? Incest seems to be
about the only crime of which he was not accused, although he may well have
been guilty of it. His elder brother Antiochus, who was never king, apparently
married their sister Laodice, and Antiochus IV married his brother's widow.??
Such behaviour may well have been conventional in Syria, as it was in Egypt; or
altematively the constant use of the same names in the Seleucid family (Antiochus, Seleucus, Laodice) may have confused later writers, and the scandal of
AntiochusI and Stratonice may have beenre-attributed, in an altered form, to a
later king of the same name whosegeneral reputation invited such charges.
All versions of HA attribute Antiochus’ death to divine retribution in the
form of a thunderbolt, the favourite weapon of Zeus. Antiochus IV encouraged
the cult of Zeus at Antioch, sometimes himself played the role of the god, and
had his image on the reverse of some of his coins. Zeus Keraunos (the Thunderbolt) or Keraunios (the Hurler of the Thunderbolt) was widely worshipped, not
I
6 Brebaare argues that Stratonice herself may well have been reluctant; her reactions are
never mentioned in any of the sources. 1e even questions whether Antiochusreally
wantedto marry her. According to Appian, both of them werereluctant, and Seleucus
stressed the fact that they were obeying his order when he announced the marriage to
the people: sec Gabriele Marasco, Appiano e la storia dei Seleucidi fino all’ ascesa al trono di
Antiocho H1 (Florence, 1982), pp. 104-14.
Sce the studies of the Seleucids cited above, and also Otto Merkholtm, Antiochia IV of
Syria, Classica et Medievalia Dissertationes VII (Copenhagen, 1966).
PW, s.v. "Lacdike! 19, and 'Antiochos! 29 and. 26. To add to the confusion, their
mothers name was also Laodike. See Bevan, FL, pp. 52 ff and 279; Merkholm argues
that the younger Laodlice married two brothers in succession bur was not their sister
(pp. 49. 50)
40
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
least at Antioch, which was founded by Seleucus following the guidance of a
thunderbolt, according to Appian.*? 'Keraunios' occurs as a nickname amongthe
Seleucids and the Ptolemies.9 The legendary king Salmoneus was famous for
aping the majesty of Zeus, and was killed by a thunderbolt from Olympus;
Trenknerlists him as an incestuous father." Is it possible that all these threads
were woven together with memories of the marriage of Antiochus I and Stratonice into a legend of Antiochus IV as an incestuousfather killed by a divine
thunderbolt? His reputation in early Christian times was such that he was soon
considered to be the embodimentof Antichrist.”
The Seleucid dynasty came to power on the break-up of Alexander's empire.
Thefirst Book of Maccabees begins with the death of Alexander and the appearance amonghis successors of ‘radix peccatrix, Antiochusillustris’ (I Macc. 1.10:
‘a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes’). This chronological connection between
Alexander and Antiochus I'V may accountfor the fact that HAis so often found
in manuscripts containing a history of Alexander (see chapter 6 below, p. 86).
But Maccabees contains a more significant juxtaposition:little critical attention
has been paid to the striking fact chat at least six characters called Apollonius
appear in the Book of Maccabees and have dealings with Antiochus.” Yet this
link caught the imagination of Falckenburg, who incorporated Antiochus IV and
his general Apollonius son of Menestheusinto his Latin metrical version of HA
^
ps]
2
&
9^ Appian, Syr., 58; and see A. B. Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, 2 vols in 3
(New York, 1965), IL.2,
p . 807-14 and 1188-9.
Seleucus III Soter (PW Bp given the nickname Keraunos byhis soldiers, and Ptolemy
Keraunios (PW 15). A Seleucus Ceraunius is mentioned by the rwelfth-century chronicler Honorius Augustodunensis in list of Seleucid kings where there appears to be an
oblique reference to the story of Antiochus’ incest (A9].
Trenkner, p. 58; this detail is not mentioned in PW,s.v. ‘Salmoneus’. In Wilkins and
Pericles, Antiochusis reported to have been destroyed by fire from heaven whileriding
in a chariot with his daughter, a detail which may have been borrowed from the
hubristic Salmoneus (it does not occur in any other Apollonius version). Pericles also
seems to have borrowed from the Bible the detail of the stench caused by Antiochus'
disease (II Macc. 9). Nothing is said about thunderbolts in Maccabees.
St Jerome makes this identification over and over again in his commentary on the
Book of Daniel (PL 25:491—583): see cols 530, 537, 566, 568. See also Rabanus
Maurus, Commentaria in Libros Machabaeorum (PL 109: 1126-1256), BookI, col. 1134.
K. Hofmannargued long ago that the name of Antiochus suggested itself to the author
>
-
of HA for his villain because it was associated with a powerful, immoral and cruel
tyrant: see Uber Jourdain de Blaivies, Apollonius von Tyrus, Salomon und. Marcolf',
SBAW 1 (1871), 415-48,esp. pp. 418~25 [this essay is reprinted in the introduction to
the second edition of Hofmann’s Amis et Amiles und Jourdain de Blaivies. Zwei altfranzósische He
edichte des kerlingischen Sagenkreises (Erlangen, 1882)].
lt is noted briefly by I lofmann, ‘Uber Jourdain de Blaivies’, p. 425, n. 2; and by Robert
J. Kane, ‘A Passage in Pericles’, MI.N 78 (1953), 483-4, p. 484, n. 2. See also Zink, p.
37, and Ruiz-Montero, p. 334. Kortekaas mentions Antiochus Fpiphanes and his
prefect Apollonius (p. 152, n. 8), but in reference to the chronology of the version of
the story in Godfrey of Viterbo's Pantheon [V4] rather than to cheoriginal development
of the plot. Godfrey's villain, Anti hus Junior Seleucus, the son of Antiochus HT, may
be totemded to he Antiochus IV, the idennifi ation is clearer in Stemhiowel [V25], who
Vased lus veimton on the Pantheon
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
41
[V30], printed in 1578, and even included references to the relevant verses of
Maccabees in the marginsofhis text.
Atleast six apparently distinct characters called Apollonius appear in the two
Books of Maccabees: they include the general of the Mysiansactive in Jerusalem
(I Macc. 1.30 and II. Macc. 5.24); the governor of Samaria killed by Judas
Maccabaeus (1 Macc. 3.10); and the governor of Coele-Syria (I Macc. 10.69, and
II Macc. 4.4 and 21).4 Two of these characters also appear in Josephus’ Jewish
Antiquities (XII, 261-4 and 287, and XIII, 86). Two more are mentioned by Livy:
the admiral of the fleet of Antiochus III (XXXVII, 23—4), and the ambassador to
Romefrom Antiochus IV (XLII, 6.6). Yet another is mentioned by Polybius, a
favourite of Seleucus IV whoretired to Miletus on the accession of Antiochus IV
(XXXI, 13.2-3).5 The sons of this man, one also named Apollonius, were the
foster-brothers of the young Syrian prince Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV, and
helped him to escape from Rome and return to claim his throne (he slipped away
by night, just as Apollonius fled from Tyre). He was co-regent with Antiochus IV
until he was murdered, perhaps by his ambitious uncle (Polybius XXXI, 11.6 and
13.2-3).'5 These stories seem to offer just the sort of opportunity for 'plasmatic
license’ that Perry had in mind. Thehistorical circumstances can be completely
forgotten, so that only the linked names survive: thus Apollonius son of Menestheus, the governor of Coele-Syria under Antiochus, could also have contributed
his nameto thefictional character. Polybius names one of the foster-brothers of
Demetrius as Menestheus: the names Apollonius and Menestheus are linked
sufficiently often to suggest that at least some of their owners may have belonged
to a clan which had close connections with the Seleucid dynasty. Yet another
candidate is Apollonius son of Tharsaeus or Thrasaeus, mentioned in I] Macc.
3.5. His patronymic suggests an alternative derivation for the name of Tarsia:
perhapsherfather’s choice of a namefor her wasreally a reflection of the name
‘Tharsaeus’ or ‘Thrasaeus’, a recurring namein an historical clan in which the
name Apollonius was also very common.*?
~
>
>
-^
4 See also J. C. Dancy, A Commentary on | Maccabees (Oxford, 1954); E. M. Abel, Les
Livres des Maccabées, La Sainte Bible traduite en frangais (Paris, 1961); The First Book
of Maccabees, translated with a commentary by Jonathan Goldstein, Anchor Bible
(New York, 1976).
For recent attempts to distinguish and identify the various royal officials called Apollonius, see E. Olshausen, Prosopographie der hellenistischen Kónigsgesandten, 3 vols (1974),
I, pp. 209-10; J. G. Bunge, Theos Epiphanes: zu den ersten fünf Regierungsjahren
Antiochos IV. Epiphanes’, Historia 23 (1974), 61, n. 20; G. Nachtergael, ‘Envoyés
royaux d'époque hellénistique’, Chronique d’Egypte 99-100 (1975), 260-1.
Merkholm suggests that the younger Apollonius was part of a loyalist faction (p. 48).
Similarly in the fifteenth-century. French. Vienna Redaction [V22] Antiochus is
presented as regent for Apollonius, whose power he plans to usurp.
Schérz argues that Tharsaeus or Thrasaeus is not a patronymic, but means ‘of Tarsus’:
see Lexicon fiir Theologie und Kirche (1957 edn), s.v. ‘Apollonios’. Is the name chen a
reflection of a family link with Tarsus? See the comment of Theodosius [A2], which
may refer to Apollonius of Tyre. Ruprecht Ziegler suggests hnks with the imperial cult
in Tarsus: see "Die Historia Apollmu Regis lyri und der Kaisceikult in Tarscs', Cluron 14
(1984), 219. 434
42
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
It would be foolish to argue that HA stemsdirectly from the actions of any of
the historical characters discussed above, but it is striking that the names
Antiochus and Apollonius should be historically connected in a number of
well-known texts. If Kortekaas is right in arguing that the original Apollonius
story might have been written in Syria, it seems possible thatthefictional quarrel
of Antiochus and Apollonius might be derived from memories of an historical
quarrel, though of course it need not have involved incest and a marriage
proposal.
Apollonius was a common namein the classical world: over a hundred of
them are listed in PW. Apart from the fictional hero (PW 89), the only one
known as Apollonius of Tyre is no. 94, a philosopher of thefirst century B.C.
mentioned by Strabo and DiogenesLaertius. It would be stretching the evidence
very thin to arguefora link between the two,in spite of the notable learning of
Apollonius in HA andhis collection of philosophical books. But a stronger
argumentcan be made for a connection with the Apollonius perhaps best known
today, Apollonius of Tyana (PW 98), a Neo-Pythagorean philosopher wholived
in the first century A.D., and whose biography was written by Philostratus in the
third century at the request of the Empress Julia Domna.* Critics have noticed
parallels both with Hellenistic romances and with HA;I think that more can be
madeofthe latter, though again the nature of the borrowing which may have
occurred depends to some extent on the dating of HA. Some editors have
assumed,incorrectly, that references to an Apollonius in certain medieval texts
must refer to the philosopher rather than the fictional hero; it seems plausible
that there might indeed have been some borrowing from traditional stories of
Apollonius of Tyana, whotravelled widely, visiting Antioch, Tarsus and Ephesus
as well as more distant lands."
Apollonius of Tyana rakes a vow of silence and allows his hair to grow very
long (Phil. 1, 8 and 15); Apollonius of Tyre vows notto cut his hair, beard ornails
until his daughter is married (HA 28, 12-13), and later forbids his crew to speak
*8 Philostratus" Life of Apollonius is cited hereafter as Phil. See C. Anderson, Philostratus:
Biography and Belles Lettres in the Third Century A.D. (London, 1986). Rohde mentions
Apollonius of Tyana several times, and even compares incidents in his life with
incidents in Heliodorus’ Ethiopica (pp. 467 ff.), but he never suggests any connection
with HA. Deyermond mentions briefly the parallels between the two stories, and
comments that they are more extensive than had previously been noted (‘Motivos
*
folkléricos’, p. 138). Zink coo mentions the possible connection of Apollonius of Tyre
with Apollonius of Tyana and with a general Apollonius in the Book of Maccabees,
bur then dismisses both parallels as coincidence (p. 37).
A reference to thestory of ‘appollony of tyr’ in Capgrave’s fifteenth-centurylife of Sr
Katharine [A33] was takentorefer to the philosopher by Llorstmann in his FETS
edition (London, 1893). Similarly, before correctly identifying an allusion to Apollonius as king of Tyre in the crusade chronicle of Fuleher of Chartres [A7], Hlagenumneyer
suggested the philosopher or the governor of Samaria. Marden cites part of à poem by
Pedro IV of Aragon [A1] às an allusion to Apollonius of Tyre, hut D think it is more
likely t0 tefec to Apollonius of Tyana. Kortekaas lists other instances of confision (pp
198,0.
20, mp 2M OQ an 592, pp 2OR Qo
749)
SOURCES AND ANALOGUES
43
to him in the hold (HA 39, 8-9). Apollonius of Tyana reveals an incestuous
affair between a Cilician and his daughter (Phil. I, 10), and latercriticizes the
emperor Domitian for incest with his niece (Phil. VII, 7 and VIII, 15); Apollo-
nius of Tyre discovers the secret of Antiochus’ incest with his daughter (HA c.
4). Apollonius of Tyana relieves a famine in Pamphylia (Phil. I, 15), and is
regarded as a second founder in Tarsus because he pleaded successfully for the
city with the emperorTitus (Phil. VI, 34); Apollonius ofTyre relieves a famine in
Tarsus, and the grateful citizens erect a statue of him (HA c. 10). A thunderbolt
just misses Nero after a prophecy of danger by Apollonius of Tyana (Phil. IV, 43);
Antiochus and his daughterare killed by a thunderbolt (HA 24, 10-11). Apollonius of Tyana revives an apparently dead girl (Phil. IV, 45); the doctor's pupil
revives the comatose princess (HA c. 26), and Apollonius of Tyre summons
Tarsia from the dead to accuse Stranguillio and Dionysias (HA [RB] c. 50, n. 70).
These parallels are of course by no means conclusive evidence of a connection
betweenthestories: famine relief, vows to keep silent or notto shave, thunderbolts, miraculous cures, even incest, are the commonproperty ofstorytellers, and
the similarities may simply point to popular themes of the time.® But if we
accept Kortekaas’ theory of a third-century Greck original for HA,it is striking
that stories with some common themeswere being composed at about the same
time about two clever and much-travelled men named Apollonius. The accusation of imperial incest, the relief of a city's famine, and the status of bencfactor at
Tarsus do seem significant parallels. Perhaps the grateful citizens of Tarsus erected
a statue to the philosopher, which was later worked into the story of Apollonius
of Tyre?
Oneotherpossible ‘historical’ source should be mentioned. Josephus preserves
a story aboutriddle contests between Solomon and Hiram,the king of Tyre and
friend of David and Solomon, who supplied both materials and workmenfor the
building of the Temple (I Kings 5-9, II Chronicles 2—5).5! Quoting the testimony
of the historians Dius of Tyre and Menander of Ephesus, Josephus tells how
Solomon and Hiram set each other riddles, on the understanding that a sum of
money would be forfeited by the loser. Hiram lost heavily until he engaged the
services of a clever young Tyrian named Abdemun or Abdemos, who solved
Solomon's riddles with ease and sent back such hard questions to him that Hiram
recouped muchofhis loss. It seems that Tyre, which was already famous for the
invention of writing, enjoyed a certain fame for proficiency in riddles: perhaps
this accountsfor the insertion of Symphosius' riddles into HA. When William of
Tyre and Jacques de Vitry discuss the city in their crusade chronicles, they
mention Hiram and include the story of Abdemonand the riddle contest with
^
*9. G. Anderson uses the motif of famine relief to draw a parallel between 1A and the
story of Joseph (which also contains a riddle in the form of Pharaoh's dream): sec
Ancient Fiction: The Novel m de Graeco-Roman World (London, 1984), pp. 169-70.
Thunderbolts are still perceived by some as instruments of divine justice: in Internagonal Guenllas, che controversial fila about the Salman Rushdie affair seen from the
Muslim point of view, the villain i eventually killed by o thonderbole.
Josephus, Contra Apion 1, 1060.
121, and Jewish Antupatus VIII, 149 9
44
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Solomon:in the following sentence both name Apollonius as another famous
king of Tyre [A13 and 22]. They do not mention his solution of Antiochus’
riddle, but the connection must have been obvious both to them andto their
readers.?? The story of Hiram and Solomon does not supply a specific source for
HA,butit does offer a possible model for the opening episode, in which a Tyrian
prince solves a riddle posed by a famous and powerful king.
Conclusion
Many sources and analogues for the plot of HA can be found in classical literature,but the presence of names with stronghistorical and geographical associations should not be ignored. No single source for the plot can be isolated, and
the story is probably the result of an accumulation of oral and literary motifs and
garbled historical memories. Clearly it owes less to the historical background
than to popular themes from epic, drama and Hellenistic romance, and no doubt
also from folktale. But I suggest that echoes of the stories associated with the
historical characters discussed in the last section influenced the original author
of the story of Apollonius, if we can speak of such a person, and that he or she
used Perry's 'plasmatic license' to transform diverse fragments of history, folklore
and literature into a narrative which interweaves the ever-popular themes of
incest, family separation, adventure and reunion.
52 A thirteenth-century text of HA in OND MS 480 includes a note on the story of
Solomon, Hiram and Abdemonin a late medieval hand (f. 66r); it consists of a passage
entitled 'De oppidis datis 1 liram' taken verbatim from Peter Comestor's Historia Scolastica, Book 1l, c. 24 (PL. 198:1054-1722, col. 1368). | am grateful to Prof. Traugott
Lawler for help in transcribing and identifying this nore. Smyth discusses the Solomon
tradition and quotes the Vienna note (pp. 89-91); but his transcriptionis inaccurate,
and he does not identify the source or comment on the passage. Singer mentions it
very briefly in Apollonius, pp. 219-20. In the Old Norse Thidreks Saga af Bern [V9], in
which Earl Apollonius of Tira woos Solomon's daughter, Apollonius’ brother is named
tron, but ina fifteenth-century Swedish translation he as Iram, perhaps a distortion of
Furanm sec Sagan om. Dulik af. Bern, € 226, ed Gc CO. Elylén Cavalli, Samlingar
utgifa at Svenska Fornsknft Sallskaper * (6 kholmn, 1850), P 171
3
The Circulation of the Apollonius Story
in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Apollonius, gesta cuius celebrem habent et late vulgatam
historiam.
William of Tyre!
~
Although the earliest surviving manuscripts of HÀ date from the ninth century,
it is clear that the story was known and circulating in written form as well as
orally some centuries earlier. The earliest reference occurs in a Latin poem by
Venantius Fortunatus [A1] written in Caul between 566 and 568, in which the
poet describes himself as an exiled wanderer even sadder than Apollonius; the
brevity of the allusion clearly indicates that the poet expects his audience to
know the story of Apollonius and recognize the parallel. Another important
reference is found in a late sixth-century grammatical treatise which may also
have been written in Gaul, De dubiis nominibus [A3]. The explanatory example
for gymnasium is ‘in Apollonio: “gymnasium patet" ' (in Apollonius 'the gymnasium is open’). This must refer to the scene in which Apollonius hears the
gymnasium advertised by a street-cryer and then meets King Archistrates there
(c. 13). This citation indicates that by thelate sixth century written texts of HA
were circulating in which this phrase could reliably be found.” Allusions from the
cighth and ninth centuries testify to the remarkable esteem in which HA was
held. In 747 Abbot Wando of St Wandrille donated a number of booksto his
abbey: the chronicler names only some of them, but does mention HA among
well-known theological and historical works [A4]. Another copy was in the
possession of the Abbey of Reichenau in 821 (see Kortckaas, p. 421); and at the
William of Tyre, Chronicon [A13]: ‘Apollonius, whose adventures are told in the
well-known and widely circulated story.” The numbers in square brackets refer to
Appendices | and IL.
Most. of the examples in this treatise. come. from classical and. Christian. Gaulish
authors, Kortekaias supgests that the writer added the HA ciation) from his own
reading, as an up to date example (p. 97
46
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
end of the same century Everard, Marquis of Friuli, bequeathed a copy to his
eldest daughter [A5]. HÀ appears in numerouslibrary catalogues dating back as
far as the ninth century from what are now France, England, Germany, Italy and
Belgium? Of the manuscripts which survive from the ninth century on, Kortekaas and Bischoff have dated six as pre-twelfth century. One writtenin the tenth
or eleventh century and now preserved in Budapest (unfortunately a fragment
consisting of only three and a half leaves) contains a remarkableseries of 35 pen
and inkillustrations, sometimes six or seven pictures to a page.‘ Illustrations in
worksoffiction, or indeed in anyliterary texts, are very unusual at this date; the
Budapest manuscript is another indication of the extraordinary status of HA in
the early Middle Ages.
In the following pages | give a brief survey of the versions of HA produced
between the tenth century and 1609, the year in which the quarto of Pericles was
published. I do notdiscuss all the Latin texts of HA; there are too many (over a
hundred), and the variations are too small to be of much significance for this
study. It would be pleasant to linger over the idiosyncracies of some versions,
both Latin and vernacular, but the survey would then becometediously long and
distinctly indigestible. My descriptions here are very brief; somewhat fuller accounts, together with references to editions and critical studies, are given in
Appendix I. This skeleton survey will at least serve to introduce the reader to the
texts which will be mentioned in the discussion of plot, reception and genre, and
to demonstrate the extraordinary and lasting popularity of the story. Previous
studies of HA have usually dealt with the vernacular versions in groups determined by language; this approach seems to meto dilute the evidence for the
powerful appeal of the story, and to inhibit consideration of the reasons for
certain innovations. So I consider the development (or non-development) of the
story in both Latin and vernacular versions chronologically, by century, in the
hope of giving a more accurate picture of the ways in which HA wentforth and
multiplied. As will become obvious,it is not possible to analyse the history of
HA neatly in termsof chivalric versions in one century or language and exemplary versions in another: whatis striking is the way in which different acounts of
the story of Apollonius seem to have coexisted over such a long period of time.
Notonly was the complete text of HA being copied in the tenth and eleventh
centuries, but a brief abstract was made, the Compendium Libri Apollonii
(eleventh century), preserved in Laurent. MS plut. LXV 35 (this text is also
foundin a fifteenth-century manuscript, ONB 3126). The tenth century also saw
two distinct adaptations: the Gesta Apollonii [V1], an elaborate Latin rendering of
the first eight chapters of HA in leonine hexameters which includes many
obscure Grecisms, and the Old English text [V2], the earliest known vernacular
version, which survives in an eleventh-century manuscript but was probably
)
5
See Max Manitius, I Handschriften antiker Autoren in mittelalievlichen Biblouwkskatalogen,
Zentralblatt fur Bibliothekwesen 67 (Leipz, 1935; rp Nendeln & Wiesbaden, 1968),
p. M8 5 and Kortekaas, Appendix HI istof Lost Farm Manos npis', pp 419. 3M.
dadapest, Országos SA héenyis Koónyvrár, MS lat 4; sce Kortekaas, p. 34, and pp 94 5
le low
THE CIRCULATION OF THE APOLLONIUS STORY
47
composeda little earlier. The familiarity of the story is suggested by a reference in
the cleventh-century Chronicon Novaliciense [A6]: the Italian chroniclertells of a
king who seduced his son's bride, and draws a comparison with the story of
Apollonius, which he clearly expects his audience to know.
One would expect to find more versions surviving from the twelfth century, a
time when relative peace and prosperity across western Europe favoured the
production (and preservation) of books in both Latin and the vernaculars, and
when there was a rapidly increasing demand for stories of love, war and adventure. HÀ mayalso have acquired a new interest in the age of the Crusades, when
biblical cities like Tyre became familiar names in European politics. At least
twenty HA texts copied in the twelfth century survive: some follow RA, some
RB,some are shortened (some Ra versions), some expanded (the Bern Redaction [V5]), some mix elements from both major versions (RC). An important
indication of the circulation and popularity of the story is its inclusion in two
encyclopaedic works of the ewelfth century: the shorter version of Ra is included
in the Liber Floridus of Lambert of St Omer [V3], composed nolater than 1120,
and anidiosyncratic version is included in the popular andinfluential Pantheon
of Godfrey of Viterbo [V4], a verse chronicle of world history written between
1186 and 1191. Godfrey also mentions the story of Apollonius approvingly forits
educational value in his Memoria Seculorum [A17]. Allusions to Apollonius
appear in a wide variety of 'serious' writings, both Latin and vernacular: crusade
chronicles [A7 and 8], Lamprechr's Alexanderlied [A11], the Chronicon Lemovicense [A16], where it is described as an unpleasant but improving story, the
Latin elegy on Fortune by the Florentine Henricus Septimellensis [A18], and the
French Poéme Moral [A19], whose author considers it deplorably frivolous (thereby attesting its popularity).
There may well have been French vernacular versions of the story in the
twelfth century — there are allusions to Apollonius in the context of romance
heroes in Occitan and Old French texts from this period [A10, 12, 14, 15] — but
nothing has survived. One short fragment from a thirteenth-century French
version exists, preserved in the binding of an Aldine classical text [V8]; as far as
can be judged, it seems to expand the love interest which was so popular in
chivalric romance. Other thirteenth-century texts include some variations on
the standard HA plot; the numberof vernacular versions suggests an increasingly
wide audience. Kong Apollon af Tyre [V7], a Danish ballad which probably dates
back to the thirteenth century, mixes the first part of the story with folktale
themes. In the Old Norse Thidreks Saga af Bern [V9], the story of Dietrich of
Bern, Apollonius appears as the son of King Arthur, and the first part of the
traditional HA plot appears in a somewhat garbled form. The Spanish Libro de
Apolonio [V10] tells the story in full, and is notable for its heavy Christian
moralizing. Allusions to Apollonius as a lover and warrior whose story was widely
told are again found in a number of romances and Occitan lyrics [A20, 21, 23,
26, 28]. Love is also stressed in a short Latin lyric about Apollonius’ vicissitudes
preserved in the Carmina Burana [V6], an early thirteenth-century German
colle uon of Latin and vernacular xx mes, 1t 08 80 tcese and Allusivc ibat tt would
48
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
have made no sense to anyone whodid not already know thestory.It is clear
from the wide variety of tone and context of these versions andallusions that by
the thirteenth century the story was well enough known for the hero andelementsof the plot to be borrowed and adapted tofit new contexts,in particular to
cater for the growing taste for tales of chivalric prowess in love and war.
Vemacular versions from the fourteenth century survive in Middle English,
Old French, Middle High German,andItalian. Some remain fairly close to HA,
but a numberinsert new details or episodes relating to both love and war.In the
fourteenth-century French prose version knownas the Brussels Redaction [V14],
Apollonius distinguishes himself in various sieges and battles, and discusses the
niceties of ‘courtly love’ with his amorous pupil. One of the most striking innovators is Heinrich von Neustadt, whose Middle High German poem runs to more
than twenty thousand lines [V15]; Heinrich adds a series of fantastic chivalric
adventures to account for Apollonius’ long absence, and even credits him with
the invention of the Round Table! The three Italian prose versions [V16 and 17]
contain many courtly details; burt Pucci’s metrical version [V18], which may have
been performed in the piazzas of his native Florence, is clearly aimed at a more
bourgeois audience.
In the fourteenth century the Apollonius story was often expanded to include
chivalric motifs, but it also began to be used more orless explicitly as a moral
exemplum. It appears in at least one Latin manuscript of the widely popular Gesta
Romanorum [V11], a collection of exemplary tales drawn from a variety of
sources, classical and medieval, and was later included in many of the printed
editions, both Latin and vernacular. It is by far the longest exemplum in this
collection, yet unlike the others it does not end with a moralizing allegorical
interpretation: this suggests that its value was already well known and accepted,
or at least was thought to be so obvious as to need no further emphasis. In
Gower's Confessio Amantis the story of Apollonius is used as the mainillustration
of Lechery in Book VIII [V12], and is the last of the exemplary stories which
form the bulk of the poem; again it is told in full, and again it is the longest
narrative in the whole work. Gowerspecifically describes it as an exemplum, both
in the Latin marginal note at the beginning, and at the end of the narrative. It
may have been Gower's version which provoked thecriticisms of Chaucer’s Man
of Law in the Canterbury Tales [|A32]; he remarks very unfavourably on the sordid
nature of incest stories generally and the Apollonius story in particular while
describing some of the most unpleasantscenes. A fragmentof another apparently
didactic Middle English poem about Apollonius of approximately the same date
hasalso survived [V13].
By the fifteenth century the story of Apollonius was being retold in a great
number of vernaculars; its wide appeal is demonstrated by texts from hitherto
silent areas. These include a Czech version with biblical and folklore colouring
{V19]; three Germanprose versions [V25 and 26], not particularly innovative,
but in the case of Steinhowel’s Volksbuch very popular a heavily Christianized
Ciccek. version, the Diegeus. Apollanuou [V27], and two exemplary Spanish versions, bused respectovely on the Gesta Bomanorum and the Confessio Amanis
THE CIRCULATION OF THE APOLLONIUS STORY
49
[V28 and 29]. There is no Scots version of the story, but Robert Henryson
mentions the incestuous Antiochusin his description of Orpheus in the underworld [A35]. John Capgrave also refers to Antiochus’ incest in his Life of St.
Katharine of Alexandria [A33]. The various fifteenth-century French prose versions vary considerably in tone. There is a moralizing version in the Violier des
histoires romaines [V23], a fairly close translation of the Gesta Romanorum. The
london Redaction [V21] is medievalized in many details, but it is the Vienna
Redaction [V22] which makes some striking additions to the traditional story,
tilling in gaps and adding battles. Zink considers the Vienna Redaction 'particulurly representative of the history of the romance,its success, and its evolution in
the course of the Middle Ages’ (p. 14). It may be representative of the development of romance as a genre, butit is far from characteristic of the treatmentof
11A in the Middle Ages. The innovative Vienna Redaction, like Heinrich von
Neustade’s fourteenth-century German poem,seems to have had nolater imitaiors, whereas HA itself continued to be copied and translated withoutsignificant
alteration: Kortekaaslists overthirty texts in fifteenth-century manuscripts.
^s far as the development of romance and every other literary genre was
« oncerned, the greatest innovation of the fifteenth century was printing. A Latin
text of HA was printed in about 1470 (it is undated), closely followed in 1471 by
the first vemacular printed edition, Steinhówel's German prose version, which
was frequently reprinted over the next fifty years; and many more printed texts
tollowed, in both Latin and the vernaculars.? Not only was the story printed
alone, but also as part of Godfrey's Pantheon, Gower’s Confessio Amantis, and the
Cesta. Romanorum; so for instance the earliest Dutch version appeared in a
translation of the Gesta. Romanorum, Die Gesten of geschienissen van Romen
iV "CA, printed in 1481 and reissued in 1483 and 1484 (a Volksbuch reworking of
the Apollonius story was published separately soon afterwards [V20B]). A Spanih version tantalisingly entitled Historia de los Siete Sabios e del rey Apolonio was
“parently printed in 1495, but is no longer extant. These printed editions offer
tuther testimony (if more were needed) to the continuing popularity of the
Apollonius story, both in the simple HA text and in otherversions.
Apart from the versions included in larger collections, a number of other
pointed editions were produced in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, espocially in France. In about 1482 there appeared a French prose version printed
Ia Tous Garbin, Le romant de Appollin roy de Thir (V24: this text will be cited as
Coulbun's version); it was translated into English by Robert Copland (with extra
ee che useful (though incomplete) chronology of early printed editions of the Apollomous story and the Eetlenistic romances in Carol Gesner's Shakespeare and the Greek
Finances (Lexington, 1970), pp. 145 62. She calculates that the story of Apollonius
was prunted 64 mes in various languages becween 1470 and 1642 (in fact the count is
probably higher, since she does not include any Latin texts of the Gesta Romanonam).
Hone ob the Greek romances was printed so cally: a fragment of Xenophon Ephesaca
yppeared in a printed text of £489, bot che works of Achilles Tatius, Hl8elidorus and
1 ongus appeared füst in the mid sixteenth century
50
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
emphasis on chivalric themes), and printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510 [V32].
AnotherFrench prose version by Corrozet was published about 1530 [V34], and
the story was included in Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques [V35], first published in
1582, in a version which stressed the classical elements and greatly expanded the
psychological aspects, especially in the love scenes. The Greek rhymed version
based on an Italian prose text and first printed in Venice about 1524 was very
popular and frequently reprinted [V37]. In 1553 Hans Sachs, the Meistersinger of
Nuremberg, reduced the story to a brief lyric about Apollonius’ meeting with
Archistrates in the baths and his subsequent marriage [V36]. In 1576 Lawrence
Twine published his Patteme of Painefull Adventures [V33], one of the main
sources for the Shakespearean Pericles; Twinestays fairly close to the traditional
plot (his source was a French version of the Gesta Romanorum), thoughhis style
is discursive. A Polish version appeared in a printed text of the Gesta Romanorum
in 1543 [V39], and a Hungarian version loosely based on the Gesta Romanorum
towards the end of the century [V38].
Oneof the most innovative sixteenth-century versions is that of the Spaniard
Juan de Timoneda in his Patrariuelo [V40], also published first in 1576, in which
Tarsia’s adventures are considerably expanded, perhaps under the influence of
the newly rediscovered Greek romances. The long poem in Latin hexameters
published by Jacob Falckenburg in 1578 under the grandiosetitle Britannia, sive
de Apollonica Humilitatis Virtutis et Honoris Porta [V30] is also innovative, but ina
quite different way: the story of Apollonius is ingeniously interwoven with that
of a character of the same name whoappears in the Book of Maccabees, Apollonius son of Menesthcus; references to the relevant biblical passages are printed in
the margins. In 1595 Welser published in Augsburg a text from a manuscript
(now lost) which he found in a local monastery, with introductory comments
(V31]: this is the first critical edition of HA.
Versions of the story of Apollonius continued to be produced during the
seventeenth century, and Kortekaaslists one manuscript text of RB produced in
this period. In 1601 a Low German prose version, Eine schóne unde kortwwylige
Historia vam Kénige Appollonio [V41], was printed by Hermann Moller at Hamburg; it is closely related to Steinhówel's text. Wilkins’ novel The Painefull
Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre [V42] was published in 1608; there is much
critical debate about its relationship to the Shakespearean play Pericles [V43],
published in quarto a yearlater, with which this study ends. On the whole the
Shakespearean Pericles, the first dramatization of what might be thought very
intractable material, is remarkably faithful to the HA plot: with the help of
dumbshowsand summaries by Gower, the Chorus, all the traditional episodes are
included in some form except the final scenes, which are briefly summarized.
There are considerable changes in tone, however: the play includes more moralizing (especially about kingship) than HA or any other version, and also much
more broad humour (especially in the brothel scene). Although Pericles was
condemned by Ben Jonson as ‘a mouldy tale’ (and by Lytton Strachey as ‘a
miserable am hai dragiment'), and. was not included in dhe Frost Folio, it was
nevertheless very popula, AS Contemper ry allisions and the frequent TUprinitunj?
THE CIRCULATION OF THE APOLLONIUS STORY
51
of the quarto attest (see A36).5 Whether or not Shakespeare was responsible for
all of it, the very existence of the play is eloquent testimony to the lasting appeal
of the story.
It would be convenient to be able to sum up the Apollonius tradition in
simple terms, noting the predominanceof the simple HA text in one century, the
Christian version in another, the chivalric in a third, or arguing that French
versions are characteristically different from Latin versions. But as this bricf
survey has suggested, there is no straightforward pattern: from the thirteenth
century on every century offers both traditional and innovative versions, in an
increasing number of vernaculars as well as Latin, in prose and in verse, and
allusions indicate that from an early date the story was read by some as exemplary, by others as courtly and entertaining. Chivalric and moralizing versions
hoth seem to have appeared first in the thirteenth century; they may have
onpinated in the twelfth century, as somecritics argue, butif so it is curious that
no trace of them remains, while traditional HA texts written in the twelfth
century survive in abundance. By thefifteenth and sixteenth centuries a great
variety of versions existed: some stressed chivalric values, others Christian morality; some medievalized heavily, others reintroduced classical details. Yet none
of the more elaborately innovative versions seems to have inspired direct imitanion or translation, whereas faithful copies of HA were still being produced, both
ly hand and on the printingpresses, in thefifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Ciower, the Chorus in Pericles, introduces the play by commenting on the antiqity of ‘the song that old was sung’, and suggests that this antiquity increases its
value and popularity (I.Chorus.10): 'et bonum quo antiquius eo melius’ (‘a good
thing: is all the better for age’).
Fynren Suachey, 'Shakespeares Final Period, Independent Review
(1904), 405. 18, p.
FL, eeprnted in Books and Clhuanacters: French and Flnglish. (10ndon. and. New York,
Va), pp 49 09 (p 65)
4
TheInfluence of HA
... il offrait d’ailleurs un récit d’aventures dontle schémeet le
mouvement, mais aussi les thémes narratifs, descriptifs et psychologiques, allaient fournir son cadre, sa structure, son rythme
et sa substance,sinon sonesprit et son ‘sens’, au romanfrancais
naissant.
M.Delbouille!
Not everyone would agree with Delbouille’s argument. There is a striking lack of
interest in the psychology of love and in martial prowess in the story of Apollonius; and although it certainly is a rare example of a narrative of love and
adventure which circulated very widely at the time when romances in the
vernacular were first appearing, it is hardly the only source of such themes.
Twelfth-century romances also drew heavily on Celtic material and, no doubt,
on folktales — and, of course, on Ovid and otherclassical sources. Scenes in HA
which might have been adapted to suit romance tastes were often copied or
translated without any change; the popularity of che Apollonius story did not
depend onits similarity to a chivalric romance. Delbouille argues that it contains
all the characteristics of the roman d'aventure et d'amour, including the typical
dramatis personae: he sees Antiochus’ daugher as the captive princess, Archistrates as the providential host, his daughter as the ingénue whofalls in love with
a stranger, Tarsia as the royal foundling in dire straits, Athenagoras as the noble
and generouslord, Dionysias as the wicked stepmother(this last character seems
to me moretypical of folktale than romance). But this argument scems to put the
cart before the horse by analysing twelfth-century French romances, detecting
|
M. Delbouille, 'Apollonius de Tyr et les débuts du romanfranqais', in Mélanges offerts à
Ríta Lejeune, 2 vols (Oembloux, 1969), Il, pp. 1171-1204 (p. 1186): '. . . it offered
besides a story of adventures whose scheme and movement, as well as its narrative,
descriptive and. psychological themes, were to furnish the emerging French romance
with ots frame, outs structure, outs chythm and its substance, i£ not ats. spurir and
"meaning" ! CDi article willbe cued as Dhue!) See my comments on the romance
eaten chapter 6, pp Ae tt
THE INFLUENCE OF HA
53
the same themes in HA, and concluding that it was therefore a direct influence
on the vernaculartexts.
There certainly are a number of medieval and Renaissance texts (notall
romances) which do show the influence of HA in certain scenes. They also
provide further testimony to the stability of the HA plot: that is, they show
directions in which HA might have developed but did not, and ways of dealing
with some of the problemsand inconsistencies which were not used by redactors
ol HA. In this chapter I discuss some clear cases of HA's influence, and some
dubious claims,
(1) The writer of the twelfth-century romance Floire et Blancheflor may have
borrowed one motif from a version of HA: Delbouille comments on theparallels
between the false tomb erected for the supposedly dead Tarsia by Dionysias (c.
3), and the similar tomb in the French romancewhichis erected by the hero's
mother to try to persuade her besotted son that his love is dead.” Just as the effect
of the shocking news of the heroine's death is described twice in HA, when
Apollonius first hears it from Stranguillio and Dionysias and then again at the
imb where he is shown the inscription (cc. 37-8), so Floire faints when he hears
the awful news of Blancheflor's death, and then again whenheseestheinscription on her tomb (Il. 664 ff.). Though Pelan does not mention the possible
inlluence of HA, Delbouille is clear that it is the source of this scene; for him it
only remains to be established whether the source was HA itself, or an carly
icnch version. But there is no compelling evidence, especially since no twelfth| entury French version of the Apollonius story has survived.
Dclbouille does not mention the possible influence of HA on an episode
preserved in another version of Floire et Blancheflor, where Floire’s parents send
«tvants to kill Blancheflor; the servants grant her time to pray, and while sheis
yr ayings Floire arrives incognito and rescues her. If the false tomb episode is a
i Hection of HÀ cc. 37-8, the assassination attempt and rescue could be borwed from cc. 31-2. But neither of these scenes strikes me as so unusual that it
most have been derived from a specific source.
d Ht has also been suggested that the cwelfth-century Occitan chanson de geste
Laurel et Beton is bascd at least in part on the story of Apollonius.* Kimmelsees
puallels with Jourdain de Blaye (see below), and thus with the Apollonius story,
lt angues for the latter as the specific source for a scene in which Beton's
nobility is secretly tested: he is to play and sing before a princess, and if he
Lielboulle, 'IDbuts', p. 1197; Floire et Blancheflor, édition du ms 1447 du fonds frangais,
d. Margaret M. Pelan, 2nd edn (Paris, 1956), 11. 516-715.
"Hone et Blancheflor, seconde version &ditée du ms 19152 du fonds francais, ed. Margaret M.
^ dan (Paris, 1975), U1 452 (6, this version is dated to the late twelfth century.
5. Kimmel makes this sappestion in the introduction to his Crigeal b‘dition,of the Old
NA Fpte Daurel ct Beton, University of North Carolina Suidies in Romance
Vangie and Literature 108 (Chapel Ell, 1971); sec esp. pp 1025 7. Lam grateful to
E Sarah Kay and Dr Sunon Gaunt for biingang this text to my attention.
54
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
accepts money, his low birth will be proved. Of course he refuses the money, and
thus his nobility is established (Il. 1487 ff.). Kimmel draws a parallel with
Apollonius’ music-making at the banquet in Pentapolis (cc. 16-17), but heis
mistaken in thinking that Apollonius then gives the presents he receives to his
servants, andis praised for this noble gesture. It is true thatearlier in the story he
gives back the moneypaid for his grain at Tarsus (c. 10), but there seems to be no
groundfor asserting that the music scene in the Occitan poem is directly derived
from HA. Theeditor seems so keen to establish a link, however, that he sets up
HA asthe source of a much more basic and widespread narrative tradition, that
of the youthful hero banished through treachery and reclaiming his rightful
inheritance (p. 112): ‘The motif is a venerable one, drawn moreorless freely
from the popular and well-known Apollonius legend: good, in the person of a
handsomeand noble youth, conquers evil, represented by the villainous usurper.’
Although I am sure that HA did have some influence on the development of
romanceliterature, and that someofits motifs were echoed in vernacular romances, as is argued in this chapter, I would not make such a grandiose claim forit as
the archetype of the struggle of good andevil.
(c) lt is, however, indisputable that a version of HA, whether Latin or French,
strongly influenced the composer of the French chanson de geste Jourdain de
Blaye (or Blaivies)5 This poem was probably composed in the twelfth century,
but is preserved in a single thirteenth-century manuscript(there is also a fifteenth-century prose version). It is linked to the exemplary romance Ami et
Amile (Jourdain is the grandson of Ami), and to the Charlemagnecycle (Jourdain kills the emperor's son); but it is clear that the second half of the poem is
deeply indebted to HA, as Dembowski stresses.®
In the course of a long feud Jourdain’s father (the son of Ami) is killed;
Jourdain is brought up as the son of a faithful retainer. He kills the son
of his father’s murderer, and also Charlemagne’s son, and so is exiled
from the royal court. He is caprured by Saracens, but jumps from the
ship and floats ashore on a tree trunk. A fisherman gives him half his
cloak. He becomesa squire to the local king, and the princess Oriabel
falls in love with him. With her help he defeats a Saracen attack. He
marries Oriabel and inherits half the kingdom. On their voyage home,
she gives birth to a daughter during a storm. The sailors insist that
>
5 See Jourdain de Blaye, ed. Peter Dembowski (Chicago, 1969). Hofmann discuses the
sources of the poem andits use of HA in his article ‘Uber Jourdain de Blaivies’ (reprinted
in the introduction to the second edition of his Amis et Amiles und Jourdains de
Blaivies). See also Singer, Apollonius, pp. 15-31; Delbouille, ‘Déburs’, pp. 1190-6; and
B. HL. Rasmussen, ‘Vorigine des chansons de geste Ami et Amile and Jourdain de Blaye’,
Revue Romane, Numéro spécial 1 (1967), 232-9.
Sce Dembowski, p. 7: For a better understanding of the mixed character of Jotadain de
Blaye, only two facts need to be emphasised: (1) Jotedam à the legend of Apollonius
transposed into a new and fundamentally Freich seii, (2) Jonaciun os drawn only
from the second part of Apollonia *
THE INFLUENCE OF HA
55
Oriabel be set adrift in a coffin, though still alive. She is found by a
bishop at Palerme; he wants to marry her, but she insists on becoming a
recluse.
Jourdain leaves their daughter Gaudissette with a foster-father; her jealous foster-sister gets her sent off to Constantinople. There both the
emperor and his son wish to marry her. When sherejects the emperor,
he sends her to a brothel as punishment. Jourdain arrives just as she is
beinginstalled in the brothel. Once her royal parentageis established,
she marries the emperor's son. Finally Jourdain and his wife are reunited.
Thetraditional HA opening, Antiochus’ incest, is replaced by a more chivalric motivation for the hero's flight, a family feud linked to a famous historical
European court and the popular story of Ami et Amile. Classical elements of HA
such as the emphasis on leaming, the gyranasium, and the funeral rituals and
monuments are completely absent: the slave market too is omitted, and the
brothel is a threatened punishmentrather than a serious ordeal. The chivalric
themes of love and war are both much more evident than in HA. Jourdain wins
his bride after defeating a Saracen attack. The bishop whofinds Oriabel wants to
marry her. Both the emperor of Constantinople and his son fall in love with
( saudissette. It is possible that Jourdain may be derived from a lost twelfth-century French version of Apollonius, as Delbouille argues. But it seems to me just as
plausible to argue that it represents the deliberate adapration of the story of
Apollonius to fulfil the expectations of medieval romance.
(4) There are also obvious borrowings from HA in the late twelfth-century
Mtiddle High German poem Orendel, a hagiographic romance which mixes
( hristian and chivalric elements.’
Orendel, king of Trier, sails to Jerusalem to fetch his fiancée, Queen
Bride, but is delayed by various adventures and then shipwrecked. The
fisherman whorescues him also finds in a fish a grey tunic which makes
its wearer invulnerable: it is Christ's tunic, stained with His blood.
Orendel buys it from che fisherman. He goes to Jerusalem, and in a joust
wins the hand of Bride. On the journey back to Trier shefalls into a
coma, andis thrown into the sea in a chest. She arrives in the country
af a heathen king who wants to marry her. Eventually Orendel rescues
her. They enter a monastery: an angel tells them that they will soon die,
and so it tums out.
there are numerous parallels with HA: the shipwreck, the fisherman, therival
antors, the false death andburial at sea, the threats to the heroine's chastity. The
I has heen edited by AE. Berger (Bonn, 1888), and by Eling Steiner, Altdeutsche
Voxtbibliothek 36 (Nieineyer, 1935), Singer discusses it in Apollonia, pp. ff; sec also
"anyth, pp. 85 8, and M. Curs himann, Spieliannsepik (Stuttgart, 1968), pp. 14. 19
and WO
|
56
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
plot is simplified: there is only one heroine, for Bride plays the roles of both
mother and daughter in HA.As in Jourdain,theinitial incest episode has been
omitted, in favour this time of a ‘Brautfahrt’.’ Again all classical elements have
been omitted: each episode borrowed from HA is presented in a form characteristic of medieval romance (rather than being sold to a pimp, for instance,
Bride falls into the hands of a heathen king, like Blancheflor). But here the
ending is happy in an explicitly Christian way, and the tunic shared with the
fisherman in earlier stories has become a holy relic. It seems that Orendel was
composed to accountfor the presence at Trier of the Holy Tunic; perhaps the
similarity of the names Tyre and Trier suggested HA asa suitable narrative for
adaptation?
(e) The HA mayalso have influenced the episode of the ‘false death’ in childbirth in the popular legendary Life of Mary Magdalene, which is found in a
variety of texts including two important thirtcenth-century story collections, the
Speculum Historiale of Vincent of Beauvais and the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de
Voragine,and is dramatizedin a fifteenth-century English miracle play.’
Thesaint converts the king of Marseilles and his barren wife, who then
conceives a much-desired child. In the course of their voyage to Rome
on pilgrimage,there is a storm, and the queen apparently dies in childbirth. Thesailors insist that her body be removed from the ship, so the
dead mother and the live child are placed on a nearby rock, and the
sorrowing king gocs on to Romeandthe Holy Land. Onhis return two
years later, he finds the baby miraculously preserved, and a prayer to
Mary Magdalenerevives the queen from a deepsleep. In an inversion of
the themeof recognition through confession orstory-telling, the queen
tells her husband that she has been with him in spirit throughout his
travels, and recounts accurately all that he has seen.
hd
Although this play has an explicitly Christian message — its central sceneis the
conversion of the royal couple — it borrowspartofits plot from the secular world
of romance.'? [t is of course possible that this episode was derived from folk
Steinger notes that the story begins as a journey in search of a bride and ends in a
monastery; he finds the combination of Apollonius and the Holy Tunic preposterous
(p. XXVIII).
Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, IX, 96-8, in vol. IV of che Speculum (Quadru-
plex seu Speculum Maius (Douai, 1624; reprinted Oraz, 1965); Legenda Aurea, ed.
Graesse, pp. 407-17; Mary Magdalene in The Late Medieval Religious Plays of Bodleian
Digby 133 and E Museo 160, cd. Donald C. Baker, John L. Murphy and Louis B.[all Jr.,
EETS O.S. 283 (London, 1982), pp. 24-95. On the development of the legend see
Hans ITansel, Die Maria-Magdalena Legende: Eme Quellenuntersuchung, Diss. Greifswald, 1937, pp. 100 and 128-9; I lelen M. Garth, Sc. Mary Magdalene in. Medieval
Literature, Vohns 1 lopkins University Studies in EIistorical and Political Science, series
57, no. 3 (1950); and V. Saxer, Le culie de Mane Malle en occulent des origines àla fim
du nuryen Age (Paris, 1959).
"opavid Bevingten, who includes the play i his Medical Dama (Boston, 1975), com:
mens (p.
687).
'Although the bibli al scenes n this play ate treated: with) some
THE INFLUENCE OFHA
57
tradition, but the parallel with HAis striking. Huet and Delbouille accept that
there is a direct connection, and Huet comments thatthis is the nearest that
Apollonius got to hagiography.'' Just as Jourdain de Blaye seems to be a metamorphosis of HA into a chivalric romance, so this episode in the legend of Mary
Magdalene seems to be a metamorphosis of the ‘false death’ section of HA into
an exemplum of the powerof Christian faith, something whichis strikingly absent
from mostof the versions of the Apollonius story described above.
(f) Thidreks Saga af Bern [V9], the thirteenth-century Old Norse version of the
popularstory of Dietrich of Bern, contains an episode not found in the German
legend, the adventures of Apollonius and Iron, the sons of King Artus of Bertangaland (Britain).'2
On the death of their father they cake refuge with Attila, who makes
Iron earl of Brandenburg and Apollonius earl of Tira. Apollonius courts
Herborg, daughter of King Solomon of Frankland; his suit is rejected,
but with the aid of a magic ring obtained from hissister-in-law Isolde he
finally manages to win Herborg’s love. She writes him a letter, and he
carries heroff to Tira. She soon dies, however, and in the ensuing feud
with King Solomon both Apollonius and Ironare killed.
Although many names and circumstances are altered, this story is clearly indebted to HA (forthe significance of the link with Solomon see chapter 2, pp.
43-4). The fact that Apollonius is presented as the son of King Arthur (other
circumspection, the subsequent narrative of Mary's saintly travels gives free rein to the
imagination. The long episode of the king and queen of Marseilles serves to demonstrate the miraculous power of Mary Magdalene's grace, andalso to satisfy a romantic
craving for perilous adventures involving children and women abandoned in midocean, andthelike.’
G. Huet, ‘Un miracle de Marie Madeleine et le roman d’Apollonius de Tyr’, Revue des
Religions 74 (1916), 249-55 (see p. 250). Delbouille calls the play ‘an audacious
transposition of HA’ (‘Débuts’, p. 1183). See also Hoeniger’s comments on thereligvous. aspects of Pericles in his edition, pp. xc-xcii. Howard Felperin compares the
revival of Thaise to the raising of Lazarus in ‘Shakespeare’s Miracle Play’, Shakespeare
{duarterly 18 (1967), 363-M (sec p. 369); sec also his discussion in Shakespearian
Romance (Princeton, 1974), pp.
143-76.
*o Dhidreks Saga af Bern, cc. 245[3 ed. Gudni Jónsson, 2 vols (Reykjavik, 1954), III, pp.
331 ff; The Saga of Thidrek of Bern, c. 245 ff., u. Edward R. Haymes, Garland Library of
Medieval Literature 56 Series D) (New York, 1988), pp. 150 ff. | am indebted to the late
Kevin Echart for his assistance in reading the Old Norse text.It is mentioned briefly by
Haupt, "Über die Erzihlung von Apollonius von Tyrus", in Opusaula III (Leipzig, 1876),
pp. 4-29 (see p. 21); and by Singer, whodismisses it as having no literary interest
(Apollonius von Tyna, p. 220). See also Dietrich von Kralik, Die Uberlieferung und
E ntstehimg der Thulrekksaga, Rheinische Beitriige und Hilfsbiicher zur germanischen
Philolopie und Volkskunde 19 (Elalle, 1931), pp. 26 31; William J. Paff, The Geographical and. Ethnic Names in the Thuliiks. Saga, Varvard Germanic Studies 2 (The
Hague, 1959), «v. *Fura', pp. 192 4; and Flaymes, 'Kinj Arthur in ihe Thülrekssaga',
C^hoondam ei Futuna VIE 9 (1988), 6. 10. This episode is also found in a fiftcenith
century Swedish version see above p din 5 ?
58
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
names from the Arthurian cycle also appear elsewhere in the saga) and yet
preserves his traditional link with Tyre is further testimony to the widespread
popularity of his story by the thirteenth century. A number of versions show a
chivalricizing tendency, but very few attempt to link the Apollonius story to
better-known romances.
-
(g) HA may also have influenced the Incestuous Father narratives, which arc
connectedto the so-called Constance theme. In Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale, thc
heroine Constance leaves home reluctantly to marry a heathen king, and then
has to endure much suffering and slander; but in manysimilar stories of calumniated wives, from the twelfth century on, the heroine runs away from home to
avoid the advancesof an incestuous father, or is banished for rejecting them, and
then suffers the same vicissitudes.? Such stories are found all over western
Europe from the twelfth century on, in Latin and the vernaculars. Although
Schlauch denied any link between them and HA,Suchier considered it possible,
and Goepplisted six significant common motifs.'* They are: (a) the separation
and eventual reunion of a family; (b) initial incest, threatened or consummated;
(c) the unreasonably long absence of the husband; (d)‘a floating chest figures in
both tales as the way in which the married pair become separated’; (ec) the
persecution of the wife in the Constance stories may be compared with the
persecution of the daughter in HA; (f) in some versions of the Constance plot
the wife appears dazzlingly beautiful at the end in a rich (magic) robe, as Apollonius’ wife dazzles those whosce herin the temple.
Goepp himself admits that some of these parallels are dubious (especially the
last two). I find (c) unconvincing too; and notall Incestuous Father stories have
the wife exposed at sea, as required by (d). But there are other parallels which
Goepp has not noted. Not only do both plots begin with incest (not always
consummated), but in both cases the protagonist is horrified and runs away: in
HA of course Apollonius is not directly involved in the incest, but the flight
from an incest situation is common to both plots. In both aninitially happy
marriage is disrupted by the birth of a child, which leads in HA and in many
versions of the Incestuous Fatherplot to the exposure of the new mother (though
for very different reasons, of course); in both she is then taken in by a protector
who respects her chastity. The jealous mother-in-law in the Incestuous Father
plot might be seen as comparable to the jealous foster-mother in HA: both seck
to destroy the heroine (though in HÀ it is a second heroine — the roleof suffering
victim is divided between mother and daughter). HA ends with an unusual
Margaret Schlauch describes many of these romances in. Chaucer's Constance. and
Accused Queens (New York, 1927; rp. 1969), andgives a uscful (if slightly outdated) list
of editions on p. 69, n. 12; she also discusses many folktale variants of the same theme.
Hermann Suchier also discusses the medieval versions briefly in the introduction to his
edition of La Manckme m Oeuvres Poduques de Philippe de Rémi, Sieur de Beaumanoir, 2
vols, SATE (Pars, E884), J, pp. oot ff See also Archibald, The Flight from Incese;
and my forthcoming study ofthe acest theme in medieval lrerature
*uc Puer, r IPIE ».£Cpp. pp
004 4
THE INFLUENCE OF FIA
59
reunion of three generations: first Apollonius and Tarsia, then Apollonius and
his wife, and lastly all three (plus Athenagoras) with old Archistrates. Although
in some Incestuous Fathertexts the villain dies or disappears early on, in many
the happy ending also involves three recognitions and reunions: between the
heroine and her husband, between her husband andtheir son, and berween the
heroine and her repentantfather.
Goepp argued that in Incestuous Father texts as in HA,the initial incest
cpisode was irrelevant to the main plot, and acted merely as a catalyst for the
subsequent adventures (p. 164). In my reading of HA, however,incestis a crucial
theme from beginning to end, and I think that thisis also true of the Incestuous
Fatherstories. In both plots the initial incest represents a disruption of domestic
and social order (and perhapsa trace of an ancient matrilineal system); in the
ending, the reunion of the spouses with representatives of both the older and the
younger generation, and the presence of the protagonist’s son (born at the very
end of the story in HA), mark the end of the disruption associated with incest
and matriliny, and a retum to the accepted (patriarchal) social norms.
These parallels may seem trivial in view of the major differences between HA
and the Incestuous Father texts: the gender of the protagonist, the consummation or evasion of the incest, the number of heroines may seem substantial
obstacles to my argument. 1 can call two witnesses in my defence. Oneis the
anonymous author of the fourteenth-century prose Ystoria Regis Franchorum et
jilie in qua adulterium comitere voluit [A30]: in the opening episode the daughter
threatens her father with the fate of Antiochus, death by divine thunderbolt, if
he carries out his plan to marry her. Theotheris Chaucer, whoin the Canterbury
lales allows his Man of Law to discuss the story of Apollonius at some length in
the Prologue to his tale [A32], claiming that Chaucer would never have told
such a sordid and unpleasant story. The Man of Law's prudish rejection of HA is
surely intended to draw attention to the fact that the story of Constance which
le is aboutto tell is closely related to Incestuous Fatherstories: only the opening
incest scene is missing (it is also omitted in the versions by Trivet and Gower). It
also suggests a link between the Apollonius story and the Incestuous Father
plor
Of course it would be rash to claim HA as the only source for these stories:
Another possible model would be the Clementine Recognitions, which does include
the flight of a woman from threatened incest (though the villain is her brotherin law, not her father: see chapter 2 above, pp. 34-5). Goepp suggests, very
reasonably, that HA and the Incestuous Father texts may be derived from a
C8 hlauch suggests that the Incestuous Father motif may be linked to ancient marrilineal systems (p. 40).
"Por more detatled discussion of this connection see Archibald, “The Flight from Incest’;
on tlie suiifiance of the incest theme in the Man of FasTale sec Carolyn Dinshaw,
‘The Law of Man and its "Abhlomynacions" ', Fxemplima 1 (1989), 107. 48 (this essay
reproduced, with minor changes, as €
dion, Wis, 1989|)
3 0f Dinslaw s Cuna eis Sexual l'octus [Ma
60
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
commonancestor (p. 166): this seems very likely." The earliest of the medieval
Incestuous Father narratives is the twelfth-century Vita Offae Primi; by the
twelfth century manuscripts of HA had probably been circulating for more than
four centuries. Even if HA was not the source of the Incestuous Fatherplot,its
popularity may have stimulated the developmentof incest stories focussing on a
heroineratherthan a hero:the story of what might have happened to Antiochus'
daughter hadsheresisted herfather’s advances by running away from home.'®
(h) Barnabe Riche’s Apollonius and Silla, one of Shakespeare’s sources for
Twelfth Night, is indebted to HA,albeit on a small scale.? The plot of Riche's tale
is largely derived from the Italian play L'Ingannati, but the name of the hero must
surely reflect the influence of HA. Cranfil comments that the hero must be
named after either Apollonius of Tyre or Apollonius of Tyana; the fictional hero
seems a much morelikely candidate than the pagan philosopher, in view of the
other parallels with HA.” Frye sums up the plot of Apollonius and Silla in a way
which makes these parallels apparent, though he docs not commenton them:?!
E
Thus in Barnabe Riche's story Apollonius and Silla, a source of Twelfth
Night, the heroine,finding that the lover she has determinedon hasleft
the country without paying any attention to her, gets into a ship in
pursuit of him. The captain goes into his rape-or-else routine almost
before he has pulled up his anchor; the heroine prays to whatever god
looks after heroines in these situations; a storm smashes the ship, and
she floats ashore on the captain's chest, which is full of money and
clothes, thereby enabling her both to dress up as a boy and to support
herself while running her chosen manto ground.
As I suggested above (p. 35), the insertion of a flight-from-incest and family-reunionthrough-recognition story in the Clementine Recognitions strongly suggests that chese
were populartraditional themes.It is striking chat flight from an incestuousfatheris a
very rare themein classical literature. In mythology most incest stories involve consummated incest: the only flight story I know is that of Caunus from his infatuated
sister Byblis, but it is the fate of Byblis which forms the main narrative, not that of her
horrified brother.
3
There may also have been somecross-fertilization from the Incestuous Father narratives to HA texts, both Latin and vernacular. In some medieval versions the opening
scene is expanded to include details about Antiochus’ wife and his grief at her death,
none of which are mentioned in HA; this is the standard opening of Incestuous father
narratives, providing the context and motivation for the father’s perverse desire to
marry the daughter whoso resembles her mother.
Apollonius and Silla appears in Riche his farewell to Militarie Profession, first published in
1581, ed. Thomas M. Cranfil (Austin, 1959). G. Bullough prints Riche’s text and
discusses it briefly in his section on Twelfth Nadi in vol. [of his Narrative and Dramatic
Sources of Shakespeare (london, 1958), pp. 269. 372, but does not suggest a link with
HA; nor do J. Mo Lothian and TW. Crakk in thei Arden edition of Twelfth Night
(London, 1975)
T Cranil; p 207, Wiche docs quote the plilsopher im another work, OpmiomnDowd
7oprye, BFÉhe Seculan SNnpioe p 27, d quete only the eelevani sectión of lis sumtuy
THE INFLUENCE OF HA
61
The resemblance to HAis limited to this one episode, but the coming ashore of
the heroine on a chestafter a storm seems to combine the adventures of Apollonius and his wife, and the hero's name is of course very suggestive. Gesneris
convinced that Riche was using HÀ asa source for this episode, though he then
abandoned it.7 But the lecherous captain, a familiar figure in Hellenistic romance, does not usually appear in HA orlater versions (though in Godfrey of
Viterbo's Pantheon [V4] Tarsia appeals to the pirates to respect her); and Silla is
much more active and determined in pursuit of her man than the heroines of
HA, in which of course there is no cross-dressing. Shakespeare changed the
names of Apollonius and Silla in Twelfth Night, and no trace of HA remains
there.
(i) But he seems to have drawn on HÀ more substantially in the final act of his
first comedy, The Comedy of Errors.” A separated family — Aegeus, Aemilia and
the Antipholus twins — arc reunited in the 'priory' at Ephesus where Aemilia has
been abbess during the years since she was parted from her husband and infant
sons. lt is Aemilia who recognizes her husband, just as Apollonius is recognized
by his wife, though in the play Acgeus does not recounthis history. Shakespeare’s
main source was Plautus’ Menaechmi, a farce involving identical twins. It might
be argued that he is more likely to have based the recognition scene on the
Clementine Recognitions, since twins appear there but not in HA. Butthe setting
of the recognition scene in the ‘priory’ at Ephesus and the role of the abbess/mother surely indicate the influence of HA, which Shakespeare knew in
several versions (including Gower, the Gesta Romanorum [V11] and Twine
|V33]), and to which he would return in Pericles. The ending of The Comedy of
Errors is more sombre than HA, however, because of the death penalty hanging
over Áegeus, and more comic because of the doubling of the sons and their
servants.
Conclusion
1 remain unconvinced by Delbouille’s arguments. There is no doubt that French
romance writers in the ewelfth century would have known HA, in Latin or
perhaps in a French. version which has not survived. Some may have borrowed
motifs from it, as did later writers of romance, hagiography and drama; others
may have produced ‘chivalricized’ versions, though none survive today. But did
Apollonius really have much to contribute to the development of stories of
chivalric quests and rites de passage, and to theaffairs of Trisran or Lancelot? The
galt between them seems to me unbridgeable. Shared motifs alone do not conU Gesner, Shakespeare and the Greek Romances, p. 61.
See the comments of RB. A. Foakes in the Anden ediion (1 ondon, 1962), pp. xxxi. i
Bullough aArgtics that the source was. Gower* version see. Nanatee: and. Drama
Nonaes of Shakespeare | (London, 1964), pp 10 101
62
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
stitute proof of anything other than the commonstock of story tellers, and
perhaps contemporary taste and topical subjects. The narratives which offer the
closest parallels with HA, in my view, are the Incestuous Fatherstories, with
their focus on the family as the microcosm of social order and disorder, and in
particular on fathers and daughters. These elementsare entirely absent from the
Tristan story, in which Delbouille, following Bédier, finds a number of motifs
shared with the Apollonius story (pp. 1198-9). Like HA, the Incestuous Father
stories concentrate on the main plot, the vicissitudes of an innocent protagonist
who can do nothing to fend off the blows of Fortune. These stories are not
concerned with the psychology of love, with courtly life and manners and ethics,
what C. S. Lewis so memorablycalled 'the civilization of the heart'* Apollonius
was no role model for writers interested in lovers or jousters, though some
versions did invent battles for him to fight. He is characterized aboveall as a
husband and a father, and it is in this role, I believe, that he appealed to
Shakespeare.
5 € S Lewn, The Foglish Prose Morte’) in Fsays on Maliny, ed. ]. A. W. Bennett
(Oxford, 1963), pp. 7. 28 (ee p: 9) Foi further comments on the pence and reception
ot HA seca haptet 6
5
Problems in the Plot
Multa in ipsa fabula absurde excogitata, multa in sermone barbaro posita . . . et antiqui moris ritusque vestigiis nonnullis
interspersa.
Markward Welser!
HA is what Kortekaas calls a ‘living text’ (p. 8): medieval and Renaissance
writers tinkered with it as they copied or translated it, adding and omitting
details, and sometimes conflating different texts. There were few highly innovative versions; those who expanded the plot considerably, such as Heinrich von
Neustadt [V15] and the author of the Vienna Redaction [V22], seem to have had
no imitators, and in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries HA wasstill being
copied andtranslated almost word for word. There are many gaps and inconsistencies in the plot of HA (although one or twoare corrected in the RB version),
but in the course of a thousand years of popularity, very few attempts at improvement were made. Medieval and Renaissance writers and readers were far less
sensitive to illogicalities which strike modem critics so forcibly: consistency was
not considered literary virtue, and this view was compounded by the principle
of ‘bonum quo antiquius eo melius’ (‘a good thingis all the better for age"). It might
be argued that the failings of the plot should not take up much spacein critical
discussion: we may speculate about the form which certain episodes might have
taken in a hypothetical Ur-text, but we cannot get beyond speculation. But in
relation to the Nachleben of HA, the ways in which medieval readers accepted or
altered problematic passages are crucial to our understanding of the reception of
the text, and to any attempt to assess its genre. Perry and Deyermond have
discussed the points which they find problematic: | summarize their remarks
here, and commenton the absenceorpresence ofvariations or solutionsin later
UC
Welser, 1595 edhion o£ HA [V V0]: "Much in thus story is absurd invention, much is put
in barbarous language . atl t is ers persed with some traces of ancient custom and
Usage
64
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
versions of the story (I include some points which apparently Perry and Deyermonddid notfind problematic, but which seem to me worth discussing)?
(a) Antiochus’ riddle draws unwantedattention to his incest: why did the author
use it? Perry argues that the opening incest episode reminded the authorof an
incest riddle he knew (probably from a different context), which he incorporated
without thinking oftlie particular requirements of his own story? A number of
versions stress Antiochus’ fear of discovery, yet the riddle is present in almost
every account. Antiochus doesnotrecite it in Godfrey of Viterbo's Pantheon [V4]
(though it does appear in one manuscript, perhaps interpolated), the Carmina
Burana lyric [V6], Pucci’s poem [V18], the French Vienna Redaction, or the
Greek rhymed version [V37]. But in all these texts except the Carmina Burana
lyric Apollonius gives the conventional answer. In the Vienna Redaction Apollonius is handed the riddle written in Greek, and translates it into Latin before
solving it (further proof of his great learning). Elsewhere, as Klebs points out(p.
448,n. 1), the omission of the riddle is due to misunderstanding of the passage in
HAc. 4 when Antiochus asks if Apollonius knows the conditions sct for suitors:
Apollonius replies that he has seen whatis over the gate (the heads of those who
have failed), but this was sometimes understood to mean that the riddle was
written overthe palacegatefor all to read.
It is mysterious that in c. 8 Hellenicus knows of the incest only a few days
after Apollonius’ flight from Tyre, though no newsof it seems to have reached
the other inhabitants of Tarsus (or the court of Pentapolis).4 Deyermond argues
that the news gets out once Apollonius has publicly solved the riddle (p. 142):
this seems sensible, though it is seldom explicitly stated (one example is the
Vienna Redaction, where Antiochuslater assures his lords that the answer was
wrong). Only Falckenburg [V30] makes the affair common knowledge.
(b) The thirty-day period of grace granted to Apollonius seems curious in view of
the immediate execution ofall previous suitors, and Antiochus’ obvious fear of
exposure. Perry remarks that in folktales participants in such contests are very
rarely given a second chance, and concludes that ‘the Latin author introduced
this self-defeating action on the part of Antiochus for no other purpose than to
-
-
2
I follow Perry and Deyermond ('Motivos folklóricos") in discussing the problems in the
order in which they occurin the plot. Deyermond concentrates on the thirteenth-century Spanish Libro de Apolonio [V10]in relation to HIA; he also includes references to
relevant entries in the Aarne-Thompsonfolktale index. Given the numberof versions
of the story, my examplesare inevitably selective; | give page references only for direct
quotations. To avoid confusion I cite proper names only in the form found in HA,
except where they are substantially altered.
Perry, pp. 297-8; Deyermond, p. 142. Since Perry believes that HA is the original work
of à Latin. author, he. compares. its. distegard for Consistency and sequence with
Apuletus. On the form of the niddle, sec « hapter |, p. 24.
But then Hlellens us! movements are altogether mysterious: how does he manage to be
m Tarsus at the rdi ioment to inform Apollonius of bus fate, amd in Cyrene fifteen
yeats hater tore bese bis sew?
PROBLEMS IN THE PLOT
65
motivate the travels and adventures of Apollonius in exile . . .' (p. 298). Most
versions ignore this problem, though Antiochus' leniency is attributed by Heinrich von Neustadt to his admiration for Apollonius’ chivalric qualities, and by
Belleforest [V35] to Antiochus’ fondness for Apollonius’ late father (a figure not
mentioned in mostversions). In the Vienna Redaction Antiochussays thatheis
giving Apollonius a second chance because he is such a good friend: in fact
Antiochus is regent for the young prince and plans to usurp the throne, and he
only gives him till the next morning to think again. Falckenburg's Antiochus
alone does not give Apollonius a thirty-day reprieve, but sends him off on a
dangerous mission to Jerusalem in the hope of getting rid of him.
(c) After the opening scene at Antioch, Antiochus' daughter is not mentioned
again until news of her death reaches Apollonius in Cyrene. Perry (p. 301) and
Deyermond (p. 142) both notethat in popularincest stories the victim is usually
the protagonist; Perry comments that ‘the fate of Antiochus’ daughter was
necessarily, but conspicuously, ignored’, and that the author changedhis source,
whateverit was, in order to motivate and then concentrate on the adventures of
Apollonius. It is not necessarily the case that the victim is also the protagonist,
either in classical or medieval incest stories.5 But it is true that in most versions
of HÀ the princess remains anonymous, and very seldom shows any character
development, or makes any speech otherthan the few lines in which she tells her
nurse of the rape in a monologue (in sometexts, for instance the Italian prose
versions [V 16A and B], she is allowed to express her horroratgreater length than
in HA). The Old French fragment [V8] is an exception in extending herrole:
there she is present as Apollonius prepares to answer the riddle, and we hear her
praying that he will answer it correctly. In the Danish ballad [V7] she is the only
heroine, and does eventually marry Apollonius. Timoneda [V40] gives her a
name, Safirea, and makes her outlive her father by six days, during which time
she bequeaths Antioch to Apollonius.
>
E
(d) Why does Apollonius leave Tarsus? Perry does not commenton this, but
l'eyermond follows Marden in questioning HÁ's explanation (11, 1-2: the urging of Fortune [RA] and the advice of his hosts).5 It is of course essential that
Apollonius should meet and marry the princess in Cyrene. Schmeling has suggested that Antiochus’ spies see the statue of Apollonius with the inscription
from the grateful citizens, tell-tale signs which Apollonius allowed out of vanity;
Often the plot focuses on the fate of the initiator of the incest (c.g. Myrrha and the
anonymous mothers in medieval exempla), or on the unknowing sinner such as Judas or
Gregorius. The popularity of Incestuous Father stories which focus on the vicissitudes
of the daughter who flees her father seems to have bepun only in che cwelfth century, at
least in Western European literature, See Archibald, “The Flight from Incest, and also
ty forthcoming study of the incest theme in medieval literature.
Deyertnond, p. 849; € C. Marden, ed, Fabro de Apolemio, 2 vols, Eliot Monographs in
the Romance Langages and D ueratures 6 and 10:12 (Baltimore, 1917 and 1922; rp.
1965), IT, pp 47.3
66
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
he is presumably referring to a lost Ur-text, since there is no support for this
argumentin HA as wehaveit today.’ But perhaps weare to assumethat Tarsusis
within too easy reach of Antiochus’ long arm. In the Libro de Apolonio Stranguillio urges Apollonius to winter in Pentapolis and come back when Antiochus has
dispersed his army, in order to spare Tarsus. In the Brussels Redaction [V14], on
the other hand,the king comes in person to besiege thecity. In Gower [V12] it is
only after Apollonius has been in Tarsus for some time that he hears that
Antiochusis trying to kill him, and this news persuades him tosail on, without
any particular goal; a similar explanationis given in the Czech version [V19]. In
Pericles [V43] Helicane (Hellenicus) is regent at Tyre in the king’s absence; he
sends word to Tarsus that Antiochus has sent an assassin to Tyre, and that
Pericles should move on. Belleforest's explanation is typical of his time and his
classicizing sympathies: Apollonius’ move is prompted by the information that
Pentapolis is a flourishing centre of study and learning.
*
~
(e) Two problemsare raised in relation to the scenes between Archistrates, the
three suitors and Apollonius (cc. 19-21). Perry asks first why the king interviews
the suitors in the street, writes a letter to his daughter whois a few yards awayin
the palace, and sends it, indecorously, by Apollonius.’ Second, why is Apollonius
so passive about his betrothal? Perry argues that theseries of events described
here must have been originally planned for stage performance: in comedyall
events take place outside houses, in streets or squares. He also explains the
unemotional response of Apollonius as typical of comedy rather than romance
(pp. 306-7). He does not remark on the king's ridiculous obtusencss about the
identity of the shipwrecked man, which certainly seems to be a comic touch(it is
of course a sort of riddle — see p. 12 above); only a few versions, including Gower,
the Czech text, Timoneda, Wilkins [V42] and Pericles, allow the king to understand the message at once.
As for Apollonius’ emotions, many versions retain the curious passage in HA
c. 20 where Apollonius takes the suitors’ sealed offers to the princess. She reacts
coquettishly, asking him first why he has come to her room so early, and then
trying to get him to admic thathe will be sorry when she marries. His answers are
entirely proper: he tells her not to be so suspicious, and rejoices that she has had
a good education and will marry the man of her choice. There is no hint here
that he is keen to be that man. When he recognizes himself in the princess’
tiddle about the shipwrecked man, he seems surprised; when Archistrates urges
him to marry her, he merely says ‘Quod a deo est, sit, et si tua est voluntas,
impleatur! (22, 18-19: ‘Let God's will be done; if ir is your wish, let it be
See Schmeling, ‘Manners and Morality’, p. 202.
Deyermond thinks the last point. trivial (p. 143). Both critics comment on. Archi
strates! curious remark. as he. asks. Apollonius to deliver the letter to. the. princess
praeter turcontumcham! (19, 12.13). Konstan/Roberts eanslate this "with no offense
to you's and comment: ‘Archetrates apologies for paving Apollonia sacha mental
tak Psee no difficulty here, aid oransbue equally itormally if you deat mand
PROBLEMS IN THE PLOT
67
fulfilled.) In some of the more chivalric vernacular versions, predictably, he is
notso reticentor lukewarm. In the Brussels Redaction Apollonius thinks himself
too humble for the princess, which suggests that he is interested in her. In
Belleforest and in Falckenburg too, he and the princessfall in love long before
the betrothal scene, and are shown as much more excited. But love and the
psychology of love do not seem to have constituted the main interest or appeal of
the story (though Apollonius’ grief for his apparently dead wife is certainly
emphasised)?
(f) HA makes Apollonius’ wife six months pregnant when the news of Antiochus' death arrives (c. 24); they set out for Antioch at once, but whenshe gives
birth it is the ninth month, according to RA (the seventh in RB). Perry again
compares HA with Apuleiusin its disregard for consistency (p. 309); Deyermond
notes that in the Libro de Apolonio the princess is at least seven months pregnant
whenshe sets out, and that the journey is said to be very long (p. 144).
In fact it was very widely accepted in classical antiquity and in the Middle
Ages that babies born at seven months could live (but eight-month babies were
thoughtto have no chanceof survival, curiously).'?
*
(g) Why does Apollonius inherit the throne of Antioch? Is it assumed that the
citizens know that he has answered the riddle correctly and should therefore
have married the princess, and so in a spirit of justice they send for him after
Antiochus' death? Perry does not attempt to answerthis question, butfalls back
on the idea of borrowing from an altered or omitted source (p. 309). Deyermond
notes the problem, but makes no comment(p. 144). Only a few versions offer
explanations: in the Pantheon the elders of Antioch choose Apollonius as their
new king; in the Vienna Redaction Antiochus is introduced as regent for the
young Apollonius, who therefore should inherit as of right (there is a gap in the
manuscript at the point where the Tyrian messenger arrives); the Czech version
makes Antiochus himself send messengersto tell Apollonius of his inheritance;
in Corrozet [V34] the lords of Antioch decide to make Apollonius their new
king, and send envoys to look for him; in Timoneda Antiochus’ daughterlives
Onemightargue that the writer(s) of HÀ were more interested in grief than in joy —
see Lana's comments on the frequency of tears (pp. 71—4). Prof. David Konstan has
suggested to me (in a letter of November 15th 1989) that in HA ‘the ideal modelis
that of a cool and collected older man and a young woman in love with him’, similar to
Odysseus and Nausicaa (though Apolloniusis not in fact an older man), and points out
that this is typical of epic rather than comedy (e.g. Apollonius Rhodius’ Medea,
Catullus" Ariadne, Virgil's Dido). This would seem to support I leiserman’s argument
(sce above p. 17) - but it is true only of the princess and Apollonius, not of the other
young womenin the story, and | doubt whether Apollonius is meant to be so much
older chan the princess.
Ursula Weisser, ‘Die hippokratische Lehre von den Siebenmonatskindern bei Galen
und Tabu ibn Qurra', Sulhoffs Arclue 65 (1979), 209. 38. The viability of à seventh
month baby i5 à crucial issue in Ferences Hlecvra: see W. SC badewalde "Bemerkungen
zur Flecyra des TVecenz', Hennes 66 (19 30), 1:29, ep pp 2 4 (0 am indebted for his
reference to Prof Dawid Konstan)
68
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
long enough to name Apollonius as herheir, thus righting herfather’s wrong. In
Gowerand Pericles, the throne of Antioch is notin fact offered to the hero. In
Gower the news of Antiochus’ death encourages thecitizens of Tyre to invite
their king home; in Pericles it coincides with unrest in Tyre, where thecitizens
wish to make the regent Helicanustheir king, andit is to Tyre that the hero must
sail to claim his throne.
(h) Why does Apollonius leave his infant daughter with foster-parents for fourteen years, and what does he do during this time? Perry explains the fostering of
Tarsia as the prelude to her own adventures, but cannot explain Apollonius’
wanderings (p. 310). Deyermond notes the problemsbriefly (p. 144). Schmeling
argues that ‘the desire of Apollonius to engage in businessaffairs and to do such
in Egypt probably showshis truc interests’: he is really a merchant, though he
does not wish this to be known, and so he gets rid of the child, who is a
distraction.!! Ruiz-Montero, analysing HA according to Propp's system, sces the
abandoning of Tarsia as the mistake which launches the second part of the
narrative (p. 318).
There are several possible objections to Schmeling's argument, which does
not seem to fit the presentation of Apollonius as ruler of Tyre. Admittedly there
is some inconsistency in HÀ as to his title: he is princeps of Tyre whenfirst
introduced in c. 4, but later in the story heis repeatedly described as king (8, 4-5;
9, 14; see p. 18 above n. 37). To a medieval audience it would have seemed quite
natural for a father to take little interest in a daughter until she was of martiageable age; sending children to be brought up at another court was a common
medieval practice. As for Apollonius’ stated intention of travelling to Egypt,this
could perhaps have had a metaphorical Christian meaning of exile from righteous society, or of a guilty retreat to a life of penance, as Deyermondsuggests(p.
144, n. 58). Most later versions drop the role of merchant, which Apollonius
himself had considered beneath his dignity when he donated corn torelieve the
famine at Tarsus(c. 10).
In HA Apollonius apparently spends fourteen years in Egypt without bothering to return to Tyre or to claim his new kingdom, Antioch (so he tells his wife in
c. 48). Godfrey of Viterbo, Gower, Wilkins and Pericles send Apollonius straight
back to Tyre; the Vienna Redaction sends him to Antioch, which he besiegesfor
ten years. In the fourteenth-century Latin HÀ text in BN MSlat. 8503, and a
French translation of it in Laurent. MS Ashburnham 123, he joins a good king,
Cebus,in fighting a bad king, Benjamin, who has usurped Antioch (this episode
is not found in any otherversions, as far as | know). In Heinrich von Neustadt's
version Apolloniussets off for Egypt, but almost immediately envoys from Baldwin of Barcelona bring news of an imminent atrack by Gog and Magog, and
Apollonius takes command of the troops from Tarsus. This leads into a series of
"oSchmeling, Manner and Morality’, po 204. He comments disapprovingly, and in my
view appropriately ‘More sensitive fathers would have kept then daughters m close
proximity to themselves as a cetinder ot heu wives '
PROBLEMS IN THE PLOT
69
fabulous adventures, some borrowed from otherfictional heroes: he marries
several wives, one black (and has a parti-coloured son by her, just as Gahmuret
does in Wolfram's Parzival), fights giants, and anticipates Arthur by inventing
the Round Table. In the Czech version Apollonius swears to voyage endlessly
because of his grief; in Belleforest he searches che Mediterranean for his wife's
tomb. In Corrozet he returns in triumph first to Tyre and then to Antioch, and
performsgreat deeds which it would take too long to relate, according to the
writer, though healso searchesfor his wife's tomb.
The more chivalric texts in which he has to fight to regain Antioch (and
sometimes Tyre too) were, for once, realistic: surely medieval audiences would
not have been suprised by the account ofresistance to a king who returned to
claim a kingdom after some years' absence, particularly if he was not related to
the previous ruler. Buc Apollonius’ adventures during this time are not of great
importance, for the focusof the story is transferred to the childhood andvicissitudesof Tarsia.
(i) In RA texts Dionysias confesses twice to Stranguillio, first immediately after
the apparently successful assassination of Tarsia (c. 32) and again when Apollonius returns (c. 37). This repetition does not occur in RB. Perry and Deyermond
attribute the confusion not to the author of HA,butto early redactors (Perry, pp.
316-7, Deyermond,p. 145); both confessions are omitted in the Libro de Apolonio. Perry follows Klebs in arguing that the insertion of the confession in c. 32 is
intended to increase Stranguillio's guilt: if he learns of the murder attempt only
in c. 37, it seems unjust that Tarsia should allow him to be stoned with Dionysias
for a crime in which he wasnotinvolved. Later versions vary in their handling of
this unimportantdetail: some omit one or other confession. Whenit is repeated
at Apollonius’ retum to Tarsus, it scemslikely that it was intended as reiteration
of the events, rather than asa fresh confession.
(j) Why does Athenagoras leave Tarsia in the brothel (Perry, pp. 314-15, Deyermond, p. 145)? His profound respect and sympathy for her seem inconsistent
with his position and behaviour. Obviously the plot is more exciting if Tarsia
remains in a desperate situation until the chance arrival of Apollonius which
brings about the reunion of father and daughter, but Mirylene's princeps seems
singularly powerless. Whenhe sends for her to entertain Apollonius, he promises
to give her money and redeem her from the pimp for thirty days if she is
successful (40, 31-3): why does he not purchase her freedom outright?
Perry argues that the situation is derived from Roman comedy, where the
heroine's noble birth must be proved before she can Ieave the brothel and marry
her lover (p. 315); the brothel is necessary as a setting for the comic scenes of the
auction, and later for Athenagoras’ encounters with Tarsia’s would-be clients.
This explanation does not satisfactorily account for the striking passivity and
powerlessness of Athenagoras; and Tarsia's enterprise in arrangingr an alternative
source of money through her learning and musical skills ts Certainly nota characteristic theme ob classical comedy Schimeling accepis Callus atgument: "Athena
70
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
gora(s] will not purchase Tarsia until after a thirty-day waiting period to ensure
that she has not become pregnant in the lupanar. The calculating nature of
Athenagora’s mind reveals a vicious personality.''? Achenagoras is certainly a
dubious character,at least on his first appearance,but there is no evidence in the
text for this interpretation:in fact, it is contradicted by thefinal lines of c. 36,
where we are told that Tarsia became famous in Mitylene for her virginity and
that Athenagoras watched overher like a daughter. Further evidenceis available
in c. 45, where Athenagoras tells Apollonius that he deserves Tarsia’s hand
because he helped her to keep her virginity (this might be considered a good
example of being ‘economical with the truth’).
Thebrothel episode, and Athenagoras’part in it, certainly pose a problem in
telation to his subsequent role as Tarsia’s husband, yet this episode is found in
some form in almost every version up to and including Pericles (Timonedais an
exception), thoughit is by no means a commonthemein medieval romance(see
p. 77 below). Goweris alone in introducing Athenagoras for the first time only
when Apollonius’ ship arrives, thus omitting the auction and his shameful visit
to the brothel. Belleforest also omits the auction; Falckenburg makes Tarsia's stay
in the brothel very brief, and has herfreed to live in the palace. Timoneda keeps
the auction but omits the scenes in the brothel, and makes his Politania a
joglaresa from thefirst. Some texts emphasise Athenagoras’ problematic role by
combining new andtraditional details. In Pucci he falls in love with Tarsia on
sight and takes her to the palace, where the pimplater buys her. In the Vienna
Redaction the pimpis the prince’s servant, and buys Tarsia for him. Heis to have
first go, followed by his lords; but then she seems to become the pimp's property.
In Pericles there is no auction, but Lysimachus is introduced as a hardened
debauchee, and has to be converted with unconvincing speed after hcaring
Marinatalk;it is hard to believe his claim that he cameto the brothelwith ‘noill
intent’ (IV.vi.109), since his first words to the bawds are ‘How now! How a dozen
of virginities!’ (IV.vi.19).¥
(k) Neither Perry nor Deyermond comments on the very sudden marriage of
Tarsia and Athenagoras(c. 45 [missing in RA]). Earlier Athenagorasis said to
love her like a father (c. 36); no mention is made of of growing attraction or
passion on eitherside. But as soon assheis revealed to be the daughterof a king,
he asks for her hand, declaring how much he has done to protect her. Tarsia’s
reaction is neither asked nor given; Apollonius’ feelings for his princess are
considerably developed by some writers, but Tarsia's feelings for Athenagoras are
ignored by all. It has been argued that Apollonius narrowly missed committing
17 See Schmeling, p. 207, and Callu, p. 191.
D Wilkins and Pericles are most unusual in allowing Marinatocriticize Lysimachus for
frequenting brothels, and thus drawing attention to the problemof his role as ruler and
as husband of the heroine (in Wilkins the debate between them is much longer thanin
the. play, amd i8 one of the most. problematnic episodes in terins of the. relationship
between the twotexts). See my comments in! "Deep cleiks she dams" *; pp. 2908. 300,
PROBLEMS IN THE PLOT
71
incest with his unrecognized daughter, and that the hasty marriage to Athenagoras is a way of insuring that he is not further tempted;his willingness to allow her
to marry can also be contrasted with Antiochus’ selfishness."4
It is instructive to compare the parallel episode in Jourdain de Blaye (see pp.
54—5 above). The hero's daughter, long separated from her parents, arrives in
Constantinople; the emperor and his son both fall in love with her, and the
jealousfather has her consignedto a brothel. Jourdain arrives in the nick of time,
and once her noble parentage is established she is allowed to marry the emperor's
son. The fact that most adaptors of HA failed to develop the potential love
interest between Tarsia and Athenagorasis yet anotherindication that it was not
perceived primarily as a love story.
The Oral Greek Version
Clearly the problemsraised by Perry and Deyermond, whichare largely related to
plot mechanism and structure, did not much disturb medieval writers. Many
similar problems occur in folktales, which are notoriously lacking in logic and
consistency. Propp cites lack of motivation as a characteristic of folktales, and
also comments: ‘One mayobserve in general that the feelings and intentions of
the dramatis personae do not have an effect on the course of the action in any
instance atall."5 In this respect HÀ is much more like folktale than either a
Hellenistic or a medieval romance.
Paradoxically, the most substantial changes in the plot, and the most sensible,
from the point of view of logic and consistency, are found in a version of the
Apollonius story collected as an oral tale on the island of Cos about 1900.'5 It is
impossible to say how old it is; it seems to be based on the sixteenth-century
rhymed Greek version, butvery loosely. The names of the main characters areall
changed, but more significantare the alterations to the traditional plot.
Theincestuousfather is desperate to marry off his daughter; the riddle is
omitted, and the hero Yannaki marries herin total ignorance. When he
discoversthe truth, he runs away;later he hears that she is dead, and so
heis free to marty again. The adventures of his daughter (by his second
wife Angelika) are considerably expanded, and the recognition sceneis
ingeniously altered for greater effect; there is only one, for all the main
characters find themselves in the same place at the end. Only the
daughter's identity is known to the audience; the other characters are
anonymousat first. The long-lost wife, now a queen, recognizes her
husband first, and then the daughter guesses that they must be her
15. Sec above, pp. 15 ff, and Archibald, “Fathers and Kings in Apollonaes of Tyre’, p. 32.
' Propp, Morphol gy of dw Follaale, p. 78 (sce chapter 2, n. 28).
^ My account is based on that of OOM) Dawkins in Moder Greek Oral Versions of
Apollonius of Tyre', MER 37 (1942), 169. 84 (see pp 176. 84)
72
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
parents. Yannaki is convinced only when he is shown the chest in
which he had buried his wife at sea. The man who eventually marries
the daughter is introduced early on as an important character; he is a
friend of Yannaki, and is shipwrecked with him.
This bold reworking of the traditional HA plot is yet another witness toits
lasting narrative appeal. All the main episodes are retained: the opening incest
scene, the flight of the hero, the famine which heaverts, the shipwreck and the
mecting with the hospitable king, the hero's marriage and theloss of his wife, the
adventures of their daughter and her ordeal in the brothel, and the eventual
recognition scene. But manyof the lacunae andlogicalfailings of HA are boldly
rectified, and the setting is more or less contemporary (after the shipwreck
Yannaki finds work in a café, and becomes coffee-maker to the king). It is in
many ways the mostsatisfying version of the story, as Dawkins argues (p. 177):
The whole story has been brought, one might say, from the castle to the
village, but what it has lost in romantic character, it has gained a
thousand timesin liveliness and vigour.
Nevertheless the traditional plot maintained its popularity for over a thousand
years.
Classical customs
Since the story of Apollonius was not perceived to belong to any particular
historical context, and since in any case medieval writers were not particularly
concerned about historical 'realism', anachronism was not a problem in the
retelling of this story. If anything, the difficulty might have been the opposite:
how to deal with classical customs which were no longerfamiliar in the Middle
Ages. The invocation of pagan gods and references to pagan burial customs were
familiar from many otherclassical texts, though it would be interesting to compare the treatments in versions of HA. But in this section | shall discuss three
episodes which must have been muchless familiar and which do seem to have
caused somedifficulties: the gymnasium (c. 13), Apollonius’ performance at the
banquet(cc. 16 ff.), and Tarsia’s reception in the brothel (cc. 33 ff.)."7
(I) The gymnasium scene was retained in many versions of the story, even
though somedetails of the classical routine of bathing and exercise were notfully
"7 Perry and Deyermonddo not discuss these episodes. Klebs devotes pp. 187. 227 of his
study to a discussionof classical details, but he concentrates on coins and inscriptions,
and hardly mentions these chree scenes. There is à useful but very brief analysis in Nils
A. Nilsson, Due Apollonia Erzahlung tden slaaschen Literanaen (Uppsala, 1949), pp.
96. |[O03Y. Sunilar issues are discussed by lan Michael in Phe Deamwn of the Classical
Mutenal m the Lilo de Albevasbe (Nanchestern 1970)
80
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
instance in the fifteenth-century Creek Diegesis Apolloniou) and also heavy classicization (for instance in Belleforest, writing in the second half of the sixteenth
century). The traditional HA text with its classical elements, the gymnasium,
the tragic and comic recitations, the brothel underthe protection of Priapus, and
thestartling learning of its younger heroine, continued to be copied throughout
the later Middle Ages and during the Renaissance.
82
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
implied by later medieval and Renaissance versions, discussing rubrics and comments in manuscripts and early printed editions,illustrations, and allusions to
Apollonius in other medieval texts. Finally I shall consider the significance of
the incest theme, and therole of Fortune.
Romance
Let us start by considering HA as a romance,for it is often mentioned in studies
of romance, both classical and medieval (though sometimes only in footnotes or
appendices, because of its problematic status). Frye begins his study of the structure of romance by dividing texts into two categories, naive (‘the kind of story
that is found in collections of folk tales and marchen, like Grimms’ Fairy Tales’),
and sentimental (‘more extended and literary development of the formulas of
naive romance’): he puts the story of Apollonius into the sentimental category
(though somewhattentatively). Hibbard places the story of Apollonius at the
beginning of her section on ‘Romances of Love and Adventure’, and describesit
as ‘what might well be called the first of our western romans d’aventure’.4 Delbouille sees HA as ‘prefiguring’ and influencing the early French romance texts
of the later twelfth century: he believes that the authors of the romans antiques
may have been influenced by HA as well as by Ovid when they inserted love
scenes into the legends of Thebes and Troy and into the Aeneid (for him loveis
the essential characteristic of medieval romance)?
But what is a romance? Gillian Beer recognizes that many qualities confidently ascribed to romance can be found elsewhere in literature and folklore, and
argues that it is not single characteristics but a cluster of themes which mark
romanceas a distinct genre:
Wecan think rather of a cluster of properties: the themes of love and
adventure,a certain withdrawal from their own societies on the part of
both reader and romance hero, profuse sensuous detail, simplified characters (often with a suggestion of allegorical significance), a serene
intermingling of the unexpected and the everyday, a complex and prolonged succession of incidents usually without a single climax, a happy
a
Colloquia on the Novel, II], ed. H. Hofmann (Groningen, 1990) pp. 123-37. G. A. A.
Kortekaas makes a numberofpertinent comments in his essay‘I let adaptie- proces van
deHistoria Apollonii Regis Tyri in de Middeleeuwen en vroege Renaissance’, in Dwergen
op de schouders van Reuzen: Studies over de receptie van de Oudhwid in de Middelccuwen,
ed. 1H. van Dijk and F. R. Smits (Groningen, 1990), pp. 57 74; unfortunately it came
t0 my attention just as this study was goingto press, too latefor detailed discussion.
Frye, The Secudar Scripture, p.
Hlibbard, Medieval Ronunce m P nglanal, p. 171.
Delboule, 'Debuns!,; p. 1199; sec my comments in « hapter 4
Cullian Beer, Phe Romance, The Critical bom 10 (4 don 1270),
10
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
83
ending, amplitude of proportions, a strongly enforced code of conduct
to whichall the characters must comply.
Beeris writing here about romance in general: medieval romance hasparticular
characteristics of its own, though it is hard to analyse them succinctly. The plots
can vary greatly, for instance. Some romancesfocus onthe struggle of an unjustly
exiled prince to regain his kingdom, some recount the hero's quest to provehis
prowess, discoverhis identity, rescue his lady-love, or find the Grail; some put
more emphasis on emotion,others on behaviour, others again on battle. Finlayson suggests that medieval romance should be defined by attitudes and values
and by thestyle of presentation rather than by subject matter; similarly, Pamela
Gradon argues thatit is better to speak of a romance mode rather than a genre.’
Payen and Diekstra define the French romanceas ‘a message serving courtly and
Christian values’, and the English romanceas‘a story of adventuretold in terms
of chivalry’®
HA may pass muster as a romance of adventure on the basis of content,
though of course various combinationsof its main motifs are commonly found in
literature, folklore and mythology: the testing of suitors, the unjustly exiled king,
the shipwrecked hero, the princess in love with a destitute stranger, the separationof the spouses, the virgin under siege, the family reunion, the restoration of
the king to his rightful throne. But it is extremely short on chivalry, on the
courtly attitudes and values and presentation which are generally taken to be
« haracteristic of medieval romance, though many of them are characteristic of
IIcllenistic romance too. There are no digressions to describe persons, clothes,
teasts, or buildings, and very few of the monologues and dialogues in which
romance protagonists habitually review their emotional situations.? Pace Dellouille, love does not seem to be a central preoccupation of the writer or of the
: haracters: both. Apollonius and his daughter accept marriage proposals without
apparent. enthusiasm, and only the princess of Cyrene is so overwhelmed by
passion that she falls ill. There is no trace of the theme of martial prowess, very
unportant in medieval romance (though not in Hellenistic romance): Apollo(iuis is not presented as a distinguished warrior and neverfights a battle, nor do
any of the other characters. Finally, there is no sense of Beer's 'strongly enforced
code of conduct’ or of consistent patterns of noble behaviour such as one might
(aad in both epic and romance.
See John Finlayson, ‘Definitions of Medieval Romance’, Chaucer Review 15 (1980),
44 62 and 168-81, especially p. 168; Pamela Gradon, Form and Style in Early English
Huerature (London, 1971), p. 270.
Ch. Payen and J. C. L. Diekstra, Le roman, Typologie des sources du moyen áge
occidental 12 (Turnhout, 1975), pp. 25 and 77.
ec Fri Auerbachdescription of romancestyle in Literary Language and Its Public in
Haie Lam Autupaty and m dv Mullle Ages, o. Ralph Mannheim, Bollingen Series 74
(Hew York, 1965), p. 208. For example, there 1s no physical description of the main
Character in EEA (or indeed in imose later versions), the protagonists ofboth Elellentsteoand medieval romance are usually. presented Gand described) as outstandingly
Ienfal On the emotions of the characters in LA, see bana pp 7b 4
84
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Although Frye has argued for the ‘and then’ narrative structure of the Apollonius story as characteristic of one popular type of romance, both in plot and in
tone HA seems to have more in common with the typical folktale, which is
characterized, according to Propp, by lack of motivation and by the irrelevance
of feelings and intentions to the course of the action.'? HA seems to me to be a
potential romance, though its structure and style are naive and the plot shows
little interest in the primary characteristics of romance as discussed above: this
potential was recognized by those later writers who added martial and amorous
episodes to their versions of the story. But as 1 have already emphasised, such
writers were by no meansin the majority: their texts were produced at the same
time as exemplary versions, and so were copies or closc translations of HA. Many
of the writers who produced vernacular versions of the story clearly did not
consider that they were writing what we would call a romance, and many of the
allusions discussed below offer similar testimony.
History
But Delbouille also argues that in the twelfth century HA was taken to be ‘a very
authentically historical account’ (‘Débuts’, p. 1184). His argumentis based on
the references to Apollonius in crusade chronicles [A7, 8, 13, 22] and the
numberof manuscripts in which HÀ was copied with other indubirably historical
texts. But the line between fact and fiction, history and romance,is particularly
hard to draw in relation to medieval texts. From the point of view of the
historian, Partner comments: 'During the whole of the Middle Ages, history
enjoyed many of the freedoms of fiction, and fiction, in turn, conventionally
masqueraded as fact — no serious deception was intended by either." ! Writers of
romance were equally indifferent to what we perccive as a crucial distinction, as
Stevens makesclear:!?
It is a ticklish business to decide when and to whatdegree any particular
romance-writer thought he was writing history. Perhaps only the most
sophisticated minds of the age were able to distinguish between fact and
fiction in past events — or, rather, wished to be aware of criteria by
means of which fact and fiction could be distinguished . . . ‘Story’ and
‘history’, which for us have come to denote opposites, for them seem
often to have merged into one.
10 Frye, The Secular Scripture, pp. 47 ff. For Propp, see chapter 2 above, n. 28.
"Nancy F. Partner, Serious Entertainments: The Writing of History in 12 C.entury England
(Chicago, 1977), p. *. See also the useful. introductory. chapters on. classical and
medieval writers in William Nelson, Fact or Fiction: The Dilemma of the Renaissance
Storyteller (Cambridge, Ma., 1973); on p. 27 he points out that since history was largely
regarded as exemplary, "histor al fact! was not an important consideration (except in
the case of the Bible)
HO
John Sever, Medieeal Romance (London 1923, pp
29
?
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
85
Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential Historia Regum Britanniae wascriticized as an
invention within a few ycarsofits first appearance in 1136, as Stevens notes (p.
232). But such criticism did not deter its many readers, copyists and translators,
or the kings who madeuse ofit for political purposes; nor did it halt the flow of
tales about King Arthur derived from Geoffrey's account, or prevent him from
being included in numerous chronicles. Although Arthur may not haveexisted,
Alexandercertainly did: but the interest of the legends based on hislife lay in
their chivalric glamour or their moral value, not in their historical accuracy."
There can be few, if any, instances where it matters to us as literary critics
whether medieval readers accepted the legends about Alexander and Arthur, or
the story of Apollonius, as ‘authentic history’. It seems particularly unlikely that
the question would have suggested itself in the case of Apollonius, since no
dynastic or national claim to territory or independence depended on the answer.
Asfor the references in crusade chronicles, there were already numeroustexts
of HA in circulation in the eleventh century: Delbouille himself remarks that the
crusades may have increased interest in HA, and that because of the crusades
Antioch and Tyre were household namesin the twelfth century (p. 1185). The
fact that the locations of Apollonius’ adventures had become less foreign to
western European readers does not mean that they were convinced of the historical accuracy of the story, however, or that they ever stopped to consider the
question. Apart from the crusade chronicles, only one widely-read 'history' includes the story of Apollonius, as far as I know: this is the Pantheon or world
history of Godfrey of Viterbo [V4], who sets the story at the time of the Punic
Wars, in the reign of ‘Antiochus Junior Seleucus’.'* This composite name may be
intended to conceal confusion over the names and sequenceof the Seleucids.
Ihe king at the time of Hannibal was Antiochus III, father of two sons both
called Antiochus, the younger of whom became Antiochus IV Epiphanes(in the
index to the Pantheon Godfrey mentions Antiochus Epiphanesonly after the
synopsis of the story of Apollonius, as if he were distinct from Antiochus Seleucus). Medieval writers were keen on the educational value of history, among
them Godfrey of Viterbo: in the introduction to his Memoria Seculorum, dedi«ited to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, he condemnsthe fables of Coridon
and Melibeus, and recommends the improving histories of Alexander, Apollonius and Gog and Magog [A17]. Does Godfrey's comment, and the fact that he
inserted his version of HA into a chronological history of the world, prove that
he (or anybody else) accepted it as ‘authentically historical’? Or is it rather that
iidy- minded writers like Godfrey liked to fit every narrative which might qualify
!
The bibliography for these two Worthies is enormous, but two books will suffice to
show the range of treatments produced in the Middle Ages: Ardurian Literature in
Muldle Ages, ed. R. S. Loomis (Oxford, 1959); and G. Cary, The Medieval Alexander, ed.
1). J. A. Ross (Cambridge, 1956; rp. New York, 1988).
There may be a reference to HA in the Imago Mundi of Honorius Augustodunensis
1A9], à world chronicle also written in the twelfth century. There isa short version of
HA n the Fabey Flinulas of | ambert of St Omer [V3], though this enc yclopaedice work
was not conceived as a Systematik history
86
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
as an improving history into a chronological framework, regardless of the available evidence?
Some manuscripts of the influential Speculum Historiale of Vincent of Beauvais (written in the first half of the thirteenth century) list HA in the index as
the final item in Book IV, following an account of Alexander; but the story does
notactually appear in the main text in any surviving manuscripts.'> As Kortckaas
notes, however, a very abbreviated version of HA (cc. 1-39 only) has been added
on a single page at the end of the Speculum Historiale in Bodl. MS Bodley 287, an
early fourteenth-century manuscript; in the same way longer versions have been
added to two manuscripts of the Speculum Historiale in Munich, Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek clm 17129 (early fourteenth century) and clm 18060(fifteenth
century). A strong association seems to have linked the stories of Alexander and
Apollonius, which are found together in many manuscripts; one reason may be
that the Seleucid empire was founded on the break-up of Alexander's empire,as
the writer of I Maccabees explains at the beginning of his book (Steinhówel
prefaces his version of the Apollonius story [V25] with an accountof Alexander's
empire and therise of the Seleucids). In the fifteenth century the English priest
Capgrave mentionsthe incest of Seleucus Philopator and his daughterin list of
Alexandrian kings in his life of St Katharine of Alexandria [A33]; he refers the
teader to ‘appolony of tyr for the full story, as if he knows no otherhistorical
source.!ó
Delbouille's first argument for the acceptance of HA ashistory in the twelfth
century on the basis of crusade chronicle references does not seem very substantial. If ic was indeed read in this way, it seems curious that so few twelfth- and
thirteenth-century versions of the story include any introductory historical context, and that Apollonius is mentioned in so few historical texts. Delbouille
offers a second form of evidence (p. 1185): the fact that HA is found in manuscripts which also contain indubitably historical texts such as thc life of Alexander, Gregory of Tours! Gesta Francorum Regum, the chronicle of Orosius, or the
Trojan reminiscences fabricated by Dares Phrygius(this last may be ‘historical’ in
a different sense: Stevens’ comment about medieval lack of interest in the
distinction between fact andfictionis particularly relevant here). It is certainly
true, and striking, that in many twelfth- and thirteenth-century manuscripts HA
*
15 See Smyth, p. 24; Klebs, p. 349; Kortekaas, pp. 154—5, n. 12. The final chapter of Book
IV contains a reference to incest (in Alexander's last letter to Dindymus) which might
have suggested the connection. HA is similarly advertised but not included in the
Grande e General Estoria of. Alfonso el Sabio, which was begun in M sce Marden,
ed., Libro de Apolonio, I, pp. xxxii-xxxiii, and Kortckaas, pp. 152-3, n
According to Capgrave, his version is based on an unfinished English —-ation of a
Latin version of the Greek life by. Athanasius, but che Alexandrian king list was
probably inserted by Capprave himself, see A. Kurvinen, “The Sources of Capprave's
Life of St. Katharine of Alexandria’, NM 61 (1960), 268. 324, esp. p. 3017. No other
version that [know calls the incestuous. father Seleucus. Philopator. There was an
historical figure of this name, the son of Antix hus H1 (ce P, «v. 'Seleukos! 6);
pethaps the ni kname QCalsosed by the kuof Fgypr at the time) was liter misunder.
Stool and suggested che Link wath ihe is est tony?
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
87
was copied togetherwith historical texts, and particularly often with texts about
Alexander: this does indeed suggest that it was considered to have serious value
(as does its presencein wills and library catalogues amonglists of theological and
historical texts).!
But does it prove that the story was considered ‘historical’, whatever this
problematic word meansfor the Middle Ages? Medieval manuscripts are notoriously eclectic in their contents. An equally good case could be made for the
reception of the Apollonius story in the later Middle Ages as an indubitably
exemplary text, for it is very often found in the companyof didactic or explicitly
religious works (see below, p. 96); yet it is clear from the existence of many
versions of the story with chivalric expansions that many authors and readers
enjoyed it as entertainment, not exemplum. On the basis of manuscript contents
it could be argued that HA wasread as‘history’ in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, and as either exemplum or romanceafter that, but 1 think that such an
argument would be dangerously generalizing and indeed inaccurate (the thirreenth-century Carmina Burana lyric [V6], for instance, suggests a very different
reading). The evidence of manuscript context points to the variety of reception
of the story, and perhapsto particular tendencies in certain periods, rather than
toits established historicity (for further discussion see below, pp. 92 ff.).
Exemplum
l'ickford has argued that the translation of HA from Greek and its survival
through the Middle Ages, while the Greek romances wereall forgotten till the
Renaissance, can be explained by the face that it was easily interpretable as a
Christian romance.'® His analysis of parallels between HA and various Greck
myths and biblical stories is too far-fetched to be useful or convincing, but the
issue that he raises is an important one. Was HAeverregarded as an exemplum? It
certainly appears from an early date in monastic library catalogues, and in both
secular and ecclesiastical bequests of theological and historical volumes: in relaton to the Old English version [V2], Raith argues that no monk would have
Jared to. translate HA had it not been for its exemplary aspects, and the same
presumably goes for copying it.?
^s an exemplum, HA would be unusually long: a recent definition is ‘a brief
“tory presented as truthful and destined to be inserted in a speech (usually a
sermon) to convince the audience through a salutary lesson’.” The number of
U See the library catalogue entries listed by Manitius, Handschriften antiker Autoren, pp.
$24 5, and Klels, p .
419. 24.
OTE Pickford, "Apollonius of Fyre as Oreck Myth and Christian Mystery', Neoplulologus
9 (1975), 599. 69; and see Merkelbach, Roman und Mysterium, pp. 1610 71.
o] qRnth, Die ali und mttelenglischen. Apollisas Bna hia he mu dem Tew der Historia
Apollimu na h der englis len Hands hujtengmuappe (Munich, 19560), pp. 49. 50
C
Biemond; ]:
Legot aed FO hine FL'exemphan, Dypolone des soutces du moyen
88
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
QN
protagonists and the complexity of their adventures might suggest that it is an
early example of that hybrid and much debated genre, exemplary romance.
Dannenbaum is sceptical aboutits existence or value: she points outthatit is
hard to accept exemplary romanceas a genre whencritics cannot agree about the
texts which it would include, and argues that most so-called exemplary romances
are in fact much more characteristic of secular romance than of hagiography.?!
Schelp accepts it, however, and sugests a number of importantcriteria in his
study of Middle English exemplary romances.? He argues that these texts focus
either on a virtue to be imitated (imitabile) or on a vice to be avoided (evitandum), and that the structure of the two types differs significantly: in imitabile
romances there is a brief introduction, a long series of adventures, and a bricfly
described happy ending, whereas evitandum romances are organized like
tragedies, building up to a peripeteia which is immediately followed by a dramatic fall. God plays a very important part, either as protector or antagonist
(though in evitandum texts like the Alliterative Morte Arthur Fortune may be the
controlling principle). These romances are either about the development of
self-knowledge and contrition and the divine gift of grace (for instance Sir
Isumbras), or about the patient enduranceofvarious vicissitudes under the protection of God (for instance Emaré).
Notall critics would accept these criteria, but it seems to be generally agreed
that the ending of a text is a crucial test. Romance, exemplary romance and
hagiography mayall be intended as educational, but the lessons which they offer
(usually stressed at the end) are very different. [n romancethefinal reward for
the hero is worldly success, power, and domestic happiness in marriage. Exemplary romance may also end with the restoration of the protagonist to worldly
prosperity, but it will be clear that this is due to his/her moral integrity and trust
in God. Hagiographies end with a return or conversion to virtuousliving, and
either the promise or the achievementof paradise. How do these criteria apply to
HA,if at all? Structurally it seems to resemble the imitabile type with its long
series of adventures; it does include a peripeteia, Apollonius' encounter with his
unrecognized daughter, but one which leads to triumph rather than disaster. But
the ending is strictly secular: the hero and heroines are reunited as a family and
restored to royal rank, and live happily everafter. In the final chapters Apollonius is presented at last as a powerful king, and his reward is both personal and
political: the thrones of various kingdoms, and the birth of a son and heir. There
is no commentonthelessons learned by any of the protagonists, or the value of
suffering.
The mostserious omission in terms of Schelp's argument is that God could
Age occidencal (Turnhour, 1982), pp. 37-8. See also the classic study of J.-Th. Welter,
L'exemplum dans la littérature religieuse et didactique du moyen dge (Paris, 1927).
Susan Crane Dannenbaum, ‘Guy of Warwick and theQuestion of Exemplary Romance’, Genre 17 (1984), 351-74, esp. pp. 356 7; see the useful bibliography in her
~
.
notes.
Hanspeter Schelp, Byemplarische Romanzen im Mutelenglichen, l'alacstia 246 (CGioin-
pen, 1907), pp. 26 f
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
89
notbe said to play a very important part. There are references to deus scattered
through HA,but no explicitly Christian references. The only characters who
pray (to an unspecified deus) are Theophilus (31, 21-2; 32, 11), Seranguillio (32,
37-8), and Tarsia (32, 1; 44 [RB] n. 63). No one ever goes to church, and no
priests appear. Apollonius blames Neptunefor his shipwreck (12, 4). Tarsia’s false
tomb bears an inscription to ‘DII MANES’ (32, 46-7).2 Apollonius arrives at
Micylene duringthefestival of Neptune (39, 3). Someone dressed like an angel
appears to Apollonius in a dream, but directs him, surprisingly, to the temple of
Diana in Ephesus (48, 2—6); it is there that Diana's favourite priestess is reunited
with her longlost husband and unknown daughter(cc. 48-9). It seems that God
and the gods are used interchangeably; certainly religion is not a majorissue in
the earliest versions of the story, though some vernacular versions gave it a much
more explicit Christian colouring.”
Mehl defines what he calls ‘homiletic romances’ as naratives in which ‘the
plot is completely subordinated to the moral and religious theme’.4 Dannenbaum suggests as a possible definition of exemplary romance‘the subordination
of all other concerns to moral ones, whether Christian or broadly ethical’ (p.
356). Clearly Christian concerns are not dominant in HA;is there a strong
cthical impulse throughout the narrative? Goepp comments that ‘the didactic,
aphoristic manneris discernible throughout’: he cites Apollonius’ conversations
with Hellenicus and with the fisherman whobefriends him, his generosity to the
starving citizens of Tarsus, and the role of his learning in his marriage with the
princess of Cyrene (p. 169-70). But these passages do notconstitute a specific
ethical or didactic concern, nor are they central to the plot.
What should the reader of HA learn to imitate, or to avoid?It is striking that
in the Gesta Romanorum [V11], where every story is followed by an allegorical
moralization, the story of Apollonius is not only the longest by far, but the only
one without a moral appended at the end (there is merely a standard prayer).
Clearly Antiochus’ incest and subsequent death ‘dei fulmine’ (24, 11: ‘by god’s
thunderbolt’) constitute a cautionary tale; this is sometimes emphasised in an
*' This phrase is omitted in the parallel passage in RB, but included in both versions at
38, 8 (RB gives the usual form 'DIIS MANIBUS); see Kortekaas, pp. 65-7. In RB c.
50, Apollonius urges the shade of his supposedly dead daughter to leave "Tartaream
domum! (‘your infernal home’) and testify against Stranguillio and Dionysias. This may
be an archaizing insertion: see Kortekaas, pp. 67 and 123 (though he does not mention
-
this phrase).
Kortekaas discusses the many Christian linguistic elements in HA (especially RA), but
notes that it is not always casy todistinguish between Christian Latin and Late Latin,
and emphasises that there are no 'overtly Christian motivations or essential narrative
cletnents! (pp. 101 and 106). There is a particularly strong Christian emphasis in the
Spanish Libro de Apolonio (thirteenth century) and the Greek Diegesis Apolloniou
(fifteenth century); see the excellent discussion in Marina S. Brownlees, "Writing and
Sonpture in the. Libro de Apolo: the Conflation of Tlagiography and Romance’,
Hispanic Ressew51 (1983), 159. 74.
5 Dieter Melil, The Mellle English Romances of che Photeenth and Foateenth. Centuries
(London, L968) p. 121
90
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
introductory rubric (see below, p. 93), but very rarely at the end ofthe narrative.
Gower is one of the few exceptions who prove this rule [V12]. In a Latin
marginal note at the beginning of his version, he describesit as ‘mirabile exemplum de magnorege Antiocho’ (‘the amazing exemplum of the great King Antiochus').75 This note ends with the remark that Apollonius endured many dangers
for love, and at the end of the story Gower emphasises in the English text chat
the reunion of Apollonius with his family and the punishment of Antiochus
provide an ‘ensample’ for lovers (Il. 1999 ff.; there is no accompanying Latin
note, however). The cautionary tale is therefore presented in strictly secular
light, as is perhaps appropriate for a collection of stories intended to cure a lover
of lust and selfishness, but not to tum him into a religious recluse. A number of
versions end with comments on Apollonius’ sufferings and prayers that the
reader should achieve paradise, as he did; but they do not offer any advice or
reiterate important moral principles, apart from the importance of trusting in
Whatthen is the moralof the vicissitudes of Apollonius and Tarsia? Clearly
Tarsia is in no way responsible for what happensto her; but is Apollonius guilty
of any sin, apart from innocently revealing Antiochus’ incest by solving the
tiddle? Lynda Boose (writing about Pericles) has argued that he should not have
thrown his apparently dead wife overboard: but there is absolutely no textual
support for this interpretation, either in HA or in Pericles (or indeed any other
version).?” The superstition of sailors about dead or sinful bodies on ships is an
ancient and well-known tradition.” Perhaps Apollonius should not haveleft his
infant daughter at Tarsus for fifteen years: Ruiz-Montero argues thatthis is the
fault which launches the second phase of the story (p. 310). In HA Theophilus
suggests that it was a mistake to leave jewels and moncy with her, at any rate (31,
28—30). Butthis can hardly explain all Apollonius' misfortunes: it comestoo late
in the story, as does the burial of the queen. In any case, the rearing of children
away from home was quite commonin the Middle Ages. Was Apollonius perhaps
guilty of accidie? His passivity and despair are particularly obvious in the wake of
his second disaster, the reported death of his daughter, when he retreats to the
hold and longs for death. Childress stresses passivity as a characteristic of the
heroes of secular hagiography, who must wait for God to change their lives, as
&
tQ
2% The phrasingof this note, which is quire long, is very similar to the introductory rubric
of che text in the Colmar manuscript of the Gesta Romanorum (sce below, p. 9:
7 Lynda E. Boose, ‘The Father and the Bride in Shakespeare’, PMLA 97 (1982), 325-47,
esp. p. 339. Ruiz-Montero, writing about HA, also argues that Apollonius wrongs his
wife by throwing her overboard (pp. 304-5).
Ir is, however, surprisingly hard to document: see D. J. A. Ross, ‘Blood in the Sea: an
Episode in Jourdain de Blaivies’, MLR 66 (1971), 532 41. After being shipwrecked
Jourdain deliberately bites his own arm and draws blood, so that the sea will cast hin
ashore on his spar. See. also the Faglish ballad ‘Brown Robyn's Confession’, ed. E |.
Child an The Fnglish and Scottish Popular Nallad, 9 vols (Boston, 1884 98; ip. New
York, 1965), Te pp 1s lo
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
91
opposed to romanceheroes whoplay an active part in society.” But in HAitis
not God but his daughter Tarsia who revives the despairing Apollonius and
changes his life. In any case, both these episodes come too late in the story to
explain all his previoustrials.
For Tompkins the innocence of Pericles is one of the unique aspects of the
play:°
Moreover,Pericles lacks the strongest note of the plays that succeededit,
the error that must be atoned, the revengeful hatred that must be
disclaimed and dissolved. Pericles has no guilt to be washed away; even
his intended punishment of Cleon, stressed in the sources, slips from
view in the play, andthe epilogue tells us that che gods took it into their
own hands.
This assessmentof Pericles’ innocence applies to Apollonius too, though he has
attracted less critical attention. Apart from Falckenburg [V30], whose interpretation is complicated by the insertion of the Maccabees material which gives
Apollonius a wicked past, 1 have not found any medieval or Renaissance version
which suggests that Apollonius’ suffering was a punishment because he had
transgressed against divine or human law, by burying his wife at sea or indeed in
any other way. Alternatively, if the moral of the story was supposed to be patient
endurance, it is nowhere stated in HA. So it is hard to see how it can be
described as an exemplary romance,at least in explicit intention, though it was
certainly read in this way by some somescribes and later adaptors.
HAseems to be a chameleon, lacking a generic colour of its own. It can be
read as a proto-romance, though it lacks the emphasis on love, war and courtly
manners which are characteristic of most medieval romances. It can be read as
‘history’ in the sense of an educational story set in the past, though ‘authentic
history’ is not really a valid category for consideration; but the abrupt beginning
and lack of historical context in most texts argue against a strictly historical
reading. Finally, the lack of any explicit religious or moral theme makes it hard to
read it as an exemplum. 1 think that one important reason for its continued
success was this very lack of colour, which allowed it to be read and retold in a
number of different styles, as were the stories of Arthur and Alexander.
I hroughout the later Middle Ages there were writers who associated Apollonius
with heroes of classical and medieval love stories, as did the troubadours [A10,
15, 28], or wanted to put his story more in line with the fashion for romancesof
lave and chivalry, for instance Heinrich von Neustadt [V15] and the French
Vienna Redaction [V22]; but there were also writers who esteemed the Apollo7 [hana Childress, 'Between Romance and Legend: Secular Hagiography in Middle
Vrydish Literature’, Philological Quarterly 57 (1978), 3101-22 (sec pp. 307-18).
"EM.S. Tompkins, Why Pericles" RES NS 3 (1952), 4105 24 (sce p. 316). Reviewing a
tecent production of Pericles at the Swan Theatre, Stratford, Lois Potter describes the
performance of Nigel Terry(Pericles) às "the most obvious example of the negation of
personality in the service of myih! (11S, Sepe 22 8, 1989, po TOUT). She continues:
"she seems to offer hs gosodness as a blank canvas dor experience to write on!
92
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
nius story forits didactic value, such as Godfrey of Viterbo, the compilers of the
various versions of the Gesta Romanorum [V11, 20, 23, 28, 39], and the authorof
the Poérne Moral [A 19]. Sometimes it was given a strong Christian colouring, as
for instance in the Spanish Libro de Apolonio and the Greek Diegesis Apolloniou,
thoughir is striking that in both these texts there is no explicit moral for the
reader to absorb and apply to his/her own life. Some versions combine elements
of both romance and exemplum in surprising ways: in the Brussels Redaction
[V14], for example, Apollonius lectures the princess about the need to love Cod
before answering her questions about correct courtly behaviour. But there were
also copyists, translators and readers who required no colouring, but accepted the
plot as they found it in the traditional HA version, which continued to be copied
into the seventeenth century.
The evidence of the manuscripts and early printed editions
Apart from thetext itself, manuscripts and early printed editions can offer other
useful forms of evidence about the reception of the story. Introductory rubrics,
incipits and explicits may throw light on the scribe's understanding of the text, and
marginal notes or drawings can indicate the reactions of later readers; illustrations may represent the views of the scribe or illustrator, or perhaps the patron
who commissioned the manuscript. The comments whichfollow are based on an
examination of about fifty manuscripts and early printed editions, both Latin and
vernacular, ranging from the tenth to the sixteenth centurics.
There is considerable variety in the rubrics and incipits which introduce the
story of Apollonius. The traditional HA is variously described ashistoria, gesta
(deeds), vita (life), liber (book), narratio vitae (narrative ofthe life), or even in an
abbreviated version compendium; sometimes the terms used at beginning and end
are inconsistent. The title liber may reflect the reference to Apollonius autobiography at the end of RB and many later versions of the story, though this
connection is seldom made explicit! The story is rarely described as a romance;
apparently this term (which of course could be used of history as well as fiction)
was never applied to it before the fourteenth century. In Latin versions, adjectives which hint at the exemplary status of the story sometimes qualify the
generic descriptions: ‘perpulchra et mirabilis historia’ (‘the beautiful and amazing
history’ — Oxford, Magdalen College MS 50, eleventh century); 'inclita gestapii
regis Apollonii’ (‘the famous deeds of the pious king Apollonius’ — Lambert of St
Omer,Liber Floridus, twelfth century).
3} BN MS nowy. acg. lat. 1423 (thirteenth century) begins: ‘incipic vita vel pesca Apollonit quae ipse dictavit! (f. 156r: "here begins the life or deeds of Apollonius which he
himself dictated). "wine IV] Claims that hes SOUTCC IN merely an abbreviated text of
this autobiography, and vows to publish the whole thing should be ever come across tt.
Valckenburg (Lus to have based his version on Greck and Latini fpagnents of it
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
93
Some authors, rubricators and cataloguers seem to have found the initial
incest episode the most significant feature of HA. The Old English version [V2]
begins ‘her onginned seo gerecednes be antiéche bam unsaligan cincge & be
apolonige’ (‘here beginsthe story of the wicked King Antiochus and of Apollonius’). In the mid-twelfth century the library at Cluny contained a version of the
story (now lost) which was catalogued as ‘quaedam narratio de turpi concupiscentia Antiochi et exilio Apollonii' ('a certain story about the vile lust of
Antiochus and the exile of Apollonius’). The text in Vat. MS Ortobon 1387
(thirteenth century) begins ‘incipit ystoria Apollonii et Antiochi' ('here begins
the story of Apollonius and Antiochus’). Antiochus and Apollonius appear
together in references to lost texts kept in Paris and Avignon during the fourteenth century, and a fifteenth-century catalogue entry for St Augustine’s, Canterbury, records a copy of ‘relacio de Appolonioet filia Antiochi’ (‘the story of
Apollonius and the daughter of Antiochus').7 Some rubrics do not mention
Apollonius at all, even though the whole story follows, as for instance the
fourteenth-century Colmar text of the Gesta Romanorum:‘de Antiocho quifiliam propriam cognovit et tantum eam dilexit quod nullus eam in uxorem habere
potuit nisi problema ab eo propositum solveret’ (‘of Antiochus whoslept with his
own daughter and loved her so much that no one could marry her unless he
solved the riddle set by Antiochus').? Var. MS lat. 2947, a fourteenth-century
text of HÀ, has no rubric or incipit, but is listed in a seventeenth-century
catalogue as 'historia de Antiocho rege qui filiam stupravit" (‘the story of King
Antiochus who debauched his daughter')?* The introductory rubric of the fifteenth-century Spanish translation of Gower's Confessio Amantis version [V29]
describes the story as a moral tale about those who take their pleasure ‘contra
rrasón natural’ (‘against natural reason’), and does not mention either Antiochus
or Apollonius.
Somescribes clearly saw Apollonius as a model of patient endurance, and
later medieval versions in particular seem to stress the exemplary value of this
story of ‘temporal tribulation’. Kortekaas quotes the long introductionto the text
in Vat. MSlat. 1961 (fourteenth century), which emphasises the patience of the
hero, his taleiats, his misadventures, and the consolation which follows adversity;
he also quotes several explicit comparisons of Apollonius and Job in HA manuscripts, a parallel which occurred to the writer of the fifteenth-century Greek
Diegesis Apolloniou.5 The catalogue of the church library of Lanthony in Glou-
-
-
2
For the catalogue entries see Kortckaas, Appendix II, p. 421, items 10, 12 and 13, and
p. 423, items 4 and 7.
Printed by Singer in Apollonius, p. 71. A very similar marginal rubric accompanies the
opening lines of Gower's version (sce n. 26 above).
Index Inventarii Codicorum et ManuscriptorumDibliothecae Vaticanae la, Indice Martinelli
(1636), f. Mv.
Kortekaas, p. 9 and n. 33. At the end of the HA text in Zutich, Zentralbibliothek MS
C135 (1468) i added the remark that miracles have occurred in the pase, for instance
ini the case of Job (£: 2698), i a similar addition in Var MS Ortobon 1455 (thirteenth
century) Apollonium 6 compaed $0 Job, and also to Sau Fusce (i Lov) tn the
94
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
w
E]
a
cestershire, written after 1380, describes its copy of HA (now lost) as ‘passio
Apollonii regis Tyri’ (‘the sufferings or passion of Apollonius king of Tyre’).?6 The
fourteenth-century French Brussels Redaction ends ‘explicit les devises du roy
Apollonius et de Tharsesa fille, commentils eulrent moult de tribulations et de
paines’ (‘the end of the adventures of King Apollonius and Tarsia his daughter,
how they endured much tribulation and pain’). In the main version of the Gesta
Romanorum the introductory rubric is ‘De tribulacione temporali, quae in gaudium sempiternum postremo commutabitur' ('Of temporal tribulation whichwill
be changed in the end into eternal joy'). It is presumably in conformance with
this tradition that Twine entitled his 1576 version The Patterne of Painefull
Adventures, and Wilkins imitated him with The Painefull Adventures of Pericles
Prince of Tyre [V42], published in 1608.
Although a number of manuscripts contain marginalia added by readers in the
form of comments, drawings, and numbers, they are not particularly revealing.
The most commonly marked passages are the riddles; Tarsia's song is also frequently marked. In some manuscripts attention is also drawn to the passagein c.
8 where Hellenicus rebukes Apollonius for his rudeness in not returning a poor
man’s greeting, as for instance in the twelfth-century Vat. Reg.lat. 718 (f. 207r).
Gnomic wisdom such as that of Hellenicus was obviously popular — butthereis
no other comparable passage in HA, so this cannot be a main reason forits
success. As I commented above, surprisingly little interest is shownin the incest
scene. I have found no expression of moral outrage over Antiochus’ behaviour,
and no comments on the despatch ofthe ‘dead’ queen,thefostering of Tarsia, or
Apollonius’ despair. A rare moral comments occurs in the thirteenth century
Vat. MS Ottobon. 1855 (f. 9v): 'nota decepcio mulierum’ (‘the well-known
deceitfulness of women’) is written in the margin at the point where Dionysias
denies the promised reward to Theophilus (HAc. 32).
There are not manyillustrated Apollonius manuscripts, and very few can
match the number and charm of theillustrations in the tenth- or eleventhcentury fragment of Latin text preserved in Budapest, Országos Széchényi
Kónyvtár MSlat. 4! The three and a half surviving folios contain forty pen and
ink sketches, often arranged four to a column.If this is typical of the wholetext,
fifteenth-century Creek Diegesis Apolloniou, Athenagoras' envoys are reminded of Job
whenthey can get no answer from Apollonius as he lies in the hold of his ship.
See Kortekaas, p. 423, n. 4. Several vernacular texts end by describing the hero's
vicissitudes as martyrdom: for instance the fifteenth-century Violier des histoires romaines
[V23], a French version of the Gesta Romanorum, and the sixteenth-century French
version of Corrozet [V34].
Kortekaas, p. 34; K. Weitzmann, Ancient Book Illumination, Martin Classical Lectures XVI (Cambridge, Ma., 1959), pp. 102-4 and figs 110a and b; and LHÀpy, pp.
150-1. The onlyartistic representation of the story in any other mediumis of about the
same date, a remarkable hom draughts counter now in the Fürslich Hohenzoller«hes Museum in. Sygnaringenz it shows two sailors throwing the coffin overboard
while Apollonius and another man watch (oc so one might interpret it). Kortekaas
Avsuties hat t was one of a set ob counter all illasiiacing FEA (see p 1059, n. 29). Ic
regrosdhaced as the frontiesquece in Peres! translation and Kontekaas! eduion
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
95
almost every incident in the story must have been represented — Weitzmann
estimates that there could have been two hundredillustrations to the complete
text. Laterillustrators were not so prolific, on the whole, andsuch illustrationsas
do exist do not suggest any consistent approach to thestory. It seems that the
initial incest scene and Apollonius’ harping at the banquet at Pentapolis were
particularly popular subjects, though notall illustrated manuscripts include them
both. BN MSlat. 8503 (early fourteenth century) has only oneillustration, on
the first page of the text (f. 1r): it shows Antiochus enthroned andreceiving
suitors. The Old French text in Laurent. MS Ashburmham 123 (fourteenth
century) has only three illustrations. On f. 14v the princess is shown harping,
while the king and courtiers listen; lower on the page Apollonius is shown
playing to the same audience. Onf. 22v, the last page of the text, three kings and
two queens look at one another: presumably they are Archistrates, Apollonius
and his wife, and Tarsia and Athenagoras, reunited in Pentapolis. The fifteenthcentury French text in BL MS Royal 20 C ii, the London Redaction [V21],
contains one very impressive half-page miniature and two smaller ones. Thefirst
page of the text, f. 210r, is half filled by a picture of Antiochus in bed with his
daughter, while courtiers walk in the street outside the palace (the part showing
Antiochus and his daughter is reproduced on the cover of Zink's edition of the
Vienna Redaction). On f. 217v the lovesick princess gives Apollonius the fateful
letter for her father, and on f. 223r the doctor of Ephesus watches his servants lift
the coffin in which the comatose queen can be seen. An early fourteenthcentury manuscript, BN lat. 8502, has forty-three blank spaces for illustrations
(generally one to each side of every folio), an unusually large number; judging
from the arrangementof the spaces, they would probably have included the
incest and harping scenes. Thefifteenth-century text of Heinrich von Neustadt
in ONB MS 2886is missing thefirst folio, but no doubt the incest scene was
once included there, for numerous vigorous pen and ink sketches illustrate every
later phase of the action-packed story, including the many monsters whom
Apollonius encounters duringhis fifteen-year absence.
The early printed editions tend to have many moreillustrations than the
manuscripts, perhaps because it was easy to produce them from existing woodblocks; but for this very reason they are not reliable indicators of reception.
Indeed, the same block is often used, sometimes inappropriately, for different
scenes (for instance journeys and court scenes). Sometimes the expressionsof the
protagonists belie the rubric attached: so in one early edition of Steinhówel's
German Volksbuch [V25], the picture of a smiling couple making love out of
doors does not seem well suited to the rubric, which identifies che scene as
Antiochus seducing his daughter against her will 4 Sometimesillustrations point
to the potential but unrealized clash between pagan and Christian elements in
8 This illustration from: the edition printed in Augsburg in 1516 as reproduced in the
f simile edition. Apolloni von Tyna Croseldis Ducularnas, cd d adwi Fo Schenite and
Renate Noll Wireman, Deutsche Volksbuher in Eaksimnulediucken, Reilie A, Band 2
GO lildesheun & New York, 1975)
96
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
the story. Another illustration from the Augsburg edition of Steinhówel's text
underthe rubric ‘How Cleopatra (sic) recognizes her husband Apollonius’ shows
him kneeling before a statue of the Madonna andchild, although according to
the text they are reunited in the temple of Diana. In Garbin’s edition of a French
version [V24], on the other hand,the text describes Apollonius’ wife as abbess in
‘a convent where Diana was worshipped’; the illustration of Apollonius’ arrival
in Ephesus includes a nun standing in front of a naked female statuc in an
open-sided church or temple.
Although I argued above that manuscript context cannotbe taken as reliable
evidence for the acceptance of a text as historically accurate, it should not of
course be ignored entirely; it is certainly significant that HA was often copied
withhistorical texts, as Delbouille notes, and it is equally striking that both Latin
and vernacular versions were often copied with exemplary texts. The list which
follows is not comprchensive, butis intended to indicate the range of date and
language of the texts concerned. The Old English version in Cambridge, Corpus
Christi College MS 201 was copied together with Wulfstan's Homilies and Judgement Day II. Escorial, Biblioteca Reale MS III K 4 (copied about 1390) contains
the Libro de Apolonio,a life of St Mary of Egypt and a treatise on the Three Kings.
In Vat. MSS Urb.lat 456 (fourteenth century) and lat. 7666 (fifteenth century),
HA either precedes or follows the Vita Sancti Albani, a hagiographic romance
notable for including both father-daughter and mother-son incest. In Chartres,
Bibliothéque Municipale MS 419 (late fourteenth or early fifteenth century) a
French version of HA follows the story of Melibee (the earnest moral allegory
told with such success by Chaucerthe pilgrim in the Canterbury Tales), and is
followed in tum by the story of patient Griselda (the tale told by Chaucer's
Clerk). The samethree texts are found in reverse order in BN MSnouv.acq.fr.
20042 (fifteenth century). The story of Apollonius follows that of Griselda in
twofifteenth-century Germanprose versions, Leipzig, Universitatsbibliothek MS
1279 and Donaueschingen,Fiirstlich Fiirsteenbergische Hofbibliothek MS 150.39
These examples suggest that manyscribes, or perhaps patrons, may have thought
of the Apollonius story as exemplary; but of course a list of manuscripts in which
versions of HA appear with chivalric romances could be similarly used to argue
for its status as entertaining fiction, solaas rather than sentence.
Allusions to HA in other texts
The evidence of the manuscripts, then, is as varied as the texts themselves: and
the lack of consensus aboutthe significance of the story of Apolloniusis reflected
in the allusions to it in other literary works.
In general, as one might expect, Latin texts tend to contain allusions to the
exemplary value of the story. Geoffrey de Vigeois, writing the prologue to his
"o
[emnoneda tells the stones of Griselda and of CGreporus, the Eloly Sinner who was born
ob am est and Later married Bis iother in hus Paranuelo, as well as that ot Apollonias
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
97
Chronicon Lemovicense [A16] in about 1170, refers to HA with distaste (presumably because of the incest), but concedes that there is gold to be found in every
dungheap, and that the story of Apollonius is valuable in conveying Christian
doctrine.” He goes on to explain that the value of thestory lies in the death of
Antiochusat the handofa vengeful divine power, which should make Christians
imitate the good and avoid the wicked. Four hundred years later Welser summed
up the story in almost the same words in thefirst sentence of the introduction to
his pioneering edition [V31]: 'Si quis aurum paratus et gemmasex stercore legere,
is demum aptus huic libello continget lector ("if anyone is prepared to extract
gold and jewels from a dungheap,heis certainly a suitable reader for this book’).
The dungheap presumablyrefers to the opening incest episode; the gold is harder
to identify. A similar spirit informs other less explicit allusions: the Chronicon
Novaliciense [A6], where the shocking story of a king who seduced his new
daughter-in-law and waslater killed by a thunderbolt reminds the writer of the
story of Apollonius; Godfrey of Viterbo's Memoria Seculorum [A17], where the
story of Apollonius is cited approvingly as an educational tale; the Ystoria Regis
Franchorum et filie in qua adulterium comitere voluit [A30], where the daughter
threatens her father that if he marries her he will suffer the fate of Antiochus.
There are of course some exceptions to this rule. In wills and catalogues thereis
seldom any comment on the content of HA. Venantius Fortunatus thinks of
Apollonius simply as an exile who suffered shipwreck [A1]; Henricus Septimellensis mentions him as a victim of Fortune [A18]; crusade chroniclers mention
him as a famous inhabitant of Tyre.
The incest episode is condemned in some later vernacular allusions too:
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales [A32], where the Man of Law rejects HA and other
incest stories as ‘unkynde abhominacions’ (unnatural and disgusting practices);
Capgrave's accountof the Scleucid kings in his life of Sc Katharine [A33]; and
Robert Henryson's Orpheus and Eurydice [A35], where Orpheus sces the incestuous Antiochus among the damned in Hades. But on the whole vernacularallusions tend to celebrate Apollonius as a lover and a warrior. Occitan poets name
Apollonius as one of the heroes whose story should be part of a jongleur's
repertoire, along with those of such classical and medieval warriors and lovers as
Alexander, Paris, Aeneas, Tristan and Arthur [A10, 15, 28]. In Doon de Nanteuil
{A20] and in the Occitan romance Flamenca [A26] the story of Apollonius is
recited as part of an entertainment. In both of these texts the Alexanderstory is
also mentioned, and Apollonius is linked with Alexander in other vernacular
allusions too: in Lamprecht’s Alexanderlied [A11] we learn that Alexander destroyed Tyre just after Apollonius had rebuilt it, and in Kyng Alisaunder Apollonius is mentioned briefly when the royal messengers pass by Tyre [A25]. 1 have
not come across any other allusions which could be described as historical, and
only two texts that I know build íamily relationships between. Apollonius and
other romance characters. One is the Old Norse Thidreks Saga [V9], where
* [he sysifi ance of the incest theme for the popularity ofthe story is discussed in the
fie xt section
98
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Apollonius appears as the son of King Artus of Bertangaland (sce chapter 4
above, pp. 57-8); the other is Gui de Cambrai’s Barlaam and Josaphas [A23],
where a princess set to temptthe ascetic hero is described as the exiled daughter
of a king of Sidon related to Apollonius (a number of versions of HA call
Apollonius king of Sidon as well as Tyre, among them Godfrey of Viterbo's
influential Pantheon).
Notall vernacular allusions arc positive, describing the story as entertaining
or improving, however. The writer of the late twelfth-century Poéme Moral [A19]
claims that his sermonis far more valuable than such frivolous romances as the
story of Apollonius and Aye d'Avignon, and one version of the popular Distichs of
Cato [A29] makesa similar claim, linking Apollonius disparagingly with Alexander, Oliver and Roland. Chaucer's Man of Law cited the story of Apollonius as
too horrible to tell (though there is much irony in this comment- sec above,p.
59).
Ic seemsunlikely thatall these writers were referring to the HA version of the
story: they may well have known vernacular versions in which the amorous and
martial aspects of the story were expanded. Theearliest surviving version of this
kind is the thirteenth-century Old French fragment [V8], but the Latin lyric in
the Carmina Burana [V6] showssimilar interest in the sentimental aspects of the
story, and sugests that freer versions of HA were already in circulation, whether
orally or in writing.
It is striking that neither of the heroines is mentioned in anyofthe allusions.
Oneor two rubrics name orrefer to Tarsia, but never her mother (who remains
anonymous in most versions). The fame of the story is always associated with
Apollonius — and its notoriety with Antiochus.
Theincest theme
As | arguedin the first chapter, 1 belicve that the opening scene of Antiochus’
incest is not a late addition to the story of Apollonius, but absolutely integral to
ic, as is the themeof father-daughterrelations (sce pp. 15 ff.). The rubrics and
allusions cited above show that many medieval readers thought theincest significant.It is striking that every extended narrative version of the story includes the
opening episode of Antiochus and his daughter, howeverbriefly. It would have
been quite easy to think of an alternative motive for Apollonius’ flight, as did the
author of Jourdain de Blaye (sce above, pp. 54-5). The author of the Vienna
Redaction gave himself an excellent opening when he described Antiochus as
regent for Apollonius, but did not take the opportunity to develop this and make
Antiochus usurp the throne of his ward. Whether or not they traced in detail the
pattern by which the theme of father-dauphter relationships is repeated again
and again, medieval adaptors Clearly thought the incest opening very important
im has family romance. Iis also sting thar the story of Antiochus is never
found
without
the
subsequent
adventures
al
Apollonius
and
Tarsia,
though
ut
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
99
~
P
would have been very easy to extract as an exemplum in its own right. Antiochus,
Archistrates, Apollonius, and their respective daughters are all necessary, contrasting and complementing each other's roles. We should not assumethat the
openingincest scene is there by mistake.
Yet the incest themeis seldom stressed at the end of accounts of the story of
Apollonius, and Antiochus is rarely mentioned again after his death, except in
Apollonius' autobiographical speech at Ephesus (he does not figure in the brief
family history given to Tarsia by her nurse). As I pointed out above, Goweris
unusual in giving a moral summary, reminding us of Antiochus’ punishmentfor
unnatural love, and describing the story as an example for lovers. Most versions
end with an accountof Apollonius’ restoration to prosperity, and sometimes with
a prayer or reminder that we too must persevere amidst the vicissitudes of this
world. But the plot itself draws attention to the powerful bond between fathers
and daughters in other ways. Tarsia is seldom mentioned in rubrics, and neverin
allusions: yet it is her reunion with her father, rather than her mother's, which is
always the climax of the story. The riddle of appropriate father-daughterrelations
is solved by her, not verbally, but by her very existence, and the solution turns
out to be entirely positive. In the fifteenth-century Greek Diegesis Apolloniou the
significance of the loss and recovery of Tarsia is marked by the use of motifs
associated with the Crucifixion and Resurrection to evoke Apollonius’ grief and
subsequent joy. In the recognition scene in Pericles [V43], the hero hails his
longlost daughter as ‘thou that beget'st him that did thee beget’ (V.i.195), a
riddling description which soundssinister but suits the circumstances perfectly.
Stories of incest were very popularin the later Middle Ages, both in extended
narrative form and as exempla. Payen argues that the Gregorius story (eleventhtwelfth century) is an early and extremely influential example of the increasingly
popular choice of incest as the 'monstrous sin' in illustrations of the value of
confession and contrition.*! Sometimes incest was taken as the epitomeof original sin, as can be seen in the moralizations of the legends of Gregorius and
Albanusin the Gesta Romanorum,for instance, and in the insertion ofincest into
the Arthurian legend to account for Arthur's downfall.? The flight from incest
became a popular theme as the catalyst for the adventures of the heroine in the
Incestuous Father narratives, whether or notasa result of the influence of HA
See ].-Ch. Payen, Le motif du repentir dans la liuérature francaise médiévale (Geneva,
1967), pp. 54 ff. and 519 ff.; and Archibald, ‘Incest in Medieval Literature and
Society’, Forum for Modern Language Studies 25 (1989), 1-15, esp. pp. 5-6. The story of
Charlemagne’s reluctance to confess his incest with his sister may date back to the
tenth century: see Rita Lejeune, ‘Le péché de Charlemagneet la Chanson de Roland’, in
Studia Philologica: Homenaje ofrecido a Damaso Alonso, 3 vols (Madrid, 1961), II, pp.
339-71.
See the Gesta Ronumorum, ed. Oesterley, cc. 13, 181, 244; Helen Adolf, The Concept
of Onginal Sin. as. Reflected in. Atthurian. Romance, in. Studies. in. Language. ax
Luerature in Honour of Masgaret Schlai h (Warsaw, 1966), Frank J. Tobin, ‘Fallen Man
and. Ciregorms', Germanic Reeiww 50 (1975), 85 98) Archibald, ‘Incest ins Medieval
Literature and Socrety’, 5 6, and "Arthur and Mordied: Variations on. an Incest
I heme', i Aehunan Luesuuec 8 (1982), |]. 27
100
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
(sce above, pp. 58 ff.). It seems likely that the intense debates in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries among canon lawyers and theologians about the nature
and definition of marriage played a part in making incest a significant theme at
about the time that HA was beginning to be widely copied, circulated and
translated. But there is no reason to suppose that incest was not as prevalentin
medieval society as it is in our own. At the beginning of Book VIII of the
Confessio Amantis, Gower's Confessor gives a brief synopsis of the history of
marriage, in which he makes it clear that many people ignore the consanguinity
tules; he shocks young Amansbyinviting him to confess any such sins of his
own. Parish priests were expected to ask the same question of their confessants:
have you slept with a relation lately, and if so, how close a relation?
Medieval writers would have agreed with Shelley that ‘incest is like many
other incorrect things a very poetical circumstance’.4 There can be no doubtthat
the incest themein the story of Apollonius addedto its attraction and longevity,
whetherit was read as a cautionary tale or a family romance. Frye remarks in The
Secular Scripture (p. 23): ‘Any serious discussion of romance has to take into
account its curiously proletarian status as a form generally disapproved of, in
most ages, by the guardians of taste and leaming, except when they use it for
their own purposes.’ Very few allusions express disapproval of the Apollonius
story; as a tale which provided both sentence and solaas, it found favour in
monasteries as well as at wedding celebrations, in spite of its shocking incest
opening, and indeed because ofir.
The role of Fortune
Pericles begins with an important discussion of the reception of HA. The poet
Gower, whoacts as the Chorus, acknowledges the antiquity and popularity of the
story in the very first lines of the play:
To sing a song that old was sung
From ashes ancient Goweris come,
Assuming man’s infirmities,
To glad your ear and please youreyes.
It hath been sungatfestivals,
On ember-eves and holy-ales;
Andlords andladies in their lives
Havereadit for restoratives.
Thepurchase is to make men glorious;
Et bonum quo antiquius eo melius.
(L.Prol.1-10).
45 See for instance John Mark, Insinections for Parish Priests, Vl. 1235 42, ed. O. Kristensson, Lund Studies in English 49 (Lund, 1974), pp. 138. 9.
55 Letter to Marta Cisbome, Nov L6th, PHI: see | ctters of Perey Bysshe Shelley, ed FT.
Jones, 7 vols (Oxford; 1964), HH, p 054
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
101
These lines confirm the impression of varicty of audience and interpretation
made by the versions, rubrics, incipits and explicits, marginalia, manuscript context, illustrations and allusions discussed above. There is a contrast between the
story sung at popular gatherings and read in private by lords and ladies. There
maybe a further contrast betweenfestivals, where the story was presumably sung
for entertainment, as at the marriage feast in Flamenca, andreligious occasions
such as ‘ember-eves and holy-ales’, where it was presumably chosenforits exemplary aspect and perhaps even its penitential flavour.*5 The use of 'restoratives'is
interesting: the word occurs only once elsewhere in Shakespeare, when Romeo
kisses the lips of the poisoned Juliet ‘to make me die with a restorative’
(V.iii.166). In Pericles the word seems to suggest healing power, as Edwardsnotes
in his commentary; the following line, ‘The purchase is to make men glorious’,
sounds spiritual rather than secular, more reminiscentofsaints’ lives than romances.6
It might seem atfirst glance that this spiritual emphasis is repeated in the
epilogue (an unusual addition to the traditional plot). In the final lines Gower
summarizes the complex events of the play in moral terms (and reveals the fate of
Cleon and Dionyza, whose trial and punishmentis omitted).
In Antiochusand his daughter you have heard
Of monstrouslust the due and just reward.
In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen,
Althoughassail'd with fortune fierce and keen,
Virtue preserv'd from fell destruction's blast,
Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joyatlast.
In Helicanus may you well descry
A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty.
In reverend Cerimon there well appears
The worth that learned charity aye wears.
For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
Hadspreadhis cursed deed to th’ honour’d name
OfPericles, to rage thecity tum,
That him andhis theyin his palace burn.
Thegods for murder seemed so content
To punish; although not done, but meant.
(Epilogue, 1-16)
This summary is withoutparallel in any earlier version of the story: Gower had
commented on the wickedness of Antiochus and the uprightness of Apollonius
=
>
>
-€
Ember days are three-day periods offasting and prayer which occur four times during
the liturgical year. Neither ‘ember-eves’ nor ‘holy-ales’ occurs elsewhere in Shakespeare; in face ‘holy-ales’ is not recorded anywhere else at all, but is an emendation of
Q's reading ‘holydayes’ to restore the rhyme with ‘festivals’ (see the note on |. 6 in
Hoeniger's edition).
* See the New Penguin edition of Pericles by Philip Edwards (Elarmondsworth, 1976).
Hoentger, commenting on E. 9, notes that there isa: strong: resemblance between
Perales and the miracle plays (pp boo xen), see above, pp 56. |
102
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
at the end of his account in the Confessio Amantis, but in Pericles each section of
the plot, each major character is evaluated in moral terms.*’ Is there a single
moral lesson which stands out in this epilogue? At first reading the reference to
‘virtue preserv'd . . . led on by heaven, and crown'd with joyat last’ soundslike a
description of martyrdom in a hagiography. Butin the final lines divine justice is
attributed to the gods, rather than to God; throughout the play the pagan
elements are preserved, and indeed expanded. Diana herself makes an appearance: it is she rather than an angelic vision who orders Pericles to go to Ephesus
andtell his story there. Asfor the final coronation of joy, it can be interpreted
quite literally in terms of the plot: Pericles and his family regain their royal status,
and Marina (Tarsia) marries a prince.If there is a morallesson, it seems so simple
as to be almost bathetic: avoid monstrouslust andstick to virtue.
The‘restorative’ quality of the story of Apollonius may have less to do with
spiritual need than with the requirements of reader or audience. Although the
hero is persecuted, exiled, shipwrecked, separated from wife and child, although
his wife spends fourteen years incarcerated in a temple and his daughter only
narrowly escapes murder and then rape,it all comes right in the end: with the
help of loyalty and leamed charity, virtue is preserved to be crowned by joy, and
all the villains are punished. The key phrase in this epilogue seems to meto be
‘assail’d with fortune fierce and keen’ (I. 4). As I argued above, there seems to be
no reason forthe suffering of Apollonius and his family; the real manipulator of
events is not a jealous goddess or a God who wishes to test their faith, but
Fortune, that powerful overseer of medieval destinies.”
Fortuna is certainly present in HA, though not particularly often invoked.
Apollonius departs for Cyrene ‘premente fortuna’ (11, 2: ‘urged on by fortune’).
When Athenagoras hears Tarsia’s sad story, he is very moved and comments:
‘Erige te. Scimus fortunae casus: homines sumus.’ (34, 7-8: ‘Get up. We all know
the mishaps of fortune; we are all human.') Klebs noted that ‘fato et fortuna
favente’ (‘aided by destiny and fortune’) is a favourite phrase in manuscripts of
the RB Bem Redaction [V5].9? Henricus Septimellensis in the late twelfth century thought of Apollonius as one of Fortune's victims [A18]. Fortune is much
invoked throughout Godfrey of Viterbo's version in the Pantheon, and the poet
47 |n Wilkins the end is telescoped, so that the punishmentof the pimp and of Cleon and
Dyonysa, the (re)acquisition of the thrones of Pentapolis, Tyre and Antioch, and the
death ofPericles, are all related in the last two pages; there is no moral summary.
48 This emphasis on pagan gods seems to be typical of the late plays. Northrop Frye has
noted that Diana is the presiding divinity ofthis pay. as Jupiter is of Cymbeline, Apollo
of The Winter's Tale and Venus of Two Noble Kinsmen: see his essay ‘Romance as
Masque’in Shakespeare’s Romances oen “ Carol McGinnis Kay and Henry E.
Jacobs (Lincoln, Neb., 1978), pp. 11-39, es
49 See the classic study by Howard Patch, TheCoie'ss Fortuna in. Medieval Literature
(Cambridge, Ma., 1927; rp. New York, 1967).
59 See p. 122. Kortekaas notes that on three o casions "fatum or "fortuna! occurs in RA
but is omitted in RB, in his view because the RB redactor tied to avoid improper!
(here pagan) details: see p
about astrology see pp
65
Tle believes that the Uh text contained much more
027 8 (he extends the dis ussion ina forthe oning article)
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
103
credits her. with responsibility for the happy ending. Gower, who names the
Pantheon as his source, stresses the role of Fortune in the various disasters which
overwhelm Apollonius, but also presents her as benevolent to good lovers. At
the end of the story Confessor assures Amans:
Fortune, thogh sche be noghtstable,
Yit at som timeis favorable
To hem thatben oflove trewe.
(2013-15)
Goodall argues that Goweris unusual in stressing the link between Fortune and
the morality of an individual's actions, and sees the Apollonius story as a particularly good example of this link.*!
Several digressions on Fortune and mutability are included in the thirteenthcentury Spanish Libro de Apolonio. TheLatin lyric in the Carmina Burana devotes
onc whole stanza to the cyclical progress oflife by ups and downs, joy after sorrow
and sorrow after joy, though Fortuneis not specifically mentioned. In the fourteenth-century Brussels Redaction, and in Garbin's fifteenth-century French
edition, it is Fortune rather than Neptune against whom Apollonius inveighs
after his shipwreck. In the Brussels Redaction he also appeals to Fortune when he
joins in the king’s game. When he andtheprincess are discussing proper behaviour in relation to love at the banquet, he complains that he would notbe able to
respond to a declaration of love because he has been so humiliated by Fortune;
the princesstries to cheer him up by reminding him of the principle of Fortune's
wheel. In the Vienna Redaction Apollonius sings at the banquet a song entitled
'fortune a tost mis homme a honneurettost l'a abaisssié' ('Fortune has given man
total honour and total humiliation'). The lyric on Apollonius's meeting with the
king in the baths by Hans Sachs [V36] ends with the moral that when Fortune
(‘gliick’) is fickle, rather than despair, one should wait for better times. Belleforest [V35] remarks that great men suffer more from Fortune than the obscure.
Timoneda [V40] makes the princess sing a song about love and Fortune. In
Corrozet, when Apollonius enters Antioch to be crownedafter his wife’s ‘death’,
two men carry images of Fortune representing the adversities he has endured.
Pucci [V18] ends the second section of his poem (Apollonius’ wedding) with a
prayer to God that we may not be thrownoff the wheel of Fortuneinto the abyss;
later it is Fortune who brings Apollonius to Metellina, where his daughteris.
Fortune is mentioned, implicitly or explicitly, in the titles, subtitles or introductions of some versions. The subtitle of Corrozet's text is [Apolonius] lequel
apres avoir souffert plusieurs et diverses calamites et adversites retourna en plus gros
honneuret joie que devant (‘Apollonius who after having suffered manydifferent
disasters returned in greater honour and joy than before’); in the prologue he
declares his intention of describing Apollonius tristes fortunes, calamites cet
louable patience’ (unhappy fortunes, calamities and admirable patience’). Belle9 Peter Goodall, John Gowers Apallonnas of Lyre’, Sorathem Reaew 15 (1982), 243 53
(ce p
249)
104
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
forest in his introduction speaks of‘les jeux de la fortune sur un Prince genercux
ct sur toute sa maison’ (‘Fortune's games with a noble prince and his whole
household’), and describes his story as ‘a tragic comedy’. Falckenburg’s long
subtitle includes the phrase praeter innumeros FORTUNAE labyrinthos ('in spite of
the innumerable labyrinths of Fortune’). Twine stresses the ups and downsof the
sublunary world in his subtitle: The strange accidents that befell unto Prince Apollonius . . . wherein the uncertaintie of this world, and the fickle state of man's life are
lively described.
In Pericles, as in Gower's Confessio Amantis, Fortune can be both friend and
foe. Pericles’ escape from the shipwreck is attributed to ‘fortune, tir’d of doing
bad’ (11.Chorus.37), but in the epilogue she is presented as entirely hostile, a
force to be outmanoeuvred:
In Pericles, his queen and daughter,seen,
Althoughassail'd with fortune fierce and keen,
Virtue preserv'd from fell destruction's blast,
Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last.
(Epilogue 2-5)
Muir argues that Pericles shows ‘the converting of the wheel of Fortune into the
wheel of Providence’; Bullough agrees, and adds: ‘The Christian promise of
patient virtue ultimately blessed by God is set forth in terms of a medievalized
pagan romance.’*I do not agree that a strong Christian emphasis is added to the
story in Pericles: some medieval versions were much more explicitly Christian
and didactic (for instance the Libro de Apolonio and the Diegesis Apolloniou). The
play scems to me to preservethe traditional absence of rationale for the disasters
which afflict Apollonius/Pericles and his family, as well as che pagan setting.
Wilson Knight thinks that the pagan deities in the play, Neptune and Diana,
‘counter the chance-like concept of Fortune’.*? Neptune would seem to be more
on theside of Fortune thanagainst her, at least in the first half of the play; butit
is certainly Diana who brings aboutthe final reunion, thereby helping to defeat
‘fortune fierce and keen’.
The theme of the innocent hero who has to struggle against some form of
destiny or divine hostility until at last he can return homeandlive happily with
his family is at least as old as the Odyssey (and the Bible too). Unlike the
chivalric quest, the experience does not teach him anything, or prove anything
about his character; it is merely a moral and physical endurance test, and an
example of the fickleness of the gods or the instability of the wheel of Fortune,
whatever the metaphor of the time happens to be. In discussing the story of
Eustace, which also belongs to this category, Braswell uscs the generic title ‘The
ManTried byFate’, a title which seems to fit Apollonius very well, and perhaps
91 K. Muir, Shakespeare as Collaborator (London, 1960), p. 83, G. Bullough, Narrative and
Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare VIC ondon, 1966), p. 372.
WG. Wilson Kaihe, The Crown of Life bvays inthe Iterpretason of Shakespeare's Final
Plays (Landon, L947), p 71
GENRE, RECEPTION AND POPULARITY
105
also helps to explain the appeal of his story.4 He was seen not as a knight or as a
saint, but rather as a sort of Everyman.*
Conclusion
I
n
F4
There can be no simple answerto the question whythe story of Apollonius was
so popular, noris it easy to say to whatgenreit belongs. Its appeal seems to have
derived in part from the incest theme, in part from the motif of undeserved
suffering imposed by capricious Fortune, andalso from the flexibility of the story,
the opportunity to mix sentence and solaas to taste. The building blocks available
were archetypal motifs, as Frye points out, and therefore interesting however
naively they were combined. He sees the Apolloniusstory as a classic example
of a romance which involves the isolation of the protagonist from the familiar
world, descent into some sort of underworld (real or psychological), and then
ascent to security and happiness when he or she recovers identity, home and
family; he considers this theme of descent (in both senses of the word) an
essential characteristic of romance." Heis far from sharing Jonson’s low opinion
of the Apollonius plot (though he does suggest that the reader, like the hero,
needs the virtue of patience: herefers to the dream which sends Apollonius to
Ephesusas the work of 'a god whois getting tired of the story').9
HA offers an abundance of archetypal themes — good and bad fathers, a
wicked foster-mother, loss and recovery of identity, separation and reunion of a
family, sea journeys and storms, chastity threatened, incest consummated and
averted, tribulation and prosperity, despair and happiness. This narrative skeleBraswell, ‘Sir Isumbras’, p. 133. It is interesting that Braswell considers The Man Tried
by Fate as the male counterpart of The Calumniated Wife, and links Eustace, Constance, Florence and Griselda as prototypes of these closely connected themes. The
story of Griselda sometimes appears in the same manuscripts as a version of Apollonius,
as | noted above (p. 96); Apollonius is compared by at least one redactor to Eustace
(see above, n. 35); the Prologue to the Man of Law's Tale links his story to that of
Constance (see above, pp. 58
See Wilson Knight's comments on the passivity of Pericles (p. 73): ‘Heis, indeed,less a
X
*
ws
sD
realized person than man, almost “everyman”, in the morality sources, as the epilogue
suggests.’ Gesner compares him to Everyman,and alsoto Job; she thinks the story has
an intrinsically Christian meaning (Shakespeare and the Greek Romances, pp. 53 and
88-9).
The Secular Scripture, pp. 50-1.
See The Secular Scripture, p. 54, and also cc. 4 and 5, pp. 97-157. These themes of
descent andascentfit very well with the motif of the wheel of Fortune.
See The Secular Scripture, p. 49. Frye is rather inconsistent in his assessment of the story
of Apollonius: on p. 49 he argues that it is not just a sequence of Sind thens’, but builds
up to a conclusion whichrestates the theme of the opening’, so that "the beginning is a
demonic parody of the end) Bat then he admits that ‘Pericles... seems to be a
deliberate experiment in presenting a tradiional arc hetypal sequence as nakedly and
haldly as possible’ (p. 51
106
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
ton was clearly much appreciated in its originalstate, since HA wasso frequently
copied without changes, but flesh could be added to transform it in several
different ways: it could easily become a fashionable chivalric romance or a
powerful Christian exemplum. In this it resembles the stories of Alexander and
Arthur, which were frequently retold with very different slants, as pure romance
or as chronicle or as cautionary tale. But the popularity of Apollonius is even
more impressive than that of the two Worthies when one considers that he
lacked their advantages,theclassical associations and undisputed historical kernel of Alexander, and the Celtic glamour and exemplary chivalry of Arthur?
The secret of the success of the story of Apollonius seems to have lain in its
indeterminate genre and lack of explicit motivation or moralization, the variable
ratio of dungheapto gold in the adventures of a Tyrian Everyman.
38 Piye does not refer tothe many romances about Alexander or Archur an Uhe Secular
Sonpttare, bat he (requendy mentions Apollonias
PART TWO
PREFACE TO THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION
This is not a full critical edition of HA. The text printed here is basically that of
the RA version in Kortekaas (1984). 1 have also consulted the editions of
Tsitsikli (1981) and Schmeling (1988), the commentary of Konstan and Roberts
(1985), and articles by Hunt (see Select Bibliography). Tsitsikli, Schmeling and
Huntoffer some ingenious emendations, and omit or transpose various phrases or
sentencesin order to make better sense. On the whole I have preferred to follow
Kortckaas in sticking as closely as possible to the two main variants of RA (A
and P: for descriptions of che manuscripts see chapter 1, pp. 8-9, and Kortekaas,
pp. 23 ff.). Poor grammarand repetition are features of this text, and I see no
reason to tidy them up beyond what is needed to make the text comprehensible,
though in the interests of intelligibility I have sometimes preferred a variant
reading.Italics in the Latin text indicate either that I have differed significantly
from Kortekaas’ RA text, or that a word or phrase is badly corrupt. In c. 45 I have
included in the main text a lengthy description of the recognition scene found
only in RB(it is italicized in both Latin and English).
I have made a number of emendations, for instance where a nominative
obviously ought to be accusative, and have also expanded abbreviations. In the
interests of readers not used to the vagaries of medieval Latin, I have normalized
spelling (for instance, I print 'formositas' at 1, 4 rather than the 'formonsitas' of
the manuscript, retained by Kortekaas), and I have also standardized the proper
names. I have substituted v for u throughout, and have altered Kortekaas' punctuation and paragraphdivision.
Asterisks refer to bricf notes at the end of the text and translation on particularly problematic passages, quotations from classical texts, etc. There is no critical apparatus or detailed commentary. In the footnotes | print variants or
additions in RB which offer interesting alternatives or expansions. My selection
may seem arbitrary, and indecdirrelevant; butif Kortckaasis right in arguing that
RB is based on RA (whether or not the writer had a Greek text to hand), RB
could be said to represent the earliest ‘reader response’ to HA. Although the
discrepancies berween the two texts are seldom substantial, they are significant,
whether they take the form of proper names, practical details, or additional
dialogue. | have tried to place the foornote numbers soas to indicate how the RB
variantfits into the RA text.
In preparing the translation 1 have consulted the English versions by Turner
(1956), Pavloskis (1978), and Sandy (1989), the German version of Waiblinger
(1978), and the Konstan/Roberts commentary (01985). HE have aimed at accuracy
rather than elegance Gand have taken refuge in lireral translinon when the sense
110
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
is not clear). So I have usually used the simple ‘said’ for the very frequent‘ait’,
rather than varying it as ‘asked’, ‘replied’, etc. Similarly, both princesses are
usually referred to as 'puella', and so I have translated 'girl'. | do occasionally
substitute a namefor a Latin pronoun whenthe sense might otherwise be hard to
follow. ! also translate in the past tense many verbs which appear in the present
in the Latin: the text is very inconsistent in this respect.
Prof. Michael Lapidge and Prof. Peter Dronke kindly read both text and
translation in draft, and suggested a numberof valuable corrections and improvements; such errors as remain are of course my own.
Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri
1. In civitate Antiochia rex fuit quidam nomine Antiochus, a quo ipsa civitas
nomen accepit Antiochia. Is habuit! unam filiam, virginem speciosissimam, in
qua nihil rerum natura exerraverat, nisi quod mortalem statuerat. (Quac dum ad
nubilem pervenisset aetatem et species ct formositas cresceret, multi eam in
matrimonium petebant et cum magna dotis pollicitatione currebant. Et cum
pater deliberaret, cui potissimum filiam suam in matrimonium daret, cogente
iniqua cupiditate flamma concupiscentiae incidit in amorem filiae suae et coepit
eam aliter diligere quam patrem oportebat. (Qui cum luctatur cum furore, pugnat
cum dolore, vincitur amore; excidit illi pictas, oblitus est se esse patrem ct induit
coniugem.
Sed cum sui pectoris vulnus ferre non posset, quadam die primaluce vigilans
inrumpit cubiculum filiae suae. Famulos longe excedere iussit, quasi cum filia
secretum conloquium habiturus, et stimulante furore libidinis diu repugnanti
filiae suae nodum virginitatis eripuit. Perfectoque scelere evasit cubiculum. Puclla vero stans dum miratur scelestis patris impietatem, fluentem sanguinem coepit
cclare: sed guttae sanguinis in pavimento ceciderunt.
2. Subito nutix eius introivit cubiculum. Utvidit puellam flebili vultu, asperso
pavimento sanguine, roseo rubore perfusam, ait: 'Quid sibi vult iste turbatus
animus? Puella ait: 'Cara nutrix, modo hoc in cubiculo duo nobilia pericrunt
nomina." Nutrix ignoransait: 'Domina, quare hoc dicis? Puclla ait: ‘Ante legit
imam mearum nuptiarum diem saevo scelere violatam vides. Nutrix ut hacc
audivit atque vidisset, exhorruit atque ait: 'Quis tanta fretus audacia virginis
reginae maculavit torum?Puella ait: 'Impictas fecit scelus! Nutrix ait: ‘Cur ergo
non indicas patri? Puella ait: 'Et ubi est pater? Et ait: 'Cara nutrix, si intellegis
quod factum est: periit in me nomenpatris. Itaque ne hoc scelus genitoris mci
|ORI ex amma conie
ORD Chee nint regem"
The Story of Apollonius King of Tyre
1. In the city of Antioch there was a king called Antiochus, from whomthecity
itself took the name Antioch. He had one daughter', a most beautiful girl;
nature's only mistake was to have made her mortal. When she became old
enough to marry and was becoming increasingly beautiful and attractive, many
men sought her in marriage, and came hurrying with promises of large marriage
gifts. While her father was considering to whom best to give his daughter in
marriage, driven by immoral passion and inflamed by lust he fell in love with his
own daughter, and he began to love her in a way unsuitable for a father. He
struggled with madness, he fought against passion, but he was defeated by love;
he lost his sense of moral responsibility, forgot that he was a father, and took on
the role of husband.
Since he could not endure the woundin his breast, one day when he was
awake at dawn he rushed into his daughter's room and ordered the servants to
withdraw, as if he intended to have a private conversation with her. Spurred on
by the frenzy of his lust, he took his daughter's virginity by force, in spite of her
lengthy resistance. When the wicked deed was done he left the bedroom. But the
pirl stood astonished at the immorality of her wicked father. She tried to hide the
flow of blood: but drops of blood fell onto thefloor.
2. Suddenly her nurse came into the bedroom. Whenshe saw the girl blushing
scarlet, her face wet with tears and the floor spattered with blood, she asked:
‘What is the meaningof this distress?’ The girl said: ‘Dear nurse, just now in this
bedroom two noble reputations have perished.’ Not understanding, the nurse
said: ‘Lady, why do you say this” The girl said: 'You see a girl who has been
brutally and wickedly raped before her lawful wedding day.’ The nurse was
horrified by what she heard and saw,and shesaid: ‘Whowasso bold as to violate
the bed of the virgin princess?” The girl said: ‘Disregard for morality caused this
crune. The nurse said: "Then why do you not tell your father?" The girl said:
‘And where is my father? Dear nurse,” she went on, ‘if you understand what has
happened: for me the name of father has ceased to exist. So rather than reveal
"ORB. by bus wife, who was dead,
ROB Sand didnot fev the bane
114
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
patefaciam, mortis remedium mihi placet. Horreo, ne haec macula gentibus inno-
tescat.' Nutrix ut vidit puellam mortis remedium quacrcere, vix eam blando scr-
monis conloquio revocat ut a propositae mortis immanitate excederet, et invitam
patris sui voluntati satisfacere cohortatur.
3. Qui cum simulata mente ostendebat se civibus suis pium genitorem, intra
domesticos vero parietes maritum se filiae gloriabatur. Et ut semper impio toro
frueretur, ad expellendos nuptiarum petitores quaestiones proponebat dicens:
‘Quicumque vestrum quaestionis meae propositae solutionem invenerit, accipiet
filiam meam in matrimonium; qui autem non invenerit, decollabitur.' Et si quis
forte prudentia litterarum quaestionis solutionem invenisset, quasi nihil dixissct,
decollabatur et caput cius super portae fastigium suspendebatur!. Atqui plurimi
undique reges, undique patriae principes propter incredibilem pucllae speciem
contempta morte properabant.
4. Etcum has crudelitates rex Antiochus exerceret, quidam adulescens locuples
valde, genere Tyrius, nomine Apollonius,5 navigans attingit Antiochiam. Ingressusque ad regem ita eum salutavit: 'Ave, domine rex Antioche'5 ct 'quod pater
pius es, ad vota tua festinus veni: gener regio genere ortus peto filiam tuam in
matrimonium.' Rex ut audivit quod audire nolebat, irato vultu respiciens iuvenemsic ait ad eum: "Iuvenis, nosti nuptiarum condicionem?At ille ait: "Novi et
ad portae fastigium vidi.’ ‘Audi ergo quaestionem: Scelere vehor, maternam
carnem vescor, quaero fratrem meum, meae matris virum, uxoris meae filium:
non invenio.' luvenis accepta quaestione paululum discessit a rege; quam cum
sapienter scrutaretur, favente deo invenit quaestionis solutionem. Ingressusque
ad regem sic ait: 'Domine rex, proposuisti mihi quaestionem; audiergo solutionem. Quod dixisti: scelere vchor, non es mentitus: te respice. Et quod dixisti:
maternam carnem vescor, nec et hoc mentituscs: filiam tuam intucre.'
5. Rexutvidit iuvenem quaestionis solutionem invenisse," sic ait ad cum: 'Erras,
iuvenis, nihil verum dicis. Decollari quidem mereberis, sed habes triginta dicrum
-»--
5.
RB: ut advenientes imaginem mortis videntes conturbarentur ne ad talem condirionem
accederent.
RB: patriae suae princeps,
RI fidus abundantia litterarum
RI Ft ut vidi rex quod vulere nolebat, ad iuvenem ai
"Salvi sunt cuncti parentes tui?
luvetis ait. "Ultimum signaverunt diem '! Kex ait "Ulum nomen reliquerunt '
RES tinens e elus suum patefiret
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
115
my parent's crime, I prefer the solution of death. 1 shudder at the thoughtthat
this disgrace may become knownto the people.’ When the nurse saw that the girl
sought a solution in death, she managed with difficulty to persuade her through
cajoling words and argumentsto give up the horrible idea of killing herself; and
she encouraged the reluctantgirl to satisfy her father's desire.
3. He presented himself deceitfully to his citizens as a devoted parent, but inside
his own walls he delighted in being his daughter's husband. And so that he could
enjoy this immoralrelationship for ever, he posed riddles to get rid of her suitors.
Hesaid: 'Whicheverof you finds the solution to the riddle I have set, he shall
have my daughter in marriage. But whoever does notfind it shall lose his head.’
And if anyone happened to find the solution to the riddle through intelligence
and learning, he was beheaded as if he had not answeredatall, and his head was
hung onthe top of the gate). And yet kings and princesfrom far and wide hurried
there in great numbers, scorning death because of the girl's incredible beauty.
4. While King Antiochus was engaged in these cruel practices, a very rich
young man, a Tyrian by birth,* named Apollonius,5 arrived by ship at Antioch.
He entered the presence of the king and greeted him: 'Hail, my lord King
Antiochus’® and ‘As you are a devoted father, ] have comein hasteto carry out
your wishes. As a son-in-law of royal birth, I ask for your daughter's hand in
marriage.’ When the king heard whathe did not wantto hear, he looked angrily
at the young man andsaid to him: ‘Young man, do you know the termsfor the
marriage” Apollonius replied: ‘I do, and I saw them onthetop ofthegate.’ ‘Then
listen to the riddle: “I am borne on crime; I eat my mother’s flesh; I seek my
brother, my mother's husband, my wife's son; | do not find him." ' When he had
heard the riddle the young man withdrew a little from the king. He thought
about it intelligently, and with God's help he found the answerto the riddle.
Going in to the king again, he said: ‘Lord King, you have set me a riddle: so listen
to the answer. When yousaid “I am bome on crime”, you did not lie: look at
yourself. Nor did you lie when you said "I eat my mother's flesh": look at your
daughter.’
^
--
5. When the king saw that the young man had found the answerto the riddle,’
he spoke to him asfollows: ‘You are wrong, young man,thereis no truth in what
you say. Indeed you deserve to be beheaded, but you have thirty days’ grace:
RB: so that the sight of che image of death would upset those arriving, and dissuade
them from apreeing to such terms.
RB: prince of his country,
RB: relying on his considerable learning,
RB: When the king saw what he did not want to see, he said to the young man: ‘Are all
your kinsmen alive?” The young man said: Thear bise day has been sealed’ The king
sand: Fhey have left à List des endanc'
WI deanng that his cime would become known
116
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
spatium: recogita tecum. Et dum reversus fueris et quaestionis mcae propositac
solutionem inveneris, accipies filiam meam in matrimonium.' Iuvenis conturbatum habebat animum. Paratamque habens navem ascendit ad patriam suam
Tyrum.*
6. Et post discessum adulescentis vocat ad se Antiochus rex dispensatorem suum
fidelissimum nomine Taliarchum etdicit ei: "Taliarche, secretorum meorum fidclissime minister, scias quia Tyrius Apollonius invenit quaestionis mcae solutionem. Ascende ergo navem confestim ad persequendum iuvenem, et dum veneris
Tyrum in patriam eius, inquires inimicum eius qui eum aut ferro aut vencno
interimat. Postquam reversus fueris, libertatem accipies.' Taliarchus vero hoc
audito adsumens pecuniam simulque venenum navem ascendens petiit patriam
innocentis.
Pervenit innocens tamen Apollonius prior ad patriam suam ct introivit
domum.Et aperto scrinio codicum suorum inquisivit omnes quaestiones auctorum
omniumque pacne philosphorum disputationes omniumque ctiam Chaldacorum.
Et dum aliud non invenisset nisi quod cogitaverat, ad semetipsum locutus cest
dicens: 'Quid agis, Apolloni? Quaestionem rcgis solvisti. Filiam eius non accepisti. Ideo dilatus es, ut neceris.' Atque ita oncrari praecepit naves frumento. Ipse
quoque Apollonius cum paucis comitantibus fidelissimis servis navem occulte
ascendit deferens secum multum pondusauri atque argenti sed et vestem copiosissimam. Et hora noctis silentissimatertia tradidit se alto pelago.
7. Alia vero die in civitate sua quaeritur a civibus suis ad saluctandum et non
inventusest. Fit tremor, sonat planctus ingens per totam civitatem. Tantus namque amor civium suorum erga eurn erat, ut per multa tempora tonsores privarcn-
tur a publico, spectacula tollerentur, balnca clauderentur?. Et ut cum haec Tyro
aguntur, supervenit ille Taliarchus, qui a rege Antiocho fucrat missus ad necandum iuvenem. Qui ut vidit omnia clausa, ait cuidam pucro: ‘Indica mihi, si
valeas: quae est haec causa, quod civitas ista in luctu moratur? Cui puerait: 'O
hominem improbum! Scit et interrogat! Quis est enim qui nesciat ideo hanc
civitatem in luctum esse quia princeps huius patriae nomine Apollonius reversus
ab Antiochia subito nusquam comparuit
Tunc Taliarchus dispensator regis hoc audito gaudio plenus rediit ad navem.
Ettertia navigationis die attigit Antiochiam. Ingressusque ad regem ait: ‘Domine
rex, laetare et gaude, quia iuvenis ille Tyrius Apollonius timens regni vircs tui
subito nusquam comparuit.' Rex ait: ‘Fugere quidem potest, sed effugere non
potest.’ Continuo huiusmodi edictum proposuit: Quicumque mihi Tyrium Apol-
"o
RI Po ipitur cum magna iude a civibus suis, sicut solent principes qui bene merentur.
Duciur in domum suam cum laude et vox ibus laetitiae, intetiorem petit cubiculum
OR non templa neque tabernas quisquam ingeederetus
* Note ion pe
EMO
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
117
think it over again. And when you have come back and have found the answer
to my riddle, you shall have my daughter in marriage.’ The young man was
disturbed. He had his ship ready, and embarked for Tyre, his home.*
6. When the young manhad departed, King Antiochus summonedhis steward,
a most loyal man named Taliarchus, and said to him: ‘Taliarchus, most loyal
accomplice in my secrets, you must know that Apollonius of Tyre has found the
answerto myriddle. So take ship at once and pursue the young man, and when
you come to Tyre, his home, seek out some enemyof his, who would kill him
with a sword or with poison. When you return you shall have your freedom.’
WhenTaliarchus heard this, he provided himself with money andalso poison,
boarded a ship, and made for the country of the innocent man.
The innocent Apollonius arrived in his homeland first, however, and went
into his palace. He opened his bookchest, and examinedall the riddles of the
authors and the debates of almostall the philosophers and also ofall the Chaldacans. Since he found nothing except what he had already thoughtout,he said
to himself: "What are you doing, Apollonius? You have solved the king’s riddle.
You have not obtained his daughter. You have been putoff onlyto be killed.’ So
he ordered his ships to be loaded with grain. He himself, accompanied by a few
very loyal servants, boardedhis ship in secret, raking with him a large amountof
gold and silver and a great deal of clothing. And at the third hour of the night,
whenit was very quiet, he entrusted himself to the opensea.
7. Next day in the city his people looked for him in orderto pay their respects,
but did not find him. They were alarmed, and the sound of great lamentation was
heard throughout the entire city. So great was his people's love for him thatfor a
long time the barbers were deprived of clients, the shows were cancelled and the
baths were closed?. While this was happening at Tyre there arrived Taliarchus,
the man who had been sent by King Antiochus to kill the young man. When he
saw everything closed, he asked a boy: 'If you can, tell me why this city is in
mourning.’ The boy replied: "What a shameless man! He knows perfectly well
and yet he asks! Who does not know thar this city is in mourning for this reason,
because the prince of this country, Apollonius, came back from Antioch and
then suddenly disappeared.’
WhenTaliarchus the king’s steward heard this, he was delighted and returned
to his ship, and after sailing for two days arrived at Antioch. He entered the
presence of the king and said: ‘Lord king, rejoice and be glad, for that young
Apollonius of Tyre has suddenly disappeared, fearing your royal power.’ The king
sal: "He can run away, but he cannot escape.' Immediately he announced the
*
ORB: He was received with great acclaim by his people, às is usual for princes who
deserve well. Ele was es orted into his palace with praise and shouts of joy, and went to
his private bedroom.
^R and no one went ino the temples or caves
* Note non p IR
118
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
lonium, contemptorem regni mei, vivum exhibuerit, accipiet auri talenta centum; qui vero caputeius attulerit, accipiet ducenta!9."* Hoc edicto proposito non
tantum eius inimici sed etiam et amici cupiditate ducebantur et ad indagandum
properabant. Quaeritur Apollonius per terras, per montes,persilvas, per universas indagines, et non inveniebatur.
8. Tunc iussit rex classes navium praeparari ad persequendum iuvenem. Sed
moras facientibus his qui classes navium praeparabant," devenit Apollonius
civitatem Tarsiam. Et deambulansiuxta litus visus est a quodam Hellenico,cive
suo, qui supervenerat ipsa hora. Et accedens ad eum Hellenicusait: ‘Ave, rex
Apolloni" At ille salutatus fecit quod potentes facere consueverunt: sprcvit
hominem plebeium. Tunc senex indignatus iterato salutavit eum et ait: 'Ave,
inquam, Apolloni, resaluta et noli despicere paupertatem nostram, honestis
moribus decoratam. Si enim scis, cavendumtibi est; si autem nescis, admonendus
es. Audi, forsitan quod nescis, quia proscriptus es.' Cui Apolloniusait: 'Et quis
patriae meae principem potuit proscribere? Hellenicus ait: 'Rex Antiochus.' Ait
Apollonius: 'Qua ex causa? Hellenicus ait: 'Quia filiam eius in matrimonium
petisti." Apollonius ait: ‘Et quantum meproscripsit?" Hellenicus respondit: 'Ut
quicumque te vivum exhibuerit, centum auri talenta accipiat; qui vero caput
tuum absciderit, accipiet ducenta". Ideoque moneo te: fugae praesidium manda."
Haec cum dixisset Hellenicus, discessit. Tunc iussit Apollonius revocari ad se
senem et ait ad eum: 'Rem fecisti optimam ut me instrueres. Pro qua re reputa tc
mihi caput a cervicibus amputasse et gaudium regi pertulisse.' Et iussit ei proferri
centum talenta auri et ait: 'Áccipe,gratissimi exempli pauperrime, quia mereris.
Et puta te, sicut paulo ante dixi, caput a cervicibus amputasse et gaudium regi
pertulisse. Er ecce, habes centum talenta auri ct puras manus a sanguinc
10 RB: 'L talenta auri . . . cencum*.
! RB: iuvenis ille Tyrius Apollonius iam ut medium umbilicum pelagi tencbat, respiciens
ad eum gubernatorsic ait: ‘Domine Apolloni, numquid de arte mca aliquid quereris?"
‘Ego quidem de arte tua nihil queror, sed a rege illo Antiocho quaeror: interiorem
itaque partem pelagi teneamus. Rex enim longam habet manum: quod voluerit facere,
perficiet. Sed. verendumest ne nos persequatur! Oubernator ait: "Ergo, domine, armatnenta. paranda. sunt. et aqua. dulcis quaerenda. est. Subiacet nobis litus Tarsiae.'
luvenis aut: "Petamus Tarsum et erit nobis eventus Et veniens. Apollonius Taisum
€VASIE
Fate.
PRIV uia quod parer est esse volui?
Run
* Note i on r
HO
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
119
following edict: ‘Whoeverdelivers to me alive Apollonius of Tyre, whois guilty
of treason against my crown,shall receive one hundredtalents of gold; whoever
brings me his head shall receive two hundred!9.* Whenthis edict was proclaimed, not only Apollonius' enemies but also his friends were influenced by
greed and hurried to track him down. They looked for him on land, in the
mountains, in the forests, in every possible hiding-place; but they did not find
him.
8. Then the king ordered the ships for his fleet to be made ready in order to
pursue the young man; but the menresponsible for preparing the ships for the
fleet were dilatory.! Apollonius arrived at the city of Tarsus. Ás he was walking
on the beach, he was seen by Hellenicus,a fellow-citizen of his, who had arrived
at that very moment. Hellenicus approached him andsaid, ‘Greetings, King
Apollonius!’ Apollonius reacted to this greeting as great menare inclined to do:
he ignored the lowborn man. Thenthe indignant old man greeted him again and
said: ‘Greetings, 1 say, Apollonius. Return my greeting, and do not despise my
poverty, for it is distinguished by an honest character. If you know, you must be
careful; if you do not know, you must be warned. Listen to what perhaps you do
not know,that you have been proscribed.’ Apollonius said to him: ‘And who had
the power to proscribe me, the ruler of my country” Hellenicus said: ‘King
Antiochus.’ Apollonius said: “What was the reason” Hellenicus said: ‘Because
you wanted to marry his daughter'?.’ Apollonius asked: ‘For what price has he
proscribed me?’ Hellenicus answered: ‘Whoeverbrings you in alive will get one
hundred talents of gold; but whoever cuts off your head will get two hundred".
SoI give you warning: take refuge in flight.’
When Hellenicus had said this, he went away. Then Apollonius had the old
man called back, and said to him: ‘You have done very well to inform me. In
return, imagine that you have cut my head off my shoulders and brought joy to
the king.’ And he ordered one hundred talents of gold to be given to him, and
said: ‘Very poor as you are, you set a most excellent example. Take it, for you
deserve it. And imagine, as I said just now, that you have cut off my head from
my shoulders and brought joy to the king. You see, you have one hundredtalents
of gold, and your hands are not stained by the blood of an innocent man.’
* RB: ‘fifty calents of gold... one hundred.’
" [RU As young Apollonius‘of Tyre was keeping well out to sea, the helmsman looked at
him and said: ‘Lord Apollonius, do you have any complaint about myskill” Apollonius
said: "Indeed 1 do not have any complaint about yourskill, but 1 am being sought by
King Antiochus, so let us keep well out to sea. For the king has a long arm: he will carry
out what he has determined to do. It is to be feared that he may pursue us.’ The
helmsman said: ‘Well, lord, we need to prepare the tackle and look for fresh water. We
are lying off the coast of Tarsus” The young man said: ‘Lec us make for Tarsus and we
shall have the opportunity! And Apollonius arrived at Tyre and diseinbarked.
U OP RBS CDBecause you wanted to be what the father is
ORB. hlty
one hundred '
* Note i on E
| AG
120
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
innocentis.' Cui Hellenicus ait: 'Absit, domine, ut huius rei causa praemium
accipiam. Apud bonos enim homines amicitia praemio non comparatur." Et vale
dicensdiscessit.
9. Posthaec Apollonius dum deambularet in eodem loco supra litore, occurrit ci
alius homo nomine Stranguillio'*. Cui ait Apollonius: ‘Ave, mi carissime Stranguillio.’ Er ille dixit: ‘Ave, domine Apolloni. Quid itaque in his locis turbata
mente versaris?’ Apollonius ait: ‘Proscriprum vides.’ Stranguillio ait: ‘Et quis te
proscripsit?” Apollonius ait: ‘Rex Antiochus.’ Stranguillio ait: ‘Qua ex causa?
Apolloniusait: ‘Quia filiam eius, sed ut verius dicam coniugem, in matrimonium
petivi. Sed,si fieri potest, in civirate vestra vololatere.’
Stranguillio ait: ‘Domine Apolloni, civitas nostra paupera est ct nobiliratem
tuam ferre non potest. Praeterea duram famem sacvamauesterilitatem patimur
annonae, nec est ulla spes civibus nostris salutis, sed crudelissima mors potius
ante oculos nostros versatur.' Apollonius autem ad Stranguillionem ait: ‘Age crgo
deo gratias, quod me profugum finibus vestris applicuit. Dabo itaque civirati
vestrae centum milia frumenti modiorum si fugam meam celaveritis.’ Stranguillio
ut audivit, prostravit se pedibus Apollonii dicens: ‘Domine rex Apolloni, si
civitati esurienti subveneris, non solum fugam tuam celabunt sed etiam,si
necesse fuerit, pro salute tua dimicabunt.’
10. Cumque haec dixisset, perrexerunt in civiratem. Et ascendens Apollonius
tribunal in foro cunctis civibus et maioribus eiusdem civitatis dixit: 'Cives Tarsis,
quos annonae penuria turbat et opprimit, ego Tyrius Apollonius relevabo. Credo
enim vos huius beneficii memores fugam meam celaturos. Scitote enim me
legibus Antiochi regis esse fugatum; sed vestra felicitate faciente hucusque ad vos
sum delatus. Dabo itaque vobis centum milia frumenti modiorum co pretio quo
sum in patriam meam eos mercatus, id est octo acreis singulos modios.' Cives
vero Tarmis, qui singulos modios singulos aureos mercabantur, exhilarati facti
adclamationibus gratias agebant, certatim accipientes frumentum. Apollonius
autem, ne deposita regia dignitate mercatoris videretur adsumere nomen magis
quam donatoris, pretium quod acciperat utilitati ciusdem civitatis redonavit.
Cives vero his tantis beneficiis cumulati optant statuam statuere ex acre. Et eam
conlocaveruntin biga in foro stantem, in dextra manu fruges tenentem,sinistro
pede modium calcantem, et in base haec scripserunt: TARSIA CIVITAS APOLLO.
NIO TYRIO DONUM DEDIT EO QUOD STERILITATEM SUAM ET FAMEM SEDAVERIT!5.
(^ RI Fc respiciens Apollonius vidit contra se venientem noni sibi hominem imnaesto
vultu dolentem, nomine Sctrangiillionem
P RR poreepp—W RATETATE SUA FAMEM SEDANVIETULT
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
121
Hellenicus replied: ‘Far be it from me, lord, to accept a reward for this affair.
Among good men,friendship is not acquired for a price.’ He said goodbye and
went away.
9. After this, as Apollonius was walking on the beach in the sameplace he met
another mancalled Stranguillio'*. Apollonius said to him: ‘Greetings, my dearest
Stranguillio.’ He replied: ‘Greetings, lord Apollonius. Why are you pacing up
and down herein agitation?’ Apollonius said: ‘You are looking at a man whohas
been proscribed.’ Stranguillio asked: ‘Who has proscribed you?’ Apolloniusreplied: ‘King Antiochus.’ Stranguillio asked: ‘On what grounds? Apolloniussaid:
‘Because I wanted to marry his daughter, or, to put it more accurately, his wife. So
if possible, 1 should like to hide in your city.’
Stranguillio said: ‘Lord Apollonius, our city is poor and cannot support a man
of your standing. Besides, we are suffering a severe famine and desperate lack of
grain, and there is no hope of survival for our people; instead we face the
prospect of a most agonising death.’ But Apollonius said to Scranguillio: “Well,
give thanks to God, that He has brought meto your land as a fugitive. 1 will give
your city a hundred thousand measures of grain if you will conceal myflight.’
WhenStranguillio heard this, he threw himself at Apollonius’ fect, saying: ‘My
lord King Apollonius, if you help the starving city, not only will the people
conceal yourflight but if necessary they will also fight for yoursafety.’
10. When he had said this they proceeded into the city. Apollonius mounted
the platform in the forum and addressed all the citizens and leaders of the city:
‘Citizens of Tarsus, distressed and oppressed by lack of grain, I, Apollonius of
Tyre, will bring you relief. For 1 believe that in yourgratitude forthis favour you
will conceal my flight. For you must know that I am banished by the decree of
King Antiochus. But it is your good fortune that has brought me here to you. Sol
will supply you with one hundred thousand measures of grain at the same price
that I paid for it in my ownland,that is eight bronze pieces a measure.’ Then the
citizens of Tarsus, who had been paying one gold piece a measure, weredelighted;
they thanked him with cheers, and eagerly received the grain. Butin order not to
appear to have abandoned his royal dignity and to have taken on the role of a
merchant rather than a benefactor, Apollonius gave back the price which he had
received for the benefit of the city. Bur the citizens, loaded with so many kindnesses, decided to erect a bronze statue to him, and they placed it in the forum.
Apollonius was standing in a chariot: in his right hand he held cars of grain, and
his left foot rested on a bushel. On the base they pur the following inscription:
HUE CITY OF TARSUS GAVE THIS GIFT TO APOLLONIUS BECAUSE HE RELIEVED
VEIR FAMINE AND HUNGER,
ORB: Apollonius looked round and saw coming towards him à man he knew, called
Sirangiillio, lamenting and looking sad
"7 RB oue AUSE. THROUGH HIS ERE ROSTEY LE ULL TEVE DP: TE TAMIS
122
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
11. Interpositis mensibus sive diebus paucis hortante Stranguillione et Dionysiade coniuge eius et premente fortuna ad Pentapolitanas Cyrenacorum terras
adfirmabatur navigare, ut ibi latere posset. Deducitur itaque Apollonius cum
ingenti honore ad navem et vale dicens hominibus ascendit ratem. Qui dum
navigaret, intra duas horas diei mutata est pelagi fides.*
20
Certa non certis cecidere . . .
Concita tempestas rutilans inluminat orbem.
Aeolus imbrifero flatu turbata procellis
Corripit arva. Notus picea caliginetectus
Scinditque omne latus pelagi . . .
... revolumine murmurat Auster.
Volvitur hinc Boreas nec iam maresufficit Euro,
Et freta disturbata sibi involvit harena
... et cum revocato a cardine ponto
Omnia miscentur. Pulsat mare sidera, caelum.
In sese glomeratur hiems; pariterque morantur
Nubila, grando, nives, zephyri, freta, fulgida, nimbi.
Flamma volat vento, mugit mare conturbatum.
Hinc Notus, hinc Boreas, hinc Africus horridusinstat.
Ipse tridente suo Neptunusspargit harenas.
Triton terribili cornu cantabat in undis.
12. Tunc unusquisque sibi rapuit tabulas, morsque nuntiatur. In illa vero caligine tempestatis omnes perierunt. Apollonius vero unius tabulac beneficio in
Pentapolitarum est litore pulsus!5. Interim stans Apollonius in litore nudus, intuens tranquillum mare ait: 'O Neptune, rector pelagi, hominum deceptor
innocentium, propter hoc me reservasti egenum et pauperum quofacilius rex
crudelissimus Antiochus persequatur? (Quo itaque ibo? Quam partem petam? Vel
quis ignoto vitae dabit auxilium?
Et cum sibimet ipsi increparet, subito animadvertens vidit quendam grandaevum, sago sordido circumdatum. Et!" prosternens sc illius ad pedes effusis
lacrimis ait: 'Miserere mei, quicumque cs, succurre naufrago ct egeno, non humilibus natalibus genito. Et ut scias cui miscercaris: ego sum Tyrius Apollonius,
patriae meae princeps. Audi nunc tragoediam calamitatis meae, qui modogeni-
5 RB gubernatore pereuntes fortuna proiitur fangatus in lirore Cyrenes. Ft dum evonmit
undas quas potaverat,
VOU cogente necessitate
* Note son PHO
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
123
11. After a few months or days, at the encouragement of Stranguillio and
Dionysias his wife, and urged on by Fortune, Apollonius decided to sail to
Pentapolis in Cyrene in order to hide there. So he was escorted with great
honourto his ship, said farewell to the people, and went on board. Within two
hours of sailing the sea, which had seemed trustworthy, changed.*
Stability turned into instability . . .
A storm arose andilluminated the sky with a red glow.
Aeoluswith rainy blast attacks [Neptune's]fields,
Which are agitated by storms.
The South Windis enveloped in pitch-black darkness,
Andslashesevery side of the ocean...
The South Wind roars.
The North Wind blows from oneside, and now
There is not enough ocean for the East Wind,
Andthe sand engulfs the wild sea.
... everything is mixed up with the ocean which is
Summoned back from the heavens. The sea strikes the stars, the
sky.
Thestorm gathers itself together, and at the same time
There are clouds, hail, snow showers, winds, waves, lightning
flashes, rain.
Flameflies on the wind, and the sea bellows in its turmoil.
On oneside the South Windthreatens, on another the North
Wind, on anotherthe fierce South-West Wind.
Neptunehimself scatters the sands with his trident.
Tritonplays his dreadful horn in the waves.
12. Then each sailor grabbed a plank for himself, and death was imminent. In
the darkness of that storm all perished, except Apollonius, who was cast up on
the shore of Pentapolis, thanks to a single plank!é. As he stood naked on the
shore and looked at the peaceful sea, he said: ‘O Neptune, ruler of the ocean,
deceiver of innocent men, have you preserved me,destitute and impoverished,
just so that the most cruel King Antiochus can persecute me with greater ease?
So where shall I go? Which direction shall I take? Who will provide the
necessities of life for a stranger”
While he was complaining to himself, he suddenly noticed an elderly man
wearing a dirty cloak. "Apollonius threw himself at his fect and said, weeping:
‘Have pity on me, whoever you are! Help a destitute, shipwrecked man, whois
not of lowly birth. So that you know on whom youare taking pity, | am Apollonius ofTyre, prince of my country. Listen to the tragedy of the misfortunes of the
"^ RI when the helmstnan died: Fortune cast him up exhausted on the shore of Cyrene
And as he spewed out the water that he had swallowed,
VOR Constramed by nece
* Note is on n
In
124
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
bus tuis provolutus deprecorvitae auxilium. Praesta mihi ut vivam.' [taque piscator ut vidit primam speciem iuvenis, misericordia motus erigit eum et tenens
20
manum eius duxit eum intra tecta parietum domus suae et posuit epulas quas
potuit. Et ut plenius misericordiae suae satisfaceret, exuens se tribunarium suum
scindit eum in duas partes aequaliter et dedit unam iuveni dicens: "Tolle hoc
quod habeo, et vade in civitatem: forsitan invenies, qui tibi misereatur. Et si non
inveneris, huc revertere et mecum laborabis et piscabis: paupertas quaecumque
est sufficiet nobis. Illud tamen admoneo te, ut si quando deo favente redditus
fueris natalibus tuis, et tu respicias tribulationem paupertatis meae.' Cui Apollonius ait: 'Nisi meminero tui, iterum naufragium patiar nectui similem inveniam"
13. Et haec dicens per demonstratam sibi viam iter carpens ingreditur portam
civitatis. Et dum secum cogitaret unde auxilium vitae peteret, vidit pucrum per
plateam currentem oleo unctum, sabano praecinctum,ferentem iuvenilem lusum
ad gymnasium pertinentem, maxima voce clamantem et dicentem: *Audite cives,
audite peregrini, ingenui et servi: gymnasium patet!! Hoc audito Apollonius
exuensse tribunarium ingrediturlavacrum,utitur liquore Palladio. Et dum singulos exercentes videret, quaerit sibi parem nec invenit.
Tunc rex Archistrates eiusdem civitatis subito cum magna turba famulorum
ingressus est gymnasium. (Qui dum cum suis ad ludum luderet, deo favente approximavit se Apollonius in regis turba et ludente rege sustulit pilam et subtili
velocitate remisit remissamque rursum velocius repercussit nec cadere passus est.
Tunc rex Archistrates cum sibi notasset iuvenis velocitatem et quis esset nesciret
et ad pilae lusum nullum haberet parem, intuens famulos suos ait: 'Recedite,
famuli: hic enim iuvenis, ut suspicor, mihi comparandusest.' Et cum recessissent
famuli, Apollonius subtili velocitate manu docta remisit pilam, ut et regi et
omnibus, vel pueris qui aderant, miraculum magnum videretur. Videns autem sc
Apollonius a civibus laudari, constanter appropinquavit ad regem. Deinde docta
manuceromatefricavit regem tanta lenitate ut de sene iuvenem redderet. [terato
in solio gratissime fovit, exeunti officiose manum dedit. Post haccdiscessit.
14. Rex autem, ut vidit iuvenem discessisse, conversus ad amicos suosait: "luro
vobis, amici, per communem salutem, me melius numquamlavisse nisi hodic,
beneficio unius adulescentis quem nescio. Et intuens unum «de famulis suis ait:
"Juvenis ille, qui rnihi servitium. pratissime fecit, vide quis sit^ Famulus. vero
sccutus est iuvenemet ut vidit cum sordido tribunario coopertum, reversus ad
repem ait: “Bone rex optime, iuvenis naubragus esci! Rex ai "Et te unde «is?
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
125
manwhohasfallen at your knees and is beggingfor help to stay alive. Help me to
survive.’ When he saw the handsome appearance of the young man,thefisherman was touchedbypity. He raised him up, led him by the handinto theshelter
of the walls of his own house, and served him thebest food that he could. And to
satisfy his sense of compassion morefully he took off his cloak, cut it into equal
halves, and gave one to the young man,saying: ‘Take what I have, and go into
the city. Perhaps you will find someone who will take pity on you. Andif you do
not find anyone, come back here, and you shall work and fish with me: however
poor I may be, there will be enough for us. But I give you this warning: if ever
through God's favour youare restored to your birthright, be sure to remember my
suffering and my poverty.' Apollonius said to him: 'If I do not remember you, may
I be shipwrecked again, and notfind anyonelike you!’
13. With these words heset out on the road which had been pointed out to him,
and entered the city gate. While he was pondering whereto find the means to
survive, he saw running along the street a boy smeared with oil, with a towel
wrapped round his waist, carrying equipment for a young man's gymnasium
exercise. He was shouting in a very loud voice: 'Listen,citizens, listen, forcigners,
freemen and slaves: the gymnasium is open!’ When Apollonius heard this he
took off his cloak and wentinto the bath, and made use of the liquid of Pallas
[oil]. As he watched each man exercising he looked for somcone of his own
standard, but found no one.
Then Archistrates, the king of that city, suddenly came into the gymnasium
with a great crowd of attendants. When he was playing a game with his men, by
God's favour Apollonius got close to the king's crowd. He caughtthe ball as the
king was playing and returned it with accuracy and speed; when it came back he
hit it back again even faster, and neverlet it fall. Then since King Archistrates
had noticed the young man's speed and did not know who he was, and since he
had no equal at the ballgame, he looked at his servants and said: 'Draw back,
servants. For I believe that this young manis a match for me.’ Whenthe servants
had drawn back, Apollonius returned the ball with well-judged speed and a
skilful hand so thatit seemed quite miraculous to the king and everyoneelse, and
even the boys who were present. When Apollonius saw that the citizens were
applauding him, he boldly approached the king. Then he rubbed him with wax
ointment so expertly and gently that the old man was rejuvenated. Again in the
barh he massaged him very agreeably, and helped him out courteously. Then he
went away.
14. Whenthe king saw that the young man had gone, he tumedto his friends
and said: 'l swear to you, my friends, by our general welfare, | have never had a
better bath than today, thanks to one young man whom | do not know.’ He
looked at one of his servants and said: ‘See who that young man is who gave me
such excellent service.’ So the servant followed the young man, and when he saw
that he was wrapped in a dirty old cloak, he came back to the king and) said:
"Cool bang best ob kings, the young man has been shipwirecked' Hie bung said
126
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
Famulus respondit: ‘Quia illo tacente habitus indicat.’ Rex ait: 'Vade celerius et
dic illi: rogat te rex ut ad cenam venias.' Et cum dixisset ei, acquievit Apollonius
et eum ad domum regis secutus est. Famulus prior ingressus dicit regi: 'Adest
naufragus, sed abiecto habitu introire confunditur.' Statim rex iussit eum dignis
vestibus indui et ad cenam ingredi.
Et ingressus Apollonius triclinium ait ad eum rex: ‘Discumbe, iuvenis, et
epulare. Dabit enim tibi dominus, per quod damna naufragii obliviscaris.' Statimque assignato illi loco Apollonius contra regem discubuit. Adfertur gustatio,
deinde cena regalis. Omnibus epulantibus ipse solus non epulabatur, sed respiciens aurum, argentum, mensam et ministeria, flens cum dolore omnia intuetur.
Sed quidam de senioribus iuxta regem discumbens, ut vidit iuvenem singula
quaequecuriose conspicere, respexit ad regem et ait: 'Bonc rex, vides: ecce, cui tu
20
benignitatem animi tui ostendis bonis tuis invidet et fortunae.' Cui ait rex:
'Amice, suspicaris male, nam iuvenis iste non bonis meis aut fortunae meae
invidet sed, ut arbitror, plura se perdidisse testatur. Etc hilari vultu respiciens
iuvenem ait: 'luvenis, epulare nobiscum. Laetare et gaude et meliora de dco
spera!
15. Et dum hortaretur iuvenem,subito introivit filia regis speciosa atque auro
fulgens, iam adulta virgo. Dedit osculum patri, post haec discumbentibus omnibus amicis. Quae dum oscularetur, pervenit ad naufragum. Retrorsum rediit ad
patrem etait: 'Bone rex et pater optime, quis est hic iuvenis, qui contra te in
honorato loco discumbit et nescio quid flebili vultu dolet? Cui rex ait: 'Hic
iuvenis naufragus est ct in gymnasio mihi servitium gratissime fecit; propter quod
ad cenam illum invitavi. Quis autem sit aut unde, nescio. Sed si vis, interroga
illum; decet enim te,filia sapientissima, omnia nosse. Et forsitan dum cognoveris,
misereberisilli."
Hortante igitur patre verecundissimo sermone interrogatur a puella Apollonius et accedens ad eum ait: ‘Licet taciturnitas tuasit tristior, gencrositas autcm
tuam nobilitatem ostendit. Sed si tibi molestum non est, indica mihi nomen ct
casus tuos.' Apollonius ait: 'Si nomen quacris, Apollonius sum vocatus; si de
thesauro quaeris, in mare perdidi.' Puella ait: 'Apertius indica mihi, ut intelligam.'
16. Apollonius vero universos casus suos exposuit et finito sermone lacrimas
effundere coepit. Quem ur vidit rex flentem, respiciens filiam suam ait: "Nata
dulcis, peccasti, quae, dum vis nomen et casus adulescentis agnoscere, veteres ci
renovasti dolores.* Ero, dulcis et sapiens filia, ex quo ajmovisti veritatem, qus
* Note ion e
[HO
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
127
‘And how do you know” Theservant replied: ‘Because his clothes makeit clear,
although hesaid nothing.’ The king said: ‘Go quickly and say to him “The king
invites you to dinner"When the servant told him, Apollonius accepted and
followed him to the king's palace. The servant wentin first and said to the king:
"The shipwrecked man is here, but he is embarrassed to come in because of his
shabby clothes.' At once the king ordered that he should be dressed in suitable
clothes, and should comein to dinner.
When Apollonius entered the dining room, the king said to him: 'Recline,
young man, and feast. For the lord will give you what will make you forget the
losses of the shipwreck.' At once Apollonius was given a place, and he reclined
opposite the king. The hors d'oeuvre was served, and then the royal banquet.
Everyone wasfeasting; Apollonius alone did not eat, but looking at the gold, the
silver, the table and the servants, he weptfor grief as he observedit all. One of
the elders reclining next to the king saw how the young man looked at every
single thing carefully. Turning to the king he said: ‘Do you see, noble king? Look,
the man to whom youare showing the kindness of your heart is envious of your
possessions and your good fortune.’ But the king said to him: ‘Friend, you are
wrongto be suspicious. This young man does not envy my possessions or my good
fortune, but in my opinion he is showing that he has lost much more.’ And
turning cheerfully to the young man hesaid: ‘Young man, join in ourfeast; be
happy, enjoy yourself, and hope for better things from God!’
15. While the king was encouraging the young man, suddenly in came his
daughter, already a grown-up girl, beautiful and glittering with gold. She kissed
her father, and thenall his friends as they reclined. As she was kissing them she
cameto the shipwrecked man. She wentback to herfather and said: ‘Good king
andbest of fathers, whois the young stranger whois reclining opposite you in the
place of honour, and whois grieving and looking unhappy for some unknown
rcason? The king said to her: ‘This young man has been shipwrecked; he gave
me excellent service in the gymnasium, and so | invited him to dinner. I do not
know who he maybe or where he comesfrom. But ask him,if you like; forit is
fitting that you should know everything, my most wise daughter. Perhaps when
you have found outyou will feel sorry for him.’
So with her father's encouragement the girl asked Apollonius questions,
speaking very modestly. She approached him andsaid: ‘Although yoursilence is
rather melancholy, yet your manners reveal your noble birth. If it is not too
painful, tell me your name and your misfortunes.’ Apolloniusreplied: ‘If you want
to know my name,I am called Apollonius; if you ask about my fortune, I lost it in
the sea.’ The girl said: ‘Explain to me more clearly, so that | can understand.’
16. Then Apollonius recounted all his misfortunes, and when he hadfinished
talking he began to weep. When the king saw him weeping, he looked at his
daughter and said: ‘Sweet child, you have done wrong, when you wanted to
know the name and misfortunes of this young man, you renewed his old sor
rows * Pherefore ut is only Just, my sweet and clever daughter that, libe à queen,
* Note ion o
IW
128
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
tum est ut ei liberalitatem tuam quasi regina ostendas.' Puella vero respiciens
Apollonium ait: 'lam noster es, iuvenis, depone macrorem; et quia permittit
20
25
indulgentia patris mei, locupletabo te.' Apollonius vero cum gemitu egit gratias.
Rex vero videns tantam bonitatem filiae suae valde gavisus est et ait ad cam:
*Nata dulcis, salvum habeas. Iube tibi afferre lyram et aufer iuveni lacrimas ct
exhilara ad convivium. Puella vero iussit sibi afferri lyram. At ubi accepit, cum
nimia dulcedine vocis chordarum sonos, melos cum voce miscebat. Omnes convivae coeperunt mirari dicentes: 'Non potest esse melius, non potest dulcius plus
isto, quod audivimus"! Inter quos solus tacebat Apollonius. Ad quem rex ait:
*Apolloni, foedam rem facis. Omnes filiam meam in arte musica laudant. Quare
tu solus tacendo vituperas" Apollonius ait: 'Domine rex, si permittis, dicam,
quod sentio: filia enim tua in arte musica incidit, sed non didicit. Denique iube
mihi dari lyram et statim scias quod ante nescicbas.' Rex Archistrates dixit:
'Apolloni, ut intelligo, in omnibuses locuples.'
UEt induit statum* et corona caput coronavit, et accipiens lyram introivit
triclinium. Et ita stetit ut discumbentes non Apollonium sed Apollinem existimarent. Atqueita factosilentio arripuit plectrum animumque accomodatarti'.*
Miscetur vox cantu modulata chordis. Discumbentes una cum rege in laude
clamare coeperunt et dicere: 'Non potest melius, non potest dulcius! Post haec
deponens lyram ingreditur in comico habitu et mirabili manu et saltu et inauditas
actiones expressit." Post haec induit tragicum et nihilominus admirabiliter complacuit ita, ut omnes amici regis et hoc sc numquam audisse testantur nec vidisse.
17. Inter haec filia regis, ut vidit iuvenem omnium artium studiorumque esse
cumulatum,vulneris saevo carpitur igne.* Incidit in amorem infinitum.Et finito
convivio sic ait puella ad patrem suum: 'Permiseras mihi paulo ante, ut si quid
voluissem, de tuo tamen, Apollonio darem, rex et pater optime.' Cui dixit: 'Et
permisi et permitto et opto.' Permisso sibi a patre, quod ipsa ultro praestare
volebat, intuens Apollonium ait: 'Ápolloni magister, accipe indulgentia patris
mei ducenta talenta auri, argenti pondera XL, servos XX et vestem copiossissimam.' Et intuens famulos quos donaverat, dixit: 'Afferte quaeque promisi, ct
praesentibus omnibus exponite in triclinio." Laudant omncesliberalitatem pucllae. Peractoque convivio levaverunt sce universi; vale dicentes regi et reginae
discesserunt.
P" gU Petr ectneehidyraimn Fjgressus foras
* Notes uc on pb 180
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
129
you should show generosity to the man from whom you have learned the truth.’
Thegirl looked at Apollonius and said: ‘Now you are one of us, young man; put
aside your grief, and since my kind father has given me permission, | will make
yourich.’ Apollonius sighed and thanked her.
The king was delighted to see his daughter being so kind, and said to her:
‘Dear child, bless you. Send for your lyre, take away the young man’s tears, and
cheer him up for the feast.’ The girl sent for her lyre. When she receivedit, she
mingled the sound of the strings with her very sweet voice, tune with song. All
the feasters began to marvel, andsaid: ‘Nothing could be better, nothing could be
sweeter than this which we have heard.’ Apollonius alone among them said
nothing. The king said to him: ‘Apollonius, your behaviour is disgraceful.
Everyoneis praising my daughter’s musicalskill: why do you alone criticize her by
your silence?’ Apollonius replied: ‘My lord king, with your permission I will say
whatI think: your daughter has stumbled on the art of music, but she has not
learned it. Now havethelyre given to me, and you will find our at once what you
did not know before.’ The king exclaimed: ‘Apollonius, I realize that you are
tichly gifted in every way.’
18Apollonius put on the costume* and crowned his head with a garland; he
took the lyre and entered the banquet hall. He stood in such a way that that the
feasters thought hin not Apollonius but Apollo. When there wassilence, ‘he
took the plectrum and devoted his mind to his art’.* In the song his voice
blended harmoniously with the strings. The banqueters and the king began to
call out in praise and said: ‘Nothing could be better, nothing could be sweeter!’
After this Apollonius put down thelyre, came in dressed in comic costume, and
acted out a mime show with remarkable hand movements and leaps.* Then he
put on tragic costume,and delighted them noless admirably,so thatall the king's
friends declared that they had never heard or seen anything like this eirher.
17. Meanwhile, when the princess saw that the young man wasfull of every
kind of ralent and learning, she was wounded by fiercely burning passion,* and
fell very deeply in love. When the feast was over the girl said to her father: ‘A
little earlier you gave me permission, best of kings and fathers, to give Apollonius
whatever I wanted — of yours, thatis.’ He replied:‘I did give permission;I do give
permission;I wish it.’ With her father’s permission for what she herself wanted to
give, she looked at Apollonius and said: ‘Master Apollonius, through the generosity of my father receive two hundred talents, forty pounds of silver, twenty
servants and most lavish clothing.’ Then looking at the servants whom she had
given to him, she said: ‘Bring everything that | have promised, and displayit in
the dining room in front of all who are present.’ Everyone praised the gencrosity
ofthe girl. And when the banquet was over they all got up, said goodbye to the
king andthe princess, and left.
ORD: And he ondered the lyre to be given to hun Apolloniwent outside and
* Notes ate on 60. PHO
130
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
Ipse quoque Apollonius ait: ‘Bone rex, miserorum misericors, et tu, regina,
amatrix studiorum, valete.’ Et haec dicens respiciens famulos quos illi puclla
donaverat,ait: "Tollite, famuli, haec quae mihi regina donavit: aurum, argentum
et vestem; et eamus hospitalia quaerentes.' Puella vero timens ne amatum non
videns torqueretur, respexit patrem suum etait: "Bone rex, pater optime, placet
tibi ut hodie Apollonius a nobis locupletatus abscedat, et quod illi dedisti a malis
hominibus ei rapiatur?" Cui rex ait: 'Bene dicis, domina; iube ergo ei dari unam
zactam, ubi digne quiescat.' Accepta igitur mansione Apollonius bene acceptus
requievit, agens deo gratias qui ei non denegavit regem consolationem.
18. Sed 'regina iamdudum saucia cura' Apollonii 'figit in pectore vultus, verba'
cantusque memorcredit ‘genus esse deorum', nec somnum oculis nec 'membris
dat cura quietem'.?* Vigilans primo mane irrumpit cubiculum patris. Pater
vidensfiliam ait: 'Filia dulcis, quid est quod tam mane praeter consuetudinem
vigilasti? Puella ait: 'Hesterna studia me excitaverunt. Peto itaque, pater, ut me
tradas hospiti nostro Apollonio studiorum percipiendorum gratia.' Rex vero gaudio plenus iussit ad se iuvenem vocari. Cui sic ait: 'Apolloni, studiorum tuorum
felicitatem filia mea a te discere concupivit. Peto itaque et iuro tibi per regni mei
vires, ut si desiderio natae meae parucris, quidquid tibi iratum abstulit mare, ego
in terris restituam.' Apollonius hoc audito docet pucllam, sicuti et ipse didicerat.
Interposito brevi temporis spatio, cum non possct puella ulla ratione vulnus
amoris tolerare, in multa infirmitate membra prostravit fluxa, ct coepit iacere
imbecillis in toro”. Rex ut vidit filiam suam subitaneam valitudinem incurrisse,
sollicitus adhibet medicos. Qui venientes medici temptantes venas, tanguntsingulas corporis partes, nec omnino inveniuntaegritudinis causas.
19. Rex autem post paucos dies tenens Apollonium manu forum pctit et cum co
deambulavit. luvenesscolastici III nobilissimi, qui per longum tempusfiliam cius
petebant in matrimonium, pariter omnes una voce salutaverunt cum. (Quos
videns rex subridensait illis: "Quid est hoc quod una voce meparitersalutastis?
Unusex ipsis ait: 'Petentibus nobis filiam vestram in matrimonium tu sacpius nos
differendo fatigas: propter quod hodie una simul venimus. Elige ex nobis quem
vis habere generum.' Rexait: ‘Non apto tempore meinterpellastis; filia enim mea
studiis vacat ct prae amore studiorum imbecillis iacet. Sed ne videar vos diutius
9 quis Quaent Apollonium er non sustinet amerem
7 IV simulata infirmitate coepit nere
* Note son p
ERO
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
131
Apollonius too said: ‘Noble king who takes pity on the wretched, and you,
princess who loves learning, goodbye.’ After this speech he looked at the servants whom thegirl had given to him andsaid: ‘Servants, pick up these things
which the princess has given me,thegold, the silver and the clothes, and let us
go and look for lodgings.’ But the girl, fearing that ir would be torture not to see
her beloved, looked at her father and said: ‘Good king, best of fathers, is it your
wish that Apollonius, who has been maderich by us today, should leave, and that
your gifts may be stolen from him by wicked men?The king replied: 'You are
tight, lady; so order that he be given a suitable room to rest in.’ Apollonius was
given lodgings for the night; he was well received and lay downto rest, thanking
God Who had not denied him a king to be his consolation.
18. But ‘the princess, who had long since been wounded by love's care, fixed in
her heart the appearance and conversation’ of Apollonius; the memory of his
singing madeherbelieve ‘that he was descended from the gods’. Her eyes got no
sleep, ‘her limbs got no rest because of her love’.!™ She lay awake, and at the
crack of dawn rushed into her father's bedroom. When he saw his daughter he
said: ‘Sweet daughter, why are you awake so unusually early” The girl said:
"Yesterday's display of learning kept me awake. 1 beg you,father, send me to our
guest Apollonius to have lessons.' The king was delighted; he sent for the young
manand said to him: 'Apollonius, my daughter has formed a desire to be taught
the happiness of your learning by you. This is my request, and I swear to you by
myroyal powerthat if you will comply with my child's wish, I will restore to you
on land whatever the hostile sea took away from you.' After this conversation
Apollonius beganto teachthegirl, just as he himself had been taught.
Aftera little time, when the girl could not bear the wound of love in any way,
she becamevery ill: her feeble limbs gave way and she lay helpless in bed”.
When the king saw that a sudden illness had attacked his daughter, he was
worried and sent for doctors. When the doctors came, they took her pulse and
cxamined each part of her body, but they did not discover any reason at all for
theillness.
19. A few dayslater, the king took Apollonius by the hand, went to the forum
and walked there with him. Three scholarly and very aristocratic young men who
had long been seeking his daughter's hand in marriage all greeted him in unison.
Onseeing them the king smiled and said to them: ‘Why have youall greeted me
in unison” Oneof themsaid: ‘We seek your daughter's hand in marriage, and you
keep tormenting us by putting us off so often; that is why we have all come
together today. Choose which of us you want as a son-in-law.’ The king said:
‘This is not a good time to disturb me. For my daughter is devoting herself to
study, and because of her love of leaming she is lying ill. But so that Ido not seem
"ORB: She wanted Apollonits and she could not restrain her love
H7
RB: she pretended to be ill and began to he in ds
* Nloal.ae.a.
du
132
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
differre, scribite in codicellos nomina vestra et dotis quantitatem; et dirigo ipsos
codicellos filiae meae,et illa sibi eligat quem voluerit habere maritum." Illi tres
itaque iuvenes scripserunt nomina sua et dotis quantitatem. Rex accepit codicel-
los anuloque suo signavit datque Apollonio dicens: "Tolle, magister, practer tui
contumceliam hoscodicellos et perfer discipulae tuae: hic enim locus te desiderat."
20. Apollonius acceptis codicellis pergit domum regiam etintroivit cubiculum
tradiditque codicellos. Puella patris agnovit signaculum. (Quae ad amoressuossic
ait: 'Quid est, magister, quod sic singularis cubiculum introisti?" Cui Apollonius
respondit: 'Domina, es nondum mulier et male habes! Sed potius accipe codiccllos patris tui ct lege trium nomina pcetitorum.' Puella vcro rescrato codicello lcgir,
perlectoque nomen ibidem non legit, quem volebat et amabat. Et respiciens
Apollonium ait: 'Magister Apolloni, ita tibi non dolet, quod ego nubam? Apollonius dixit: 'Imro gratulor, quod abundantia horum studiorum docta et a me
patefacta deo volente et cui animus tuus desiderat nubas.' Cui puclla ait: ‘Magister, si amares, utique doleres tuam doctrinam." "Et scripsit codicellos et signatos
suo anulo iuveni tradidit. Pertulit Apollonius in forum tradiditque regi. Accepto
codicello rex resignavit et aperuit illum. In quibus rescripserat filia sua: ‘Bone rex
et pater optime, quoniam clementiae tuae indulgentia permittis mihi, dicam:
illum volo coniugem naufragio patrimonio deceptum. Et si miraris, pater, quod
tam pudica virgo ram impudenter scripserim: per ceram mandavi, quae pudorem?! non habet.'
21. Et perlectos codicellos rex ignorans, quem naufragum diceret, respiciens
illos tres iuvenes, qui nomina sua scripserant vel qui dotem in illos codicellos
designaverunt,ait illis: 'Quis vestrum naufragium fecit?" Unus vero ex iis Ardalio
nominedixit: 'Ego.' Alius ait: "Tace, morbus te consumat nccsalvus sis, cum scio
te coetaneum meum et mecum litteris eruditum et portam civitatis numquam
existi: ubi ergo naufragium fecisti? Et cum rex non inveniret quis corum naufragium fecisset, respiciens Apollonium ait: "Tolle, magister Apolloni, hoc codiccllos et lege. Potest enim fieri, ut quod ego noninveni, tu intelligas, quia praesens
fuisti." Apollonius accepto codicello legit et ut sensit sc a regina amari, crubuit.
Et rex tenens ei manum paululum secessit ab eis iuvenibus ct ait: 'Quid cst,
magister Apolloni, invenisti naufragum? Apollonius ait: 'Bonc rex, si permittis,
nop dae diens instante amotis audacia
"ORB 'uboreut
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
133
to be putting you off further, write your names on a tablet, and the amount of
your marriagegifts. I will send the tablet to my daughter, and she may choose for
herself whom she wantsas a husband.’ So the three young men wrote downtheir
names and the amountof their marriage gifts. The king took thetablet, scaled it
with his ring, and gave it to Apollonius, saying: ‘Take this note, master, if you do
not mind, anddeliver it to your pupil. You are needed in this situation.’
20. Apollonius took the tablet, went to the palace, entered the bedroom, and
delivered it. The girl recognized her father's seal. She said to her beloved: ‘What
is the matter, master, that you enter my bedroom alonelike this?’ Apollonius
replied: ‘Lady, you are not yet a grown woman, and you are offended! Take this
note from your father instead, and read the names of your three suitors.’ She
unsealed the rablet and read it, but when she hadreadit through she did nor see
the namethat she wanted and loved. She looked at Apollonius andsaid: ‘Master
Apollonius, are you not sorry that 1 am going to be married? Apollonius said:
*No, I am delighted that now that I have taught you and revealed a wealth of
learning, by God's favour you will also marry your heart's desire.’ The girl said:
‘Master, if you loved me, you would certainly be sorry for your teaching.’ #!She
wrote a note, and when she hadsealed the tablet with her ring she handedit to
the young man. Apollonius carried it to the forum and delivered it to the king.
The king took the tablet, broke the seal and opened it. His daughter had written
as follows: ‘Good king and best of fathers, since you graciously and indulgently
give me permission,| will speak out: 1 want to marry the man whowascheated of
his inheritance through shipwreck. And if you are surprised,father, that such a
modestgirl has written so immodestly, I have sent my message by wax, which has
no sense of shame.’
21.
When he had read the note, the king did not know whom she meant by the
shipwrecked man. Looking at the three youths who had written their names and
specified their marriagegifts in the note, he said to them: ‘Which of you has been
shipwrecked?’ One of them whose name was Ardalio said: ‘I have.’ One of the
others said: ‘Be quiet, may a plague take you, and may you notbe saved! I know
you, you are the same age as | am, you were educated with me, and you have
never been outside the city gate. So where were you shipwrecked” Since the
king could not discover which of them had been shipwrecked, he looked at
Apollonius and said: ‘Master Apollonius, take the tablet and read it. Perhaps you
who were on the spot will understand what | have not discovered.’ Apollonius
took the tablet and read it, and when herealized that the princess loved him, he
blushed. The king took him by the hand, drew him a little away from the young
men andsaid: ‘Whar is it, Master Apollonius? Have you found the shipwrecked
man” Apollonius replied: ‘Good king, with your permission, | have.’ When he
4 RB: When she said chis love made her bold:
Wo yu 'wlhah does not blish*
134
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
inveni.’ Ec his dictis videns rex faciem eius roseo colore perfusam,intellexit
dictum et ait gaudens: ‘Quod filia mea cupit, hoc est et meum votum.Nihil enim
in huiusmodi negotio sine deo agi potest.’ Er respiciens illos tres iuvenes ait:
'Certe dixi vobis, quia non apto tempore interpellastis. Ite, et dum tempusfuerit,
mittam ad vos.' Et dimisit eos a se.
22. Et tenens manum iam genero, non hospiti, ingreditur domum regiam. Ipso
autem Apollonio relicto rex solus intrat ad filiam suam dicens: 'Dulcis nata,
quem tibi eligisti coniugem? Puella vero prostravit se ad pedes patris sui etait:
'Pater carissime, quia cupis audire natae tuae desiderium: illum volo coniugem et
amo, patrimonio deceptum et naufragum, magistrum meum Apollonium; cuisi
non me tradideris, a praesenti perdes filiam!' Et cum rex filiae non posset ferre
lacrimas, erexit eam et alloquitur dicens: "Nata dulcis, noli de aliqua re cogitare,
quia talem concupisti, quem ego, ex quo eum vidi, tibi coniungere adoptavi. Sed
ego tibi vere consentio, quia et ego amandofactus sum pater!'
Et exiens foras respiciens Apollonium ait: 'Magister Apolloni, quia scrutavi
filiam meam, quid ei in animo resideret nuptiarum causa, lacrimis fusis multa
inter alia mihi narravit dicens et adiurans me ait: "luraveras magistro meo Apollonio ut, si desideriis meis in doctrinis paruisset, dares illi quidquid iratum abstulit
mare. Modovero, quia paruit tuis praeceptis obsequiis ab ipso tibi factis et meac
voluntati in doctrinis, aurum, argentum, vestes, mancipias aut possessiones non
quaerit, nisi solum regnum, quod putaverat perdidisse: tuo sacramento per mcam
iunctionem hoc ei tradas!" Unde, magister Apolloni, peto, ne nuptias filiae meae
fastidio habeas!’ Apollonius ait: ‘Quod a deo est, sit, et si tua est voluntas,
impleatur!’ Rex ait: ‘Diem nuptiarum sine mora statuam.’
23. Postera vero die vocantur amici, invocantur vicinarum urbium potestates,
viri magni atque nobiles. Quibus convocatis in unum pariter rex ait: ‘Amici,
scitis quare vos in unum congregaverim? Qui respondentes dixerunt: "Nescimus.'
Rexait: 'Scitote filiam meam velle nubere Tyrio Apollonio. Peto ut omnibussit
laetitia, quia filia mea sapientissima sociatur viro prudentissimo.' Inter haec diem
nuptiarum sine mora indicit et quando in unum se coniungerent, praccepit.
Quid multa? Dies supervenit nuptiarum, omneslacti atque alacres in unum
conveniunt. Gaudet rex cum filia, gaudet ct Tyrius Apollonius, qui talem meruit
habere coniugem. Celebrantur nuptiae regio more, decora. dignitate. Gaudet
1 quU Amo naufírajgiim a fortuna deceptum Sed ne teneam pietatem ciam ambiguitate
seitionim. Apollonium. Dyriom, praeceptorem meum '
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
135
said this, the king saw his face blushing scarlet, and understood the remark. He
said with delight: ‘What my daughter wants is my wish too. For in a matter of this
kind, nothing can be done without God.’ Looking at the three young men, he
said: ‘I have already told you that it was not a good time to disturb me. Go away,
and when the time comes I will send for you.’ So he dismissed them from his
presence.
22. So the king took the hand of the man who was now his son-in-law, not his
guest, and wentinto the palace. But he left Apollonius and wentin alone to his
daughter, and said: ‘Sweet child, whom have you chosen as your husband? The
girl threw herself at her father’s feet and said: ‘Dearest father, since you want to
hear yourchild's desire: the man I want for my husband, the manI love, is the
man who was cheated of his inheritance and shipwrecked, my teacher Apollonius®. If you will not give me to him, you will immediately lose your daughter!’
The king could not bear his daughter's tears; he lifted her up and said: ‘Sweet
child, do not worry about anything. The man you wantis the very man I have
wanted you to marry from the moment | saw him. I certainly give you my
permission, for I too becamea father as a result of being in love!'
He went out, looked at Apollonius, and said: 'Master Apollonius, when I
questioned my daughter closely about her inclinations concerning marriage, she
burst into tears and among manyother things which she told me, she madethis
appeal to me: "You swore to my teacher Apollonius that if he complied with my
wishes in his teaching, you would give him whatever the raging sca had taken
away. Now that he has dutifully obeyed, and has carried out your orders and my
wish in his teaching, he does not seek silver, gold, clothes, servants or possessions, but only the kingdom which he thought he had lost. So according to
youroath, give it to him through marriage to me!" So, Master Apollonius, I beg
you, do not be scornful of marriage with my daughter!’ Apollonius replied: ‘Let
God's will be done;if it is your wish, let it be fulfilled.’ The king said: ‘I will fix
the wedding day withoutdelay.'
23. The next day he summmonedhis friends and sentfor the rulers of neighbouring cities, great men and nobles. When they had gathered together the king
said to them:‘Friends, do you know why I have assembled you together?" They
answered: ‘We do not.’ The king said: ‘Let metell you that my daughter wishes to
marry Apollonius of Tyre. I urge you all to rejoice that my very wise daughteris
marrying a very clever man.’ In this speech he announced the wedding day
without delay and told them when they should assemble.
In short, the day of the wedding arrived, and they all assembled joyfully and
cagerly. The king and his daughter were delighted, and so was Apollonius of
Tyre, who deserved to get such a wife. The wedding was celebrated in the royal
BORE ove the shipwrecked man cheated by Fortune 1 will not hinder your poodness
by riddling speech: Apollonius of Lyte, my teacher’
136
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
universa civitas, exultant cives, peregrini et hospites. Fit magnum gaudium in
citharis, lyris et canticis et organis modulatis cum vocibus. Peracta lactitia ingens
amorfit inter coniuges, mirus affectus, incomparabilis dilectio, inaudita laetitia,
quae perpetuacaritate complectitur.
24. Interpositis autem diebus atque mensibus, cum haberet puclla mense iam
sexto ventriculum deformatum, advenit eius sponsus, rex Apollonius. Cum spatiatur in litore iuncta sibi puellula, vidit navem speciosissimam, et dum utrique
eam laudarentpariter, recognovit eam Apollonius de sua esse patria. Conversus
ait ad gubernatorem: ‘Dic mihi, si valeas, unde venisti" Gubernatorait: 'De
Tyro.' Apolloniusait: 'Patriam meam nominasti.' Ad quem gubernatorait: ‘Ergo
tu Tyrius es?" Apollonius ait: "Ut dicis: sic sum.' Gubernator ait: 'Vere mihi
dignare dicere: noveras aliquem patriae illius principem, Apollonium nomine?
Apollonius ait: 'Ut me ipsum, sic illum novi.' Gubernator non intellexit dictum
et ait: 'Sic ego rogo, ut ubicumque eum videris, dic illi: Laetare et gaude, quia rex
saevissimus Antiochus cum filia sua concumbens, dei fulmine percussus est. Opes
autem et regnum eius servantur regi Apollonio.'
Apollonius autem ut audivit, gaudio plenus conversus dixit ad coniugem:
'Domina, quod aliquando mihi naufrago credideras, modo comprobasti. Peto
itaque, coniunx carissima, ut me permittas proficere et regnum devotum percipere.' Coniunx vero eius ut audivit eum velle proficere, profusis lacrimis ait:
*Care coniunx, si alicubi in longinquo esses itinere constitutus, certe ad partum
meum festinare debueras. Nunc vero, cum sis praesens, disponis me derelinquere?
20
25
Pariter navigemus: ubicumque fueris, scu in terris seu in mari, vita vel mors
ambos nos capiat
Et haec dicens puella venit ad patrem suum, cuisic ait: 'Care genitor, lactare
et gaude, quia saevissimus rex Antiochus cum filia sua concumbens a dco percussus est. Opes autem eius cum diademate coniugi meo servatae sunt. Propter quod
rogo te,satis animo libenti permittas mihi navigare cum viro mco.Et ut libentius
mihi permittas: unam remittis, en duas recipies!'
25. Rex vero, ut audivit omnia, gaudens atque exhilaratus est. Et continuo iubet
naves adduci in litore et omnibus bonis impleri. Praeterea nutricem eius nominc
Lycoridem et obstetricem peritissimam propter partum cius simul navigare iussit.
Et data profectoria deduxit cos ad litus, osculatur filiam et generum et ventum eis
optat prosperum. Reversus est rex ad palatium. Apollonius vero ascendit naves
cum multa familia multoque apparatu atque copia, et flante vento certumiter
navigant.
Qui dumper aliquantos dies totidemque mo tes eartis ventorum flatibus impio
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
137
manner with appropriate grandeur. There was great rejoicing throughout the
city; citizens, foreigners and guests revelled. Great joy was expressed with lutes
and lyres and songs and organs melodiously accompanying voices. When the
joyful feasting came to an end,great passion grew between the husband andwife,
remarkable affection, unparalleled fondness, unheard-of happiness, encompassed
by an unendinglove.
24. Somedays and monthslater, when it was already the sixth month and the
girl's stomach was swelling, her husband king Apollonius came to her. When he
was walking beside his dear girl on the sea shore, he saw a most beautiful ship; as
they were both admiring it together, Apollonius recognized that it was from his
owncountry. He turned to the helmsman and said: "Tell me, please, where do you
come from” The helmsmansaid: ‘From Tyre.’ Apollonius said: ‘You have named
my own country.’ The helmsmansaid: ‘So you are a Tyrian?’ Apolloniussaid: ‘As
you say, so 1 am.’ The helmsmansaid: ‘Be kind enough to tell me the truth: did
you know a prince of that country called Apollonius?’ Apollonius said: ‘I know
him as well as | know myself. The helmsman did not understand this remark,
and said: "Then I have a request: if you see him anywhere,tell him to rejoice and
be glad, because the most cruel King Antiochus has been struck by God's
thunderbolt as he was lying in bed with his own daughter. But his wealth and his
kingdom are being kept for King Apollonius.'
When Apollonius heard this, he turned to his wife, full of delight, and said:
‘Lady, now you have had confirmation of what you took on trust when I was
shipwrecked.I ask your permission, dearest wife, to go and take possession of the
kingdom being kept for me.' But when his wife heard that he wanted ro set off,
she burst into tears and said: 'Dear husband, if you had been on a long joumey
somewhere, you would certainly have had to hurry back to my confinement. But
now, when you are here, are you planning to abandon me? Letussail together:
whereveryou are, on land orsea,Ict us live or die together.’
After this speech the girl went to her father and said to him: ‘Dear father,
rejoice and be glad, for the most cruel King Antiochus has been struck down by
God as he was lying in bed with his own daughter; his wealth and crown are
being kept for my husband. So please give me your willing permission to sctsail
with my husband. To encourage you to let me go morewillingly, you are sending
away one daughter,but think, youwill get two back!’
25. When the king heard all this, he was delighted and rejoiced. At once he
ordered ships to be drawn up on shore andfilled with all Apollonius's property.
Because of his daughter's confinement he also ordered Lycoris, her nurse, and a
very experienced midwife to sail with them. After a farewell banquet he escorted
them to the shore, kissed his daughter and son-in-law, and wished them a fair
wind. Then the king returned to the palace. But Apollonius embarked with
many servants, and with a great quantity of equipment and money, and they set
sail on a steady course with a following wind.
lor several days and ITITREIIS they wee detuned on the Wie ked sea hy Various
138
20
25
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
pelago detineretur, nono mense cogente Lucina* enixa est puella puellam. Sed
secundis rursum redeuntibus coagulato sanguine conclusoque spiritu subito defuncta est". Non fuit mortua, sed quasi mortua. Quod cum videret familia cum
clamore et ululatu magno, cucurrit Apollonius et vidit coniugem suam iacentem
exanimem,scidit a pectore vestes unguibus et primas suae adulescentiae discerpit
barbulas et lacrimis profusis iactavit se super corpusculum et coepit amarissime
flere atque dicere: 'Cara coniunx,cara et unica regis filia, quid fuit de te? Quid
respondebo pro te patri tuo aut quid de te proloquar, qui me naufragum suscepit
pauperem et egenum?
Et cum haec et his similia defleret atque ploraretfortiter, introivit gubernius,
qui sic ait: 'Domine, tu quidem pie facis, sed navis mortuum sufferre non potest.
Iube ergo corpus in pelagus mitti, ut possimus undarum fluctus evadere." Apollonius vero dictum aegre ferens ait ad eum: 'Quid narras, pessime hominum? Placet
tibi ut eius corpus in pelagus mittam, quae me naufragum suscepit et egenum?
Erantex servis eius fabri, quibus convocatis secari et compaginari tabulas, rimas
et foramina picari praecepit, et facere loculum amplissimum et charta plumbea
obturari iubet eum inter iuncturas tabularum. Quo perfecto loculo regalibus
ornamentis ornat puellam, in loculo composuit et XX sestertia auri ad caput
posuit. Dedit postremo osculum funeri, effudit super eam lacrimas ct iussit infantem tolli et diligenter nutriri, ut haberet in malis suis aliquod solatium etprofilia
sua neptem regi ostenderet. Et iussit loculum mitti in mare cum amarissimofletu.
26. Tertia die eiciunt undae loculum: venit ad litus Ephesiorum, non longe a
praedio cuiusdam medici. Qui in illa die cum discipulis suis deambulans iuxta
litus vidit loculum effusis fluctibus iacentem ct ait famulis suis: "Tollite hunc
loculum cum omnidiligentia et ad villam afferte.' Quod cum fecissent famuli,
medicus libenter aperuit et vidit puellam regalibus ornamentis ornatam, speciosam valde et in falsa morte iacentem et ait: 'Quantas putamus lacrimas hanc
puellam suis parentibus reliquisse!! Et videns subito ad caput eius pecuniam
positam et subtus codicellos scriptos ait: "Perquiramus, quid desiderat aut mandat
dolor Qui cum resignasset, invenit sic scriptum: Quicumque hunc loculum
invenerit habentem in eo XX sestertia auri, peto ut X sestertia habeat, X uero
funeri impendat. Hoc enim corpus multas dereliquit lacrimas et dolores amarissimos. Quodsi aliud fecerit quam dolor exposcit, ultimus suorum decidat, nec sit
qui corpus suum sepulturae commendcer.'
Perlectis codicellis ad famulos ait: "Praestetur corpori, quod imperat. dolor.
17 M defunctae tepraesentavitr effigiem
DORB Ceremonts
* Nas as cos aas
PO
0
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
139
strong winds. In the ninth month, at Lucina’s urging*, the girl gave birth to a
girl. But the afterbirth went back again, her blood congealed, her breathing was
blocked, and suddenly she died?*. She was not dead, but she seemed to be. When
the servants saw this, and shouted and wailed loudly, Apollonius came running
and saw his wife lying lifeless; he ripped the clothes from his breast with his nails,
tore out the first growth of his youthful beard, and in a flood of tears threw
himself on her slight body. He began to cry mostbitterly, and said: ‘Dear wife,
beloved only daughter of a king, what has happened to you? How shall 1 answer
for you to your father? Whar shall 1 say about you to the man who took mein,
poor and needy, when I was shipwrecked?’
As he lamented in these and similar terms and wept profusely, the helmsman
camein andsaid:‘Lord, your behaviour is quite proper, but the ship cannot bear
a corpse. So give orders for the body to be thrown into the sea, so that we can
escape the turbulent waves.’ Apollonius was upset by this speech, and said to
him: ‘Whatare you saying, worst of men? Do you want meto throw into the sea
the body of the woman whotook mein, poor and needy, after my shipwreck”
There were some carpenters amongtheservants; he sent for them and ordered
them to cut and join planks, and to stop up the cracks and holes with pitch; he
told them to make a very spacious coffin, and to seal the joints with lead leaf.
Whenthecoffin was ready he adorned thegirl in royal finery, laid herin it, and
put twenty thousand gold sesterces at her head. He kissed the corpsefor the last
time, and showered it with tears. Then he ordered the baby to be taken and
nursed with great care, so that he might have some consolation among his
troubles, and might show the king his granddaughter instead of his daughter.
Weepingvery bitterly, he ordered the coffin to be throwninto the sea.
26. After two days the waves cast the coffin ashore: it arrived on the coast of
Ephesus, notfar from the estate of a doctor. This man was walking on the shore
that day with his pupils and saw the coffin lying where the waves had flowed
away. Hesaid to his servants: ‘Pick up that box with the greatest care and carry it
to my house.’ Whentheservants had donethis, the doctor eagerly opened it, and
saw a very beautiful girl lying there adorned with royal jewels, apparently dead.
‘Think how manytears this girl bequeathed to herrelations!’ he said. Suddenly
he saw the money which had been put at her head, and the rablet underneathit;
he said: ‘Let usfind out the desires or instructions of Grief.’ When he broke the
scal he found the following message: “Whoeverfinds this coffin, which contains
twenty thousand gold sesterces, | beg him to keep ten thousand, but to spend ten
thousand on afuneral. For this corpse hasleft behind many tears and mostbitter
pricf. But if he does nor act accordingto this grief-stricken request, may he die as
the last of his line, and may there be no onero give him burial.’
Whenhehadread the tablet, the doctor said to his servants: ‘Let us treat the
44 RB she pave the impression of berg dead
AS RB Cetemon
* Niue ia sens i
THOT
140
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
luravi itaque per spem vitae meae in hoc funere amplius me erogaturum quam
20
25
dolor exposcit.' Et haec dicens iubet continuo instrui rogum. Sed dumsollicite
atque studiose rogus aedificatur atque componitur, supervenit discipulus medici,
aspectu adulescens, sed quantum ingenio senex. Hic cum vidisset speciosum
corpus super rogum velle poni, intuens magistrum ait: 'Unde hoc novum nescio
quod funus?" Magister ait: 'Bene venisti: haec enim hora te expectat. Tolle
ampullam unguenti et, quod est supremum, defunctae corpori puellae superfunde.'
At vero adulescens tulit ampullam unguenti et ad lectum devenit puellae ct
detraxit a pectore vestes, unguentem fudit et per omnesartus suspiciosa manu
retractat, sentitque a praecordiis pectoris torporis quietem?6. Obstupuit iuvenis,
quia cognovit puellam in falsa morte iacere. Palpat venarum indicia, rimatur
auras narium; labia labiis probat; sentit gracile spirantis vitam prope luctare cum
morte adultera, et ait: ‘Supponite faculas per III] partes.’ Quod cum fecissent,
lentas lectoque suppositas retrahere manus,* et sanguis ille, qui coagulatus fuerat,
per unctionem liquefactusest.
27. Quod utvidit iuvenis, ad magistrum suum cucurrit etait: 'Magister, puella,
quam credis esse defuncram,vivit! Et ut facilius mihi credas, spiritum praeclusum
patefaciam! Adhibitis secum viribus tulit puellam in cubiculo suo et posuit super
lectulum, velum divisit, calefacit oleum, madefacit lanam et effudit super pectus
puellae. Sanguis vero ille, qui intus a perfrictione coagulatus fuerat, accepto
tepore liquefactus est coepitque spiritus pracclusus per medullas descendere.
Venis itaque patefactis aperuit puella oculos et recipiens spiritum, quem iam
perdiderat, leni et balbutienti sermone ait: 'Deprecor itaque, medice, ne me
contingasaliter, quam oportet contingere: uxor enim regis sum etregisfilia.'
Iuvenis ut vidit quod in arte viderat quod magistro fallebat, gaudio plenus
vadit ad magistrum suum etait: 'Veni magister, en discipuli tui apodixin!' Magister introivit cubiculum et ut vidit puellam iam vivam quam mortuam putabat,ait
discipulo suo: 'Probo artem, peritiam laudo, miror diligentiam. Sed audi, discipule, nolo te artis beneficium perdidisse: accipe mercedem. Haec enim puella
secum attulit pecuniam." Et dedit ei decem sestertia auri et iussit puellam salubribus cibis et fomentis recreari. Post paucos dies, ut cognovit eam regio gencre esse
ortam,adhibitis amicis in filiam suam sibi adoptavit. Et rogavit cum lacrimis, nc
i
RH
temptat vpidum Corpus ct obstupuit
$ Ra ass...
DAL
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
141
corpse as the moumerasks. Indeed, as | hope to live, I have sworn that I will
spend more onthis funeral than Grief demands. After this speech he ordered a
pyre to be prepared at once. But while they were carefully and diligently building
the pyre, there arrived a student of the doctor, a young manin appearance, but
an old man in wisdom. Whenhe saw that the corpse of a beautiful girl was going
to be put on the pyre, he looked at his master and said: ‘Where hasthis strange,
unknown corpse come from?” The masterreplied: ‘I am glad that you have come;
this is a time when you are needed. Take a flask of ointment and pourit over the
body of the dead girl, in the lastrite.’
The young man took the flask of ointment, went to thegirl's couch, and drew
her clothes back from her breast. He poured on ointmentand suspiciously examined all her limbs again with his hand, andfelt the stillness and numbness deep
in her bosom. The young man was amazed, for he realized that thegirl was lying
in a coma”. He checked herveinsfor signs of a pulse, and examined hernostrils
for breathing, and tried her lips with his own. Hefelt the delicate breath oflife
on the point of struggling with false death, and he said: ‘Puc little torches
underneath atall four sides.’ When they had donethis, the girl began to draw
back her hands which were dangling immobile under the bed;* as a result of the
rubbing with ointmenther blood, which had coagulated, becameliquid.
27. When the young man saw this, he ran to his master and said: ‘Master, the
girl whom you believe dead is alive! And so that you may believe me more
readily, 1 will unblock her obstructed breathing.’ Taking equipmentwith him, he
brought the girl into his own room and put her on the bed. He opened her
coverings, warmed the oil, moistened some wool, and applied it to the girl's
breast. Her blood, which had congealed because of the extreme cold, liquefied
when it was warmed, and the force oflife which had been blocked began to
penctrate her marrow. Whenherveins were cleared the girl opened her eyes and
recovered the powerto breathe, which she had lost; in a soft and quavering voice
shesaid : ‘I implore you, doctor, not to touch me exceptas is proper; for | am the
wife of a king and the daughterof a king.’
When the young man saw that through his skill he had noticed what his
teacher had missed, he was overjoyed. He went to his teacher and said: ‘Come,
master, look at your pupil's demonstration.’ The teacher cameinto the bedroom,
and when he saw that the girl whom he had believed to be dead was nowalive,
he said to his pupil: ‘I commendyourskill, I praise your knowledge, I admire your
attentiveness. But listen, my pupil, | do not want you to lose the benefit of your
skill. Take the reward; for this girl brought moncy with her.’ So he gave him the
ten thousand gold sesterces. Then he ordered that the girl be restored to health
with nourishing foods and warm compresses. After a few days, when he learned
that she was of royal birth, he summoned his friends and adopted her as his
daughter. She made a tearful plea thar no man should touch her. He took heed,
46
RUIN DEL be teli the slighye wattith uni her Ix xly, and was amazed
* Note i on e
TKI
142
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
ab aliquo contingeretur. Exaudivit eam etinter sacerdotes Dianae feminasfulsit
et collocavit, ubi omnesvirgines inviolabiliter servabant castitatem.
28. Inter haec Apollonius cum navigat ingenti luctu, gubernante deo applicuit
Tarsum, descendit ratem et petivit domum Stranguillionis et Dionysiadis. Qui
cum eos salutavisset, omnes casus suos eis dolenter exposuit et ait: 'Quantum in
amissam coniugem flebam, tantum in servatam mihifiliam consolabor. Itaque,
sanctissimi hospites, quoniam ex amissa coniuge regnum, quod mihi servabatur,
nolo accipere, sed neque reverti ad socerum, cuius in mari perdidi filiam, sed
fungar potius opera mercatus, commendo vobis filiam meam: cum filia vestra?
nutriatur et eam cum bonoet simplici animo suscipiatis atque patriae nominc
eam cognominetis Tarsiam. Praeterea et nutricem uxoris meae nomine Lycoridem vobis commendopariter et volo,utfiliam meam nutriat atque custodiar.'
His dictis tradidit infantem, dedit aurum, argentum et pecunias nec non et
vestes pretiosissimas, et iuravit fortiter ncc barbam nec capillos nec ungucs
dempturum, nisi prius filiam suam nuptui traderet. At illi stupentes quod tam
graviter iurasset, cum magnafide se puellam educaturos promittunt. Apollonius
vero commendata filia navem ascendit altumque pelagus petens ignotas et longinquas ZEgypti regiones devenit.
29. Itaque puella Taria facta quinquennis traditur studiis artium liberalibus? et
filia eorum cum ea docebatur: et ingenio et in auditu et in sermone et in morum
honestate docentur. Cumque Taria ad XIIll annorum actatem venisset, reversa
de auditorio invenit nutricem suam subitaneam valitudinem incurrisse, et sedens
iuxta eam casus infirmitatis eius explorat. Nutrix vero eius elevans se dixit ei:
'Audi aniculae morientis verba suprema, domina Tarsia; audi et pectori tuo
manda. Interrogo namque te, quem tibi patrem aut matrem aut patriam esse
existimas? Puella ait: 'Patriam Tarsum, patrem Stranguillionem, matrem Dionysiadem.' Nutrix vero eius ingemuit et ait: 'Audi, domina mea Tarsia, stemmata
originis tuorum natalium,ut scias quid post mortem meam facere debeas. Est tibi
pater nomine Apollonius, mater vero Archistratis regis filia, patria Tyrus?. Dum
mater tua enixa est, statim redeuntibus secundis praeclusoque spiritu ultimum
fati signavit diem.
*Quam pater tuus facto loculo cum ornamentis regalibus et XX sestertiis auri
in mare permisit ut, ubi fuisset delata? ipsa testis sibi esset. Naves quoque
luctantibus ventis cum patre tuo lugente et tc in cunabulis posita pervenerunt ad
HOMRBPhiliocamiade.
8 RI Nanniur ain scola, demde studiis liberalibus
ORB Esc tili Cuenes solum patria '
RB "haberet in supremis exequias funeris sui,
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
143
and supported her andestablished her amongthepriestesses of Diana, where all
the virgins preserved their chastity inviolate.
28. Meanwhile Apollonius had sailed on, in deep mouming. Steered by God, he
arrived at Tarsus, where he disembarked and made for the house of Stranguillio
and Dionysias. After greeting them he sadly recounted all his misfortunes, and
said: ‘However manytears | have shed for the the loss of my wife, I shall receive
equal consolation from the survival of my daughter. Because of my wife's death, |
do not want to accept the kingdom being held for me; nor to return to my
father-in-law, whose daughter 1 have lost at sea; instead I shall become a merchant. So, most worthy hosts, I entrust my daughterto you, to be raised with your
daughter’. Bring her up honestly and simply, and name her Tarsia after your
country. Together with her, I also hand over to you my wife's nurse Lycoris: |
wanther to rear my daughter and lookafter her.’
After this speech he handed over the baby, and gave them gold,silver and
money, as well as very valuable clothes. He swore a great oath notto cut his
beard or hair or nails until he had given away his daughter in marriage. They
were amazed that he had swom such a solemnoath, and promised mostfaithfully
to bring up thegirl. When Apollonius had handed over his daughter he boarded
his ship, made for the open sea, and arrived in the unknownandfar-off parts of
Egypt.
29. When Tarsia was five, she was put to study the liberal arts¥, and their
daughter was taughtwith her. They were taught to use their intelligence, and the
arts of listening, discussion and decent behaviour. When Tarsia was fourteen, she
cameback from school to find that her nurse had suddenly been takenill. She sat
down nextto her and asked aboutthe nature of herillness. But her nurse raised
herself up and said to her: ‘Listen to the last words of an old woman who is dying,
Lady Tarsia. Listen, and remember them in your heart. I have a questionfor you:
whodo you think your father and mother are, and whatis your country” Thegirl
said: 'My country is Tarsus, my father is Stranguillio, my mother is Dionysias.’ But
the nurse sighed and said: 'Lady Tarsia,listen to your ancestry and family origins,
so that you know what you must do after my death. Your father's name is
Apollonius; your mother was the daughter of King Archistrates; Tyre is your
native land?. When your mother gave birth, the afterbirth went back straightaway and her breathing was obstructed; she came to the end of her allotted span.
' Your father had a coffin made; he committed her to the sea with royalfinery
and twenty thousand goldsesterces, so that wherevershe was carried,” she would
be her own witness. Your father was in mourning, you were putin a cradle, and
28
58
4
10
ORB:
RB:
ORB:
RB:
Plhulotimias.
She was sent to school, and [started on] the liberal arts.
The land of Cyrene is your country.
she would have the list rites for her corpse in the end,
144
20
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
hanc civitatem. His ergo hospitibus, Stranguillioni et Dionysiadi, te commendavit pariter cum vestimentis regalibus et sic votum faciens neque ?'capillos
dempturum neque ungulas, donec te nuptui traderet? Nunc ergo post mortem
meam, si quando tibi hospites tui, quos tu parentes appellas, forte aliquam
iniuriam fecerint, ascende in forum et invenies statuam patris tui Apollonii:
apprcehendestatuam et proclama: "Ipsius sum filia, cuius est haec statua!" Cives
vero memores beneficiorum patris tui Apollonii liberabunt te necesse est?"
30. Cui Tarsia ait: 'Cara nutrix, testor deum, quod si fortasse aliqui casus mihi
evenissent, antequam haec mihi referres, penitus ego nescissem stirpem nativitatis meae!’ Et cum haec adinvicem confabularentur, nutrix in gremio pucllac
emisit spiritum. Puella vero corpus nutricis suae sepulturae mandavit?* lugens
eam anno.Et deposito luctu induit priorem dignitatem et petiit scolam suam et
ad studia liberalia reversa non prius sumebat cibum, nisi primo monumento
intraret ferens ampullam vini et coronas. Et ibi manes parentum suorum invoca-
31. Et dum haec aguntur, quodam dic feriato Dionysias cum filia sua nomine
Philomusia et Tarsia puella transibat per publicum. Videntes omnces cives speciem Tarsiae ornatam, omnibuscivibus et honoratis miraculum apparebat atque
omnesdicebant: ‘Felix pater, cuius filia est Tarsia; illa vero quae adhaeret lateri
eius multum turpis est atque dedecus.' Dionysias vero, ut audivit laudare Tarsiam
et suam vituperare filiam, in insaniae furorem conversaest. Et sedenssola coepit
cogitare taliter: 'Pater eius Apollonius, ex quo hinc profectus est, habet annos
XIIII et nunquam venit ad suam recipiendam filiam, nec nobis misit litteras. Puto
quia mortuuscst aut in pelago periit. Nutrix vero eius decessit. Neminem habeo
aemulum. Nonpotestfieri hoc, quod excogitavi, nisi ferro aut venenotollam illam
de medio, et ornamentiseius filiam meam ornabo.'
Et dum haec secum cogitat, nuntiatur ei villicum venisse nomine Theophilum. Quem ad se convocansait: 'Si cupis habere libertatem cum praemio,tolle
Tarsiam de medio.' Villicus ait: 'Quid enim peccavit virgo innocens? Scelesta
mulierait: 'lam mihi non pares? Tantum fac quod iubeo. Sin alias, sentias esse
contra te iratos dominum et dominam." Villicus ait: 'Et qualiter hoc potestficri?
A
[*]
9 RD:'barbam, .. .'
RB: ‘Et cumsuis ascendit ratem et ad nubiles tuos annos ad vota persolvenda non
remeavit. Sed nec pater tuus, qui tanto tempore moras in redeundo facit, nec scripsi
nec salutis suae nuntium tisit: forsitan peri?
RI "iniuriam tuam vindi abuni'
RI aubente Taria i litore dli monumentum (abri arutn es
-
wn
bat.
ITE
€ CasSUOS Olbics exponeret et
I ered
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
145
because of the turbulent winds the ships arrived at this city. So your father
entrusted you to these friends, Stranguillio and Dionysias, together with some
splendid clothes. He also took a vow notto cut *"his nails or his hair until he
gave you in marriage.? Now after my death, if your hosts, whom you call parents,
should happen to do you any harm, go up to the forum and you will find the
statue of your father Apollonius. Cling to the statue and cry out: “I am the
daughter of the man whose statue this is!” Then the citizens, remembering the
benefactions of your father Apollonius, will certainly rescue you®®.’
30. Tarsia said to her: ‘Dear nurse, God is my witness that if by chance any such
thing had happened to me before you revealed this to me, 1 should have been
absolutely ignorant of my ancestry and birth.' As they were having this conversation together, the nurse breathed herlast in the girl's lap. Tarsia organised thc
burial of her nurse, and mourned herfor a year'*. When she took off her mourning, she dressed in suitably splendid clothes again, and went to school, an
returned to herstudy of the liberal arts. But she never touched food until she had
goneinto the tomb with a flask of wine and garlands, and shecalled on the spirits
of her parentsthere®>.
31. While this was happening, Dionysias was walking about in the streets on i
holiday with her daughter, whose name was Philomusia, and with young Tarsia.
Whenthey saw Tarsia’s beauty and finery, all the citizens and officials thought
her a marvel, and keptsaying: "Tarsia's father is a lucky man; but that girl at her
side is very ugly and a disgrace.' When Dionysias heard Tarsia praiscd and her
own daughtercriticized, she became furiously angry. She sat down alone and
began thinking as follows:‘It is fourteen years since her father Apolloniusset out
from here, and he has never come back to collect his daughter, or sent us a letter.
I think it is because he has died, or perished at sea. Her nurse is dead. No one
stands in my way. My plan cannot be accomplished unless I do away with her, by
the sword or by poison; and I shall adorn my daughterin herfinery.’
While she was pondering this, she was told that an overseercalled Theophilus
had arrived. She summoned him and said: ‘If you want your freedom and a
reward, do away with Tarsia.’ The overseer said: ‘Whar has the innocent pirl
done wrong” 'Are you disobeying me already” said the wicked woman. ‘Just do
what I tell you. If you do not, you mayfeel the wrath of your master and mistress."
-
"ORB: his beard, i.
"RB: Then he embarked with his men, and now chat you are old enough to marry he
has not returned to fulfil his vow. But your father has put off hus retain for such a long:
time, and has not written or sent news of his wellbeing perhaps he is dead '
RB: fwall avenge your wrongs’
RB On Faris orders a tomb was etected for her by the shore
15
RB and recounted all her imistortunes, and wept
146
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
Scelesta mulier ait: ‘Consuetudo sibi est, ut mox de scola venerit, non prius
cibum sumat antequam monumentum suaenutricis intraverit. Oportet te ibi cum
25
30
pugione abscondere, et eam venientem interfice et proice corpus eius in mare. Et
cum adveneriset de hoc facto nuntiaveris, cum praemiolibertatem accipics.’*
Villicus tulit pugionem et latere suo celat et intuens caelum ait: ‘Deus, ego
non merui libertatem acciperenisi per effusionem sanguinis virginis innocentis?
Et haec dicens suspirans et flens ibat ad monumentum nutricis Tarsiac et ibi
latuit. Puella autem rediens de scola solito more fudit ampullam vini et ingressa
monumentum posuit coronas supra; et dum invocat manes parentum suorum,
villicus impetum fecit et aversae puellae capillos apprehendit et cam iactavit in
terram??. Et cum eam vellet percutere, ait ad eum puclla: "Theophile, quid peccavi, ut manu tua innocens virgo moriar? Cuivillicus ait: "Tu nihil peccasti, scd
pater tuus peccavit Apollonius, qui te cum magna pecunia et vestimentis rcgalibus reliquit Stranguillioni et Dionysiadi.' Quod puella audiens eum cum lacrimis
deprecata est: 'Si iam nulla est vitae mcac spes aut solatium, permitte metestari
dominum.' Cui villicus ait: "Testare. Et deus ipse scit voluntate me hoc scelus non
facere.'
32. Itaque puella cum dominum deprecatur, subito adveneruntpiratae ct videntes hominem armata manu velle percutcere??, exclamaverunt dicentes: "Parce,
barbare, parce et noli occidere! Haec enim nostra praeda est et non tua victima.'
Sed ut audivit villicus vocem, eam dimittit et fugit ct coepit latere. post
monumentum.Piratae applicantes ad litus tulerunt virginem et collantes altum
petierunt pelagus. Villicus post moram rediit, et ut vidit puellam raptam a morte,
deo gratias egit quod nonfecit scelus. Et reversus ad dominam suam ait: 'Quod
praecepisti, factum est; comple quod mihi promiscras.' Scelesta mulier ait: 'Homicidium fecisti, insuper et libertatem petis? Revertere ad villam et opus tuum
facito, ne iratos dominum et dominam sentias!" Villicus itaquc ut audivit elevans
ad caelum oculos dixit: "Tu scis, deus, quod nonfeci scelus. Esto iudex internos.'
Et ad villam suam abiit.
*Tunc Dionysias apud semet ipsam consiliata pro scelere quod excogitaverat,
quomodo possit facinus illud celare, ingressa ad maritum suum Stranguillionem
sic ait: 'Care coniunx, salva coniugem,salva filiam nostram. Vituperia in grandem mefuriam concitaveruntet insaniam. Subitoque apud me excoritavi dicens:
"Ecce, iam sunt anni plus XIIII ex quo nobis suus pater commendavit Tarsiam, et
numquam salutarias nobis misit litteras: forsitan aut afflictione luctus est mortuus
5 quU Villicus licet spe libertatis seductus, timen cum dolore discessit.
VOR ectraxe ad litus.
" [RU ec videntes puellam sub igo mortis stare
°
Note i^ on gp
I5]
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
147
Theoverseer said: ‘How can it be done?” The wicked womansaid:‘It is her habit,
as soon as she comes from school and before she eats anything, to go to her
nurse's tomb. You must hide there with a dagger: whenshearrives, kill her and
throw her body into the sea. When you comeandtell me that the deed is done,
you will receive your freedom and a reward.
The overseer took a dagger and hid it at his side. Looking up to heaven he
said: ‘God, have I not earned my freedom withoutspilling the blood of an
innocentgirl? With these words he went, sighing and weeping, to the tomb of
Tarsia's nurse, and hid there. When Tarsia came back from school, in the usual
way she poureda flask of wine, went into the tomb, and hungup wreaths. As she
was calling on the shades of her parents, the overseer attacked her, seized her
from behind by the hair, and threw her to the ground?’. As he was goingto strike
her, thegirl said to him: ‘Theophilus, what have I done wrong, that an innocent
girl should die at your hand” Hesaid to her: ‘You have done nothing wrong, but
your father Apollonius was at fault to leave you in the care of Stranguillio and
Dionysias with lots of money and royal robes.’ On hearingthis the girl burst into
rears and entreated him:‘If there is no hope oflife or solace for me, let me pray to
God.’ The overseer replied: ‘Do pray. For God Himself knows that 1 do not
commit this crime willingly.’
32. While thegirl was praying to the Lord, somepirates suddenly arrived. Seeing
a man with a weaponin his hand, aboutto strike?5, they called out: ‘Spare her,
you thug, spare her, don’t kil! her! This girl is booty for us, not your victim.’
When the overseer heard this shout he let Tarsia go, and ran away and hid
behind the tomb. The pirates put in to the shore, took the girl, and sailed off,
making for the open sea. After waiting a while, the overseer came back: when he
saw that the girl had been snatched from death, he thanked God that he had not
committed a crime. He went back to his mistress and said: "What you ordered has
been done. Fulfil your promise to me.’ The wicked woman replied: ‘You have
committed a murder: do you expect freedom on top of that? Go back to the farm
and get on with your work, or youwill feel the wrath of your master and mistress.’
Whenthe overseer heard that he raised his eyes to heaven andsaid: ‘You know,
God, that I have not committed a crime. Be the judge between us.’ And he went
off to his farm.
*Then Dionysias turned over in her mind how she could conceal the crime
which she had planned. She went in to her husband Stranguillio and said: ‘Dear
husband, save your wife, and save our daughter. Insults drove me into a madrage,
and [suddenly thought to myself: “Indeed, more than fourteen years have passed
ince Tarsia was left in our care by herfather, and he has never sent us any letter
of greeting. Perhaps be has died of grief, or he must have perished in the stormy
fe RB Seduced by the hope of freedom, but feeling sad, the overseer left.
"ORI and dragged her to the shore
" [UI seemagoil on the pou ol death
* None ion e
PA
148
20
25
35
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
aut certe inter fluctus maris et procellas periit. Nutrix vero cius defuncta cst.
Nullum habeo aemulum. Tollam Tarsiam de medio et eius ornamentis nostram
ornabo filiam." Quod et factum esse scias! Nunc vero propter civium curiositatem ad praesens indue vestes lugubres, sicut facio ego, etfalsis lacrimis dicamus
eam subito dolore stomachi fuisse defunctam. Hic prope in suburbio faciamus
rogum maximum ubi dicamus eam essc positam."
Stranguillio ut audivit, tremor et stupor in cum irruit ct ita respondit: 'Equidem da mihi vestes lugubres, ut lugeam me, qui talem sum sortitus sceleratam
coniugem. Heu mihi! Pro dolor'', inquit, 'Quid faciam, quid agam de patre cius,
quem primo cum suscepissem, cum civitatem istam a morte et periculo famis
liberavit, meo suasu egressus est civitatem: propter hanc civitatem naufragium
incidit, mortem vidit, sua perdidit, exitum penuriac perpessus est; a deo vero in
mclius restitutus malum pro bono, quasi pius, non excogitavit neque ante oculos
illud habuit, sed omnia oblivioni ducens, insuper adhuc memor nostri in bono,
fidem cligens, remunerans nos et pios acestimans, filiam suam nutriendam
tradidit, tantam simplicitatem et amorem circa nos gerens, ut civitatis nostrac
filiae suae nomen imponeret. Heu mihi, cacecatus sum! Lugeam me et
innocentem virginem, qui iunctus sum ad pessimam venenosamqueserpentem et
VIRGINI BENEFICIIS TYRII APOLLONII EX AERE COLLATO FECERUNT.
€
33. Igitur qui Tarsiam rapuerunt adveneruntin civitatem Mytilenen. Deponiturque inter cetera mancipia ct venalis foro proponitur. Audiens autem hoc
*
45
iniquam coniugem!" Et in caelum levans oculosait: 'Deus, tu scis quia purus sum
a sanguine Tarsiae, et requiras et vindices illam in Dionysiade.' Et intuens uxorem suam ait: 'Quomodo, inimica dei, celare poteris hoc nefandum facinus?
Dionysias vero induit se et filiam suam vestes lugubres falsasque infundit
lacrimas et cives ad se convocans, quibusait??: 'Carissime cives, idco vos clamavimus, quia spem luminum etlabores et exitus annorum nostrorum perdidimus: id
est, Tarsia, quam bene nostis, nobis cruciatuset fletus reliquit amarissimos; quam
digne sepelire fecimus.'9 Tunc perguntcives, ubi figuratum fuerat sepulcrum a
Dionysiade, et pro meritis ac beneficiis Apollonii, patris Tarsiae, fabricantes
rogum ex aere collato et scripserunt taliter: DII MANES CIVES TARSI TARSIAE
RB: Postera die prima luce scelerata, ut. admissum | facinus. insidiosa. fraude. celaret,
famulos misit ad convocandos amicos et patriae principes; Qui convenientes consederunt Tunc scelerata lugubres vestes induta, linians Canibus, nudo et livido pectore
adfumans dolorem exit de cubiculo. Fu ts fingens Licrumas aut
RB Pateae prins ipes: adf£iriiationem sermonis ex habia: Japgubit, fallacibus Tiris
sedu ti, crediderunt
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
149
scas. Tarsia’s nurse has died. No one stands in my way.I will get rid of Tarsia and
adorn our daughter with herfinery.” Let me tell you that this has actually
happened. But now, because of the curiosity of the citizens, put on mourning
clothes for the time being, as I am doing, and let us announce with feigned tears
that Tarsia has died from a sudden stomachpain. Let us build an enormous tomb
on the outskirts of the town, where we cansay that she is buried.’
When Stranguillio heard this he was amazed and began to tremble, and he
answered thus: ‘Yes, give me moumingclothes, so that I can mourn for myself,
whoselot it is to have such a wicked wife. Alas! Oh, the grief!’ he said. ‘What
shall I do, how shall I deal with her father? WhenI first took him in, when he
delivered this city from death and from the threat of famine, it was at my
encouragementthat heleft the city. Because of this city he was shipwrecked,
faced death, lost all his possessions, endured the fate of poverty. But when God
restored him to better fortune, as he was a moral man,he did not think of doing
evil for good, nor kept the idea in mind, butletit all be forgotten; furthermore,
he rememberedus kindly in his prosperity, singling out our loyalty, rewardingus,
thinking us responsible people. He handed over his daughter to us to rear, and
treated us with such honesty andaffection that he named his daughterafter our
city. Alas, | have been blind. Let me mourn for myself and for the innocentgirl,
for I am yoked to a most evil and poisonous snake, a wicked wife!’ Raising his
eyes to heaven he said: ‘God, you know that I am innocent of Tarsia’s blood.
Seek her out, and take vengeance for her on Dionysias.’ Looking at his wife he
said: ‘Enemy of God, how will you be able to hide this abominable crime”
But Dionysias dressed herself and her daughter in mourning and weptfeigned
tears. ?She summoned the citizens and addressed them: 'Dearest citizens, we
have summoned you because we havelost the hope ofoureyes, the object of our
labours, the goal of ourlives: | mean that Tarsia, whom you know well, hasdied,
lcaving us tormentandbitter tears. We have had hersuitably buried.’ Then the
citizens went to the tomb which Dionysias had had made. Because of the kindness and benefactions of Apollonius, Tarsia’s father, they had a monumentraised
by public subscription, and put the following inscription on it: TO THE SPIRITS OF
HE DEAD: THE CITIZENS OF TARSUS ERECTED THIS MONUMENT BY SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MAIDEN TARSIA BECAUSE OF THE BENEFACTIONS OF APOLLONIUS
OF TYRE.
43. So Tarsia’s abductors arrived in the city of Mytilene. She was landed among
the other slaves and put up for sale in the market-place. The news reached a
=
8 ORB: The next day at dawn in order to conceal her crime by cunning deceit, the wicked
woman sent servants to summon her friends and the rulers of the land. They arrived
anc sat down together, Then the wicked woman put on mourning clothes, tore her
hou, and demonstrating sorrow by her bare and bruised bieast, she came out of the
bedroom. Feapning tears, she scan
RB: The rulers of dhe lind behe ved ‘the declaration she made because of her mourming
chess, persuaded hy ber leaned tears
150
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
leno*!, vir infaustissimus, nec virum nec mulierem voluit emere nisi Tarsiam
puellam, et coepit contendere ut eam emeret. Sed Athenagoras nomine, princeps
eiusdem civitatis, intelligens nobilem et sapientem et pulcherrimam virginem ad
venalia positam, obtulit decem sestertia auri. Sed leno XX dare voluit. Athenagoras obtulit XXX, leno XL, Athenagoras L, leno LX, Athenagoras LXX, leno
LXXX, Athenagoras LXXXX, leno in praesenti dat C sestertia auri ct dicit: 'Si
20
quis amplius dederit, X dabo supra.’ Athenagorasait: ‘Ego si cum hoc lenone
contendere voluero, ut unam emam, plurium venditor sum. Sed permittam eum
emere, et cum ille eam in prostibulo posuerit, intrabo prior ad cam et cripiam
nodum virginitatis eius vili pretio, et erit mihi ac si eam emerim.’
Quid plura? Addicitur virgo lenoni, a quo introducitur in salutatorio ubi
habebat Priapum aureum, gemmis et auro reconditum. Et ait ad eam: 'Adora
numenpraesentissimum meum.' Puella ait: 'Numquid Lampsacenus es?*?* Leno
ait: 'Ignoras, misera, quia in domumavari lenonis incurristi? Puclla vero ut haec
audivit, toto corpore contremuit et prosternens se pedibus eius dixit: 'Miscrere
mei, domine, succurre virginitati meae! Et rogo te, ne velis hoc corpusculum sub
tam turpi titulo prostituere.' Cui leno ait: 'Alleva te, misera: tu autem nescis quia
apud lenonem et tortorem nec preces nec lacrimae valent. Et vocavit ad se
villicum puellarum et ait ad eum: 'Cella ornetur diligenter in qua scribatur
titulus: Qui Tarsiam virginem violare voluerit, dimidiam auri libram dabit;
postea vero singulos aureos populo patcbit.' Fecit villicus, quod iusserat ei dominus suus leno.
34. Tertia die antecedente turba cum symphoniacis ducitur ad lupanar. Sed
Athenagorasprincepsaffuit prior et velato capite ingreditur ad lupanar. Sed dum
fuisset ingressus, sedit; et advenit Tarsia ct procidit ad pedes eius et ait: ‘Miscrere
mei! Per iuventutem tuam^ te deprecor ne velis me violare sub tam turpi titulo.
Contine impudicam libidinem et audi casus infirmitatis meae vel originem stemmatum considera.' Cui cum universos casus suos exposuisset, princeps confusus
est et pietate ductus vehementer obstupuit et ait ad cam: 'Erige te. Scimus
fortunae casus: homines sumus. Habeoet ego filiam virginem, ex qua similem
possum casum metuere.' Haec dicens protulit XL aureos et dedit in manuvirginis
et dicit ei: 'Domina Tarsia, ecce habes plus quam virginitas tua expostulat.
^!
4
8
44
S8
RB: leno Leoninus nomine cupidissimus et locupletissimus, nec vir ncc femina, . .
RB: Leno ait: ‘Quare” Puella ait: Quia cives Fampsacem Priapum colunt."
RI 'Aesante, cella ubi Briseis stat, exornetur dilipenter .. '
RD "et per deum'
WR ex amissa conie filiam bun!
* Nose issus n
EMT
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
151
pimp*', an extremely disreputable man. He was not interested in buying anyone,
malc or female, except Tarsia, and he beganto bid for her. But when the prince of
the city, Athenagoras, realized that the girl up for sale was of noble birth,
intelligent and very beautiful, he bid ten thousand gold sesterces for her. But the
pimp bid twenty thousand. Athenagoras bid thirty thousand, the pimp forty
thousand, Athenagoras fifty thousand, the pimp sixty thousand, Athenagoras
seventy thousand, the pimp eighty thousand, Athenagoras ninety thousand. At
once the pimp put down one hundred thousand gold sesterces and said: ‘If
anyoneoffers more, I will go ten thousand higher.’ Athenagorassaid:‘If I want to
compete with this pimp, I shall have to sell several slaves to buy one girl. So 1
will let him buy her, and when he puts herin the brothel I will be herfirst client,
and will deflower her for a low price, and I shall feel just as if I had boughther.’
What more need be said? The pimp bought the girl and led her into a
reception room where he had a statue of Priapus made of gold, covered with
precious stones and gold. He said to her: ‘Worship my god, whois very powerful.’
Thegirl asked: ‘Do you come from Lampsacus??* The pimpsaid: ‘Wretched girl,
don't you know that you have entered the house of a greedy pimp? When Tarsia
heard this, she trembled all over; throwing herself at his fect she begged: 'Have
pity on me, master, protect my virginity! [ implore you not to prostitute my
tender body undersucha vile sign.’ The pimpreplied: ‘Get up, you wretch. You
do not realize that neither prayers nor tears have any effect on pimpsor torturers.’ He summonedthe overseer in charge of the girls and said to him: ‘Have a
room carefully decoratedand put this sign on it: “Whoever wants to deflower
Tarsia will pay half a pound of gold; but after that she will be open to the public
for one gold piece.” ' The overseer did as his master the pimp hadtold him.
34. Two days later Tarsia was taken to the brothel, preceded by a crowd and
musicians. Prince Athenagoras arrived first; he covered his head and wentinto
the brothel. When he camein, he sat down. Tarsia went overto him,fell at his
feet, and said: ‘Have pity on me! I implore you by your youth*, do not dishonour
me under such a vile sign. Restrain your shameless lust, and listen to the
wretched misfortunes of a helpless woman, think of my ancestry.’ When she had
told him all her misfortunes, the prince was disconcerted and moved bypity. In
his great astonishment he said to her: ‘Get up. We all know the mishaps of
fortune; we are all human.1 too have a daughter whois a virgin: I can be afraid
of a similar disaster in her case.’ With these words he produced forty pieces of
gold and put them in Tarsia’s hand. ‘Lady Tarsia,’ he said, ‘here is more than the
-
RB: who was called Leoninus, and was very greedy andvery rich; he was neither man
nor woman; ...
* OUThe punp sau; Why? The girl said: ‘Because the people of Lampsacus worship
Priapus.
WORD: Aman, have the room where Briseis was carefully decorated ..
8 RI "and by God
$8 RIIV a two year ollbldaughter by my wife; who i dead
* Note on o
481]
152
20
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
Advenientibus age similiter, quousque liberaberis.' Puella vero profusis lacrimis
ait: 'Ago pietati tuae maximasgratias.*^
Quoexeunte collega suusaffuit et ait: 'Athenagora, quomodo tecum novitia?
Athenagoras ait: 'Non potest melius: usque ad lacrimas!! Et haec dicens eum
subsecutus est. Quo introeunte insidiabatur, exitus rerum videre. Ingresso itaquc
illo Athenagorasforis stabat. Solito more puella claudit hostium. Cui iuvenis ait:
'Si salva sis, indica mihi, quantum dedit ad te iuvenis qui ad te modointroivit?
Puella ait: 'Quater denos mihi aureos dedit.’ luvenis ait: 'Malum illi sit! Quid
magnum illi fuisset, homini tam diviti, si libram auri tibi daret integram? Ut ergo
scias me esse meliorem, tolle libram auri integram." Athenagoras vero deforis
stans dicebat: 'Quantum plus dabis, plus plorabis!’ Puella autem prostravit se ad
eius pedes et similiter casus suos exposuit: confudit hominem etavertit a libidine.
Et ait iuvenis ad eam: 'Alleva te, domina! Et nos homines sumus, casibus subiacentes." Puella aic: 'Ago pietati tuae maximasgratias*!.'
35. Et exiens foris invenit Áthenagoram ridentem et ait: ‘Magnus homocs!
Non habuisti cui lacrimas tuas propinares?'* Et adiurantes se invicem nealicui
proderent, aliorum coeperunt expectare exitum. Quid plura? Illis expectantibus
per occultum aspectum, omnes quicumqueinibant dantes singulos aureos ploran-
tes abscedebant. Facta autem huius rei fine obtulit puella pecuniam lenonidicens: 'Ecce pretium virginitatis meae.' Et ait ad eam leno: 'Quantum melius est
hilarem te esse et non lugentem! Sic ergo age, ut cotidie mihi latiores pecunias
adferas.' Item ait ad eum altera die: 'Ecce pretium virginitatis meae, quod similiter precibus et lacrimis collegi, et custodio virginitatem meam.' Hoc audito
iratus est leno eo, quod virginitatem suam servaret, et vocat ad se villicum
puellarum et ait ad eum: 'Sic te tam neglegentem esse video, ut nescias Tarsiam
virginem esse. Si enim virgo tantum adfert, quantum mulicr? Duc cam ad te et tu
eripe nodum virginitatis eius.'
Statim eam villicus duxit in suum cubiculum et ait ad eam: 'Verum mihidic,
Tarsia, adhuc virgo es?' Tarsia puella ait: "Quamdiu vult deus, virgo sum." Villicus
ait: 'Unde ergo his duobus diebus tantam pecuniam obtulisti?" Puclla dixit: 'Lacrimis meis, exponens ad omnes universos casus meos; etilli dolentes miscrentur
virginitati meae.' Et prostravit se ad pedes cius et ait: 'Miserere mei, domine,
46. RI: "Rogo ne aliaa narres quae a ee audisti Arhenagoras ait: "8i narravero, filia mea,
cum ad tuam venerit aetatem, patiatur similem poenam ' Ftcum lk rimis discessit
8 OU Ier peto ne ouquamnares, quae a ie audisti"
Note js on n.
PHI
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
153
price demanded for your virginity. Behave in the same way with all comers, until
you are freed.’ Tarsia wept and said: ‘I am extremely grateful for your compassion.”
When Athenagoras went out he met a companion whoasked him: ‘Athenagoras, how did you get on with the newgirl” Athenagorassaid: ‘It couldn’t have
been better: even tears!’ After this conversation Athenagorasfollowed him when
he went inside, and lay in wait to see how things would turn our. So he wentin
and Athenagoras stayed outside. The girl closed the door in the usual way. The
young mansaid to her: ‘Please tell me, how much did you get from the young
man who camcin to you just now?’ Thegirl said: ‘He gave meforty gold pieces.’
‘Damn him!’ said the young man.‘For such a rich man it would not have been
much to give you a whole pound of gold! To show you that | am a better man,
here is a whole pound of gold.' But Athenagoras, who was standing outside, said:
‘The more you give, the more you will cry!’ The girl threw herself at his feet and
told him her misfortunes in the same way as before. He was disconcerted and
distracted from his lust. He said to her: ‘Get up, lady! We are human too, and
subject to misfortunes.’ Thegirl replied: ‘I am extremely grateful for your compassion‘?.’
35. When he wentoutside he found Athenagoras laughing, and said to him:
"You're a great man! Did you have no one over whom to shed your tears?* They
both swore not to betray her to anyone, and began to watch the others coming
out. What more is there to tell? They watched from a hidden place: whoever
went in handed over some gold pieces and came out crying. When this came to
an end Tarsia gave the money to the pimp, and said: ‘Here is the price of my
virginity.’ The pimp said: ‘How much betterit is when you are cheerful, not sad!
Carry on like this, so that you bring me more moneyevery day.’ The next day she
said to him again: ‘Here is the price of my virginity: I collected it as before with
icars and prayers, and I preserve myvirginity.’ When he heard this the pimp was
furious that she wasstill a virgin. He called the overscerin charge of the girls and
said to him: ‘I see you are so careless that you do not know that Tarsia is a virgin.
If she brings in so much as a virgin, what will she bring as a woman? Take her to
your room and deflowerher.’
The overseer rook her to his room at once andsaid to her: ‘Tell me the truth,
‘Tarsia, are you still a virgin?’ The girl Tarsia said: ‘For as long as God wishes, I am
a virgin.’ The overseer said: ‘Then where did you get so much moncyin these
two days?” The girl said: ‘With my tears: I told all the men the whole story of my
misfortunes, and they were upset and took pity on my virginity.” She threw
herself at his feet and said: "Have pity on me, master, help the captive daughter of
*5 quis Please do noc tell anyone what you have heard from imc! Athenaporas sad: "If d
do, may my daughter suffer sumar hardslup when she teaches your ape” Tle left in
tears
8 UV Sand Phep you not to tell anyone what you have heard from me!
* Note ion 6
TMI
154
36. Puella respondit: 'Habeo auxilium studiorum liberalium, perfecte erudita
sum; similiter et lyrae pulsu modulanter inludo. Iube crastina in frequenti loco
poni scamna, et facundia sermonis mei spectaculum praebeo**; deinde plectro
modulabor et hac arte ampliabo pecunias cotidie.' Quod cumfecisset villicus,??
tanta populi adclamatio rantusque amorcivitatis circa cam excrebruit, ut etviri
et feminae cotidie ei multa conferrent. Athenagoras autem princeps memoratam
Tarsiam integrae virginitatis et generositatis ita eam custodiebat ac si unicam
suam filiam,ita ut villico multa donaret ct commendaret eam.
37. Et cum haec Mytilena aguntur, venit Apollonius post quattuordecim annos
ad civitatem Tarsiam?' ad domum Stranguillionis et Dionysiadis. Quem videns
Stranguillio de longe perrexit curso rapidissimo ad uxorem suam dicensei: 'Certe
dixeras Apollonium perisse naufragio; et ecce, vcnit ad repetandam filiam suam.
Quid dicturi sumus patri de filia, cuius nos fuimus parentes?Scelerata mulicr hoc
audito toto corpore contremuit etait: 'Miserere! Ut dixi, coniunx, tibi confiteor:
dum nostram diligo, alienam perdidifiliam. Nunc ergo ad praesens indue vestes
lugubres et fictas fundamus lacrimas et dicamus eam subito dolore stomachi
interisse. Qui cum nostali habitu viderit, credet."
Et dum haec aguntur, intrat Apollonius domum Stranguillionis, a frontc
comamaperit, hispidam ab ore removit barbam. Utvidit eos in lugubre veste,ait:
‘Hospites fidelissimi — si tamen in vobis hoc nomen permanet — ut quid in
adventu meo largas effunditis lacrimas? Ne forte istae lacrimae non sint vestrae
sed meae propriae? Scelerata mulier ait cum lacrimis: "Utinam quidem istud
nuntium alius ad aures vestras referret, et non ego aut coniunx meus. Nam scito
Tarsiam filiam tuam a nobis subitaneo dolore stomachifuisse defunctam.' Apollonius ut audivit, tremebundus toto corpore palluit diuque maestus constitit. Sed
postquam recepit spiritum, intuens mulierem sic ait: "Tarsia filia mca ante paucos
dies decessit. Numquid pecunia aut ornamenta aut vestes perierunt?
48 RB: 'ne mevelis violare.'
*9 RD: 'et casus meos omnes exponam. Quoscumque nodos quaestionum proposuerint,
exsolvam, et hac arte . . .
50. RB: omnis actas populi ad videndam Tarsiam virginem cucurrit. Puella ut. vidit ingentem. populum, introiit in. facundiam ons studtorumaque abundantiam; ingcnio quaes
tones sibi promcebat et solvebat
RI er operto capite ne à quoquam civit deformis npn eretur,
-
20
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
subveni captivae regis filiae**!’ Cumque ci universos casus suos exposuissct,
motus misericordia ait ad eam: "Nimis avarus est iste leno. Nescio si tu possis
virgo permanere."
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
155
a king.” When she had told him all her misfortunes, he was moved by pity, and
said to her: ‘That pimpis too greedy. | do not know if you will be able to stay a
virgin.’
36. Tarsia replied: ‘I have the benefit of the study of the liberal arts: 1 am fully
educated. 1 can also play the lyre with a rhythmic beat. Have benches put up
tomorrow in some crowdedplace, and I shall offer entertainment with my eloquenttalk*. Then I shall make music with a plectrum, and through this skill I
shall make more money every day.’ The servant did this;? so great was the
people's applause, so great was the citizens! love for her, that both men and
womengave hera lot of money every day. Tarsia became famous for her pure
virginity and her noble nature, and prince Athenagoras watched overherasif
she were his own only daughter, to the extentthat he gave a lot of moncy to the
overseer and entrusted herto him.
37. While this was happening at Mytilene, Apollonius arrived at Tarsus after
fourteen years and?! came to the house of Stranguillio and Dionysias. When
Stranguillio saw him a long way off, he ran very fast to his wife, saying to her:
"You said it was certain that Apollonius had died in a shipwreck. Look, heis
comingto fetch his daughter. Whatshall we tell the father about his daughter, to
whom we were parents?’ The wicked woman trembled all over when she heard
this, and said: ‘Be merciful! I confess it is as 1 said, husband. Because | love our
own daughter, I killed the daughter who was not ours. Now put on mouming
clothes for the time being, and let us weep false tears, and say that she died
suddenly from a stomach pain. Whenhescesus in these clothes, he will believe
it.’
Meanwhile, Apollonius came into Stranguillio’s house; he pushed away the
hair from his forehead, and removed the shaggy beard from his face. When he
^
P
<
r
saw them in moumingdress, he asked: ‘My mostfaithful hosts — if chat namestill
applies to you — why do you weep profusely at my arrival? Canit be that these
tears are not on your own account, but on mine? The wicked womanreplied
tearfully: ‘If only someone else could bring this news to your ears, not myself or
my husband! For you must know that your daughter Tarsia was taken from us,
and died of a sudden stomach pain.' When Apollonius heard this, he trembled all
over and went pale, and stood gricf-stricken for a long time. When he got his
breath back, he looked at the woman andsaid: ‘My daughter Tarsia died a few
days ago. Surely her money and jewels and clothes have not gone too?
RB: ‘Do not rape me.’
RB: ‘and | will recoune all my misforcunes. Whatever riddles they ask, I shall solve
them, and through this skill.’
RB: people of every age Mlocked to see Tarsia, When the girl saw the mass of people, she
hepan to speak eloquently and with preat learning: She asked questions and answered
them cleverly
RI wach his head covered lest any ot the ciens should see hes ugliness,
156
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
38. Scelesta mulier haec eo dicente secundum pactum ferens adque reddens
omniasic ait: 'Crede nobis, quia si genesis permisisset, sicut haec omnia damus,
ita et filiam tibi reddidissemus. Et ut scias nos non mentiri, habemus huiusrei
testimonium civium, qui memores beneficiorum tuorum ex acrc collato filiae
tuae monumentum fecerunt, quod potest tua pietas videre.' Apollonius vero
credens eam vere esse defunctam ait ad famulos suos: "Tollite haec omniaet ferte
ad navem; ego enim vado ad filiae meae monumentum."
At ubi pervenit, titulum legit: DII MANES CIVES TARSI TARSIAE VIRGINI APOL-
LONII REGIS FILIAE OB BENEFICIUM EIUS PIETATIS CAUSA EX AERE COLLATO
FECERUNT.Perlecto titulo stupenti menti constitit. Et dum miraturse lacrimas
non posse fundere, maledixit oculos suos dicens: 'O crudeles oculi, titulum natae
meac cernitis et lacrimas fundere non potestis! O me miserum! Puto,filia mca
vivit.' Et haec dicens rediit ad navem atque ita suosallocutus est dicens: ‘Proicite
me in subsannio navis; cupio enim in undisefflare spiritum, quem in terris non
licuit lumen videre." Proiciens se in subsannio navis sublatis ancoris altum pcelaEus petiit, iam ad Tyrum reversurus.
7
=
-^
^
-
39. Qui dum prosperis ventis navigat, subito mutata est pelagi fides. Per diversa
discrimina maris iactantur; omnibus dominum rogantibus ad Mytilenam civitatem advenerunt. Ibique Neptunalia festa celebrabantur? Quod cum cognovisset
Apollonius, ingemuit etait: 'Ergo omnes diem festum celebrant praeter me! Sed
ne lugens et avarus videar! Sufficit enim servis meis poena quod me ram infelicem sortiti sunt dominum.' Et vocans dispensatorem suum ait ad eum: 'Dona X
aureos pueris, et eant et emant quod voluntet celebrent diem. Me autem veto a
quoquam vestrum appellari; quod si aliquis vestrum fecerit, crura ci frangi
iubeo.'5?
Cum igitur omnes nautae Apollonii convivium melius ceteris navibus celebrarent, contigit ut Athenagoras, princeps civitatis, qui Tarsiam filiam cius
diligebac*, deambulans in litore consideraret celebritatem navium. Qui dum
singulas notat naves, vidit hanc navem e ceteris navibus meliorem et ornatiorem
RB: Gubernator cum omnibus plausum dedit! Apollonius ait: 'Quis sonus hilaritatis
aures meas percussit" Gubernator ait: aude, domine, hodie Neptunalia esse.’
RB: Dispensator emit quae necessaria erant et reddut ad navem. Exornat navigium ct
toti disc ubierunt.
RB aqui Taeut filiam diligebat
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
157
38. When hesaid this, the wicked woman fetched everything and handed it
over, according to the agreement. Shesaid: ‘Do believeus,if the stars at her birth
had permitted it, we would have returned your daughter to you just as we are
returning all this. So that you know thatwe are not lying, we have the testimony
of the citizens on this matter. Remembering your benefactions, they have put up
a monumentto your daughterby subscription, which your honourcansee.’ Then
Apollonius, believing that she wasreally dead,said to his servants: ‘Take all these
things and carry them to the ship. I am going to see my daughter’s tomb.’
When hecametoit he read the inscription: TO THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD:
THE CITIZENS OF TARSUS ERECTED THIS MONUMENT BY SUBSCRIPTION TO THE
MAIDEN TARSIA, DAUGHTER OF KING APOLLONIUS, OUT OF RESPECT FOR HIS
BENEFACTIONS. When Apollonius read the inscription, he stood stunned. He
wassurprised that he was unable to cry, and cursed his own eyes,saying: 'O crucl
eycs, you see the inscription for my daughter, and you cannot produce tears!
Alas! I think my daughteris alive.' With these words he returned to the ship and
addressed his men as follows: "Throw me in the hold of the ship, for 1 want to
breathe my last at sea, since I have not been allowed to see light on land.’ He
threw himself in the hold, they weighed anchor, and he madefor the opensea in
order to return to Tyre.
~
~
39. He was sailing with favourable winds when the sea suddenly changedits
trustworthy mood, and they were tossed about in various dangerous situations.
All prayed to God, and theyarrived at the city of Mitylene. The feast of Neptune
was being celebrated there.? When Apollonius lcamed this, he groaned and
said: 'So everyoneis celebrating a holiday except me! Let me not appear mean as
well as grief-stricken. It is punishment enough for my servantsthat fate has sent
them such an unhappy master.’ Hecalled his steward andsaid to him: ‘Give ten
gold pieces to the boys; let them go and buy whatever they want, and celebrate
the feast day. But I forbid any of you to address me. If one of you does,I shall have
his legs broken.’
While all Apollonius’ sailors were celebrating with a better feast than the
other ships, it happened that Athenagoras, the prince of the city, who loved
Apollonius’ daughter Tarsia**, was walking on the beach and looking at the
festivities on the ships. As he observed each ship in turn, he noticed that this
ship was finer and more decorated than the others. He wentup to it and stood
RB: The helmsman and all the rest clapped their hands. Apollonius asked: ‘What are
these sounds of mirth which have reached my cars?’ The helmsman said: ‘Rejoice, lord,
=
>
~
today IN the feast of Ne tune.
RB: The steward hour what was necessary, and returned to the ship. He decorated
the ship and they all reclined
RB: who loved Fasua like a daughter
158
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25
30
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
esse. Accedens ad navem Apollonii coepit stare et mirari^*. Nautae veroetservi
Apollonii salutaverunt eum dicentes: 'Invitamuste, si dignaris, o princeps magnifice.’ At ille petitus cum V servis suis navem ascendit. Et cum videret cos
unanimes discumbere, accubuit inter epulantes et donavit eis X aureos et ponens
eos supra mensam dixit: 'Ecce, ne me gratias invitaveritis. Cui omnes dixerunt:
'Agimus nobilitati tuae maximasgratias."
Athenagoras autem cum vidisset omnes ram licenter discumbere nec inter cos
maiorem esse qui provideret, ait ad eos: 'Quod omnes licenter discumbitis, navis
huius dominusquis est? Gubernatordixit: "Navis huius dominus in luctu moratur
et iacet intus in subsannio navis in tenebris; flet uxorem et filiam*6. Quo audito
dolens Athenagoras dixit ad gubernium: *Dabo tibi duos aureos; et descende ad
eum etdic illi: "Rogat te Athenagoras, princeps huius civitatis, ut procedas ad
eum de tenebris et ad lucem exeas."' luvenis ait: ‘Si possum de duobusaureisIIII
habere crura’, et ‘Tam utilem inter nos muneri elegisti nisi me? Quacre alium qui
eat, quia iussit quod quicumque eum appellaverit, crura ei frangantur!! Athenagoras ait: 'Hanc legem vobis statuit, nam non mihi quem ignorat. Ego autem ad
eum descendo. Dicite mihi, quis vocatur? Famuli dixerunt: 'Apollonius."
40. Athenagoras vero ait intra se audito nomine: 'Et Tarsia Apollonium nominat patrem.' Et demonstrantibus pueris pervenit ad eum. Quem cum vidisset
squalida barba, capite horrido et sordido in tenebris iacentem, submissa voce
salutavit eum: *'Ave, Apolloni.' Apollonius vero putabat se a quoquam desuis
contemptumesse; turbido vultu respiciens, ut vidit ignotum sibi hominem honestum et decoratum,texit furorem silentio. Cui Athenagoras,princepscivitatis,ait:
'Scio enim te mirari sic quod nominete salutaverim: disce quod princeps huius
civitatis sum*?.' Et cum Athenagoras nullum ab eo audisset sermonem,item ait
ad eum: 'Descendi de via in litore ad naviculas contuendaset inter omnes naves
vidi navem tuam decenter ornatam, amabili aspectu. Et dum incedo, invitatus
sum ab amicis et nautis tuis. Ascendiet libenti animo discubui. Inquisivi dominum navis. Qui dixerunt te in luctu esse gravi; quod et video. Sed pro desiderio
quo veni ad te, procede de tenebris ad lucem et epulare nobiscum paulisper.
Spero autem de deo, quia dabit tibi post hunc tam ingentem luctum ampliorem
laetitiam."
Apollonius autem luctu fatigatus levavit caput suum et sic ait: Quicumque cs,
55. RB: et ait: ‘Amici, ecce illa mihi maxime placet, quam video esse separatam. Nautae ut
audierunt navemsuam laudari dicunt
5^. RI "Navis dominus |... mori destinat, i man conmpem perdidit, in teris filiam
amisit ;"
V ORB 'Athenagoras nomine*
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
159
admiring it. Apollonius’ crew and the servantsgreeted him andsaid: ‘We invite
you aboard, noble prince, if you would do us the honour.’ At this invitation he
went aboard with five of his servants. When he saw them reclining in harmony,
he took his place amongthefeasters and gave them ten gold pieces. Putting the
moneyonthetable, he said: ‘Here, so that you haven't invited me for nothing.’
Theyall replied: ‘We thank your lordship very much.’
When Athenagoras saw themall reclining so freely without anyone senior to
oversee them,hesaid to them: ‘Who is the master of this ship, that you all
recline and enjoy yourselves” The helmsmansaid: ‘The masterofthis ship is in
mouming, and lies below in the hold in the dark. He is weeping for his wife and
daughter6. On hearing this Athenagoras was distressed. He said to the helmsman:‘I will give you two gold pieces. Go down to him andsay to him, "Athenagoras, prince of this city, asks you to come out to him from the dark into the
light.” ’ The youth replied: ‘Yes, if 1 can get four legs with two gold pieces’ and
‘Could you not choose anyonesuitable for the task among us except me? Ask
someoneelse to go, for he gave orders that whoever addressed him would have
his legs broken.’ Athenagoras said: ‘He madethis rule for you but not for me,
whom he does not know.| will go down to him myself. Tell me what his nameis.’
Theservants said: ‘Apollonius.’
40. But when Athenagoras heard the name he said to himself: "Tarsia's father
was also called Apollonius.’ The servants showed him the way, and he went
down to him. Whenhe saw Apollonius lying in the dark with an unkempt beard
and a dishevelled, dirty head, he greeted him in a low voice: ‘Greetings, Apollonius.' But Apollonius thought he was being mocked by one of his crew; when he
looked up with a furious expression to see a noble, well-dressed stranger, he
concealed his anger in silence. Athenagoras, the princeofthe city,said to him:‘I
know that you are surprised to be greeted by namelike this. Let me inform you
that 1 am the prince ofthis city?".' When Athenagoras heard no comment from
him, he spoke to him again: ‘1 came down from the road to the shore to inspect
the ships, and and 1 noticed yours amongall the rest because of its fine decoration and attractive appearance. When I camenearer, your friends and the crew
invited me aboard. I came on board and took a place with pleasure. 1 asked about
the master of the ship; they told me that you were in deep mourning,as indeed I
see. But in response to the desire which brought me to you, come outof the dark
to the light and feast with us for a little while. I hope that after such great grief
God will give you evengreaterjoy.'
But Apollonius, worn outby his grief, raised his head and said: “Whoever you
55 RB: He said: ‘Friends, this is the ship which | like best, the one which is set apart.’
When thesailors heard their ship being praised, they said . . .
56 ORB: The master ofthe ship... is determined to die; he lose his wife at sea and his
dauphter on bind.’
YORD: Sand my name aw Athenaporas |
160
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
domine, vade, discumbe et epulare cum meis ac si cum tuis. Ego vero valde
afflictus sum meis calamitatibus ut non solum epulari sed nec vivere desiderarem.’ Confusus Athenagoras subiit de subsannio navis rursus ad navem etdiscumbens ait: "Non potui domino vestro persuadere, ut ad lucem venire
procederet. Quid faciam ut eum a proposito mortis revocem? lraque bene mihi
venit in mente: perge, pucr, ad lenonem illum et dic ei ut mittat ad mc Tarsiam."
Cumque perrexisset puer ad lenonem, leno audiens non potuit eum contemnere: licet autem contra voluntatem misit illam. Veniente autem Tarsia ad
navem, videns eam Athenagorasait ad eam: 'Veni huc ad me, Tarsia domina; hic
est enim ars studiorum tuorum necessaria, ut consoleris dominum navis huius et
horum omnium, sedentem in tenebris, horteris consolationem recipere, et cum
30
35
provoces ad lumen exire, lugentem coniugem etfiliam. Haec est pietatis causa,
per quam dominus omnibusfit propitius. Accede ergo ad cum et suade exire ad
lucem; forsitan per nos dcus vult cum vivere. Si cnim hoc potueris facere, XXX
dies a lenone te redimam,ut devotae virginitati tuae vacare possis; et dabo tibi
insuper decem sestertia auri.' Audiens haec puella constanter descendit in subsannio navis ad Apollonium et submissa voce salutavit eum dicens: 'Salve, quicumque es, laetare: non enim aliqua ad te consolandum veni polluta, sed
innocens virgo quae virginitatem meam inter naufragium castitatis inviolabiliter
servo.’
41. His carminibus coepit modulata voce canere:
‘Per sordes gradior, sed sordis conscia non sum,
Sicut rosa in spinis nescit compungi mucrone.
Piratae me rapueruntgladio ferientes iniquo.
Lenoni nunc vendita numquam violavi pudorem.
Ni fletus et lucti et lacrimae de amissis incssent,
Nulla me melior, pater si nosset ubi essem.
Regio sum genere et stirpe propagata piorum,
Sed contemptum habeo et iubeor adeoquelaetari!
Fige modum lacrimis, curas resolve dolorum,
Reddecaelo oculos et animum ad sidera tolle!
Aderit ille deus creator omnium et auctor;
Nonsinit hos fletus casso dolore relinqui!"
Ad haec verba levavit caput Apollonius et vidit pucllam, et ingemuit ct ait: 'O
me miserum! (Quamdiu contra pietatem luctor? Erigens sc ergo adscdit ct ait ad
eam: 'Ago prudentiae et nobilitati tuae maximasgratias; consolationi tuac hanc
9 RIy Esc enim scolastica ec sermo emis siavis, ac decore conspicua Potest enum ipsa
exhortati ne talis vir caliter moratur '
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
161
are, lord, go away, recline and feast with my menasif with your own. For I am
overwhelmed by my misfortunes, so that not only do I have no desire to feast, but
I do not wantto live.’ Rebuffed, Athenagoras went back from the hold to the
main ship. He lay down andsaid: ‘I have not been able to persuade your master
to comeinto the light. So what can I do to dissuade him from his determination
to die? | have a good idea: boy, go to that pimp andtell him to send Tarsia to
me.
Whenthe boy arrived at the pimp's house, the pimp listened and could not
ignore him; although it was against his will, he sent her along. When Tarsia
reached the ship, Athenagoras saw her andsaid: ‘Come here to me,lady Tarsia.
We have need here of yourskill and learning to console the master of this ship
and ofall these men. Heis sitting in the dark, mourning his wife and daughter:
you must persuade him to listen to consoling words and rouse him to come out
into the light. This is an occasion for an act of charity, through which God is
made well-disposed to men. So go to him and persuade him to comeoutinto the
light. Perhaps it is God's will that we should save his life. If you succeed, I will
redeem you from the pimpfor thirty days, so that you can devote yourself to your
vow of chastity. And over and above this I will give you ten thousand gold
sesterces.' Whenshe heard this, the girl went down resolutely into the hold to
Apollonius and greeted him quietly: ‘Greetings, whoever you are, and be cheerful. 1 am no fallen woman who has come to console you, but an innocentgirl,
whokeepshervirginity intact in the midst of moral shipwreck.’
41. Ina musical voice she began to sing this song:
‘I walk among corruption, but I am unaware of corruption,
Just as a rose among thomsis notpricked by their spines.
Pirates abducted me, striking with wicked swords.
Now I have beensold to a pimp, but 1 have never tarnished my
honour.
If it were not for weeping and grief and tears for my lost parents,
If my father knew where I am, no woman would be better off than
I.
Lam ofroyal birth, born of an honourable line,
But I endure contempt, and am told besidesto rejoice!
Restrain yourtears, put an end to your sorrows and cares,
Return youreyes to heaven, raise your heartto thestars!
God the Creator and Makerof all things will help you:
Hedoes notallow these tears to be shed in useless grief!’
At these words Apollonius raised his head and saw the girl. He groaned andsaid:
‘Alas! How long shall I struggle against pivy? He got up and sat beside her, and
said to her: ‘lam very grateful for your intelligence and generosity. This is my
*5 RB Bor she asa learned girl, deliphtful in conversation, and very beautiful le may be
that she can persuade him that sich à man should not die tke this!
162
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HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
vicem rependo ut merito tuo: quandoque si laetari mihi licuerit, et regni mci
viribus te relevem, et sic forsitan, ut dicis te regiis natalibus ortam, tuis te
parentibus repraesento. Nunc ergo accipe aureos ducentos et ac si in lucem
produxeris me, gaude. Vade; et rogo, ulterius non me appelles: recentem enim
mihi renovasti dolorem.'*
Et acceptis ducentis aureis abscessit de illo loco. Et ait ad eam Athenagoras:
*Quovadis, Tarsia? Sine effectu laborasti? Num potuimusfacere misericordiam et
subvenire homini interficienti se?" Et ait ad eum Tarsia: 'Omnia quaecumque
potui feci, sed datis mihi CC aureis rogavit ut abscederem, asserens renovato
luctu et dolore cruciari.' Et ait ad eam Athenagoras: 'Ego tibi modo CCCC
aurcos dabo, rantum descende ad cum; refunde ci hos CC quos tibi dedit; provoca eum ad lumenexire dicens ei: "Ego non pecuniam,salutem tibi quacro."'
Et descendens Tarsia ad eum ait: "lam si in hoc squalore permanere definisti,
pro eo quod pecunia ingenti me honorasti, permitte me tecum in his tenebris
miscere sermonem. Si enim parabolarum mearum nodos absolveris, vadam; sin
35
alite, refundam tibi pecuniam quam mihi dedisti et abscedam.' At ille ne videretur pecuniam recipere, simul et cupiens a prudenti puella audire sermonem, ait:
'Licet in malis meis nulla mihi cura suppetit nisi flendi et lugendi, tamen, ut
hortamento laetitiae caream, dic quod interrogatura es et abscede. Deprecor ut
fletibus meis spatium tribuas.'
42. Etait ad eum Tarsia:*
'Est domusin terris clara quac voce resultat.
Ipsa domusresonat,tacitus sed non sonat hospes.
Ambo tamencurrunt, hospes simul et domus una.
Si ergo ut adseris rex es — in mea patria nihil enim rege prudentius esse convenit?
- solve mihi quaestionem et vadam."
Et agitans caput Apollonius ait: 'Ut scias me non esse mentitum: domus quac
in terris resonat unda est; hospes huius domustacitus piscis est, qui simul cum
domocurrit. Admirat puella hinc in explanatione magna vcre regem csse ct
acrioribus eum quaestionibus pulsatetait:
"Dulcis amica ripae, semper vicina profundis,
Suave canens Musis, nigro perfusa colore,
Nuntia sum linguae digitis signata magistri.'
Et ait ad eam Apollonius: 'Dulcis amica dei, quae cantus suos mittit ad caclum,
" RI ISi rex es, ut assenms, in patina tua.
rege enim dilul convenir esse prudentius
* Note ae ong
181
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
163
answer to your words of encouragement, as you deserve. If ever it is given to mc
to be happy, I may be able to relieve you with the resources of my kingdom; and
so perhapsI shall retum youto your parents, since you say you are of royal birth.
But now take two hundred gold pieces; rejoice as if you had led meintothelight.
Go away; and please, do not speak any more to me. For you have renewed my
recent sorrow.'*
Tarsia took the two hundred gold pieces and went away from that place.
Athenagoras said to her: 'Where are you going, Tarsia? Have youfailed in your
work? Could we not do a good deed and help a man whois killing himself” Tarsia
answered:‘I have doneall 1 could, but he gave me two hundred thousand gold
sesterces and asked meto go away, declaring that the renewed grief and pain was
torture to him. Athenagorassaid to her:‘I will give you four hundred gold pieces
if you will just go down to him. Give back the two hundred which he gave you;
make him comeoutinto the light, say to him, “I am not interested in your
moneybut in your wellbeing”.’
So Tarsia went down to him andsaid: ‘Even if you have decided tostay in this
squalor, since you have kindly given me a great deal of money, let me have a talk
with you here in the darkness. If you can unknot myriddles, I will go; if not, I
will give you back the money that you gave me,and leave.’ In order not to look
as if he was taking back the money, and also because he wanted to hear the
conversation of the clever girl, Apollonius said: 'Although in my troubles I am
not interested in anything except weeping and grieving,still, so that I can stop
being urged to cheerup, ask your questions and go. Please allow me time for my
tears.’
42. Tarsia said to him:*
‘There is a house on earth which resoundswith a clear voice.
The houseitself is full of sound, but the silent inhabitant makes
none.
But both move swiftly, inhabitant and house together.
Nowif as you claim you are a king — for in my country it is not proper for anyone
to be cleverer than the king? — answerthis riddle and I will go.'
Apollonius nodded andsaid: ‘So that you know that I was not lying: the house
which resounds over the earthis the sea; the silent inhabitant of this house is the
fish, which moves swiftly with the house.’ The girl was impressed by this clever
interpretation which showedthat hereally was a king, and she pressed him with
more difficult riddles. She said:
‘The sweetfriend of the bank, always close to deep water,
Singing sweetly to the Muses, dyed black,
lam the messenger of the tongue, sealed by the master's fingers.’
Apollonius said to her: "The sweet friend of the god who sends her songs up to
*" quy té you are a kan, as you clan, i your own country
cleveiter than everyone
* Notes aicon ib [8I
for a king ought to be
164
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
canna est, ripae semper vicina, quia iuxra aquas sedes collocaras habet. Haec
nigro perfusa colore nuntia est linguae, quod vox per eam transit."
Item ait ad eum puella:
"Longaferor velox, formosafilia silvae,
Innumera pariter comitum stipata caterva.
25
Curro vias multas, vestigia nulla relinquo.'
Item agitans caput Apollonius ait ad cam: 'O, si liceret mihi longum deponere
luctum, ostenderem tibi quae ignoras. Tamen? respondeo quaestionibus tuis;
miror enim te in ram tenera aetate talem prudentiam habere. Nam longa quae
fertur arbor est navis, formosafilia silvae; fertur velox vento pellente, stipata
catervis; currit vias multas, sed vestigia nulla relinquic.'
ltem puclla inflammata prudentia quacstionum*! ait ad eum:
*Per totas sedes innoxius introit ignis:
30
Circumdat flammis hinc inde vallata, nec uror;
Nuda domusest et nudusibi convenit hospes.'
Ait ad cam Apollonius: 'Ego si istum luctum possem deponere, innocensintrarem peristum ignem. Intrarem enim balneum, ubi hinc indc flammae per tubulos
surgunt; ubi nuda domusest, quia nihil intus habet praeter sedilia; ubi nudus sine
vestibus ingreditur hospes."
Item ait ad eum puclla:
'Mucro mihi geminusferro coniungitur uno.
Cum ventolucto, cum gurgite pugno profundo.
Scrutor aquas medias, imas quoque mordeoterras.'
Respondit ei Apollonius: 'Quae te sedentem in hac nave continct, ancora cst,
quae mucrone gemino fcrro contingitur uno; quae cum vento luctatur et cum
45
gurgite profundo; quac aquas medias scrutatur, imas quoque morsu tenens terras.’
Item ait ad cum puella:
'Ipsa gravis non sum, sed lymphae mihi pondusinhaeret.
Viscera tora tumentpatulis diffusa cavernis.
Intus lymphalatet, sed non se sponte profundit.'
Respondit ei Apollonius: 'Spongia cum sit levis, aqua gravata tumet patulis
diffusa cavernis, quae se non sponte profundit.'
43. ltem ait ad eum puella:
*Non sum compta comis et non sum comptacapillis.
Intus enim mihi crincs sunt quos non vidit ullus.
Meque manibus mittunt manibusque remittorin auras.'
Apollonius ait: 'Hanc ego Penrapoli naufragus habui ducem ut regi amicus cf-
ORB *ne ideo tacere videar ut pecuniam secipiam
^ US seoburieonum
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
165
heavenis the reed, always close to the bank, because it makes its home next to
the water. It is dyed black, it is the messenger of the tonguc, because the voiceis
conveyed throughit.’
Next thegirl said to him:
‘Long lovely daughter of the forest, I travelfast,
Crowded round by an innumerable throng of companions.
I run over many roads, yet I leave no tracks.’
Nodding again Apolloniussaid to her: ‘If only I could put aside my longgrief, |
would show you what you do not know. Bur I will answer yourriddles; it amazes
methat you are so clever at such a tender age. The long tree which travels, the
lovely daughter of the forest, is a ship. It travels fast with a following wind, in a
crowd of companions.It travels along many roads, but leaves no tracks.’
Excited by the cleverness of the riddles*', the girl asked another:
‘Thefire goes through the whole house without harm:
Thewalled area is surrounded by flames on every side, but 1 am
not burned;
The house is naked, and so is the guest whoarrives there.’
Apolloniussaid: ‘If only 1 could give up this mourning, I would go in through
that fire unharmed. For 1 would go into a bath, where flames rise through pipes
on every side; where the house is naked, because it has nothing in it but benches;
where the guest goes in naked, without clothes.’
Next the girl said to him:
‘I have a double point joined in one picceof iron.
I struggle with the wind,I fight with the deep current.
I explore the middle waters, andalso bite the earth at the bottom.’
Apollonius answered her:‘It is the anchor, which holds youstill as you sit in this
ship. It has two points joined in one piece ofiron. It struggles with the wind and
with the deep current. It explores the middle waters, and bites the earth at the
bottom.’
Nextthegirl said to him:
‘lam not heavy myself, but a weight of water clings to me.
All my innards are swollen, extended in deep hollows.
Thewaterhides inside, and does notflow out spontancously.’
Apolloniusreplied: ‘Although a spongeis light, when heavy with waterit swells
and is extended in deep hollows, and the water does notflow out spontaneously."
43. Thenthegirl said to him:
‘lam not adorned with tresses or withhair.
But inside me there is hair which no one secs.
Hands throw me, and by hands I am tossed back in the air.’
Apollonius said: ‘I had this for a guide when I was shipwrecked at Pentapolis, so
8) RI so that E don't scem to be keeping silent to pecmy money back...
^ ORI answers
166
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
ficerer. Nam sphaera est, quae non est vincta comis et non est nudata capillis,
quia intus plena est; haec manibus missa manibusque remittitur.’
Item ad eum ait puella:
‘Nulla mihi certa est, nulla est peregrinafigura.
Fulgorinest intus radianti luce coruscus,
Quinihil ostendit, nisi si quid viderit ante.’
Respondens Apollonius ait: 'Nulla certa figura est speculo, quia mutaturaspectu;
nulla peregrinafigura, quia hoc ostendit quod contra se habet."
[tem ait puella ad eum:
*Quattuoraequales curruntex arte sorores
Sic quasi certantes, cum sit labor omnibus unus,
Et prope cum sint pariter non se pertingere possunt.'
20
25
Et ait ad eam Apollonius: 'Quattuor similes sorores forma et habitu rotae sunt,
quae exarte currunt quasi certantes; et cum sint sibi propc, nulla nullam potest
contingere."
Item ad eum ait puella:
*Nos sumus ad caelum quae scandimus alta petentes,
Concordifabrica quas unus conserit ordo.
Quicumquealta petunt, per nos comitantur ad auras.'
Et ait ad eam: 'Per deum te obtestor ne ulterius me ad laetandum provoces, ne
videar insultare mortuis meis. Nam gradus scalae alta petentes, aequales mansione manentes uno ordine conseruntur; et alta quicumque petunt, per eos comitanturad auras.'
44. Ethis dictis ait: 'Ecce habes alios centum aureos, et recede a me, ut memoriam mortuorum meorum defleam.' At vero puella dolens tantae prudentiac
virum mori velle — nefarium est — refundens aureos in sinum et adprehendens
lugubrem vestem eius ad lucem conabatur trahere. At ille impellens eam conruere fecit.É (Quae cum cecidisset, de naribus eius sanguis coepit egredi, et sedens
puella coepit flere et cum magno maerore dicere: 'O ardua potestas caelorum,
quae me pateris innocentem tantis calamitatibus ab ipsis cunabulis fatigare! Nam
statim ut nata sum in mari inter fluctus et procellas, parturiens me mater mca
secundis ad stomachum redeuntibus coagulato sanguine mortua cst, et sepultura
ei terrae denegata est. (Quae tamen ornata a patre mco regalibus ornamentis et
9? RB: Et his dictis misit caput super Apollonium etstrictis manibus complexa dixit:
Quid te tantis malis affligis? Exaudi vocem meamet deprecantemrespice. virginem,
quia tantae prudentiae virum moti velle nefarium est. Si coniugem desideras, deus
restituet; si filiam, salvam et incolumeminvenies. Et praesta petenti quod te precibus
rogo! Fr tenens lagubrem eius tanum ad lumen conabatur trahere; Tunc Apollonius
in irac undtam versus surrexit et calce eam petcussit, et impulsa virgo cecidit: Et de genu
euis coepit sanguis effluere
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
167
that I becamethe king's friend. It is a ball, which is not covered with hair, but is
not devoid of haireither; for it is full of hair inside. It is thrown by hand and
returned by hand.’
Thenthegirl said to him:
‘I have nofixed shape, no foreign shape.
There is a radiance in me,flashing with brightlighr,
Butit shows nothing except whatit has scen before.’
Apollonius answered: ‘There is no fixed shape in a mirror, for it changes in
appearance;thereis no foreign shape, because it shows what is facingit.’
Next thegirl said:
‘Fouridenticalsisters run skilfully
Asif racing, although they all share the same work,
And even though theyare close together, they cannot touch.’
Apollonius said to her: ‘The four sisters identical in shape and behaviour are
wheels, which run skilfully as if racing; and although they are close together,
none of them can touch anotherone.’
Thenthegirl said to him:
‘We are the ones whoseek the heights, climbingto thesky,
We are of matching workmanship, one sequencelinks us.
Whoeverseeks the heights, we accompanyhim aloft.’
Apollonius answered: ‘I beg you in God's name not to rouse me further to be
cheerful, in case I seem disrespectful to my dead. The rungs of a ladder seck the
heights, remaining equal in their positioning and linked in a single sequence.
Whoeverseeks the heights is accompanied aloft by them.’
44. After this he said: ‘Here, cake another hundred gold pieces and go away,so
that I can weep over the memory of my dead.’ But the girl was sad that such a
clever man wanted to die — it was shocking. She poured the gold back into his
lap, took hold of his mourning clothes, and tried to drag him into the light. But
he pushed herso that she fell down.9? Whenshefell she began to bleed from the
nose. The girl sat down and began to cry, and said in deep sorrow: 'Relentless
heavenly power, who allows an innocentgirl to be harassed from the cradle by so
many disasters! For as soon as | was born at sea, amidst waves and storms, my
mother died giving birth to me; the afterbirth went back into her stomach and
her blood clotted; she was denied burial on land. But my father adorned her with
royal finery, put her in a coffin with twenty thousand gold sesterces, and com-
62 RB: When Apollonius had said this Tarsia leaned her head over him, and embracing
him tightly she said: “Why do you tormentyourself with such great afflictions? Listen to
my words, consider the prayer of a virgin, because it is abominable that such a clever
man should wantto die. If you long for your wife, God will restoreher; if you long for
your daughter, you will find her safe and sound. Grant this request for which [am
asking and praying.’ She took hold of the hand of the grieving tian, and tried to drag
him towards the light! Then Apollonius became angry: he pot up and kicked her with
his heck, $0 that she fell down: Bloxl began to flow trom her knee
168
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
deposita in loculum cum viginti sestertiis auri Neptuno tradita est. Me namque in
cunabulis posita, Stranguillioni impio et Dionysiadi eius coniugi a patre meo sum
tradita cum ornamentis et vestibus regalibus, pro quibus usque ad necis veni
perfidiam et iussa sum puniri a servo uno infami, nomine Theophilum. Atille
dum voluisset me occidere, eum deprecata sum ut permitteret me testari dominum. Quem cum deprecor, piratae superveniunt qui me vi auferunt et ad istam
deferunt provinciam. Atque lenoni impio sum vendita.9"
45. Cumque haec et his similia puella flens diceret, in amplexu illius ruens
Apollonius coepit flens prae gaudio ei dicere: "Tu es filia mea Tarsia, tu es spes
mea unica,tu es lumen oculorum meorum, conscius quam flens per quattuordecim
annis cum matre tua lugeo. lam laetus moriar, quia rediviva spes mihi est reddita.'* Apollonius haec signa audiens exclamavit cum lacrimis voce magna: 'Currite
famuli, currite amici et anxianti patri finem imponite.' Qui audientes clamorem cucurrerunt omnes. Currit et Athenagoras, civitatis illius princeps, et invenit Apollonium
supra collum Tarsiae flentem et dicentem: 'Haecestfilia mea Tarsia quam lugeo, cuius
causa redivivas lacrimas et novatum luctum assumpseram. Nam ego sum Apollonius
Tyrius, qui te commendavi Stranguillioni. Dic mihi: quae dicta est nutrix tua?' Etilla
dixit: 'Lycoris.' Apollonius adhuc vehementius clamare coepit: ‘Tu es filia mea!' Etilla
dixit: 'Si Tarsiam quaeris, ego sum!'
Tunc erigens se et proiectis vestibus lugubribus induit vestes mundissimas, et adprehensam eam osculabatur et flebat. Videns eos Athenagoras utrosque in amplexu cum
lacrimis inhaerentes, et ipse amarissime flebat et narrabat qualiter sibi olim hoc ordine
puella in lupanari posita universa narrasset, et quantum temporis erat, quod a piratis
adducta et distracta fuisset. Et mittens se Athenagoras ad pedes Apollonii dixit: 'Per
deum «wum te adiuro, qui te patrem restituit filiae, ne alio viro Tarsiam tradas! Nam
ego sum princeps huius civitatis et mea ope permansit virgo." Apollonius ait: 'Ego huic
tantae bonitati et pietati possum esse contrarius? Immo opto, quia votum feci non
depositurum me luctum, nisi filiam meam nuptam tradidero. Hoc vero restat ut filia
mea vindicetur de hoc lenone quem sustinuit inimicum.'
Et dixit Apollonius: 'Pereat haec civitas. At ubi auditum est ab Athenagora
principe, in publico, in foro, in curia clamare coepit et dicere: 'Currite, cives ct
nobiles, ne pereatista civitass*.'
46. Concursus magnus et ingens factus cst, ct tanta commotio fuit populi, ut
nullus omnino domi remaneret, neque vir neque femina. Omnibus autem convenientibus dixit Athenagoras: 'Cives Mytilenac civitatis, sciatis Tyrium Apollo-
*oN.oas
°
** RB: Deus, redde Tyrio Apollonio patri meo, qui it matrem meam luperer, Strangandlio
ni et Dionysiadi tmpits me dereliqui"
^ RB 'preprer unum infamem *
assu e
TMD
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
169
mitted her to the sea. As for me, I was put in a cradle, and handed over by my
father to wicked Stranguillio and his wife Dionysias, with jewels and splendid
clothes. Because of these I was betrayed and nearly murdered: a disreputable
servant called Theophilus was ordered to kill me. But as he was aboutto kill me,
I begged him to let me pray to the Lord. As 1 was praying, some pirates appearcd:
they carried me off by force, and brought me to this country, and | was sold to a
wicked pimp.”
45. Asthegirl was tearfully saying this and similar things, Apollonius rushed to
embrace her and began to speak to her, weeping for joy: ‘You are my daughter
Tarsia, you are my one hope, you are the light of my eyes: for you, and for your
mother, I have been weepingguiltily for fourteen years. Now I shall dic happy, for
my hope has been reborn and returned to me.’* When Apollonius heard this
revealing story, he cried out tearfully in a loud voice: ‘Hurry, servants, hurry, friends,
and put an end to a father’s anxiety.’ When they heard the noise they all came running.
Athenagoras, the prince of the city, ran too, and found Apollonius weeping on Tarsia's
neck and saying: ‘This is my daughter Tarsia, whom | have been mourning. It was for
her that | started weeping and grieving again. For I am Apollonius of Tyre, who
entrusted you to Stranguillio. Tell me, who was your nurse?’ And she said: ‘Lycoris.’
Apollonius began to shout even more loudly: ‘You are my daughter!’ And she said: ‘If
you are looking for Tarsia, I am she.’
Then Apollonius got up and changed his mourning dress for very elegant clothes, and
hugged her and kissed her as he wept. When Athenagoras saw them embracing and
weeping, he too wept very bitterly. He explained how the girl had once told him her
whole story in sequence when she was put in the brothel, and how longit was since she
had been brought by the pirates and sold. Then Athenagoras threw himself at Apollonius' feet and said: 'By the living God, who has restored you as father to your daughter,
1 beg you you not to marry Tarsia to any other man! For I am the prince of this city,
and through my help she has remained a virgin.’ Apollonius said: ‘How can I be hostile
to such goodness and compassion? Indeed 1 am willing, because | made a vow not to
give up my mourning until I had given my daughter in marriage. But it remains for my
daughter to be revenged on the pimp whosehostility she endured.’
Apollonius said:‘Let this ciry be destroyed.’ When prince Athenagoras heard
this, he beganto call out in the streets, in the forum,in the senate house, saying:
‘Hurry,citizens and nobles, or the city will be destroyed.’
46. An enormous crowd gathered, and there was such an uproar among the
people that absolutely no onc, man or woman, remained at home. When they
were all gathered together, Athenagoras said: ‘Citizens of Mitylene, let me in-
OF ORB: “God, restore me to my father, Apollonias ot. Tyre, whe lett ie with waked
Mijeillio and Dyonystas so that he could menn ey tiother!
^5
[UV because of one wi ked man '
**t.
170
HISTORIA APOLLONI! REGIS TYRI
nium® huc venisse et ecce classes navium: properat cum multis armatis eversurus
istam provinciam causa lenonis infaustissimi, qui Tarsiam ipsius emit filiam et in
prostibulo posuit. Ut ergo salvetur ista civitas, mittatur et vindicet se de uno
infami ut non omnes periclitemur.’
His auditis populi ab auriculis eum comprehenderunt. Ducitur leno ad forum
vinctis a tergo manibus. Fit tribunal ingens in foro, et induentes Apollonium
regalem vestem deposito omni squalore luctuoso quod habuit atque detonso
capite diadema imponuntei et cum filia sua Tarsia tribunal ascendit. Et tenens
eam in amplexu coram omni populo lacrimis impediebatur loqui. Athenagoras
autem vix manu impetrat a plebe ut taceant. Quibussilentibus ait Athenagoras:
‘Cives Mytilenae, quos repentina pietas in unum congregavit: videte Tarsiam a
patre suo esse cognitam, quam leno cupidissimus ad nos expoliandos usque in
hodiernum diem depressit; quae vestra pietate virgo permansit. Ut ergo plenius
vestrae felicitati gratias referat, eius procurate vindicram.'
At vero omnes una voce clamaverunt dicentes: 'Leno vivus ardeat et bona
omnia eius puellae addicantur!' Atque hisdictis leno igni est traditus. Villicus
vero eius cum universis puellis et facultatibus Tarsiae virgini traditur. Cui ait
Tarsia: 'Redonavi tibi vitam, quia beneficio tuo virgo permansi.' Et donavit ei
ducenta talenta auri et libertatem. Deinde cunctis puellis coram se praesentatis
dixit: 'Quicquid de corporevestroilli infausto contulistis ut habeatis vobis, illud
redonavi, et quia mecum verumtamenservistis, ex hoc iam mecum liberae es-
tote.'
47. Erigens se ergo Tyrius Apollonius his dictis populo alloquitur: 'Oratias pictati vestrae refero, venerandi et piissimi cives, quorum longa fides pietatem pracbuit et quietem tribuit et «. . .» salutem et exhibuit gloriam. Vestrum est quod
fraudulenta mors cum suo luctu detecta est; vestrum est quod virginitas nulla
bella sustinuit; vestrum est quod paternis amplexibus unica restituta estfilia. Pro
hoc tanto munere condonohuic civitati vestrae ad restauranda omnia moenia
auri talenta C.' Et haec dicens eis in praesenti dari iussit. Át vero cives accipicntes aurum fuderunt ei statuam ingentem in prora navis stantem ct caput lenonis
calcantem,filiam suam in dextro brachio tenentem, et in ca scripserunt: TYRIO
APOLLONIO RESTITUTORI AEDIUM NOSTRORUMET TARSIAE PUDICISSIMAE VIRGINITATEM SERVANTI ET CASUM VILISSIMUM INCURRENTI UNIVERSUS POPULUS
^5 [RU regetmagnum’
^^ [RR Vestrum est quod tedivivis vulncnbus eediviva vita successit,
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
171
form you that Apollonius of Tyre® has arrived here — look, there are the ships of
his fleet. He is pressing forward with many armed mento destroy this province
because of the accursed pimp who boughthis daughter Tarsia and put her in a
brothel. So to save thecity, the pimp must be handed over: let Apollonius take
revenge on one wicked man,so that weare notall in danger.’
Whenthe people heard this, they seized the pimp by the ears; he was led to
the forum with his hands tied behind his back. There was a huge platform in the
forum. When Apollonius had taken off all his filthy mourning clothes they
dressed him in royal costume;after cutting his hair they put a crown on his head;
and with his daughter Tarsia he mounted the platform. He took herin his arms in
front of all the people, but could not speakfor tears. With difficulty Athenagoras
succceded in silencing the people with his hand. When they weresilent, Athenagorassaid: ‘Citizens of Mitylene, whom your promptsense of urgent duty has
gathered here: you see that Tarsia, whom the greedy pimp has oppressed in order
to ruin us up to this very day, has been recognized by her father. Through your
kindness she remained a virgin. Take revenge on the pimp,so that she can thank
you even more for your good fortune.’
But they all cried out with one voice: ‘Let the pimp be burned alive, and let
all his wealth be awarded to the girl!’ Ar these words the pimp was consigned ro
the flames. But his overseer and all the girls and all his wealth were handed over
to the maiden Tarsia. She said to the overseer: ‘I have given you your life,
because it was through your goodwill that 1 remained a virgin.’ And she gave him
two hundred talents of gold and his freedom. Thenall the girls were brought
before her, and she said to them: ‘Whatever you earned for the accursed pimp
with your bodies, 1 give it back to you to keep; and indeed because you were
slaves with me, you shall be free with me from now on.'
41. Then Apollonius of Tyre got up and addressed the people in these words:
‘Most honourable and worthycitizens, I thank you for your kindness; it was your
longlasting loyalty which created charity and offered peace and <. . .> health and
produced glory for me. “It is your doing that false death and the subsequent
mourning have been exposed; your doing that a virgin did not endure any
battles; your doing that an only daughter has been restored to her father's embrace. For this great service, | donate tothis city of yours one hundred talents of
gold, for the restoration ofall the walls.’ After this speech he gave orders for the
money to be handed over to them at once. Thecitizens accepted the gold, and
they cast a huge statue of him standing on the prow of a ship, with his heel on
the pimp's head, and his daughterclasped in his right arm. Theinscription read:
IN GREAT AFFECTION AND AS A SIGN OF ETERNAL HONOUR AND REMEMBRANCE,
THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF MITYLENE CAVE TIIIS STATUE TO APOLLONIUS OF
TYRE, FOR RESTORING OUR BUILDINGS, AND TO THE MOST CHASTE TARSIA, FOR
55. RI "the great king?
f RB hes your dou: that renewed bite has succeeded renewed wounds,
172
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
OB NIMIUM AMOREM AETERNUM DECUS MEMORIAE DEDIT. Quid multa? Inter
paucos dies tradidit filiam suam Athenagorae principi cum ingenti honore ac
civitatis laetitia.
48. Et exinde cum suis omnibus et cum genero atquefilia navigavit, volens per
Tarsum proficiscens redire ad patriam suam. Vidit in somnis quendam angclico
habitu sibi dicentem: 'Apolloni, dic gubernatori tuo ad Ephesumiter dirigat; ubi
dumveneris, ingredere templum Dianae cum filia et genero, et omnes casus tuos
quos a iuvenili aetate es passus, expone per ordinem. Post haec veniens Tarsum
vindica innocentem filiam tuam.' Expergefactus Apollonius excitat filiam ct
generum et indicat somnium. Átilli dixerunt: 'Fac, domine, quod iubet.' Ille vero
iubet gubernatorem suum Ephesum petere. Perveniuntfelici cursu. Descendens
Apollonius cum suis templum Dianae petit, in quo templo coniunx eius inter
sacerdotes principatum tenebat. Erat enim effigie satis decora et omnicastitatis
amore assueta, ut nulla tam grata esset Dianacnisi ipsa. Interveniens Apollonius
in templum Dianae cum suis, rogat sibi aperiri sacrarium, ut in conspectu Dianac
20
25
Omnescasus suos exponeret.
Nuntiatur hoc illi maiori omnium sacerdotum venisse nescio quem regem
cum generoetfilia cum magnis donis, haec et talia volentem in conspectu Dianae recitare. Át illa audiens regem advenisse induit se regium habitum, ornavit
caput gemmis et in veste purpurea venit, stipata catervis famularum. Templum
ingreditur. Quam videns Apollonius cum filia sua et genero corruerunt ad pedcs
eius. Tantus enim splendor pulchritudinis eius emanabat ut ipsam esse putarent
deam Dianam.Interea aperto sacrario oblatisque muneribus coepit in conspectu
Dianae haeceffari atque cum fletu magnodicere: 'Ego cum ab adulescentia mea
rex nobilis appellarer" et ad omnem scientiam pervenissem quae a nobilibus et
regibus exercetur, regis iniqui Antiochi quaestionem exsolvi, ut filiam eius in matrimonio acciperem. Sed ille foedissima sorte sociatus ei, cuius pater a natura
fuerat constitutus, per impietatem coniunx effectus est atque me machinabatur
occidere. Quem dum fugio, naufragus factus sum et eo usque a Cyrenensi rege
Archistrate susceptus sum,ut filiam suam meruissem accipere. (Quae mecum ad
regnum percipiendum venire desiderans, hanc filiam parvulam — quam coram te,
magna Diana, praesentari in somnis angelo admonente iussisti — postquam in
navi eam peperit, emisit spiritum. Indui eam honestum regium dignumquehabitum sepulturae et in loculum deposui cum XX sestertiis auri, ut ubi inventa
fuisset, ipsa sibi testis esset, ut digne sepeliretur. Hanc vero mcam filiam commendavi iniquissimis hominibus Stranguillioni et Dionysiadi, ct duxi me in
*5
RI Inacs Tyro, Apollonius appellans?
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
173
KEEPING HER VIRGINITY IN THE FACE OF THE MOST DEMEANING MISFORTUNE. To
cut a long story short, in a few days Apollonius gave his daughter in marriage to
Prince Athenagoras, amidst great ceremony and popularrejoicing.
48. Then hesetsail with all his men and with his son-in-law and daughter,
intending to make for Tarsus and return to his own land. In a dream he saw
someone who looked like an angel, who said to him: ‘Apollonius, tell your
helmsmanto steer for Ephesus. When you arrive there, go into the temple of
Diana with your daughter and son-in-law, and recount in order all the misfortunes which you havesuffered from your youth on. After that go to Tarsus and
avenge your innocent daughter.’ When Apollonius woke up, he roused his
daughter and son-in-law and told them his dream. Theysaid: ‘Lord, do what was
ordered.’ So he directed the helmsman to make for Ephesus. They arrived after a
successful journey. Apollonius disembarked with his family and went to the
temple of Diana, where his wife was the chiefpriestess. For she was very gracious
in appearance, and accustomed tototal devotion to chastity, so that no one was
more pleasing to Diana than she. Apollonius came into the temple with his
family and asked for the shrine to be openedfor him,so that he could recountall
his misfortunes in the presence of Diana.
The chief priestess was informed that an unknown king had arrived with his
son-in-law and daughter, and with great gifts, and that he wanted to tell some
story in the presence of Diana. But whenshe heard that a king had arrived, she
put on royal clothes, adorned her head with jewels, and came dressed in purple,
accompanied by a throng of female servants. She came into the temple. When
Apollonius saw her, he and his daughter and son-in-law fell at her feet. Such was
the splendour that radiated from her beauty that they thought she was the
goddess Diana herself. Meanwhile the shrine had been opened andthegifts had
been offered. In Diana’s presence Apollonius began to speak, weeping profusely:
‘From my youth I have bornethetitle of a noble king,® and I have mastered all
the arts which are practised by nobles and kings. 1 solved the riddle of wicked
king Antiochus in order to marry his daughter. But he had a relationship of the
most horrible kind with the girl whose father he had been appointed by nature;
flouting morality, he became her husband, and plotted to kill me. While I was
flecing from him | was shipwrecked, and was taken in by Archistrates the king of
Cyrene, so that | was found worthy of marrying his daughter. She wanted to
come with me to take possession of my kingdom: after she bore this little
daughter (whom you ordered me in a dream at an angel's bidding to bring before
you, great Diana) on board ship, she died. I dressed her in splendid clothes
suitable for royalty and put her in a coffin with cwenty thousand gold sesterces, so
that. when she was found, she would be her own witness, so that she would be
suitably buried. As for this daughter of mine, | entrusted her to the care of
Stranguillio and Dionysias, most wicked creatures, and took myself to Egypt for
ORB hom an Pyre, Apollonius by name,”
174
35
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TyYRI
"Egypto per annos XIIII uxorem flens fortiter, et postea venio ut filiam meam
reciperem. Dixerunt mihi quod esset mortua. Iterum cum redivivo involvercr
luctu, post matris atque filiae mortem cupienti exitum vitam mihi reddidisti."
49. Cumque haec et his similia Apollonius narrans diceret, mittit vocem
magnam clamansuxoreius dicens: 'Ego sum coniunxtua, Archistratis regisfilia!',
et mittens se in amplexuseius coepit dicere: "Tu es Tyrius Apollonius meus, tu es
magister qui docta manu me docuisti, tu es qui me a patre meo Archistrate
accepisti, tu es quem adamavi nonlibidinis causa sed sapientiae ducem! Ubiest
filia mea?Et ostendit ei Tarsiam et dixit ei: ‘Ecce, haec est!
Sonatin tota Epheso Tyrium Apollonium recognovisse suam coniugem, quam
ipsi sacerdotem habebant. Et facta est lactitia omnicivitati maxima, coronantur
plateae, organa disponuntur,fit a civibus convivium, laetantur omnespariter. Et
constituit loco suo ipsa sacerdotem quae ei secunda erat et cara. Et cum omnium
Ephesiorum gaudio et lacrimis, cum planctu amarissimo, eo quod eosrelinqueret,
vale dicens cum marito etfilia et genero navem ascendit.
50. *9Et constituit in loco suo regem Athenagoram generum suum, ct cum
eodem etfilia et cum exercitu navigans Tarsum civitatem venit. Apollonius
statim iubet comprehendere Stranguillionem et Dionysiadem, et sedens pro
tribunali in foro adduci sibi illos praecepit. Quibus adductis coram omnibus
Apolloniusait: 'Cives beatissimi Tarsi, numquid Tyrius Apolloniusalicui vestrum
in aliqua re ingratus extitit" At illi una voce clamaverunt dicentes: "Te regem,te
patrem patriae et diximus et in perpetuum dicimus: pro te mori optavimuset
optamus, cuius ope famis periculum vel mortem transcendimus. Hoc etstatua tua
a nobis posita in biga testatur.
Apolloniusait ad eos: "Commendavifiliam meam Stranguillioni et Dionysiadi
suae coniugi; hanc mihi reddere nolunt.' Stranguillio ait: "Per regni tui clementiam, quia fati munus implevit.' Apolloniusait: 'Videte, cives Tarsi, non sufficit
quantum ad suam malignitatem quod homicidium perpetratum fecerunt: insuper
et per regni mei vires putaverunt periurandum. Ecce, ostendam vobis ex hoc
quod visuri estis et testimoniis vobis probabo.' Et proferens filiam Apollonius
$5 RD: levavit se Archistrates uxor ipsius et rapuit eum in amplexu. Apollonius nesciens
esse coniugem suamrepellit eam à se. At ila cum lacrimis...
** RB: Veniens igitur Tyrius Apollonius Antio hiam, uli regnum reservatum suscepit,
pert inde Tyran
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
175
fourteen years, mourning deeply for my wife. Then I came to fetch my daughter.
They told me that she was dead. Again I was plunged into renewed grief, and
longed to die now that mother and daughter were dead, but you have given me
back life.’
49. While Apollonius was recounting this and other things of the same sort,
his wife gave a great cry andsaid: ‘I am your wife, the daughter of King Archistrates!’ And throwing herself into his arms she began to speak: ‘You are my
Apollonius of Tyre, you are the master who taught mewith skilful hand, you are
the man whoreceived me from my father Archistrates, you are the man with
whom I fell in love not out of lust, but as a guide to wisdom. Where is my
daughter” He showedherTarsia andsaid to her: ‘Look, here she is!’
All Ephesus was ringing with the news that Apollonius of Tyre had recognized
as his wife the woman whom they themselves had as a priestess. There was grcat
rejoicing throughout the city: garlands were hungin the streets, musical instruments were set up in several places, all the citizens feasted and celebrated
together. Apollonius’ wife appointed in her place the woman who wasnext to
her in rank, and dear to her. Amid the rejoicing and tears of all the Ephesians,
and very bitter lamenting that she was leaving them, she said goodbye and
boarded the ship with her husband and daughter and son-in-law.
50. “And heestablished his son-in-law Athenagorasas king in his place. Sailing
on with him and his daughter and his army he came to Tarsus. At once Apollonius gave orders that Stranguillio and Dionysias should be arrested and brought
to him as he sat on the judgement-seat in the forum. When they had been
brought, he said in front of everyone: ‘Most fortunate citizens of Tarsus, has
Apollonius of Tyre shown himself ungrateful to any of you in any matter” But
they shouted unanimously: ‘We said that you were our king and the father of our
country, and we say so forever; we were willing to die for you, and westill are,
because with your help we overcame the danger of famine and death. The proof
of this is the statue of you in a chariot thatwe put up.’
Apollonius said to them:‘I entrusted my daughter to Stranguillio and Dionysias his wife. They refuse to return her to me.’ Stranguillio said: ‘By your royal
mercy, because she has used up herallotted span.’ Apollonius said: ‘You see,
citizens of Tarsus, as for their wickedness, it is not enough that they have
committed a murder; on top of that they have decided to commit perjury,
invoking my royal power. Look, I will show you visible evidence, and proveit to
you with witnesses. Apollonius brought forward his daughter before all the
95 JUhis wife Archistrates got up and seized him in her arms.+ Apollonins, not knowing
that she was his wife, pushed her away. But she wept and .
69 JUSo Apollonius NETyre came to Antioch, where he received the kingdom which
had been kept for him, and froma there proceeded to Pye
176
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
coram omnibus populis ait: 'Ecce, adest filia mea Tarsia!"? Mulier mala, ut vidit
eam, scelesta Dionysias, imo corpore contremuit. Miranturcives.
Tarsia iubet in conspectu suo adduci Theophilum villicum. Quique cum adductusfuisset, ait ad eum Tarsia: "Theophile, si debitis tormentis et sanguini tuo
cupis esse consultum et a me mereri indulgentiam, clara voce dicito, quistibi
allocutus est ut me interficeres" Theophilus ait: "Domina mea Dionysias.' Tunc
omnes cives sub testificatione confessione facta et addita vera ratione confusi
rapientes Stranguillionem et Dionysiadem tulerunt extra civitatem etlapidibus
eos occiderunt et ad bestias terrae et volucres caeli in campo iactavcrunt, ut
etiam corpora eorum terrae sepulturae negarentur. Volentes autem Theophilum
occidere, interventu Tarsiac non tangitur. Ait enim Tarsia: 'Civespiissimi, nisi ad
testandum dominum horarum mihi spatium tribuisset, modo mevestra fclicitas
non defendisset.' Tum a praesenti Theophilo libertatem cum praemio donavit".
51. Itaque Apollonius pro hac re laetitiam populo addens, munera restitucns,
restaurat universas thermas, moenia publica, murorum turres. Restituens moratur
ibi cum suis omnibus diebus XV. Postea vero vale dicens civibus navigat ad
Pentapolim Cyrenaeam; pervenit feliciter. Ingreditur ad regem Archistratem,
socerum suum. "Et vidit filiam cum marito et Tarsiam neptern suam cum marito;
regis filios venerabatur et osculo suscipit Apollonium etfiliam suam, cum quibus
iugiter integro uno annolaetatus est perdurans. Post haec perfecta actate moritur
in eorum manibus, dimittens medietatem regni sui Apollonio et medictatem
filiae suae.
In illo tempore peractis omnibus iuxta mare deambulat Apollonius. Vidit
piscatorem illum a quo naufragus susceptus fucrat, qui ei medium suum dedit
tribunarium,et iubet famulis suis ut eum comprehenderent ct ad suum ducerent
palatium. Tuncut vidit se piscator trahi ad palatium se putavit ad occidendum
praeberi. Sed ubi ingressus est palatium, Tyrius Apollonius sedens cum sua coniuge eum ad se praecepit adduci ct ait ad coniugem: 'Domina regina et coniunx
pudica, hic est paranymphus meus qui mihi opem tribuit et ut ad te venirem iter
ostendit.' Et intuens eum Apollonius ait: 'O benignissime vetule, ego sum Tyrius
€
€
70 RB: Scelerata mulier ait: 'Bone domine, quid? Tu ipse titulum legisti monumenti?
Apollonius exclamavit: 'Domina Tarsia, nata dulcis, si quid ramen apudinferos habes,
relinque Tartarceam domumetgenitoris tui vocem exaudi.’ Puella de post tribunal regio
habitu circumdata capite velato processit et revelata facie malae mulieri dixit: 'Dionysias, salutote cgoabinferis revocata.
T RIetsceleratae filiam secum Tarsia tulic.
RI. Coronatur civitas, ponontur organa: Conde in ultima senectute sua tex Arch
sIcAELUCS,
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
177
people and said: ‘Look, here is my daughter Tarsia!"® When the evil woman,
wicked Dionysias, saw her she trembled all over. The citizens were amazed.
Tarsia ordered that Theophilus the overseer be brought into her presence.
Whenhewasbrought, Tarsia said to him: ‘Theophilus,if you want to be excused
the torture and death which you deserve, and to eam indulgence from me,say in
a clear voice who ordered you to murder me.’ Theophilus said: 'My mistress
Dionysias.’ After this evidence, when a confession had been made and the true
account had been giventoo,the citizens rushed together,seized Stranguillio and
Dionysias, took them outside the city, stoned them to death, and threw their
bodies on the groundfor the beasts of the earth and birds of the air, so as also to
deny their corpses burial in the earth. They wanted to kill Theophilus too, but
because Tarsia intervened he was not touched. For she said: ‘Most worthy
citizens, if he had not given metimeto call on the Lord, even your good fortune
would not have protected me.’ Then she gave Theophilus his freedom on the
spot, and a reward".
51. So Apollonius added to the public rejoicing in return for this: he restored
public works, he rebuilt the public baths, the city walls, and the towers on the
walls. He and all his people stayed for fifteen days during the rebuilding. But then
he said goodbye to the citizens and sailed to Pentapolis in Cyrene, and arrived
there safely. He went in to King Archistrares,his father-in-law.?? Archistrates saw
his daughter with her husband, and his granddaughter Tarsia with her husband.
He greeted the children of the king with honour, and received Apollonius and
his own daughter with a kiss. He spent a whole year in continuous celebration
with them; then whenhis life came to an end hedied in their arms,leaving half
the kingdom to Apollonius and half to his own daughter.
At the time whenall this had happened, Apollonius was walking by the sea
when he saw the fisherman who took him in after the shipwreck and gave him
half of his cloak. He ordered his servants to seize him and bring him to the
palace. When the fisherman saw that he was being taken to the palace, he
thought he was going to be killed. Bue when he cameinto the palace, Apollonius
of Tyre, who was sitting with his wife, ordered the fisherman to be brought to
him, andsaid to his wife: ‘Lady queen and chaste wife, this is my “best man”, who
helped me and showed me the way to cometo you.’ Looking at him Apollonius
RB: The wicked womansaid: ‘Whar, pood lord? You yourself read the inscription on
rhe. tomb!" Apollonius cried: "Lady Tarsia, sweet daughter, if you can do anything
among the dead, leave the house of Tartarus and obey the voice of your parent.’ The
gic came out from behind the judgement-seat, dressed in splendid clothes and with her
head veiled; revealing her face she said to the wicked woman: ‘Dionysias, | who have
heen summoned from the dead greet you"
RB: and she took the wi ked we mans daughter with her.
OR Dhe euy was decorated with garbasdls and music al instrutnents were set up. In his
extreme old age, King Ar bistrates ejos ed
178
25
30
HISTORIA APOLLONII REGIS TYRI
Apollonius, cui tu dedisti dimidium tuum tribunarium.' Et donavit ei ducenta
sestertia auri, servos et ancillas, vestes et argentum secundum cor suum,etfecit
eum comitem, usque dum viveret.
Hellenicus autem, qui, quando persequebatur eum rex Antiochus, indicaverat
ei omnia et nihil ab eo recipere voluit, secutus est eum et procedenti Apollonio
obtulit se ei et dixit: 'Domine rex, memor esto Hellenici servi tui.' Art illc
apprehendens manum eius erexit eum et suscepit osculum; et fecit cum comitem
et donavit illi multas divitias.
His rebus expletis genuit de coniuge sua filium, quem regem in loco avisui
Archistratis constituit. Ipse autem cum sua coniuge vixit annis LXXIIII. Regnavit et tenuit regnum Antiochiae et Tyri et Cyrenensium; et quietam atquc
fclicem vitam vixit cum coniuge sua.?? Peractis annis quot superius diximus in
pace atque senectute bona defuncti sunt.
Explicit liber Apollonii.
ARB: Casas suos suorumque ipse descripsit. et duo volumina fecic unom Dianae in
templo Vphesiorum, aliud un libliote Aa SUL CNDost
THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS KING OF TYRE
179
said: ‘Most generous old man, ] am Apollonius of Tyre, to whom you gave half
your cloak.’ He gave him two hundred thousand gold sesterces, servants and
maids, clothes andsilverto his heart's content, and made him a countfor the rest
ofhislife.
But then Hellenicus, who told Apollonius everything when Antiochus was
persecuting him and would not accept anything from him, followed him and
presented himself as Apollonius was walking along and said to him: ‘Lord king,
rememberyour servant Hellenicus.’ Apollonius took him by the hand,raised him
up and kissed him. He made him a count and gave him great wealth.
Whenall this had been settled, Apollonius’ wife bore him a son, whom he
made king in the place of his grandfather Archistrates. Apollonius himself lived
with his wife for seventy-four years. He ruled Antioch and Tyre and Cyrene ashis
kingdom,andled a peaceful and happylife with his wife.? At the end of the time
we have mentioned,they died in peace and virtuous old age.
Here ends the book of Apollonius.
“ORB He himself wrote ab account ofall his own and hus family’s tiisfortunes, and made
Uwe coptes he displayed one in the temple of Dina of the Fphesans, and the other in
hus own library
NOTES ON PASSAGES MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK
5, 6. Art this point the A version of RA describes Apollonius’ search in his
library for an alternative solutionto theriddle. P and RB placeit in the following
chapter: this makes better sense, and I follow suit.
7, 17. Much has been made of the references to money in HA as a meansof
dating the Ur-text (see chapter 1 above, n. 17). The terms used and valucs
implied seem to suit the third century A.D.; but the terms were certainly used
later, and in any case archaisms would not have been problematic in HA (sec
Kortekaas, pp. 110-11 and 122-3, who believes that the terminology is influenced by the hypothetical Greek source). It is at least clear that the intentionis
to indicate large sums worthy of the poweror deserts of the characters. The going
rate for generous rewards seems to be twenty thousand gold sesterces or two
hundred gold pieces (see cc. 7, 25 and 41).
11, 5. The cento (or patchwork) of hexameter verses which follows here is
extremely corrupt. It contains many echoes and quotations from classical pocts
(mainly Virgil and Ovid), on the basis of which some emendation is possible, but
the translation is necessarily fragmentary. The sources which can beidentified
are printed by Kortekaas above his critical apparatus.
16, 3-4. ‘veteres ci renovasti dolores’: this is an echo of Aeneas’ lament to Dido
in Aeneid II, 3, ‘Infandum,regina, iubes renovare dolorem’ (‘Queen, you order me
to renew unspeakable pain’). There are more echoesof the Aeneid story incc. 17,
18 and 41.
16, 19. 'Et induit statum . . .: an adjective may be missing here. Klebs and
others have suggested lyricum or citharoedicum (pertaining to a cithara or lyre
player), to match ‘in comico habitu' and 'induit tragicum'. Hunt argues against
any addition (see ‘Apollonius Citharocdus’ [1987], p. 287, n. 9).
16, 21. 'arripuit plectrum . . .’: this is a dactylic hexameter, but the source ofthe
quotation is not known.
16, 24-5. 'inauditas actiones expressit: ‘inauditas’ could mean ‘silent’ (as in
mime), or ‘unheard-of’ (i.e. unfamiliar). As Konstan/Roberts suggest, there is
probably an intentional pun here. See my comments in chapter 5 above, pp. 75
17, 2. 'vulneris saevo carpitur igne: this is probably an echo of AeneidIV, 2,
'caecocarpitur igne".
18, 1-3. ‘Sed regina iamdudum saucia cura
" ahe quotations are taken from
the description af Dido's passion for Acneas, Aencul IY, 1 tt
NOTES TOpp. 138-168
181
25, 9. ‘Nono mense cogente Lucina’: there are two points here. In c. 24 the
princess is six months pregnant when the newsfrom Tyrearrives, and critics have
worried about the length of Apollonius’ voyage and the timing of the birth.
Some MSSread 'septimo mense' in c. 25: in the ancient world and the Middle
Ages it was believed that seven-month babies could survive (for references sce
chapter5, p. 67). ‘Nono mense’probably represents a desire for medical authenticity in spite of the facts givenin c. 24. As for 'cogente Lucina', Lucina was the
Roman goddess of childbirth, but the name is taken to belong to the princess in
some versions. In HA she is generally anonymous, but in c. 29 the nurse tells
Tarsia that her real motheris Lucina (P; in RB Archestrates), and in c. 49 (RA),
the Ephesus reunion scene, thepriestess declares herself as Lucina (RB: Archestrates).
26, 29. The Latin is corrupthere: | follow Kortekaas in assuming that the hands
belong to the princess, rather than the medical student, as Konstan/Roberts
argue. See also Hunt, ‘More on the Text of Apollonius of Tyre’ (1984), pp.
358-61.
32, 13. Dionysias’ confession docs not appear at this point in RB. A much
briefer version appears in both RA and RBinc. 37, though without Stranguillio’s
response (see chapter5, p. 69).
33, 15.
Here RA omits two sentences, preserved in RB, without which the
conversation is very hard to follow. Tarsia seems to be showing off her leaming
(sce chapter 5 above, p. 78). There may be a further joke which is no longer
recoverable.
35, 2. Prof. Dronke has suggested to me that the sentence should be a question,
implying ‘didn’t you weep just as much asI did” This seems to makebetter sense
than a statement.
41, 20-1. ‘recentem enim mihi renovasti dolorem’: another echo of Aeneid II, 3
(see note on c. 16 above).
42, 1. The riddles which follow are all taken from the collection attributed to
Symphosius (fourth orfifth century), though there are somevariations in wording. Kortekaas prints Symphosius’ versions above the critical apparatus in his
edition. The riddles in HA do not follow the order in Symphosius: they correspond to nos. 12, 2, 13, 90, 61, 63, 59, 69, 79, 78. Several have thematic links
with the HA plot (sce the discussion of riddles in chapter 1, pp. 23 ff.).
45, 5. As there is a lacuna here in RA, | have included the account of the
recognition scene from RB c. 45 (printedinitalics in both Latin and English).
APPENDIX I
Latin and Vernacular Versions
of HA to 1609
In chapter 3 I gave a very brief survey of the versions of the story of Apollonius
produced up to 1609, the yearof publication of the quarto of Pericles. There are
far too many to be described in detail; indeed there are too many for the
comparative study which I had originally hoped to make. This Appendix provides select bibliographical information and comments on the character of each
distinct version of the Apollonius story (1 do not include more orlessliteral
translations of HA, exceptin the case of the Gesta Romanorum). | am particularly
concerned with divergences from the plot of HA and general tone (chivalric,
Christian, exemplary, classicizing, etc.). HA itself is not discussed here: for
editions, translations and criticism see the Select Bibliography (and also the
bibliography in Kortckaas’ edition, which contains many more linguistic
studics). 1 do list Welser's edition [V31], however, since it represents an important landmark in the history of the Apolloniustradition. When the story appears
in a popular collection extant in several languages, such as the Gesta Romanorum
[V11] or the Confessio Amantis (V12], I list as a separate version the first appearance ofsuch collections in a language other thanthe original.
The texts are arranged chronologically, so far as is possible; within cach
century, Latin texts precede vernacular works, which are arranged alphabetically
according to language. After the title I give the date of the editio princeps, if it
occurs before 1609. Where there are several modern editions of a text, the onc
from which I quote is marked with an asterisk. Under ‘Criticism’, I cite thc
surveys by Singer (Apollonius von Tyrus), Smyth, and Klebs, and the introduction
to Kortekaas’ edition by page number only, since they recur so frequently.
General historics ofliterature are only included when thereis little other secondary matcrial on a version, or when I quote from them. The names of the main
characters vary somewhat betweenthese versions (and sometimes within a piven
text): for case of comparison [use the standard HA forms throughout, except
where names are substantially altered or entirely new ones are substituted.
The bibliography is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather to provide a
usetal basis for lorther study
In cases where the secondary literature as substan
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
183
tial, I have tended to omit older critical studies which are listed in existing
bibliographies, unless 1 have found them particularly useful, and to include as
much recent work as possible (Kortekaas’ valuable essay on the Latin adaptations
reached me too late for detailed discussion).
Tenth and Eleventh Centuries
V1. Gesta Apollonii (metrica)
Edition: Ed. E. Dummler in MGH, Poctae Latini Aevi Carolini, 4 vols. (Berlin,
1884; rp. 1964), II, pp. 483-506.
Criticism: Singer, pp. 217-18; Klebs, pp. 334-7; Max Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, 3 vols (Munich, 1911-31; rp. 1964-5), I, pp. 614-16; F.
J. E. Raby, A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages, 2 vols (Oxford, 1934),
II, p. 277; G. A. A. Kortekaas, The Latin Adaptations of the Historia Apollonii regis
Tyzi in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance’, in Groningen Colloquia on the Novel, III
ed. LI. Hofmann (Groningen, 1990), pp. 103-22 (see pp. 105-11).
This metrical version, probably written in the tenth century, is preserved on two
flyleaves in an eleventh- or twelfth-century manuscript, Ghent, Universiteitsbibliotheck 169. It seems to be based on an RB text of HA.It consists of 792 verses
in antiphonal strophes of lconine hexameters; they are attributed to two voices
called Saxo and Strabo. It is a faithful but verbose rendering of HA up to the
beginning of c. 8, Apollonius’ arrival at Tarsus, recounted in a most elaborate
style and scattered with Greek words; it may well have been a school exercise.
Christ is mentioned four times in the forty-four line introduction, but Christianity plays no part in the main plot.
It is hard to tell whether the poem is complete as it stands, or whether the
poct intended to tell the whole story of Apollonius in the same extendcdstyle. It
is hardly surprising that it does not seem to have left its trace on any later
versions; but its existenceis striking testimony to the acceprability of HA in a
monastic and perhaps educational context.
V2. The Old English Apollonius of Tyre
Editions: J. Zupitza, in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 97
(1896), 1734; J. Raith, Die alt- und miuelenglischen Apollonius-Bruchstiicke mit dem
ext der Historia Apollonii nach der englischen 1 landschriftengruppe (Munich, 1956), pp.
5J 65; eter Goolden, The Old English Apollonius of Tyre (London, 1958).
Translation: M. Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Prose (London, 1975), pp. 158-73.
Criticism: J. Zupitza, "Welcher Text. liegt. der. altenplischen: Bearbeitung. der. Ercabling von Apollonius von ‘Tyros zu Grunde", RF 3 (1886), 269. 79; Klebs, pp.
128032; Singer, pp. 220 01; Robert Markisch, Die altenglische Bearbeitung der Erzáhlung
von. Apollonius eon. Pyries, Palaestia 6 (Berlin, 1899); €. €Y. Chapman, ‘Heowulf and
Apollonius of. Dyre', MEN 46 (10931), 439. 43, Norton Donner, Feidery in Obl En:
lh Fi tion'; Comites 9(1977) 9E 6,1. Kobayashi, On the "Los" l'onmons in the
184
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Old English Apollonius of Tyre’, in Explorations in Linguistics: Papers in Honor of
Kazuko Inoue, ed. G. Bedell ct al. (Tokyo, 1979), pp. 244-50; S. B. Greenfield and D.
G. Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature (London, 1986), pp. 96-8;
Anita R. Riedinger, ‘The Englishing of Arcestrate: Woman in Apollonius of Tyre’, in
New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Helen Damico and Alexandra
Hennessy Olsen (Indiana, 1990), pp. 292-306.
The Old English version preserved in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS
201, pp. 131-45, is remarkable as the first vernaculartranslation, an carly witness
to the long-lasting popularity of the story in England,and, it can be argued, the
first English romance.It is preserved in an eleventh-century manuscript, and was
probably composed at the beginning of that century. Goolden argues that the
scribal errors indicate that it is a copy, rather than the original translation. It is
based on an RC text of HA, probably onc close to another Corpus manuscript,
318.
The Old English text consists of two fragments: the first translates cc. 1-22 of
HA,breaking off at Apollonius' betrothal; the second fragmentis very short, and
covers only cc. 48-51, Apollonius’ reunion with his wife and the final scenes.
The Old English text thus omits Apollonius’ wedding, the false death of the
queen,Tarsia's adventures in the brothel and her reunion with her father. What
survives is remarkably close to theoriginal, though it tends to be slightly abbreviated. The love-sickness of the princess is completely omitted: it seems that the
romantic episodes, few as they are, may have been consideredoflittle interest, or
perhapsin bad taste.
A few ‘technical’ terms are replaced with Old English equivalents: Apollonius
is described as ‘ealdorman’of Tyre, and the same wordis uscd to translate ‘comes’
in c. 51. The gymnasium scene caused problems too (see chapter 5 above, pp. 72
ff.). But gencrally the translation is extremely successful; Greenfield and Calder
praise the original wordplay and ‘the smooth Old English prose, so suitable for
narrative . . . a glimpse of a native style chat might have developed if English had
not beenreplaced by French after the Norman Conquest’ (p. 97).
It is often claimed that HA was translated into Old English because it was
perceived as part of the Wonders of the East group of texts, although no such
wonders are described; this view is firmly and persuasively rebutted by Raith,
who arguesthat it was seen ascloser to hagiography (pp. 49 ff.). It might equally
well have appealed because of its similarity to the popular Anglo-Saxon poctic
themeof exiled wanderers, and to their epic saints’ lives (for instance Andreas).
It is striking that absolutely no attempt is made to Christianize it.!
|
Arleat onc other Old English text is known to have existed, whether or not it was the
same version. “The caralogae of the Beneditine Abbey ac Burton-on Trent, written
about 1175, records as ne. 79 'Apollonimim angle: scc B. M. Wikon, The Pow
aerae of Mediccal lnglind, ^ndeda (9 ondon, 1970), pp. 74 5
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
185
Twelfth Century
V3. Lambert of St Omer, Liber Floridus
Edition: (facsimile) Albert Derolez, Liber Flondus (Ghent, 1968), ff. 263v—269v,
2581-2591(sic).
Criticism: M. Delbouille, 'La version de l'Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri conservée dans
le Liber Floridus du Chanoine Lambert,' Revue Belge de Philologie et d' Histoire 8 (1929),
1195-99; Eva M. Sanford, ‘The Liber Floridus’, The Catholic Historical Review 26
(1941), 469-78; Kortekaas, pp. 35-6.
The encyclopaedic Liber Floridus, Ghent, Universiteitsbibliotheek MS 92, written about 1120,is a fairly unsystematic collection of writing from many genres
including the short version of the Ra text of HA under the rubric ‘inclita gesta
pii regis Apollonii’ (‘the famous deeds of the pious King Apollonius’). Although
most of the manuscriptis in Lambert's own hand,the HAtextis not, but some of
the emendationsarc his. The text is followed by a unique dramatis personae on a
folded insertion of parchment, in which the main characters and locations ofthe
story are listed in the order in which they appear. lt does not seem to be a
moralizing conclusion, like the Epilogue of Pericles; perhaps it indicates that the
story was thought confusing, or perhapsit is just tidy-minded didacticism on the
part of Lambert orhisscribe.
V4. Godfrey of Viterbo, Pantheon (Bascl, 1559)
Edition: Singer, pp. 150-77. [The ‘Cronica de Apollonio’ is omitted from the text of
the Pantheon edited by Waitz in MGH,SS XXII]
Criticism: Smyth, pp. 23-4; Klebs, pp. 338-49; Lucienne Meyer, Les légendes des
matiéres de Rome, de France et de Bretagne dans le Panthéon de Godefroi de Viterbe (Paris,
1933; rp. 1973), pp. 114-50; Kortckaas, H.A.p. 5, and "The Latin Adaptationsof the
Historia Apollonii regis Tyri in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance’, in Groningen
Colloquia on the Novel III, ed. 11. Hofmann (Groningen, 1990), pp. 103-22 (esp. pp.
111-12).
Godfrey included his account of Apollonius, under the title ‘Cronica de Apollonio’, in his world history the Pantheon, a reworking of his carlier history, the
Memoria Seculorum, produced towards the end of the twelfth century. It is based
onan RCtext of HA bur is not a paraphrase (it differs more by omission than by
addition). Three recensions exist: Singer prints all the variants. It is composed in
staccato three-line stanzas (two hexameters, usually rhymed, plus a pentameter)
which do not allow much scope for detail, but do permit succinct and emphatic
summary: for instance, the first stanza sums up the incest episode terscly in the
final line ‘res haber effectum, pressa puella doler’ (‘the deed was done, and the
violated girl grieved’).
The story is introduced in a strictly historical context immediately after the
death of Alexander and before the struggles of the Maccabees and the Punic
Wars; Apollonios is king of both Tyre and Sidon, and the meestuous Antiochus
is idlenified as Antiox hus Junior Seleucus, probably «denn al with Antioc has FV
186
APOLLONIUS OFTYRE
Epiphanes (Kortekaas speculates on the influence here of the historical Apollonius, prefect of Syria and Samaria, described in the Books of Maccabees: see my
argument, chapter 2 above,pp. 40ff.). Both classical and Christian elements are
mostly omitted, but there are frequent references to Fortune: the emphasis on
Fortune in Gower and in Pericles may be derived atleast in part from Codfrey's
account.
Theincestriddle is omitted, unusually, in two of the three recensions. Also
missing are the assassin Taliarchus, the nurse Lycorida, the faithful Hellenicus,
and muchofthe brothel and recognition scenes (some details were added in the
later recensions). In the banquet scene, Apollonius is compared to Orpheus
rather than Apollo when he makes music. Discussion of emotion and motiveis
generally even more limited than in HA, though Godfrey does make one or two
additions: for instance, he devotesfour stanzas to Tarsia’s appeal to the pirates to
respect her virginity, a speech which docs not occur in HA or in most other
medieval versions. This situation is typical of Hellenistic romance: could Godfrey have foundit in a lost Latin text? The poem ends abruptly with the return to
Cyrene.
Godfrey's account did have some influence on later versions, both Latin and
vernacular, apart from the obvious debt of Gower. For instance, his attribution of
the name Cleopatra to Apollonius’ future wife is repeated in a numberoflater
versions, both Latin and vernacular (see Kortekaas, p. 5, n. 8). Kortckaas considers Godfrey's version important ‘because he tried to smooth outcertain unevennesses and improbabilities in the original tale, and because he endeavoured
to lift the story out of the ambiance of the fairy-tale by placing the protagonist
Apollonius historically towards the end of the Punic wars . . .'. However, this
historical context was not taken over by manylater redactors.
V5. Bern Redaction
The five manuscripts which constitute this redaction of the RB text of HA have not
been published. They are: Oxford, Corpus Christi College 82, pp. 329-45 (12th
century); Bern, Burgerbibliothek 208, ff. 49r-58v (13th century); Vat. Reg. lat. 905,
ff. 13v-30v (12th century); Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense 463, ff. 8r-18r (13th
century); Vat. Ottob. lat. 1855, ff. 1r- 16v (13th century).
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 113-24 and 168; Kortckaas, pp. 19 and 88ff.
These texts are notable for the expansion of a numberof episodes in the standard
HA: amongthe additions are Stranguillio’s hospitable reception of Apolloniusat
Tarsus, the clothes given to Apollonius by King Archistrates, a conversation
between the three suitors and Apollonius, a conversation between the revived
princess and the doctor about her future, the slave-dealer’s solicitous care of
Tarsia and the other captives before raking them to the marker, and the pimp’s
reactions to ‘Tarsia’s public performance. “hey show an interest in descriptive
and conversational detail which is characteristic of the vernacular romances
developing at this time. But dhe additions made ain these manus npts do not scem
to have been repeated on later VUCTSIOPNPS, I SOI Ot VCE aba
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
187
Thirteenth Century
V6. Carmina Burana (O Antioche, cur decipis me)
Editions: A. Hilka and O. Schumann, Carmina Burana, 2 vols in 3 (Heidelberg,
1941), 1.2, pp. 125-8; *K. Vollmann, Carmina Burana, Bibliothek deutscher Klassiker
16 [Bibliothek des Mittelalters 13] (Frankfurt am Main, 1987), pp. 350-5 (with
facing German translation).
Criticism: G. A. A. Kortekaas, ‘The Latin Adaptations of the Historia Apollonii regis
Tyri in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance’, in Groningen Colloquia on the NovelIII,
ed. H. Hofmann (Groningen, 1990), pp. 103-22 (esp. pp. 113-16).
This remarkable Latin lyric preserved in the Carmina Burana,an eclectic collection of Latin and vernacular works probably put togetherin the early thirteenth
century, is so condensed and allusive that it would have been quite incomprehensible to anyone who did not already know the story of Apollonius: there is
no preamble to explain his opening lament. The poem consists of ten stanzas: the
first five are spoken by Apollonius, and give a very brief account of his adventures up to the fostering of Tarsia, the last five consist of a very succinct account
of the rest of the story (the various recognition scenes are telescoped into one
stanza). Much of the poem consists of Apollonius’ monologuc, expressing his
own feelings much more openly than in HÀ: 'doleo . . .lugeo .. . doceo . . . amo
... gaudco!’ (‘I grieve... 1 moum... 1 teach ...1 love .. . I rejoice!’). One
whole stanza is devoted to the ups and downs of Fortune (though the word
fortuna is not used). Few placenamesare supplied, but there is mention of Astrages (the princess of Cyrenc), Tharsya, Scrangolius, Dyniasias, Liocardadis (the
nursc), and Arfaxus (Athenagoras). The idiosyncratic form of these names suggests that the pocm was composed at several removes from a text of HA. Although there are no other Christian references in the poem, the angelic vision
sends Apollonius to meet his wife ‘Johannis in insula’ (on the island of John) —
presumably Parmos, where St John hadhis revelation.
This lyric is an early and important witness to the adaptation of the story to
suit the taste for love and emotion which is apparent in twelfth-century romance. There may well have been many such poems (sce for instance the
allusions to the story in troubadourlyrics, [A10, 15, 28]: but no comparable
distillation or extract of the story survivestill chat of Hans Sachs [V36].
V7. Kong Apollon af Tyre
Edition: Sv. Orundtvig, Danmarks gamle folkeviser, Samfundet til den danskaliteraturs fremme, 12 vols (Copenhagen 1856), IL, pp. 464-9.
Criticism: Singer, pp. 312; Smyth, p. 32; Klebs, p. 379.
A drastic geographical innovation was made by the composer of the A version of
this Danish ballad, which exists in three versions and is believed t0 date back to
the thatcenth century Apollonius appears as king ot Naples, ad Antiochi
holds cort in t OTE RI Speyer
Ihese lox anions "nay have seemed exotic
tana
188
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Danish audience, or perhaps rather topical: Grundtvig speculates that the choice
was influenced by an historical event, the marriage of the German king Henry VI
to a princess of Naples in 1126. Various characters and episodes from HA are
conflated: there is only one princess, who writes a secret letter to encourage
Apollonius. The shipwreck is caused by her magician father in A; in B it is
caused by the empress, in C by Apollonius’ mother. Apollonius sits on the
seashore and plays the lyretill he is befriended by a fishermen, with whom he
works for some time; later he is reunited with the princess, and here the story
ends.
This ballad is remarkable for its unusually free adaptation of the traditional
plot, its substitution of western European capitals for Antioch and Tyre, and its
usc of folklore themes, such as the magician-father.?
V8. Old French Fragment
Edition: Alfred Schulze, ‘Ein Bruchstiick des altfranzósischen Apolloniusromans', in
Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 33 (1909), 226—9; reprinted by *Charles B. Lewis
in ‘Die altfranzdsischen Prosaversionen des Apolloniusromans nach allen bekannten
Ilandschriften’, RF 34 (1915), 1-277, pp. 272-3; and by C. C. Marden, ed., Libro de
Apolonio (sce V10 below), pp. xxix-xxxi.
This fragment was discovered in the binding of an Aldine edition of Herodotus
and Thucydides of 1502; it is now MS 2425 in the Biblioteka Gdanska, Gdansk.
It consists of 52 lines, notall fully legible, describing the scene in which Apollonius gives the correct answer to Antiochus’ riddle. Antiochus’ daughter, who
takes no part in the plot of HA after her rape, is represented as praying secretly to
the gods for his success. This suggests that in the complete poem herrole was
considerably expanded, and the theme of love emphasised. It is another carly
witness to the adaptation of HA to suit changing literary tastes. A text of this
kind may well have been knownto the twelfth-century troubadours and romance
writers who allude to Apollonius.
V9. Thidreks Saga af Bern
Editions: Henrik Bertelsen, 2 vols, Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur
(Copenhagen, 1905-11), II, pp. 109-58 (cc. 337 ff.); Guéni Jénsson, 2 vols (Reykjavik, 1959), pp. 331 ff. (cc. 245 ff.).
Translation: Edward R. Haymes, The Saga of Thidrek of Bem, Garland Library of
Medieval Literature 56, series B (New York, 1988), pp. 150ff. (cc. 245 ff.).
Criticism: Singer, p. 220; Dietrik von Kralik, Die Uberlieferung und Entstehung der
Thidreksaga, Rheinische Beitráge und LHilfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und
Volkskunde 19 (Ilalle 1931), 26-31; William J. Paff, The Geographical and Ethnic
Names in the Thidriks Saga, Harvard Germanic Studies 2 (The Hague, 1959), s.v.
‘Tira’, pp. 192-4.
2
Pam prateful to Anne Mane Rasmussen for trinstating: the ballad) and) Grunedtvag's
(omtients for me
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
189
The Old Norse version of the popular legend of Dietrich of Bern, composed
about 1250, contains an cpisode concerning the adventures of Apollonius and
Iron, the sons of King Artus of Bertangaland (Britain). On the death oftheir
father they take refuge with Attila, who makes Iron earl of Brandenburg and
Apolloniuscarl of Tira. Apollonius courts Herborg, daughter of King Solomon of
Frankland;his suit is rejected, but with the aid of a magic ring obtained from his
sister-in-law Isolde hefinally wins Herborg’s love. She writes him a letter and he
carries heroff to Tira. She soon dies, however, and in the ensuing feud with King
Solomon both Iron and Apolloniusare killed.
Although the names and circumstances are changed, this episode is clearly
indebted to a version of HA, though it might be considered a borderline case for
inclusion in this lise (in fact 1 also discuss it in chapter 4 as an example of the
influence of HA). The fact that Apollonius is presented as the son of King
Arthur (other names from the Arthurian cycle appear elsewhere in the story),
and yet preserves his traditional link with Tyre, is further testimony to the
widespread popularity of the story by the thirteenth century. The link with
Solomon, and perhaps also with Hiram, suggests that the riddle connection
occurred to more than one medicval writer (sec chapter 2 above, pp. 43-4)?
V10. Libro de Apolonio
Editions: C. C. Marden, 2 vols, Elliot Monographs in the Romance Languages and
Literatures 6 and 11-12 (Baltimore, 1917 and 1922 [corrected 1937], rp. 1965);
*Manucl Alvar, 3 vols (Madrid, 1976) [reissued as one volume, Barcelona, 1984];
Carmen Monedero,Clasicos Castalia (Madrid, 1987).
Translations: Raymond Grismer and Elizabeth Atkins, The Book of Apollonius (Minneapolis, 1936); M. Alvar, in Libro de Apolonio, lI, pp. 265—520; Pablo Cabanas, Libro
de Apolonio, 4th edn, Odres Nuevos (Madrid, 1986).
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 385-98; M. Garcia Blanco,‘La originalidad del Libro de Apolonio’, Revista de Ideas Esteticas 11, vol. 3 (1945), 351-78; A. D. Deyermond, ‘Mester es
sen Peccado’, RF 77 (1965), 111-16; Deyermond, ‘Motivos folklóricos y técnica
estructural en el Libro de Apolonio’, Filologfa 13 (1968-9), 121-49; Danicl Devoto,
'Dos notas sobre cl Libro de Apolonio', Bulletin Hispanique 74 (1972), 291—330; Doris
Clark, "Tarsiana's Riddles in the Libro de Apolonio', in Medieval Hispanic Studies
Presented to Rita Hamilton, cd. A. D. Deyermond (London 1976), pp. 31-43; J. C.
Musgravc,"Tarsiana and Juglaria in the Libro de Apolonio', in Medieval Hispanic Studies
Presented w Rita Hamilton, ed. Deyermond, pp. 129-38; Joanquín Artiles, El Libro de
Apolonio: Poema espariol del siglo XIII (Madrid, 1976); Ronald E. Surtz, "The Spanish
Libro de Apolonio and Medieval Hagiography', Medioevo Remanze 7.3 (1980), 328-41;
C. and M. Alvar, ‘Apollonius, Apollonic, Apolonio: La originalidad en la literatura
medieval’, El Comentario de Textos 4: La Poesía Medieval (Madrid, 1983), pp. 125-47;
Marina S. Brownlees, "Writing and Scripture in the Libro de Apolonio: The Confla-
tion of Hapiography and Romance’, Hispanic Review SL (1983), 159-74; John R.
!op am aindelied o the Lite Kevin Pohart for helping me to read this text. 1 have nor
ix luded ihe Swediesly version im tiny Bist, since atiis a lireral transloson and the Old
Nose text only pub connts as a version
190
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Maier, "The Libro de Apolonio and the Imposition of Culture’, in La Chispa 87: Select
Proceedings of the Eighth Louisiana Conference on Hispanic Languages and Literatures, cd.
G. Paolini (New Orleans, 1987), pp. 169-76.
This Spanish text is based on an RA version of HA, though it shows some
influence from RBtoo.It is preserved in a single fourteenth-century manuscript,
Escorial, Biblioteca Reale III K 4, ff. 1r-64v, where theoriginal spelling has been
somewhat modernized. The most conservative of the thirteenth century vernacular versions, it is an important example of the 'mester de clerecía', probably
written by a cleric, and notable for its heavy Christian moralizing.
The poet begins by invoking God and the Virgin Mary to help him write; at
the end, Apollonius’ death is followed by six stanzas of prayers for salvation and
reflection on human mortality. Throughout the poem God is constantly invoked,
and bricf sermons and parables are inserted into the traditional plot. The devil is
held responsible for the villainy of both Antiochus and Dionysias; and Tarsia
twice wamsaggressors that they are about to commit a mortal sin. Not suprisingly, the brothel scene is considerably toned down, and Antiochus’ riddle is
phrased rather more delicately than in HA.It is particularly striking that Apollonius several times blames his misfortunes on his own sinfulness, though without
apparentcause (sce Brownlecs, pp. 165-6).
Most classical details are omitted. Tarsia becomes a juglaresa. There is no
particular concem with chivalric values, even though the subject is announced
at the beginningas a story ‘del buen rey Apolonio e de su cortesfa’ (‘of good king
Apollonius and his courtesy’). Here Apolloniusis transformed from an Odysscan
hero to a much-travelled Christian. Brownlecs argues that ‘it is a poem about
Apolonio'life seen as an emblem of God's grace’, and emphasises the innovative
conflation of hagiography and romance,‘two seemingly imeconcilable genres’
(pp. 173-4).
Fourteenth Century
Vil. Gesta Romanorum [Cologne, ?1475]
Editions: 1l. Ocsterley, Gesta Romanorum (Berlin, 1872; rp. 1963), pp. 510-32 (c.
153); Singer, pp. 68-105.
Translations: Rev. Charles Swann, Gesta Romanorum, rev. Wynnard Hooper (Lon-
don, 1876; rp. London and New York, 1959), pp. 259-99; 11. E. Rübesamen, Gesta
Romanorum: Die Taten der Rómer. Ein Geschichtenbuch des Mittelalers (Munich,
1962), pp. 193-223; I. and J. Schneider, Die Geschichte des Kénigs Apollonius von Tyrus
(Berlin, 1986).
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 349 61; G. A. A. Kortekaas, “The Latin Adaptations of the
Historia. Apollonii regis Tyre in the Middle Apes and the Renaissance’, in Gronngen
Callosia on the Novel HT, ed. 1. Hofmann (Cirominyen, 1990), pp. 103 22 (esp. pp.
106 48)
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
191
The Gesta Romanorum undoubtedly played an importantpart in the dissemination of the story of Apollonius,for this collection of exemplary tales drawn from
both classical and medieval sources was translated into many European languages, and was repeatedly copied and printed both in Latin and in vernaculars
(the first dated Latin edition was printed in 1480, and thereare several carlier
undated editions, though the story of Apollonius was not included in all of
them). The inclusion of the story (as c. 153) must have added support to the
view that it was exemplary, rather than frivolous. But it seems to have taken
several centuries before it was an accepted part of the collection. According to
Oesterley it appears in only one of the hundreds of manuscripts, the fourteenthcentury Colmar, Bibliotheque Municipale 10, ff. 74r-84v. (this is the version
printed by Singer), thoughit scemslikely that it was included in some others (it
is not included in the fifteenth-century Middle English versions, however).
In the Colmar manuscript it is introduced by a rubric which concentrates
entirely on Antiochus’ incest and makes no mention of Apollonius: 'De Antiocho qui filiam propriam cognovit et tantum eam dilexit quod nullus cam in
uxorem habere potuit nisi problema ab eo propositum solveret" ('Of Antiochus
whoslept with his own daughter and loved her so much that no one could marry
her unless he solved the riddle which Antiochushadset’). In view of this rubric
it is surprising that the whole story of Apollonius is told. The rubric printed by
Oesterley is much more general, and suggests that the story was seen as an
endurancctest: 'De tribulacione temporali, quac in gaudium sempiternum postremo commutabitur' (‘Of temporaltribulation which will be changed in the end
into eternal joy’). The two rubrics suggest that different morals could be drawn
from the story, one about unnaturallust and the other about patience in the face
of adversity. Every otherstory in the collection ends with a moralitas in which the
plot is allegorized and explained in terms of Christian doctrine:it is remarkable
that the story of Apollonius alone has no such moralepilogue.
This version of the story is very faithful to HA:it is hardly Christianized atall,
noris it medievalized (though the edition printed in Hagenau in 1508 on which
Swann based his translation apparently inserted into the scene at the doctor's
house a description of the beauty of the princess typical of romance heroines).5
Thepointof the story was its exemplary power, not its contemporary appeal.
V12. John Gower, Confessio Amantis [London, 1483]
Editions: *G. C. Macaulay, The English Works of John Gower, vols III and IV of The
Complete Works of John Gower, 4 vols (Oxford, 1899-1902), pp. 386—440; Russell
^
4
According to Klebs, the earliest edition in which the story of Apollonius was included
is Zell’s, printed at Cologne in the early 1470s. Ele points out that the text printed by
Oesterley is in fact à mixture of this version and several later ones.
"The only other text known to me which includes this des ription is Twines Patemeof
Painefull Adecntures [V 33], published in 1576. The fact that the description. is found
only in two date printed texts; both moral rather than chivalii im tone; shows how
huile the usual mane conventions were observed inthe Apollonius tradition
192
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Peck, Confessio Amantis (New York, 1968; rp. 1980), pp. 416-64; rp. in G. Bullough,
ed., Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare V1 (London, 1966), pp. 375—423.
Criticism: Singer, pp. 177-89; Klebs, pp. 462-71; Peter Goolden, ‘Antiochus’ Riddle
in Gower and Shakespeare’, RES n.s. 6 (1955), pp. 245-51; Russell A. Peck, Kingship
and Common Profit (Carbondale, 1978), pp. 161-73; Peter Goodall, John Gower's
Apollonius of Tyre, ConfessioAmantis, Book VIII', Southern Review 15 (1982), 243-53;
A. J. Minnis, ' "Moral Gower" and Medieval Literary Theory', in Gower's Confessio
Amantis: Perspectives and Reassessments, ed. A. J. Minnis (Cambridge, 1983), pp.
50-78; C. David Benson, ‘Incest and Moral Poetry in Gower's Confessio Amantis',
Chaucer Review 19 (1984), 100-9; Robert Yeager, John Gower's Poetry: The Search for
a New Anion,Publications of the John GowerSociety II (Woodbridge, 1990).
Gower's Confessio Amantis, written about 1390, consists of a frame narrative in
which Amans, a younglover, is to be cured of his love-sickness by hearing a
collection of stories which coverall the deadly sins: Book VIII should have dealt
with every form of Lechery,but in fact it concentrates on incest. It begins with a
discussion of the origins of the incest taboo and contemporary disregard forit,
followed by a brief account of Nero’s wickedness. The story of Apollonius(II.
271-2008) is by far the longest exemplum in the poem,andit is also thelast.
Gowerbegins his account by citing Godfrey of Viterbo's Pantheon [V4] as his
source, though he must have known someotherversion(s) of the story too,for he
includes details which do not appear in the Pantheon. He makes some small
alterations to the plot, mostly aimed at softening the harshness which pervades
muchofthe traditional account. He allows some sympathy for Antiochus’ passion, or at least some understanding(1. 289: ‘the fleissh is frele and falleth oft’);
and he allows Apollonius and his bride to be considerably more tender and
emotional than they are in HÀ. Athenagoras does not appearin the auction and
brothel scenes, and Apolloniusis less brutal to his daughter in the recognition
scene. There is little sense of classical culture: the gymnasium is replaced by a
more chivalric though unspecified game, and the bawd's statue of Priapus is
omitted. Although Tarsia (here Thaisc) is said to put riddles to Apollonius, none
of them are quoted; Antiochus’ riddle is badly garbled (causing the writer(s) of
Pericles to recast it completely, according to Goolden).
Nothing substantial is added to the story. There is more emphasis on Fortune
than on Christianity (following the Pantheon, perhaps), though the story ends
with an explicit moral: the honesty and integrity of Apollonius are held up as an
‘ensample’ to all lovers (1. 1999), and the fate of Antiochusis taken as proof that
unnatural lust does not go unpunished. This is the first version in which thereis
such a recapitulation at the end, and in which the story is presented explicitly as
a moral exemplum, albeit in a style which owes much to romance conventions. It
is also described as an exemplum in the first of the accompanying Latin marginal
tubrics, which in its phrasing resembles the introductory rubric of the Gesta
Romanorum version in the Colmar manuscripr.*
^
|n spite of this moral tone, however, it was probably Gower's version of the story which
attracted the anfavourable Comments of Chaucer's Man of baw in the Canterbury Tales
[A M] Gee haprer 3 above, pp 58 9. and n
06)
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
193
Macaulay commented wryly in his notes that ‘of this uncompromising subject
[incest] he made the best that he could’ (II, p. 536); other critics found the
Apollonius story an inappropriate ending to the Confessio Amantis. Recent
scholars have read this text more positively. Peck considers the ending ‘admirably suited to the conclusion of the Confessio’: Apollonius exemplifies good
kingship, and the plot of exile and return is an excellent model for Amans
(Kingship, p. 169). Minnis argues that the story is used as a prime example of
Gower's view that married love was the highest good, and that Apollonius is a
mixture of amatory and political concerns (p. 77): 'Apollonius is Gowcr's
example par excellence of the good king, the good man and the good lover,all
rolled into one.' Yeager detects all seven of the deadly sins exemplified in
Gower's version of the Apollonius story, which he, like Minnis, sees as the
keystone of the ‘mirror for princes’, and of the whole poem.
V13. Middle English Fragment
Editions: J. O. Halliwell in A New Boke about Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon
(London, 1850); rp. in Smyth, pp. 49-55; J. Raith, Die alt- und miuelenglischen
Apollonius-Bruchsuicke (Munich, 1956), pp. 67-84.
Criticism: Klebs, p. 472; Marden,ed., Libro de Apolonio, I, p. xxv (see V10).
This verse fragment (one hundred and forty-two surviving lines) of a version
translated from Latin into English by a priest from Wimborne in Dorset is
preserved in a fifteenth-century manuscript, Bodl. Douce 216, (originally ff.
17-18), but was probably composed in the previous century. It begins as Apollonius is telling his story at Ephesus and continues to the end. There are no
significant changes, but a Christian and didactic tone is apparent: Apollonius
and his wife are described at the end as a model couple, and the poem finishes
with a prayerto the Trinity.
Some scholars refer to two distinct Middle English fragments (Klebs and
Marden), but Raith proves conclusively that the fragment in Bodl. MS Douce
216 and the text printed by Halliwell are one and the same.
V14. Brussels Redaction
Edition: Charles B. Lewis, ‘Die altfranzósischen Prosaversionen des ApolloniusRomans', RF 34 (1915), 1-277, pp. 46-147; extracts are included (and translated
into modern French) in M. Zink's edition of the Vienna Redaction, pp. 263-91 (scc
V22).
Criticism: Klebs, p. 414; Lewis, 206-34; E. Faral (review of Lewis), Romania 43
(1914), 443--5.
A number of French prose versions survive from the fourteenth century, mostly
derived from RI and showing little variation from the HA plot? The Brussels
FO
Once of the close inansdlatiens, i Faure Ashbuarmbam MS 1295, un ludes an account of
Apollonia maral esplois durhis fifteen year alwence which also occum, mint
194
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Redaction is the name given by Lewis to the text in Brussels, Bibliotheque
Royale MS 11192, ff. 11-79v (also preserved in the fifteenth-century Brussels,
Bibliotheque Royale MS 11097, ff. 11-52v), which he believed to be derived
from lost source in the RC group. This version introduces many innovations to
suit the current taste for tales of love and war. Apollonius shows his martial
prowess during the sicge of Tarsus beforehis flight by killing Antiochus’ steward;
he participates in a tournamentin Pentapolis, and has to conduct a long and
arduous siege to regain control of Antioch at the end of the story. The princess is
given much more to say, especially on the subject of love: she questions her
teacher Apollonius at some length about amorous protocol and the behaviour of
noble lovers, and when she cannotsleep during the night before her wedding,
she interrogates one of her maids about sex. She is a much morespirited heroine
than those of earlier versions (she is very sharp with the doctors when they
cannotdiagnose herillness); she is also more spirited than her daughter, whose
adventures are notaltered or expandedat all. These chivalric themes are balanced, however, by a considerable Christian clement in the form of moralizing
and biblical allusions: for instance, when the princess first quizzes Apollonius
about love, he replies very seriously that one should love God with all one's heart
- not quite what the princess expected! In the same episode he uses a Latin
quotation to warn heragainst importunate suitors: ‘car ly pdetes dist, “Ignis ille
furor. nescit habere modum"' (Lewis, p. 76: 'for the poet says, "that furiousfire
knows no moderation”’).8
V15. Heinrich von Neustadt, Apollonius von Tyrland
Edition: S. Singer, ‘Apollonius von Tyrland’, nach der Gothaer Handschrift. ‘Gottes
Zukunft und Visio Philiberu’, nach der Heidelberger Handschrift, Deutsche Texte des
Mittelalters 7 (Berlin, 1906; rp. Dublin & Zurich 1967), pp. 3-328
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 485-6; R. W. Pettengill, The Apollonius von Tyrland of Heinrich
von Neustadt, A Study of Its Sources, unpublished diss. Harvard 1910; A. Bockhoff and
S. Singer, Heinrich von Neustadt und seine (Quellen, ein Beitrag zur mittelhochdeutschen
und byzantinischen Literaturgeschichte (Tübingen, 1911); 11. de Boor, Die deutsche
Literatur im spáten Mittelalter, vol. 111 of Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, ed. 11. de
Boor and R. Newald (Munich, 1967), Part 1, 64-76; Jean-Marc Pastré, ‘Nature ct
fonctions des enluminurcs de l'Apollonius von Tyrland de Heinrich von Neustadt’, in
*
Iconographie et liuérature: d'un art à l'autre (Paris, 1983), 29-33.
unusually, in a Latin HA text, BN lat. 8502, but nowhere else, so far as | know (sec
chapter 5, p. 68); these manuscripts, which seem to have been written for aristocratic
patrons, deserve further study. The Florentine manuscript was not knownto Lewis; its
existence is noted without further comment by Brian Woledge, Dibliographie des romans
et nouvelles en prose francaise antérieurs a 1500: Supplément 1954-73, Publications
romansct frangaises 130 (Geneva, 1975), pp. 25-6.
Ly póetes very often refers to Virgil in later medieval writings, andthis line might be an
echo of Ecl. TL, 68: re tamen urit amor: quis enim modus adsit amori" ("Love is
burning me, however: for what moderation is there in love?). [ have not found this
quotation, on anything similar, in any orher version
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
195
Heinrich von Neustadt was a doctor in Vienna who also turned his hand to
writing, and says that he translated the Apollonius story from Latin at the
request of a beautiful lady (the first Germanversion ever, he claims). He scems to
have known an RC version — and perhapsalso a Byzantine one, as Bockhoff and
Singer argue. His 20,644 line poem is one of the most remarkable versions to
survive. Ac the beginning and endit follows the standard plotfairly faithfully,
though numerous contemporary details of chivalric practice and courtly splendourare added, and also descriptions of the protagonists. But at I. 2905, although
Apollonius is said to be setting off for Egypt after leaving his daughter at Tarsus,
he embarks instead on a series of fantastic adventures which include fighting the
giants Gog and Magog, marrying three wives (the last a Moor who bears him a
parti-coloured son, a clear borrowing from Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival),
and meeting the prophets Enoch andElias.
Whenhe returns to Tarsus to fetch his daughter the traditional plot is resumed, but the poct departs from it again after the recognition scene with Tarsia.
A tournament is held at Antioch in honour of her marriage; Apollonius is
crowned king by a heathen pope fron Ninevch; he invents the Round Table,
anticipating King Arthur (whom heis said to outshine in every respect); and
finally he conquers both Jerusalem and Rome.
There were other highly chivalric versions of the story in the later Middle
Ages, but none seem to have borrowed from Heinrich's poem (of which four
manuscripts survive), and none canrival the scale of his mixture of borrowing
and invention. De Boor complains that for Heinrich, writing late in the Middle
Agesand outside the aristocratic world of chivalry, the crucial romanceideals of
love and honour are mere words without substance, and that he simply strings
together random adventures. But it is surely the traditional plot which is to
blame. Heinrich is one of the few writers to attempt to recast it in a romance
mould, andhis relative failure underlines the fact that it is not entirely appropriate for treatmentas a romance.
V16A and B. Italian Prose Versions (Tuscan)
Edition: L. del Prete, Storia d'Apollonio di Tiro, romanzo greco dal latino ridotto in
volgare italiano nel secolo XIV (Lucca, 1861).
Criticism: Smyth, pp. 38-9; Klebs, pp. 423-50.
Three fourteenth-century Italian prose versions of HA survive, two in Tuscan
dialect and one in Tuscan-Venetian (see V17). Del Prete prints the whole of one
Tuscan version (A), Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale MS PalchettoIl 68,ff. 214r238v , and the beginning of the other (B), Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale MS
Magliabecchiana VIII 1272, ff. 5r-32v. Version A is derived from an RB text
(Klebs argues thar it must have been belonged to the Stuttgart Redaction).
"The. Italian. redactors were less innovative than the French, and in general
these versions remain relatively Close to HA; of the three, version A is the most
free. “The water (or bis source) changed or supplied à number of. names: se
Antiochus wie becomes. Parrochia, his daughter Fstasia, and. Athenagoras
196
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
becomes Antigrasso. He felt it necessary to explain some episodes as customs
current in antiquity, for instancethe princess kissing all her father's friends at the
banquet, bathing the king as a prize for the best player in the ballgame, annointing corpses, seducing virgins (an unconvincing defence of Antigrasso). There is
considerable emphasis on courtly behaviour and decorum. Humorous details are
omitted, but whereverpossible a sense of pathos is developed: the speechesof the
protagonists are consistently expanded and charged with much more emotion
than those in HA. This version ends on a homiletic note: no one should ever
despair, for God punishes the wicked and rewards the good, in the next world if
not in this onc. But as Klebs points out, this moralizing ending is uncharacteristic
of the narrative as a whole, which is thoroughly courtly. Ir was probably the
source of the Greck Diegesis Apolloniou [V27].
The unpublished version B is also fairly free, and omits a numberoftraditional scenes: there is no fisherman in Cyrene, no gymnasium scene,no detailed
auction, no Priapus, no songor riddles from Tarsia (though Apollonius’ answers
are given). There are some medievalizing touches: Apollonius’ proscription is
discussed by the baronsin parliament; the admiring remarks about Tarsia which
makeherfoster-mother so jealous are made on St Nicholas’ feast-day, and Apollonius arrives at Mitylene on St Bartholomew's feast day.
V17.
Italian Prose Version (Tuscan-Venctian)
Edition: Carlo Salvioni, La Storia di Apollonio di Tiro: Versione Tosco-Veneziano della
meta del sec. XIV (Bellinzona, 1889).
Criticism: Smyth, pp. 38-9; Klebs, pp. 423-36.
The sole manuscript of this text, Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale MS NV6, which
included 35 miniatures, was unfortunately destroyed in a fire in 1904. It is a
muchcloser translation of an RB text of HA than the Tuscan versions [V16A
and BI, although it has some elements in commonwith them. Here too Antiochus’ wife is called Parrochia, but otherwise the names are traditional. There are
some additions: for instance, Athenagorasfalls in love with Tarsia on sight; but
there is no moralization at the end.
V18. Antonio Pucci, Istoria di Apollonio di Tiro in ottava rima [Venice,
1475]
Criticism: del Prete (see V16 above), XXXIII; Smyth, p. 39; Klebs, pp. 441-50; Tina
Mazzanti, ‘La fonte dei “Cantari di Apollonio di Tiro” di Antonio Pucci’, Convivium
n.s. 26 (1958), 315-26.
Pucci (1310-80) was an extremely prolific popular poet wholived in Florence,
where his version of the story of Apollonius may well have beenrecited publicly
with his other. cantari leggendari.? This poem is based like the other. Italian
9
Ny commentis are based on the ediion ot 1560 now helldan the Breesh Library
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
197
versions on an RB Stuttgart Redaction text of HA; Klebs suggested that the
immediate source may have been the Tuscan version B [V16B], and Mazzanti
discusses a number of convincing parallels (though there are also considerable
differences between the twotexts).
The poem is written in eight-line strophes and is divided into six sections,
each of which begins with a prayer. It remainsfairly close to the traditional plot,
though there are noriddles and the gymnasium scene is reduced to a ball-game.
A good deal of detail and dialogue is added, but there are nosignificant innovations (except that in the shipwreck episode, Pucci adds a ridiculous scene in
which the hero opts to cook supper for the fisherman who has rescued him,
rather than go outfishing, but does not know how to light the stove). Pucci's
poem is a popular Volksbuch in comparison with the prose versions, and seems to
havc had a morelasting appeal, for it was continually reprinted for three hundred
years after its composition. It seems to have been the source of the Greek rhymed
poem [V37], also a popular and frequently reprinted version of the Apollonius
story.
Fifteenth Century
V19. Czech version [Léta Páné, 1605]
Editions: A. J. Vrt’dtko, ‘Apollon, Kral Tyrsky. Roman Starobyly’, in Casopis Ceského
Musea 37 (1863), 271-93 and 352-65; J. Siatkowski, Gesta Romanorum Linguae
Polonicae (1543) cum fontibus latinis et bohemicis, Slavistische Forschungen 39 (Cologne, 1986), pp. 23-109.
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 380-3; C. Polivka, 'Román o Apollonovi králi Tyrském v éeské,
polské a ruské literatufe’, Listy Filologické 16 (1889), 353-8 and 416-35 [summarized
by M. Murko, 'Der Roman von Apollonius, Kónig von Tyrus, in der bóhmischen,
polnischen und russischen Literatur', Archiv für slavische Philologie 13 (1891), 308-
11]; Nils A. Nilsson, Die Apollonius-Erzáhlung in den slavischen Literaturen, Etudes de
philologic slave 3 (Uppsala, 1949); A. Vidmanová, 'Ke staroceské povídce o Apolónovi Tyrském (Zur alttschechischen Erzáhlung über Apollonios von Tyros)’, Listy
Filologické 107 (1984), 232-9.
Thefirst Slavic versions of HA date from the fifteenth century, though they
probably represent an earlier tradition.'° Five Czech manuscripts are extant, the
carliest dated 1459-63; there were manyprinted versions in the seventeenth and
cighteenth centuries, and the Czech text was translated into Polish and Russian.
Klebs thought that it might be derived from an Ra text of HA, and Vidmanová
confirms this, arguing for one from the Welser group. Nilsson suggests that thc
author probably knew several versions of HA, and must also have been very well
read in secular literature. He cites derails which scemto point to Heinrich von
I) Myy comments ate basedon Nilkson's deculed synopsis
aid disci ission
i
198
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Neustadt [V15] and an earlier version of the Vienna Redaction [V22] among
othersources.
The Czech version includes interesting folklore additions to the plot, as well
as borrowings from biblical and chivalric literature. The writer expands the
opening of the story, recounting in some detail the marriage of Antiochus, his
sorrow at the death of his wife, his search for a new wife, and his seduction of his
daughter: he tries to overcomeher scruples by putting down carpetsin thestreets
to show her how quickly people accept new fashions and walk on them.!!
Considerable efforts have been made to expunge as much as possible of the
classical colouring from the story (though curiously the revived princess enters
the temple of Vesta, a detail I have not found in any other version): so the
gymnasium is omitted and the king plays ball in the market-place. Some biblical
influence is apparent, for instance in the banquet scene when the princess
demands Apollonius’ head because he did not applaud her singing and dancing:
this motif is clearly borrowed from the story of Salome and John thc Baptist.
Although there is not much Christian colouring, Antiochusfalls in love with his
daughter when he looks at her one day in church; and it is in church that Tarsia
is so admired that her foster-mother becomes jealous of her. On the other hand
Apollonius has no angelic vision, but comes to Ephesus by chance.
Nilsson comments that the tone is noticeably lyrical and poetic, and that
there is considerable emphasis on pathos: Antiochus faints whenhefalls in love
with his daughter, the princess faints when the news about Antiochus reaches
Cyrene, Apollonius faints at the reunion with her in Ephesus. He secs this
version as representative of the late Middle Ages, wheninterest in chivalry was
fading and literature was becoming more democratic.
V20A and B. Dutch Printed Versions
A_ Die Gesten of gheschienissen van Romen [Gouda, 1481]
B Die schoone ende die suverlicke historie van Appollonius van Thyro [Delft,
1493]
Edition: (B) G. Penon, Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis der nederlandsche letterkunde, 3
vols (Groningen 1881), I, pp. 121-82.
Criticism: Singer, pp. 119-22; Klebs, p. 363.
The Apollonius story first appears in Dutch in an early edition of the Gesta
Romanorum (version A). Soon afterwardsit was published separately: version is
a Volksbuch reworking of a Dutch version of the Gesta Romanorum.
V [ have argued that che Apollonius plot may have had some influence on the development of the Incestuous Father theme (see above, pp. 58 ff); but this episode supyrests
that there has been some borrowing in the other direction an later verstons of PLA. The
Czech version is not the only one to add deculs about Antiochus! grief at the loss of his
wife as background to his incest, though the carpet episconle is inique, as far as |l know
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
199
V21. The London Redaction
Edition: Excerpts (with French translation) in M. Zink's edition of the Vienna
Redaction [V22].
Criticism: Charles B. Lewis, ‘Die altfranzésischen Prosaversionen des ApolloniusRomans’, RF 34 (1915), 1-277, pp. 235-42; S. Singer, Aufsátze und Vortráge (Tübingen, 1912), pp. 79-103 (see pp. 88-9).
This text, preserved in BL MS Royal 20 ii, ff. 210r-236r, has never been
printed in full. Lewis argued that it was based on an RB Stuttgart Redaction text
of HA, though in many placesit is either abbreviated or freely rendered. It is
somewhat medievalized, but not nearly as innovative as the Vienna Redaction
[V22]. It begins with details about Antiochus' wife; Apollonius expounds cach
phrase of the riddle in Latin and French; the dialogues with Hellenicus and
Stranguillio on the shore at Tarsus are omitted; at Pentapolis there is no gymnasium, but Apollonius distinguishes himself at pelota; at the banquet hc sings
balades and rondeaux; Tarsia's riddles are not quoted; at the end Apollonius
distributes six copies of his autobiography (one to cach of his kingdoms and two
to Ephesus).
The text includes three miniatures, of which the first is the largest and most
impressive: it shows Antiochus in bed with his daughter while courtiers walk in
the strect outside (f. 210r; part of it is reproduced on the coverof Zink's edition
of the Vienna Redaction). Onf. 217v the lovesick princess gives Apollonius the
fateful letter for her father; on f. 223r the doctor of Ephesus watcheshis servants
lift the coffin in which the comatose queen can be seen.
V22. The Vienna Redaction
Edition: Michel Zink, Le roman d’ Apollonius de Tyr, Bibliochéque Médiévale 10/18
(Paris, 1982) [with modern Frenchtranslation].
Criticism: Charles B. Lewis, ‘Die altfranzésischen Prosaversionen des ApolloniusRomans', RF 34 (1915), 1-277, pp. 242-7; Singer, Aufsütze und Vortráge (Tübingen,
1912), 91-8; M. Delbouille, ‘Apollonius de Tyr et les débuts du roman frangais’, in
Mélanges offerts a Rita Lejeune, 2 vols (Gembloux, 1969), II, pp. 1171-1204, esp. pp.
1190-6.
This text, which is preserved in ONB MS 3428, ff. Ir-55v, is a particularly
innovative chivalric version: the authorfills in several gaps in the story, and
inserts new adventures without using digressions as obvious as those of Heinrich
von Neustadt. At the very beginning he names Apollonius’ deceased parents
(Thobir and Sarah), and presents Antiochus as the regentof their four kingdoms
of Antioch, Arabia, Ethiopia and Tarsus. Antiochus sends Apollonius to be
reared in Tarsus (and to learn the arts of chivalry and music). Before she dies,
Antiochus’ wife suggests thar the young heir might marry their daughter, and
urges Antiochus to make himself loved by the people, for fear that they might
summon Apollonius to be king. The incornysble Antiochus plans to kill the
young heir by sending him to fipht à imonstrous knight who has been playing:
200
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
the Greek kingdoms of Alexander, but Apollonius defeats him andarrives triumphantly at Antioch to woo the princess.
There are various changes and additions to the Pentapolis episode: Apollonius wins the king's favour by teaching him to swim in the river; the princess’
room is decorated with precious stones and pictures of all the creatures in the
world; her rejected suitors (only two, but sons of the kings of Hungary and
Cyprus) declare war on the king and manage to capture him, but Apollonius,
disguised in borrowed armour, rescues the king and defeats the suitors, and thus
wins the heart and handof the princess. His martial prowessis tested again when
after the loss of his wife he spends ten years besieging Antioch, which has been
occupied by rebellious relatives of Antiochus. Tarsia’s adventures are moreorless
unchanged,exceptthat the auction is omitted; the pimpis presented as a servant
of Athenagoras and buys her for his master, but after their initial encounter she
apparently movesto the brothel (there seems to be confusion between tworival
versions here). There are some curious changes in the accountof Tarsia's stay in
Tarsus: her jealous foster-parents starve her nurse to death; it is their daughter
whourges them to kill Tarsia; and Dionysias tells her daughter, rather than her
husband,of herplot. The end of the story is unchanged, except that Apollonius
has not one butfour sons, one to inherit each of his four kingdoms.
Zink considers this text particularly characteristic of the history of the Apollonius story, andof its development and evolution during the Middle Ages. It is
certainly not the only version to add contemporary details, but a numberof its
innovationsare unique, andit is in a minority of chivalric versions of HA. Only
one manuscript of this text is known, and no close descendants.
V23. Le violier des histoires romaines [Paris, 1521]
Edition: M. G. Brunet, Bibliothéque elzevirienne 68 (Paris, 1858; rp. Nendeln,
1977), pp. 324-63.
Criticism: Singer, pp. 106-9; Smyth, p. 43; Klebs, p. 363.
This French version of the Gesta Romanorum,in which thestory of Apolloniusis
included as c. 125, circulated in manuscript before its first printing in 1521, and
was then frequently reprinted. As in the Latin printed edition, the rubric announcesa story of temporaltribulation leading to joy in the end. The ending,
however, differs from the Latin version, for it declares that Apollonius died
‘saved’ because of his good works and virtues and patience, and that he was the
equalof a martyr.
V24. Le romant de Appollin roy de Thir (Garbin’s version) [Geneva,c.
1482]
Criticism: Smyth, p. 42; Klebs, pp. 414 15; Florence MeCulloch, ‘French Printed
Versions of the Tale of Apollonius of Tyre’, in Medieual Snadies in Honor of Urban
Fumer Plolmes toed Joho Mahoney and Joho E. Keeler, University of North Carolina
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
201
Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 56 (Chapel Hill, 1965), 111-28
(sce pp. 114-17).
Only two copies of the text printed by Louis Garbin, with its engaging woodcuts,
survive; the author is not named (1 cite it as Carbin's version). The plot follows
the traditional pattern, with some small (and sometimesidiosyncratic) alterations and additions. The gymnasium episode is replaced by a sword and buckler
compctition, but a trace of the original may survive in the name substituted for
Pentapolis, Terme, presumably derived from Latin thermae, ‘baths’ or ‘hot
springs’. Thereis a lengthy account of Dionysias' ruse to deceive the citizens over
Tarsia's death, including a grotesque motif probably borrowed from folklore to
emphasize the cnormity of her villainy: she uses saliva to make false tears for
herself and her husband, and puts a dead sheep in the tombto create an appropriate stench! Most of the classical references are systematically removed, though
Apollonius is told in a vision that he mustsacrifice to Diana at Ephesus in order
to regain his kingdom, because the goddess preserved his daughter's chastity. At
the end Apollonius deposits his autobiography in six different places, as in the
London Redaction [V21]. On his deathbed he embraces his wife, who dies too;
God summonsthem to His kingdom,and the story ends with a prayer.
This text is the source of the English translation by Robert Copland [V33].
V25. Heinrich Steinhówel, Die hystory des Kiiniges Appollonii [Augsburg,
1471]
Editions: *Carl Schroeder, Griseldis, Apollonius von Tyrus, Mitteilungen der dcutschen. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung vaterlándischer Sprache und Altertümer 5.2
(Leipzig, 1873), pp. 85-131; facsimile of 1471 edn in Appollonius von Tyrus. Griseldis.
Lucidanus, ed. Ludwig E. Schmitt and Renate Noll-Wiemann, Deutsche Volksbücher
in Faksimiledrucken, Reihe À, Dand 2 (Hildesheim & New York, 1975).
Criticism: Singer, pp. 189-205; Smyth, pp. 28-30; Klebs, pp. 491-503; [Helmut
Melzer, Nachwort in facsimile edn Schmitt and Noll-Wiemann,I-X.
Steinhowel names himself in an acrostic in the prologue; he was a doctor in Ulm,
and translated many well known texts (among others the Decameron). In the
epilogue of his version, which was writen in Swabian dialect about 1460, he
acknowledges his debt to Godfrey of Viterbo [V4]; but he also made use of the
account in the Gesta Romanorum [V11]. The most notable feature of Steinhówcl's version is a long introduction establishing an historical context for the story
in connection with the life of Alexander and the subsequent division of his
empire between Seleucus and the others. Thisis only partly based on Godfrey's
Pantheon: for instance, Steinhówel adds a reference to Seleucus! crimes against
the Jews, which indicates clearly that he identifies him with Antiochus IV
Epiphanes. He preserves almost all of Godfrey's innovations: Apollonius is king
of Sidon as well as Tyre, his wife is called Cleopatra, he is compared to Orpheus
(rather than Apollo) when he makes music, Tarsia appeals successfully to the
pirates to Great her with respect. As Klebs points out, the Colouring of the story as
TC CREED, neither espe rally aAtibique nor contemporary
202
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Stcinhówel's text circulated in manuscript, but it was also the earliest vernacular version of the story to be printed, in 1471, more or less contemporancously
with the first (undated) Latin edition of HA. It was extremely popular; at least
ten more editions appeared before 1556.
V26. German Prose Version
Edition: C. Schróder, Griseldis, Apollonius von Tyrus (see V25), pp. 25-81.
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 487-91 and 503-9.
Schróderprints the text preserved in Leipzig, Universitátsbibliothek MS 1279,ff.
160v-235r, which was probably written by a monk in Upper Saxony: Klebs
describes it as a factually accurate translation of a Stuttgart Redaction RB text,
but very freely expressed. The writer comments ondifficult passages, and adds
many expressive details to his account.!?
V27. Diegesis polupathous Apolloniou tou Turou
Editions: W. Wagner, Medieval Greek Texts (London, 1870), pp. 57-104; E. Legrand
in Wagner, Carmina graeca medii aevi (Leipzig, 1874), pp. 248-76; *A. A. Janssen,
Narratio neograeca Apollonii Tyrii (Grave, 1954).
Translation: A. A. Janssen, Narratio neograeca Apollonii Tyrii (Latin).
Criticism: Smyth, pp. 43—4; Klebs, pp. 451-5; H.-O. Beck, Geschichte der byzantinischen Volksliteratur, Byzantinisches Handbuch 1I.3 (Munich, 1971), pp. 135-8; Roderick Beaton, The Medieval Greek Romance, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
6 (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 137-8.
This version, which may have been written asearly as the fourteenth century,is
based on an Italian text, probably onc of the Tuscan versions [V 16A]: almostall
the namesare identical. Butit is not a mere translation of the Italian text: it is
considerably shorter and less detailed, andit is also one of the mostinsistently
Christian versions of HA ever produced (Beck considers it a prime example of
Byzantine picty). The events are firmly set in the Christian cra: Antiochus is
spccifically said to be Christian; Tarsia is baptized on herarrival at Tarsus; at
Mitylene she tells the pimp that she cannot worship Priapus because of her
religion. When Apollonius is falsely informed of her death, there are many
echoes of the Crucifixion: rocks split, there isan earthquake and the sky darkens.
Apollonius arrives at Mitylene on the Thursday before Easter (Neptune's feastday in HA), and the recognition scene takes place on Easter Sunday. In Ephesus
he visits all the churches and abbeys until he finds his wife in St Thecla’s (Thecla
is a character in the apocryphallife of St Paul - sec p. 31 above). A parallel is
drawn between Apollonius and Job; the poet comments on the events of the
final scenes with appropriate quotations from the Psalms.
V Klebs also describes Breslau (now Wroctiw) Stadtbibliothek MS Ro 304d, written in
1465, a close translation of an RO text of PIA (Klebs, pp. 487 910); this manuscript is
lost, presumed destroyed in 1945
TA newedition is being prepared by G. Kechayiórlo
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
203
V28. Hystoria de Apolonio (Saragossa, c. 1488]
Editions: Homero Seris, Nuevo ensayo de una biblioteca espanola de libros raros e
curiosos I (New York, 1964), pp. 80-113; *A. D. Deyermond, Apollonius of Tyre, Two
Fifteenth-Century Spanish Prose Romances, Exeter Hispanic Texts 6 (Exeter, 1973); M.
Alvar, Libro de Apolonio, 3 vols (Madrid, 1976) 1I, pp. 523—80 (see V10 above).
Criticism: Homero Seris, 'La novela de Apollonio: texto en prosa del siglo XV
descubierto", Bulletin Hispanique 64 (1962), 5-29; Alvar, I, pp. 247-68.
No manuscript of this version is known; it survives in a unique incunable,
printed at Saragossa about 1488, which contains 35 woodcuts (included in
Alvar's text with the facsimile edition). The text is closely based on the Gesta
Romanorum [V11]; the introductory rubric describes it as a story of temporal
tribulation.
V29. Confisyón del Amante
Edition: Adolf Birch-Hirschfeld, Confisién del Amante por Joan Goer. Spanische Ubersetzung von John Gowers Confessio Amanus aus dem Vermáchtnis von Herman Knust
nach der Handschnift im Escorial (Leipzig, 1909); *A. D. Deyermond, Apollonius of
Tyre, Two Fifteenth-Century Spanish Prose Romances, Exeter Hispanic Texts 6 (Exeter,
1973).
Criticism: P. E. Russell, ‘Robert Payn and Juan de Cuenca, Translators of Gower's
Confessio Amanus’, Medium Aevum 30 (1961), 26-32; Alvar, Libro de Apolonio, I, pp.
269-78 (see above, V10).
The Confisyón del Amante was translated into Spanish by Juan de Cuenca from a
Portuguese translation (now lost) of Gower's Confessio Amantis madc by onc
Robert Payn. The rubric describes the text as a story about 'amorcontra rrasón'
(unnatural love), and mentions only Antiochus and his daughter, but the plot is
complete. The Christian tone is rather stronger than in the source: God helps
Apollonius to solve the king's riddle, and He preserves Tarsia in the brothel by
making all her clients impotent (this unusual detail is typical of hagiography).
Sixteenth Century
V30. Jacob Falckenburg, Britannia, sive de Apollonica humilitatis, virtutis
et honoris porta [London, 1578]
Criticism: F. D. IHocniger, ed., Pericles, p. xvii; O. A. A. Kortckaas, "The Latin
Adaptations of the Historia Apollonii regis Tyri in the Middle Ages and the Renaiss-
ance’, in Groningen Colloquiaon the Novel IL, ed. TL Hofmann (Groningen, 1990),
pp. 103-22 (esp. 118-21).
This remarkable poem consists of 2352 Latin hexameter divided into four books,
and is dedicated t0 Quecn Elizabeth 1, the Eail of Leicester, and Lord Burghley
Falc kenburg was bom in Brondenbur in 0540, he stadied in Ertort, Pans and
204
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Orleans, and spent time at the courts of Vienna, Cracow, Paris and England. At
one stage in his colourful life he participated in an expedition of Hungarian
knights against Suleiman I, and during this time he claims to have comeacross a
manuscript of HA.'* The copyin the British Library is bound with anotherofhis
works, an elegy De expeditione Palaestinorum contra Hebreos (‘On the expedition
of the Palestinians against the Hebrews’). Another copy was taken to America by
the Puritan leader John Winthrop, and is preserved among his books in the
Massachusetts Historical Society Library. As the text is not easily accessible, |
give a detailed synopsis of the plot.
Falckenburg's version is unique: he combines the traditional story of Apollonius with parts of the Jewish-Syrian struggle related in the two Books of Maccabees (references to the relevant biblical passages are printed in the margins). He
identifies the incestuous king as Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and names his
daughter Antipagena. Apolloniusis described in the margin as ‘vates’ (prophet,
diviner) when hefirst appears, and is identified several times as the son of
Menestheus (see the discussion in chapter 2 above, pp. 40 ff.). Falckenburg's
characterization of him is unusual for a hero of epic or romance: ‘quo non
sceleratior ullus, sed divinandi vir erat clarissimus arte" (*no one was morc wicked
than he, but he was very famous for his skill at divination or prophecy’). When
he solves the (very garbled) riddle, the deccitful king sends him off to lead an
expedition against the Jews of Jerusalem. The destruction of Antiochus’ daughter
by a thunderbolt (sent from Olympus, curiously) and his own gruesome death
‘vermiculari morbo’ (‘from the disease in which oneis eaten by worms’) persuade
Apollonius to repent of his violent deeds, but before he can atone for them he
incurs the wrath of Antiochus Junior Eupator, the new king.
Here Book II begins, and with it the traditional story. To escape the wrath of
the king, Apollonius flecs to Tarsus, where he tells his story first to Limatus, a
citizen, and thento the princeps Milichius. He talks of moving to Pentapolis, but
there is no shipwreck or gymnasium episode, and Altistrates seems to bc the king
of Tarsus. Apollonius falls in love with his daughter Lucina during the musicmaking at a feast; the three suitors are omitted. In Book III news arrives that
Antiochus is dead and that the kingdom of Egypt is being kept for Apollonius.
Hesets off with Lucina; after her apparent death he rejects the Egyptian crown
and leaves his daughter at Joppa with Meneles, a professional foster-mother. The
assassin hired by Meneles is called Polycletus. When Tarsia arrives at Machilenta
there is no auction scene and no Priapus: she persuades the pimp at onceto let
her make music in public. Tarsia acts on her nurse’s deathbed advice: there is a
monument to Apollonius in Machilenta, so she goes to it and appeals to the
citizens, is freed from the pimp, andis taken under the protection of Athenagoras, an old friend ofher father.
In Book IV Apollonius returns to Joppa to retrieve his daughter; he is compared to Nebuchadnezzar, whom God reduced to squalor as a punishment for
M p am qiateful o DI Kontekaas for making this information available to tie before the
publi ation ot his ande
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
205
pride. His reunion with Tarsia occurs during a feast where she comes to provide
entertainment. He then reveals that he has already promised an angel to go to
Ephesus, and to write down all his adventures on tablets; he also intends to
display at Tyre trophies of citics and monsters acquired during his travels. At
Ephesus he confesses his crimes against the Jews and his sacrilegiouslife before
being reunited with his wife by means of a ring which he had given her. He
conquers Egypt, Tyre, Sidon and Tarsus, begets a son, andlives 84 years: his death
occurs 232 years after Alexander’s, 21 years before the beginning of the Roman
Empire, and 68 years before the birth of Christ. At the end of the poem Falckenburg adds a brief biography of Apollonius son of Menestheus, and explains that
he has reconstructed the story from manuscript fragments in both Greck and
Latin.
Falckenburgis the only writer known to me whonoticed the parallel berween
the names in Maccabees and in HA and tried to combine them,although this led
to some inconsistencies: for instance, he omits the shipwreck, but then refers to
it later in the story. He introduces Apollonius as the most wicked of men, but
refers to him throughout as‘divus’ (‘godlike’). The general tone of his version is
exemplary. On the title-page Falckenburg quotes Psalm 33: ‘Multae sunt tribulationes iustorum, sed ex omnibushis liberat cos Dominus’ (‘manyare the cribulations of the just, but the Lord delivers them from all’). There is considerable
stress on God's role in the plot. Numerous speeches as well as impassioned
authorialasides offer moral commentary on the story.
V31. Markward Welser, Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio
(Augsburg, 1595]
Edition: rp. by Chr. Arnold in Marci Velseri Opera Historica et Philologica (Nuremberg,
1682), pp. 681-704.
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 15 and 105-13; Kortekaas, pp. 17 and 135.
Welser was the first editor of HA in the modern sense. His edition was based on a
manuscript (now lost) which he found in the monastery of St Ulrich and St Afra
in Augsburg, apparently a mixed text of the Ra group. He remarks in his
introduction that thestory is absurd and the style barbarous, but that it has some
value: 'Si quis aurum paratus et gemmasex stercore legere, is demum aptus huic
libello continget lector' (‘if anyone is prepared to extract gold and jewels from a
dunghcap,heis indeed a suitable reader for this book’).
Welser deduced from classical details and vocabulary (for instance ‘tribunatium’, ‘sabanum’, ‘apodixin’ and ‘aporiatum’) that the original text must have
been Greek. He also believed, however, that the 'interpres', as he called the
writer, must have been a Christian because of the references to ‘deus’ and the
angel who appears to Apollonius ina vision.
206
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
V32. Robert Copland, The Romance of Kynge Apollyn of Thyre [London,
1510]
Edition: facsimile edn Edward W. Ashbec, Roxburgh Club (London, 1870).
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 472-3.
This close translation of the French text printed by Garbin [V24] was commissioned and printed by Wynkyn de Worde,and illustrated by 34 half-page woodcuts. It is introduced as an exemplum for ‘the avoydynge of oisivyte and
ydlenesse, the portresse of synne’. Like its source, it remains close to HA, though
there is rather more emphasis on love and chivalry. After the shipwreck Apollonius attracts the attention of the king by his prowess with sword and buckler;
ncither gymnasium nor baths are mentioned, though Pentapolis is renamed
Terme (the Latin thermae mcans hotsprings or baths). To convince Apollonius
that Tarsia is dead, Dionysias uses saliva to make false tears for herself and her
husband, and puts a dead sheep in the tombto create an appropriate stench. The
assassin Theophilus undergoes a curious sex change to becomes Theophyle, a
‘drudge and bondswoman’: this may be because theillustration of Tarsia’s abduction by thepirates in Garbin's edition shows a woman holding a girl on the shore,
and ship in the background(a similar illustration accompanies Copland's text).
As in Garbin's edition, most classical references are removed. At the end Apollonius deposits his autobiographyin six different places (Ephesus, Terme, Antioch,
Mitylenc, Tarsus and Tyrc), as in the London Redaction [V21], and his wife dics
of gricf on his death.
V33. Lawrence Twine, The Patterne of Painefull Adventures [London,c.
1576]
Editions: W. C. Hazlitt in Shakespeare's Library IV, 2nd edn (London, 1875; rp. New
York, 1965), pp. 248-334; *G. Bullough, Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare VI (London, 1966), pp. 423-82.
Criticism: Singer, pp. 109-19; Klebs, pp. 363-78 and 473; [sec also Nancy Michacl,
Pericles: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Shakespeare Bibliographies 13 (New
York, 1987)].
This text, which survives in two early editions of c. 1576 and 1607, is an
important version for the English tradition, for it was one of the main sources of
Pericles [V43]. 1t is fairly faithful to its source, the Gesta Romanorum [V11], but
fuller. The subtitle, Wherein the uncertaintie of this world and the fickle state of mans
life are lively described, indicates that like his source Twine saw the story as an
example of temporal tribulation, and also of the caprice of Fortune.
There are few additions to the plot: onc surprising onc, for which I know no
precedent,is that at the end thepirates are brought to Apollonius for judgement
and confess ro the abduction of Tarsia among other crimes. He not only pardons
them but makes themknights, on the grounds that poverty and necessity forced
them into a life of crime, à verdict which may reflect Elizabethan admiration for
adventurous opportunism. (bandits. are presented somanically and sympathericallyim Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona, for mstance)
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
207
As the plot unfolds Twine includes increasingly numerous authorial asides,
often in the form of generalizations about human nature related to the reactions
of the protagonists. Describing the appearance of the princess (whom hecalls
Lucina) when the doctor opens her coffin, he comments that it proves the
philosophical dictum that ourward beauty comes from inner beauty of character.
When King Altistrates dies at the end of the story, there is a digression on the
uncertainty of life and human mortality. As in Garbin’s and Copland’s versions
[V24 and 32], Apollonius’ wife dies of grief soon after his death, and the narrative ends on a Christian note with a reference to the joys of ‘the everlasting
kingdome that nevershall have end’.
V34. Gilles Corrozet, Histoire du roy Apolonius prince de Thir [Paris, c.
1543]
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 415-18; S. M. Bouchercaux, 'Recherches bibliographiques sur
Gilles Corrozet', Bulletin du bibliophile et du bibliothécaire (1948), 204-20, and (1949),
196-202; Florence McCulloch, ‘French Printed Versions of the Tale of Apollonius of
Tyre’, in Medieval Studies in Honor of Urban lH olmes, ed. John Mahoney and John E.
Kecler, University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages andLiteratures 56 (Chapcl Hill, 1965), pp. 111—28,esp. pp. 118-22.
Klebs identified this text with the novel published by Antoine Le Brun in 1710,
but McCulloch has now established conclusively that Corrozet’s text is preserved
in Bodl. Douce A275, and that it was published in Paris in about 1543. Corrozet
(1510-68) is best knownas a writer of antiquarian and emblem books; this secms
to be a very early work.
His main source was apparently the Violier des histoires romaines [V23], a
French version of the Gesta Romanorum. À ninctenth- or early twentieth-century reader has written on a blank page at the beginning of the Bodleian copy
'Corrozet has taken very great liberties in this translation’, andit is true; it is an
adaptation rather than a translation. McCulloch comments (p. 118): ‘Laden
with extrancous characters and episodes and suffering from an excess of moralizing and sentimentality, Corrozet’s work is a strange combination oftraditional
material and cumbersomeadditions.’ This judgement seems unnccessarily negative, though it is true that he expands every reference to the emotions to the
greatest possible length, for instance in the account of Antiochus’ long mourning
for his dead wife (he identifies the king as Antiochus II] Magnus); and he does
take every opportunity to describe palaces and royal splendour. Far from removing classical allusions, Corrozet adds more: Antiochus’ love for his daughter
reminds him of otherclassical incest stories, such as Ocdipus and Myrtha and her
father. He introduces a number of new names, apparently borrowed from other
romances as well as from classical sources: so the princess, here Argine, has two
ladies in waiting, Esclarmonde and Florimonde, whose names also appear in the
fourteenth-century chanson de geste Florent et Octavien, as McCulloch: points
out. Yet this version ends, like the Viol, with the Comment that Apollonius’
adventures were the equivalent al mat yid. un
208
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
V35. Francois de Belleforest, Histoires Tragiques [Paris, 1560-83]
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 421-2; McCulloch, ‘French Printed Versions of the Tale of
Apollonius of Tyre’, pp. 124-6 (see V34).
There is no modern edition of Belleforest's text: my comments are based on the
1603-4 text published in Rouen, where the story appears as no. 118 in vol. VII
(pp. 109-206). He describesit as ‘une tragique comédie’ which he claims to have
translated from a Greek source, though he probably used an RB text of HA.
Manyof his tales were raken from Bandello's Novelle (published 1554), but there
is no mention of Apollonius in the Italian text. Like Bandello, Belleforest told
the story of Antiochus’ love for his stepmother Stratonice (vol. IV, no. 65);
perhaps this prompted him to tell the story of Apollonius too. He remarks chat it
is as enjoyable as the adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea (Heliodorus’
Ethiopica), a Hellenistic romance which had recently had a great success in
France.
The long introduction discusses the increase in incest since the Fall, but
assures the reader that this story will contain much palatable fare as well as
incest, such as ‘les jeux de la fortune sur un Prince genercux et sur toute sa
maison’ (‘Fortunc’s games with a noble prince and his whole household’), and
also the uses of knowledge. At the end Belleforest claims not to have added any
colour to his source: but in comparison with HA,his version is notable both for
its strong interest in psychologicalrealism, especially in the love scenes, and for
its emphasis on classical details. For instance, he comments that Tyre was a
Syro-Phoenician city where the alphabet was invented, and that Ephesus may
have been built by the Amazons; he calls the nurse who persuades Antiochus’
daughter to accept her father’s advances ‘cette Megére infernale' (‘this hellish
Fury’); he explains that at Tarsus and Cyrene exercise is taken after the Greek
fashion; Apollonius constantly invokes classical gods, and at the banquetsings
about the loves of Greek gods and heroes; the ‘death’ of the princess is the
occasion for a long digression on death and ghosts, in which Plato’s views are
cited. The Renaissance interest in classical culture is everywhere apparent:it
seems unjust of McCulloch to condemn Belleforest for his ‘penchant for prolixity, sentimentality, and misplaced erudition’ (p. 127).
V36. HansSachs, Der kénig Apollonius im Bad
Edition: Karl Goedecke, Dichtungen von I [ans Sachs, 3 vols, Deutsche Dichter des 16.
Jahrhunderts 4-6 (Leipzig, 1870-1), I, pp. 303-5.
This three-stanza lyric by the prolific Mcistersinger of Nuremberg, dated 14th
January 1553, describes (very briefly) Apollonius’ arrival ar Pentapolis, his mecting with the king in the baths, and his marriage to the princess. It ends with the
moral that when misfortunestrikes, one must not give up, but rather wait for luck
to return.
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VIRNACULAR VERSIONS
209
V37. Greek Rhymed Version [Venice, c. 1525]
Edition: facsimile edn C. Kechayióylu, Apokopos, Apolónios, Istoría uis Sosánnis (Athens, 1982).
Criticism: Smyth, pp. 44-7; Klebs, pp. 455 7, E. Legrand, Bibliographie Hellénique, 4
vols (Paris, 1885-1906), I, pp. 289- 91, R. M. Dawkins, ‘Modern Greek Oral Versions
of Apollonios of Tyre’, MLR 37 (1942), 169 84 (see pp. 171-4); David Holton,
‘Erotoknitos and Greek Tradition’, in The Cireck Novel AD 1-1985, ed. Roderick
Beaton (London, 1988), pp. 144 55, esp. 149 50; Roderick Beaton, The Medieval
Greek Romance, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 6 (Cambridge, 1989), p.
139.
This version was first printed in Venice (probably as carly as 1524-6); it was
frequently reprinted, and remained popular for at least three centuries. It is based
on Pucci's Italian poem [V18].'* There is an additional chivalric detail in the
form of a tournament insteadof the gymnasium scene (this change is also found
in Wilkins [V42] and Pericles [V43]), but the poem ends with a moralizing
epilogue about trusting in God. Klebs considers ir completely devoid of poetic
feeling, and onc of the least satisfactory versions of the Apollonius story ever
written, but recent scholarship shows it to be more interesting.
V38. Hungarian version: F. M. Bogiti, Szép jeles Historia egy Apollonius
nevo Király Firuol [Kolozsvár (Clij), 1591]
Edition: Sandor Berecz, Apollonitis histéridja (Budapest, 1912).
Criticism: Singer, pp. 123-9; Klebs, p. 383.
Theedition of 1591 (probably nor thefirst, and frequently reprinted) attributes
this text to F. M. Bogáti, a Unitarian preacher who produced several other books,
though Singer doubts whether he was thc original author.' It consists of 202
strophes of nine lines (partly rhymed), and scems to be derived from the Gesta
Romanorum [V11] - the introduction refers to joy won after sorrow. In some
respectsit is abbreviated: the inscriptions on the monuments are omitted, and so
are Tarsia’s riddles. On the other hand,after leaving Tarsia in Tarsus, Apollonius
is occupied by rebellions in Tyre and Antioch: this suggests the influence of a
chivalricized vernaculartext.
Singer calls rhis version a. Volksbuch: it scems to have been influenced by
biblical wisdom, and by folktale themes and values. For instance, after his martiage Apollonius is said to go hunting every day,like a king: this suggests the
popular theme of the humble boy who marries a princess andis able tolive alife
of luxury.
155 My comments are based on the secondary lierature G. Kechayityd is preparing a
«nti al ediion
16 My comments are based on the discussion of Singer and KIels
210
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
V39. Polish Version [Krakow, 1543]
Editions: J. Bystron, Historye rzymskie (Krakéw, 1894), pp. 10-45; facsimile ednJ.
Siatkowski, Gesta Romanorum Linguae Polonicae (1543) cum fontibus latinis et bo-
hemias, Slavistische Forschungen 39 (Cologne, 1986), pp. 22-108.
Criticism: C. Polivka, 'Román o Apollonovi králi Tyrském v ceské, polské i ruské
literature’, Listy filologické 16 (1889), 353-8 and 416—35 [summarized by M. Murko,
‘Der Roman von Apollonius, Kénig von Tyrus, in der bóhmischen, polnischen und
russischen Literatur’, Archiv fir slavische Philologie 13 (1891), 308-11]; Nils A. Nils-
son, Die Apollonius-Erzühlung in den slavischen Literaturen, Etudes de philologie slave
(Uppsala, 1949), pp. 126-7; J. Siatkowski, pp. XV-XXII.
Theearliest extant Polish version appeared in the edition of the Gesta Romanorum printed in 1543 (and perhaps even earlier too), and is based on the Czech
version (though probably not any of the surviving manuscripts: it is closest to thc
Czech printed edition of 1605). There are few variations in the plot, though
some of the riddles are frecly rendered. A Russian version was based on the
Polish text.
V40. Juan de Timoneda, El Patrariuelo [Bilbao, 1576]
Edition: Rafael Ferreres, Clasicos Castalia 30 (Madrid, 1971), pp. 115-49.
Criticism: Klebs, pp. 398—411; Singer, Aufsátze und Vortráge (Tübingen, 1912), pp.
83-6; Sherman Eoff, 'On the Source of Juan de Timoneda's Apollonius of Tyre Story',
Romanic Review 22 (1931), 304-11; M. Alvar, ed., Libro de Apolonio, 1, pp. 261-8 (sce
V10).
Patrafia 11 in Timoneda’s collection (which also includes the tales of Griselda
and Gregorius) is onc of the most innovative versions of the Apollonius story
produced in the sixteenth century. It is not particularly modernized or Christianized, but loose ends are tidicd up, namesare altered or reallocated, and some
new episodes are introduced. Klebs argued that Timoneda knew an Ra text of
HA,but that Godfrey's Pantheon [V4] gave him an overall scheme for tightening
up the plot. However there is also much of his own invention.
The opening incest scene is completely omitted: the reader learns of it only
through Antiochus' riddle, which is made shorter and easier. His daughter has a
name, Safirea; she lives for six days after her father's death, and bequeaths
Antioch to Apollonius. Taliarchus (the steward) usurps Tyre. The gymnasium
scene is retained, but in a more contemporary form: Apollonius works at the
baths as a bariador until he is befriended by the king. The princess of Politania
(Cyrene) is called Silvania. Unusually, the most claborate changes concern
Tarsia, whois here called Politania (she is still namedfor a city, but this rime for
that of her motherrather than herfoster-parents). Sheis explicitly warned of her
foster-mother's evil intentions by her foster-sister Lucina (the name of Tarsia's
mother in some accounts), a non-speaking character in HA and: most other
versions. Politania takes her nurse's advice Giznored in most other accounts) and
appeals to the citizens of Tarsus from the retupe of her father's statue
] hey are sympathetic and eflective Dionysias is banished tiom the city; and
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
211
Politania is adopted by the senator Teofilo (the name of herassassin in HA,
whom Timoneda confusingly renames Estranguilo, the traditional name of Dionysias’ husband, here called Heliato). Unfortunately the senator's son Scrafino
falls in love with Politania and carries her off by ship; the senator builds a false
tomb to conceal this abduction. She is abducted again, this time by pirates, and
taken not to Mitylene but to Ephesus, where her motheris living as a nun. The
brothel scene is much abbreviated: Palimedo (Athenagoras) does notvisit Politania there, for she is quickly established in the market-place as an entertainer
and is nicknamed ‘la Truhanilla’ (the equivalent of her role as juglaresa in the
Libro de Apolonio). She asks no riddles in the recognition scene with herfather.
The Christian elementis not greatly stressed in Timoneda’s account, though
it is certainly present. He shows considerable preoccupation with royal dignity
and decorum:there are elaborate descriptions of feasts and receptions. Timoneda
is very practical in tying up loose ends in the plot (for instance, the nurse's advice
to Tarsia/Politania), and also in reusing minor characters (this nurse is the wife of
the fisherman who helps Apollonius after the shipwreck, a character not mentioned in other versions). Timoneda makes good use of the material provided in
the traditional version, and adds spice to Tarsia/Politania’s already exciting role;
her additional adventures were surcly influenced by the Greek romances which
were becoming available and popularat this time.
Seventeenth Century
V41. Eine schóne unde kortwylige Historia vam Kóninge Apollonio
(Moller's version) [Hamburg, 1601]
Criticism: Singer, pp. 205-12.
This is probably the sccond edition of Moller’s text, which is a Low German
version of Steinhówel's Volksbuch [V25].
V42. Gcorge Wilkins, The Painefull Adventures of Pericles Prince of ‘Tyre
[London, 1608]
Editions: Tycho Mommsen (Oldenburg, 1857); *Kenneth Muir, Liverpool Univer:
sity Reprints 8 (Liverpool, 1953; rp. 1967); G. Bullough, Narrative and Dramatic
Sources of Shakespeare VI (London, 1966), pp. 492-548.
Criticism: Singer, pp. 33 and 64-7; Klebs, pp. 481-2; S. Spiker, ‘George Wilkins and
the Authorship of Pericles’, Saadies in: Philology 30 (1933), 551 70; Hardin Crag,
‘Pericles and The Painefull Adventures’, Stulies in’ Philology 45 (1948), 600) 5; Ci.
Bullough, ‘Pericles and the Verse in Wilkins’ Painful Adventures’, Bulleun de la faculté
des lettres de Strasbourg 14 (1965), 799 812, Nancy Machael, ‘The Relationship
between the [609 Quarto of Pericles ind Wilkins! Paunfull Adeentures', Tulane Studies
in English 22 (1977), 51 08 [sce also her biblioyaaphy ok Perles (V43 below), and the
comments of editors of Pencles]
212
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Onthetitle-page Wilkins describes his novel as ‘Being the truc history of the
play of Pericles, as ic was lately presented by the worthy and ancient Poer John
Gower’; in his introductory Argument he adds ‘by the Kings Maiesties Players
excellently presented’. He certainly seems to be using some dramatic source, for
he makes references to ‘cucs’ and ‘parts’, and includes a great deal of dialoguc, as
well as some blank verse. Some of his text is very close to Pericles: was he
plagiarizing from the play we know (relying on memory or a poor transcript), or
from an earlier version of the Shakespearean play, or from an even earlier and
independentplay on the same subject?
The names of Wilkins’ characters are all the same asthoseof the play (except
that the pimp has no name); the hero is Pericles, his wife Thaysa, her father
Symonides, Pericles’ daughter is Marina, her foster-father Cleon, her future husband Lysimachus. Some apparent innovations are shared with the play: in both
Pericles comes to the attention of Simonides and his daughter by taking part in a
tournament in honour of the princess’ birthday, watched from a gallery by the
royal party.'? In Wilkins, Pericles makes music alone in his room, and wakes the
king, who is impressed (this is less clearly explained in the play). In both the
princess writes to tell her father frankly of her passion for Pericles very carly on,
and at first he pretends to be angry about it, though in fact he approves her
choice at once. But much of Wilkins’ novel is taken more orless straight from
Twine: for instance, in Twine and Wilkins Pericles is rescued by one fisherman,
in the play by three; and Twine and Wilkins take the story to its traditional
ending, whereas the play ends with the recognition scene at Ephesus (Wilkins
makes Thaysa die ofgrief soon after Pericles, probably borrowing from Copland
or Twine [V32 and 33]).
Although there are manyparallels with the language ofthe play, there are not
as many as one might expect, as Hoeniger points outin his edition of Pericles (p.
xli), and there are numerous echoes of Twine. A particularly problematic passage
is Lysimachus’ visit to Marina in the brothel: in Wilkins she harangues him at
length about his lack of dignity and morality in visiting a place so unsuitable for a
prince, and also about her ownability to survive unsullied in such a place, and
after considerable argument he admits that she has succeeded in converting him
from his immoral and predatory intentions. There is no parallel in HA or Twine,
where Tarsia wins Athenagoras’ sympathy by telling her sad story; in Pericles
Marina docs little more than voice a brief criticism of the prince’s conduct and
protest her own innocence before Lysimachus acknowledges her victory, while
protesting the innocence of his intentions.'® Hoeniger concludes that ‘Wilkins
17 This might be seen as a logical development of carlier modifications of the gymnasium
scene, which was presented by Coplandas a sword and buckler competition. Thereis a
tournamentin the rhymed Greek version [V37], though noc in its main source, Pucci
[V18}]; it may be derived from a Frenchor Italian version now lost.
18 See my comments on the different attinides to
Marina's education and intellectual
abihaes in! “Deep clerks she dumbs”: Phe HF earned Elerome in Apollonas of Tyre and
Peneles’, Comparative Drama 22 (1988: 9), 289. AOV, Peiules seeins rather negative
about Éetmale education compared to other veisons ot the stoty
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
213
presents Lysimachusas a cruder and more obviously sensual man thanheis in the
play’ (p. xlvii). Perhaps Wilkins was influenced by the HA tradition, in which,
after all, Athenagorastries to buy Tarsia at auction and then decidesthatit will
be cheaper to be herfirst customer; but the Lysimachusof theplay is also shown
in a fairly negative light in his conversation with the bawds.
This passage seems to undermine Muir's argument that "Wilkins obviously
followed the play when he could, only falling back on the novel [Twine] when
the play was deficient’ (p. v). Edwards believes that Wilkins and the writer of the
Quarto of Pericles were reporting the same stage performance, but remembering
(and interpreting?) it differently, and that in this case Wilkins was the more
accurate (sec the introduction to his edition of Pericles, pp. 24-5). Whatever the
truth may be, the mixture of Twine and a play produced a hybrid which must be
considered independently of its sources’ analogues.
V43. William Shakespeare (and 7), Pericles, Prince of Tyre [London, 1609]
Editions: *F. D. Hoeniger, Arden edn (London, 1963); Philip Edwards, Penguin edn
(Harmondsworth, 1976).
Criticism: Singer, pp. 33-64; Smyth, pp. 60-77; Klebs, pp. 473-81; O. Wilson
Knight, The Crown of Life: Essays in the Interpretation of Shakespeare's Final Plays
(London, 1947); J. M. S. Tompkins, ‘Why Pericles”, RES NS 3 (1952), 315-24; J.
Arthos, ‘Pericles, Prince of Tyre: A Study in the Dramatic Use of Romantic Narrative’,
Shakespeare Quarterly 4 (1953), 257-70; Robert J. Kane, ‘A Passage in Pericles’, MLN
68 (1953), 483-4; Peter Goolden, ‘Antiochus’ Riddle in Gower and Shakespeare’,
RES NS 6 (1955), 245-51; Kenneth Muir, Shakespeare as Collaborator (London,
1960); N. Frye, A Natural Perspective: The Development of Shakespearean Comedy and
Romance (New York, 1965); G. Bullough, Narrauive and Dramatic Sources of Shakes-
peare VI (London, 1966), pp. 351-74; [loward Felperin, ‘Shakespeare’s Miracle Play’,
Shakespeare Quarterly 18 (1967), 363-74; C. L. Barber, ‘ “Thou that beget’st him that
did thee beget”: Transformation in Pericles and The Winter's Tale’, Shakespeare Survey
22 (1969), 59-67; Carol Gesner, Shakespeare and the Greek Romances: A Study of
Origins (Lexington, 1970), 473-81; lloward Felperin, Shakespearean Romance
(Princeton, 1974); N. Frye, ‘Romance as Masque’, in Shakespeare's Romances Reconsidered, ed. Carol McGinnis and Ilenry E. Jacobs (Lincoln, Neb., 1978), pp.
11-39; Inga-Stina Ewbank, ' "My Nameis Marina": The Language of Recognition’,
in Shakespeare's Styles: Essays in Honour of Kenneth Muir, cd. P. Edwards, 1.-S. Ewbank
and G. K. Hunter (Cambridge, 1980), pp. 111-30; Lynda E. Boose, "The Father and
the Bride in Shakespeare’, PMLA 97 (1982), 325-47; E. D. Hoeniger, 'Oower and
Shakespeare’, Shakespeare Quarterly 33 (1982), 461-79; J. Pilcher, ‘The Poet and
Taboo: The Riddle of Shakespeare’s Pericles’, Essays and Studies (1982), 14-29;
Elizabeth Archibald, ‘ “Deep Clerks She Dumbs": The Learned Heroine in Apollonius
of Tyre and Pericles’, Comparative Drama 22 (1988-9), 289-303. [See also Nancy
Michael, Pericles: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Shakespeare Bibliographies 13
(New York, 1987)].
Pericles was not included in the First Folio (it fimt appears in the second issue of
the Third Folio, 1664), but the quarto was printed six times between 1609 and
[635 The fust exiant diumatisation of 15A was based largely on Goweir [V12]
214
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
and Twine [V33], though the writer(s) probably knew the Gesta Romanorum
version [V11], and perhaps others too (e.g. Copland [V32], Belleforest [V35]).
Almostall the names of the characters differ from those in HA,as in Wilkins’
novel [V42]: Apollonius becomesPericles, his wife becomes Thaisa, his daughter
becomes Marina, Hellenicus becomes Helicanus, Stranguilio becomes Cleon,
Theophilus becomes Leonine, Archistrates becomes Simonides, Athenagoras
becomes Lysimachus, the pimp’s servant becomes Boult; new characters include
Escanes, a lord of Tyre, the three comic fishermen who net Pericles’ armour, and
a female bawd. Gower, one of the sources, is incorporated as the Chorus: at the
beginning of cach act he describes events that could not be shown on stage
(some are presented in dumbshow).
Act | begins at Antioch: more than usual is made both of the princess’s
attractions and of Pericles’ horror at the incest. The riddle is substantially reshaped (as Goolden argues, to make sense of the very garbled version in Gower).
At Tyre Pericles confers with his lords before making Hclicanus regent and
flecing so as to protect the city from Antiochus’ wrath: much is made both here
and throughouttheplayof the responsibilities of kings. Pericles does notlearn of
his proscription whenhearrives at Tarsus, but offers his corm straightaway. Act 11
begins with a dumbshow: Helicanus sends word of Thaliard's plot to murder
Pericles, and suggests that even Tarsusis not safe. After the shipwreck (described
by Gower) Pericles overhears three fishermen having a humorousdiscussion of
the ways of the world; they praise their king, the good Simonides,tell Pericles of
a tournament to be held on the princess's birthday, and fish his rusty armour out
of the sea. At Pentapolis the king and princess commentonthe devices of the
knights as they pass by, Pericles last of all in his rusty armour; the tournamentis
not shown onstage, but in the following scene Pericles is honoured as the
championat a banquet. The princess writes to her father next morningto declare
her desire to marry Pericles; apparently he makes music only for his own pleasure,
and docs not become her teacher. Thereis only a very brief scene with the other
knights. Simonides pretends briefly to be angry at Thaisa's choice of husband,
but the marriage is arranged almost immediately.
In Act II, Gower explains with the help of a dumbshow that the news of
Antiochus' death persuades the lords of Tyre to offer the crown to the regent
Helicanus; messages reach Pericles, urging him to return quickly and reclaim his
crown.'? Thaisa's 'death' and recovery and Marina's birth and fostering are unchanged. In Act IV Gower recounts Marina’s education and talents as an introduction to the assassination attempt. The scene with the nurse is omitted,
though Marinatells Leonine, the murderer, about her birth in the storm as the
nurse described it. Marina’s arrival at the brothel is expanded into a comic
discussion about trade between the pimp, the bawd and their servant Boult. In
'9 Unusually, Antiochus is struck by fire from heaven. while in a chariot. with his
daughter, and theu bodies stink so that no one will hury them. This may be an echo of
the death ot Antiochus Epiphanes, and also of that of Herb scc Kane, 'A Passarc in
Perles Mans also describes dhea death achaniot, bat omis the stench
APPENDIX I: LATIN AND VERNACULAR VERSIONS
215
Tarsus Cleonis horrified to learn that Dionyza has not only killed Tarsia but also
poisoned Leonine, the assassin. Pericles’ retum to Tarsus and reaction to his
daughter's tomb are conveyed by Gower with a dumbshow.Prince Lysimachusis
presented as a hardened debauchee when he comesto the brothel; a few words of
moral censure from Marina, together with a protestation of her innocence, are
enough to soften him, to the fury of the pimp and the bawd, and he claims
(implausibly) that his intentions were always honourable (see the discussion of
the comparable scene in Wilkins).
In Act V, Gower describes Marina’s abilities in music and needlework (the
latter an innovation), and Pericles’ arrival at Mytilene. Helicanus, whois also on
the ship, receives Lysimachus and tells him of Pericles’ grief. The recognition
scene is much abbreviated: Marina sings to Pericles, but asks him noriddles; he is
reminded of his dead wife, and asks about her parentage. She describes the storm
in which she was born, and namesherfather. Pericles in his joy hears the music
of the spheres: Diana herself appears and orders him to Ephesus. The second
recognition sceneis also much shortened: Cerimon the doctoris present, and the
play ends with his promise to explain how he found Thaisa. Simonides does not
appear again, and there are no punishments or rewards, though in the epilogue
Gower summarizes the events and reveals that the gods burned Cleon and
Dionyza in their palace (perhaps an echo of Antiochus’ traditionalfate).
Onthe whole theplay is remarkably faithful to the traditional plot: the major
changes are the substitution of a tournamentfor the gymnasium scene, the comic
episodes with the fishermen and in the brothel, the omission of Tarsia’s riddles,
and the abrupt ending before the usual return to Penrapolis. In his summaries of
offstage action Goweris able to comment on the events, stressing the wickedness
of Antiochus and Dionyza, the loyalty of Helicanus, the extraordinary talents of
‘absolute Marina’, andthefinal triumph ofvirtue over‘fortune fierce and keen’.
Why is the hero renamed Pericles? Various theories have been put forward,
including the possibility that the name was borrowed from the hero of Sidney's
Arcadia, Pyrocles. Bullough asks whether there may once have been a ballad or
lay in which Apollonius became knownas‘Perilles’ or ‘Pericles’, perhaps derived
from the perils (pericula) he endured (p. 355). Perhaps the author(s) of the play
knew French versions in which this name was used. In the Vienna Redaction
[V22] Apollonius assumes the name Perillie, and in an earlier French version,
the Brussels Redaction [V14], the princess of Pentapolis writes to her fatherthat
she wants to marry ‘le perilliers de mer’ (this represents ‘naufragum’ [the shipwrecked man] in HA). It has also been suggested that the author(s) were thinking of the Greek statesman, who despaired for a time after the death of his only
legitimate son, but was persuaded to return to public life by Alcibiades (sce
Tompkins). Whatever the reason for choosing Pericles, Apollonius was certainly
an unwieldy name for verse (the difficulties can be seen in Coriolanus, where the
hero's five-syllable title is seldom used).
The problem of the authorship of the play continues to be debated, as does its
relationship to Wilkins’ novel The extant text of Pericles is clearly defective at
HAY Parnes, and some ol the wiitinyrn partic ularly "n the frist two ae ts, has been
216
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
condemnedas sub-standard and used as evidence that Shakespeare had no hand
in the first part of the play; but the brothel scenes are delighfully vigorous and
witty, and the recognition scene between Pericles and Marina is extremely moving. Many Shakespearean themes are represented here, and the treatmentis
similar to the other late plays. Shakespeare undoubtedly used the Apollonius
story for the ending of The Comedy of Errors (see p. 61 above), and there is no
reason to doubt that he returned toit later in his career; he was always interested
in thc father-daughter relationship. It seems likely that the first two acts were
written at least in part by someoneelse (Hoeniger suggests Wilkins and Day in
collaboration: sec p. Ixiii). There is an unmistakable Shakespearean ring to many
of the best lines in the later acts, however, and especially to Pericles’ address to
his longlost daughter, the line which sums up the rejection of incest and the
regenerative power of the father-daughter bond crucial to the Apollonius story
(V.i.195): ‘chou that beger’st him that did thee beget’. Whatever Ben Jonson may
have thought, Pericles was very popular, as Hoeniger stresses (p. Ixvii, and sec
A36 and 37): "Thereare few plays by Shakespeare for which as much evidenceis
available to testify to their popularity on the stage during the carly decadesof the
seventeenth century.’
APPENDIX II
Medieval and Renaissance Allusions
to the Story of Apollonius
The numerous medieval references to Apollonius and his story have never been
published in a single collection. Marden printed a numberofliterary allusions in
the introductionto his edition of the Libro de Apolonio [Appendix II, V10]; Bayot
repeated them and included several more in his introduction to the Poéme Moral
[below, A19]. These are drawn almost entirely from romance texts. Delbouille
lists some romanceallusions and a numberof‘historical’ ones (see ‘Apollonius de
Tyr et les débuts du roman frangais', in Mélanges offerts & Rita Lejeune, 2 vols
{Gembloux, 1969], II, pp. 1171-1204), but I have included some which were
apparently unknown to him. In all three studies the context of the citations is
obscured by their brevity, in some cases with significant results. I have tried to
give sufficient context, quoted or described, to make clear the tone of each
reference, and also giveliteral cranslations.
I] have not made a systematic search for allusions to Apollonius; there arc
doubtless more to be found. | have not included any of the referencesin library
catalogues which Kortckaas prints in ‘List of Lost Latin Manuscripts’ (pp. 41924): they testify that the story circulated widely, but they do nottell us how it
was read. Theallusionsare listed here in chronological order, in so far as thatis
possible, to show the variety of response to the story over the centuries. All the
texts are reproduced as printed in the editions from which they are taken, except
thac | have silently expanded abbreviations. Translations are my own unless
otherwise indicated; | am grateful to John Boswell, Mark Chinca, Teresa de
Carlos, Simon Gaunt, Ralph Hexter, Sarah Kay, Elizabeth Sears and Alison
Sinclair for their comments and suggestions.
Al. Venantius Forrunatus, Opera. Poetica VI, 8, ll. 5-6 (sixth century). Ed.
Friedrich Leo in MGH, AA (Berlin, 1881; rp. 1961), IV.1, pp. 148-9. In a poem
about à boat, the poet, an Bralian travelling in what is now Belgium, compares
himself to Apollonius, chosen as a typical seafaring exile.
218
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Tristius erro nimis patriis vagus exul ab oris
Quam sit Apollonius naufragus hospes aquis.
(Roaming more of an exile from my native shores, | wander more
sadly than Apollonius, who was shipwrecked, a guest from the
sca.)
A2. Theodosius pelegrinus, De situ terrae sanctae, c. 32 (c. 530). Ed. P. Geyer in
Itineraria et alia geographica, 2 vols, CCSL 175—6 (Turnhout, 1965), I, 113-25: see
p. 125. In this guide to the Holy Land Apollonius (of Tyre? of Tyana?) is
associated with Tarsus.!
In provincia Cilicia civitas Tarso, inde Apolloniusfuit.
(In the province of Cilicia is the city of Tarsus, from which Apollonius
came.)
A3. Dedubiis nominibus, s.v. ‘gymnasium’ (late sixth or seventh century). Ed. F.
Glorie in Variae collectiones Aenigmatum Merovingicae aetatis, 2 vols, CCSL 133
and 133A (Turnhout, 1968), 11, pp. 743-820; see p. 778, no. 180. In this anonymous treatise on the gender of nouns, a phrase from HA (13, 5) is cited as an
exampleofthe use of ‘gymnasium’.
GYMNASIUMgencris neutri — sicut 'balncum' - : in Apollonio:
"gymnasium patet".
(‘Gymnasium’is neuterin gender, like 'balneum": in [the story of]
Apollonius,‘the gymnasium is open’.
A4. List of books given by Abbot Wando of St Wandrille to the monastery
library on the occasion of his installation (747). Gesta Sanctorum Patrum Fontanellensis Coenobii, ed. F. Lohier and ]. Laporte (Rouen & Paris, 1936), pp. 66-7.
HÀ is picked out for mention amonga large numberof theological andhistorical
texts bequcathedto the library.
Codicum etiam copiam non minimam, quot dinumcrare oncriesse uidctur. sed aliquos ob memoriam illius inserere placuit . . . item codicem
sancti Águstini, in quo continctur de poenitentia; — Historiam Apollonii regis Tiri, codicem unum; - Historiam lordanis episcopi Raucnnatis
aecclesiae de origine Getarum; -item codicem, in quo continetur regula
sancti Benedicti et sancti Columbanict martirologium.
(Also a considerable number of books which it seems onerous to enumcrate. But | have decided to introduce some in his memory . . . Item, a
|
J. II. Bernard identifies Apollonius as the philosopher of Tyanain his translation of
Theodosius (Palestine Pilprims’ Text Society vol. 42 (London, 1893], p. 18, n. 3); but it
seems to me that the reference could equally well be co Apollonius of Tyre. Newher of
them was a native of Tarsus, but bod had strong links with the city, Dr Korteksas ts
very doubttul about my tdentification, however
APPENDIX II: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
219
book of St. Augustine which contains [his work] on penance.Item, the
history of Apollonius king of Tyre in one book. The history of the Goths
by Jordanus, bishop of Ravenna. ltem, a book which containsthe rule of
St. Benedict and St. Columban and the martyrology.)
A5. Will of Everard, Marquis of Friuli (d. 864). Ed. G. Becker in Catalogi
bibliothecarum antiqui (Bonn, 1885), pp. 29-30. HA is listed among theological
texts in a bequest to the Marquis' eldest daughter (he left specific books to each
of his eight children).
Primogenita etiam filia mea ENGELTRUD volumus ut habeat 40. librum qui vocatur vitas patrum & 41. librum qui appellatur liber dc
doctrina S. Basilidis & 42. Apollonium & 43. synonimaIsidori.
(Also my firstborn daughter Engeltrud, wc wish her to have (no. 40) the
book called The Lives of the Fathers, and (no. 41) the book called The
Book of the Doctrine of Saint Basil, and (no. 42) Apollonius, and (no. 43)
the Synonyma ofIsidorc.)
A6. Chronicon Novaliciense 5.3 (c. 1027). Ed. Carlo Cipolla in Monumenta
Novaliciensia vetustiora, 2 vols (Rome, 1898-1901), II, pp. 5-305: see p. 246.
(There are minor variants in the edition by L. C. Bethmann in MGH SS VII
(Hanover, 1846], pp. 73-133: see p. 111.) The shocking story of King Ugo of
Lotharingia, who raped his son's bride and was later killed by a thunderbolt,
reminds the chronicler of Antiochus’ incest in HA.
ipse autem rex [Ugo] genuit filium, nomenque indidit Lotharii . . . iste
namque obtemperans monitis patris, coniugem accipit. pater vero, post
dotem, succensus face luxuriae nurum viciat, antequam adfilii perveniat thalamum. ó nefas! libido sodomita inrepit patres, ut stuprum exerceant in nurus, [et] etiam in filias, ut in Acta legitur Apollonii. sed
divina pi[et]as inultos habere non permittit. illum namque fulmine percutit iam celitus missum.
(But this king [Ugo] begot a son, and named him Lothar. . . For he,
obedientto his father's commands, took a wife. But after the giving of
the marriage portion his father, inflamed by the torch oflust, violated
his daughter-in-law before she had come to the marriage bed of his son.
O horror! perverted lust overwhelms fathers so that they debauch their
daughters-in-law and even their daughters, as we read in the story of
Apollonius. But divine justice did not permit them to go unpunished.
For he wasstruck by a thunderbolt, sent from heaven.)
A7. Fulcher of Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana, Book 1, c. 25.10 (c. 1127).
Ed. Heinrich Hagenmeyer (Heidelberg, 1913), pp. 272-3. Mention of Tyre
prompts a reference to Apollonius.
dehinc invenerunt Tyrum civitatem peroptimam, unde fuit Apollonius,
de quo lenis
220
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
(From here they came to the most excellent city of Tyre from which
Apollonius came, of whom weread.)
AB8. (?Fulcher of Chartres), Gesta Francorum expugnantium Hierusalem,c. 21 (c.
1127). Ed. Jacques Bongars in Gesta Dei per Francos, 2 vols (Hanover, 1611), 1,
pp. 561-93: see p. 571.
Sur quoque Tyrus dicta est, in qua Tyrius Apollonius regnabat.
(Suris also called Tyre, where Apollonius of Tyre was king.)
A9. Honorius Augustodunensis, Imago Mundi, Book III, c. 25 (c. 1150). Ed.
Valerie J. Flint, Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen age 49 (1982),
pp. 7-153: sec p. 131. In the chapter of his world history devoted to regnum Syrie
(the kingdom of Syria), Honorius seemsto refer to the story of Antiochus’ incest,
though he does not mention it explicitly, and it is not absolutely clear which of
the kings mentioned is the father of a daughter and is killed by a thunderbolt.? It
is striking that here the story of Antiochus' incest scems to be quite divorced
from the story of Apollonius, since Honorius doces not mention him but continues with the long list of Seleucid kings.
Seleucus Callinicus cum fratre Antiochofilii superioris post hunc regnaverunt. Hunc Prolomeus Evergetes occidit. Hic filiam habuit, fulmine
interiit. Antiochus Magnus cum fratre Seleuco Ceraunio filii Seleuci
deinde regnaverc.
(After him Seleucus Callinicus reigned with his brother Antiochus, the
sons of the previous king. He [?] was killed by Prolemy Euergetes. He[?|
had a daughter, and was killed by a thunderbolt. Then Antiochus Magnus reigned with his brother Selcucus Ceraunius, the sons of Scleucus.)
A10. Guerau de Cabrera, Cabra Juglar, ll. 148-56 (c. 1150-70). Ed. and tr.
Frangois Pirot in Recherches sur les connaissanceslittéraires des troubadours occitans
et catalans des XIIe siécles, Memorias de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de
Barcelona 14 (Barcelona, 1972), pp. 545-62; see p. 552. In this ensenhamen
Guerau reproaches the joglar Cabra for his ignorance, and lists many famous
heroesof literature and legend whom heshould know; he mentions Apollonius
after Alexander, and immediately before Darius, a character from the story of
Thebes.
?
[t is hard to be sure to whom the daughter belongs, and to complicate matters che
manuscripes offer several variants: one allots her to Antiochus Magnus, another (the
version printed by J.-P. Migne [PL 172:177]) apparently to his brother Selecus Cerau-
nius. In two manuscripts both father and daughter are killed by the chunderbole. In
most versions of the Apollonius story the incestuous king is called Antiochus, but in
Godfrey's Pantheon [V4| and Steinhówel [V25]| he is Antiochus Junior Seleucus (prohably to he «lentified. with. Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, son of Antiochus HE Magnas
Piolemy Fueiectes campagned against Seleucus H of Syria in the Thicd Syrian Wai,
but dil nor kill hum
APPENDIX II: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
221
ni del bon rei,
no-n sabs que:s fei
d’Alixandnfil Filipon.
D'Apoloinc
no-n sabes re,
qu’estors de marde perizon.
Daire ros
que tan fon pros
qui-s defendet de traizon . . .
(. . . nor of the good king, you do not know what happened to
Alexander, Philip's son. You know nothing of Apollonius, who
escaped safe and sound from peril at sca; [or] of Darius the red who
defended himself from meason because he was so brave.)
A11. Lamprecht, Alexanderlied, Il. 1402-1411 (c. 1170). Ed. Irene Ruttmann,
Das Alexanderlied des Pfaffen Lampreche (Strassburger Alexander) (Darmstadt,
1974), pp. 37-8. (Thereis a similar reference in the carlicr Vorau text (c. 1155),
Il. 1402-11, ed. K. Kinzel in Lamprechts Alexander nach den drei Texten [Halle,
1884], p. 123.) The poct mentions that Tyre was destroyed by Alexander just
after Apollonius had rebuilt it, and then refers to the incest riddle andhisflight
from Antiochus.
Zerstóret lach dó Tyrus.
di stifte sint der kuninc Apollonius,
von dem di bóüch sagent noh,
den der kuninc Antioch
ubir mere jagete,
wanderimesagite
cin rétisle mit forhten.
daz was mit bedecketen worten
gescriben in einem brief,
daz ersines sclbes rohter beslicf.
(Then Tyre lay destroyed, which afterwards King Apollonius
founded [anew], about whom the booksalso say that King Antiochus hunted him across the sea because he [Apollonius} told him
with trepidation [the solution to] a riddle. It was written with
veiled words in a letter that he was sleeping with his own
daughter.)
Al2. Chrétien de Troyes (?), Philoména, Il. 170-6 (c. 1165). Ed. C. de Boer
(Paris, 1909), pp. 36-7. The heroine is said to have known more of joy and
pleasure[in love? in enterrainment?] than Tristan or Apollonius.
Avucela erant biauté qu'ele ot
Sot quanquedoit savoir pucele.
Nefu mains sage que bele,
Se jela venté ico
222
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
Plus sot de joie et de deport
Qu'Apoloines ne que Tristanz:
Plus an sot voire voir dis tanz.
(Besides her great beauty, Philoména knew all that a younggirl
should. She was no less wise than beautiful, if the truth be told.
She knew more about exhilaration and enjoyment[in love] than
Apolloniusor Tristan, she knew ten times more,to tell the truth.)
A13. William of Tyre, Chronicon, Book XIII, 1 (c. 1170). Ed. R. B. C. Huygens,
2 vols, CCCM 63 and 63A (Turnhout, 1986), 1, pp. 585-6. William refers to
Apollonius in the course of a history of Tyre in antiquity. Immediately afterwards
he tells the story of Abdemon, Hiram and Solomon(sec pp. 43-4 abovc).
Ex hac ctiam et Hyram, Salomonis cooperator ad edificium templi
Domini, rex fuit et Apollonius, gesta cuius celebrem habent ct late
vulgatam historiam. Ex hac nichilominus urbe fuit Abdimus adolescens,
Abdemonis filius, qui Salomonis omnia sophismata et verba parabolarum enigmatica, que Hyram rcgi Tyriorum solvenda mittebat, mira solvcbat subtilitate. De quo ita legitur in losephi Antiquitatum libro
octavo...
(From here too came King Hiram, who cooperated with Solomonin the
building of the temple of the Lord, and so did Apollonius, whose adventures are told in the well-known and widely circulated story. Also from
this city was the young Abdimus, son of Abdemon, whosolved with
amazing clevernessall the sophistries and riddles of Solomon which he
sent to Hiram of Tyre to solve. We read about him in Book VIII of
Josephus’ Antiquities . . .
Al14. Aye d’Avignon,Il. 3480-5 (c. 1170). Ed. J. S. Borg, TLF 134 (Geneva,
1967), p. 273. Ganor the Saracen,suitor of Aye, is compared with Apollonius in
relation to the size of his flect.
Moult parama dame Aye Ganorli Arrabis,
Quedespuis icelle hore queil primes la vit
Nela pot oublier qu'il ne l'en souvenist,
En dormant, en veillant qu'il nc la veist.
Sin a en haute mer untel estoire mis
Ainz plus grant ne conduit Apolines de Tris.
(Ganorthe Arab loved dame Aye very much: from the hour when
hefirst saw her, he could not forget her and he remembered her,
sleeping, waking, when he did not sec her. He put a fleet on the
high seas greater than that of Apollonius of Tyre.)
A15. Arnaut Guilhem de Marsan, Ensenhamen, ll. 251-280 (c. 1175). Ed. and
tr. Giuseppe E. Sansone in Testi diduttico-cortesi di Provenza, Biblioteca di Eilologia Romanza 29 (Dari, 1977), pp. 111. 80: sec p. 126 (my translation is based on
Sansone's [ralian version, pp. 140. 0). Arnauts advice 10 a young lover imcludes
APPENDIX Il: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
223
information about famous lovers such as Paris, Tristan, Aeneas, Apollonius and
Arthur. His account of Apollonius’ dealings with the princess seems slightly
unfamiliar: it must derive from a version in which he was more active in the love
affair.
D'Apoloines de Tir
sapchatz contarc dir
com el fon perilhat,
cl e tot son barnat,
en mar perdetsas iens
totas cominalmens;
mais tenc en son poder
tot cant en poc aver
a trastot soncsfors,
mas solamenssoncors.
E pucys issic cn terre,
onli fon obs a querre
vianda, don hom vicu,
com un paurecaiticu.
Tot so pres per amor,
may pueis n'ac gran honor,
c'amorli rendet say
may que nonperdetlay,
quc pas non enqueria
scla que mais valia;
mastan fort l'encobi,
ni anc nonl'enqueri
c'ab bels ditz: et ab faitz
li dava tals gamali]tz
al cor que perpetit
la dona no-n morit.
El l'ac a son voler
e-n fetz tot son plazer,
€ fo rey com denans,
fortz e ricx e prezans.
(Know how to sing and tell of Apollonius of Tyre how he was
shipwrecked, he and all his lords, and lost all his people in the sea;
but he keptin his powerall that he could save with all his effort:
only his own body. And then hegotto land, where he was forced
to seck food with which to survivelike a poor wretch. He endured
all this for love, but later he became very rich, because love
lavished on him more than whathe hadlost, given that he did
not seck the love of the woman who was most worthy. However
he desired her very much, but he never requested her love except
with beautiful addresses. And by his deeds he gave her such blows
to her heare that the lady almose died of it. He had her at his
mercy and he disposed of her as he wished, and was king as before,
Spon, ri hand estecined )
224
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
A16. Gooffrey de Vigeois, Prologue to the Chronicon Lemovicense (c. 1184). Ed.
Philippe Labbé, Nova bibliotheca manuscriptorum, 2 vols (Paris, 1657) II, pp.
279—342: sce p. 279. In his dedication to King Robert, Geoffrey discusses the
value of history; he describes HA as a shocking story, but argues that it has moral
value.
Si enim oculo rationis, quae geruntur, inspexeris; ad doctrinam vniuer-
sorum quaecumquescripta sunt, reperies, vt sciat reprobare malum vir
prudens, & eligere bonum. Quid enim execrabilius quibusdam videtur,
quam historiam Apollonij Tyrij legere? verumtamensicut in sterquilinio
aurum, ita in eisdem gestis, inuenies vtilia quaedam ad correctionem
Christianae Religionis. Antiochus nempe inclytus genitor voluptate
deuictus, impudicus filiae maritus effectus, dum mortem pro scelere
pertulit, etiam Paganis timorem incussit. Cum enim gentilis viri scelus
Ethnici perhorrescunt, & de illius interitu vltricem venerantur diuinitatem: quanto magis populus acquisitionis aemulari debet charismara meliora? Qui ergo relegunt codices gentilium solatiandi gratia, imitentur
honesta, caucant funesta.
(For if you examine with the eye of reason whatis done, you will find
that whateveris written is for the instruction of all, so that a wise man
will know to condemnthe evil and choose the good. What could seem
to some people more horrible to read than the story of Apollonius of
Tyre? But like gold in a dungheap, you will find in that same story
somcthing suitable for the betterment of the Christian religion. Certainly when the celebrated Antiochus, the father who was overcome by
desire and immorally became the husband of his daughter, suffered
death for his crime, he struck fear even into the heathen. For if even
pagans shudder at the crime of a noble man and respect the divine
power which took vengeance through his destruction, how much more
should the people who have acquired greater gifts be moved? So those
whoread the books of the pagansfor solace, let them imitate the good
and shunthe deadly.)
A17. Godfrey of Viterbo, Memoria Seculorum (late twelfth century). Ed. G.
Waitz, MGH, SS XXII (Hanover 1869), pp. 103-106: see p. 104. In his dedication to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, Godfrey singles out for mention the
improving'histories' of Alexander, Apollonius, and Gog and Magog(further on
he emphasises the value of histories as opposed to fables).
Inter cetera et ad tuum delectationem de Alexandro Magno ct de
Appollonio Tyro et de Gog et Magog atque de quibusdam aliis rarioribus
et auditu dulcioribus aliquantulum diffusius adnotavimus, ad gloric tue
maius gaudium et oblectamentum.
(Among otherthings, for your delecration 1 have made some notes in
somewhat greater detail about Alexander the Great and Apollonius of
Tyre and Gog and Magog, and about certain others who are less well
known and even sweeter to hear about, for the preater joy and pleasure
ol your jlory )
APPENDIX Il: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
225
A18. Henricus Septimellensis, Elegia de diversitate fortunae et philosophiae consolatione, |l. 467-70 (c. 1193). Ed. A. Marigoas Elegia sive de miseria, Scriptores
Latini Medii Aevi Italici 1 (Padua, 1926), p. 43. Addressing the goddess Fortune
who has appeared to him, the poct mentions Apollonius as one of her victims.
Non semper Marium, non sempersepe rotatum
volvis Apollonium: fortior altcrcrit,
qui redimens mea probra fero pugnabit agone
et tibi forsan atrox auferetille caput.
(You are not always tuming Marius, or Apollonius who has been
frequently whirled about; there will be another stronger man, who
will make good my losses and fight in fierce combat, and perhaps
that dreadful man will take away your head.)
A19. Poàme Moral, ll. 2309-12 (late twelfth or early thirteenth century). Ed.
Alphonse Bayot, Académie Royale de Langue cet de Littérature Frangaise dc
Belgique, Textes Anciens 1 (Brussels, 1929), p. 170. At the end the pocturges his
readers to read his improving pocm rather than frivolous romances such as HA.
Mais miez vos vient oir nostre petit sermon
Kc les vers d'Apol[on]le u d'Aien d'Avinion;
Laissicz altrui oir les beaz vers de Fulcon
Et ceaz qui ne suntfait se de vaniteit non.
(Butit is better for you to hear our little sermon than the verses
about Apollonius or Aye d'Avignon;leave it to others to hear the
lovely story of Fulke, and those which are merely made ofvanity.)
A20. La Chanson de Doon de Nanteuil, 11. 90-92 and 124-7 (late twelfth or early
thirteenth century). Ed. Paul Meyer in Romania 13 (1884), 1-26: sec pp. 18-20.
Thestory of Apollonius is twice mentioned as part of an entertainment. The
other namcsin the first passage refer to characters in the Alexander legend, and
the reference to Antiochus might belong to the Alexander context rather than
to Apollonius.
Et chantent d'Apoloine ct del bien Tenebré,
Del vicl Antiocus, de Porus et d'Otré,
Et dcl roi Alexandre et del preu Tholomé. . .
(And they sing of Apollonius and of Tenebré's estates, of old
Antiochus, of Porus and of Otré, and of King Alexander and of
Ptolemy the brave . . .)
Mout fu bien servi Challes ct sa gent, par memoire,
Meint enstrument y sonne: ce signific gloire,
Et chantent et vielent et content dApoloine,
1 Alexandre et de Daire, del Chevalier santoire.
(Charles and his peaple were very well served, according: to mem
ory, many instoments were played there (duis indicates qdory
226
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
And they sang and played andtold tales of Apollonius, of Alexander and Darius and of the chevalier Saint Joire [’Saint
George].)
A21. Jean Renart, L'Escoufle, ll. 8054-8061 (c. 1200). Ed. Franklin Swectser,
TLF 211 (Geneva, 1974), pp. 261-2. (I adopt the emendation 'saut' for 'sanc' in
|. 8059, as suggested by M. Delbouille in 'Apollonius de Tyr et les débuts du
roman frangais', in Mélanges offerts à Rita Lejeune, 2 vols [Dembloux, 1969], II,
pp. 1171-1204; see p. 175, n. 1.). The grief of the heroine at the departure of the
hero is compared with that of Apollonius on leaving Tyre.
Tuit cil par sclonc
Plorent a cel departement.
Fait la contesse: 'Diex! comment
Le lairai jou de moipartir?
Quant Apolloniésfist a Tir
Le saut,ce cuit, n'ot pas tel ducl.
S'estre peüst, jamais, lor veul,
Nesc quesissent dessambler.
(They all cried at this departure. The countess said: ‘My God!
How shall I let him leave mc? When Apollonius fled from Tyre,
believe me, there was notsuch sorrow. If it had becn possible they
would never willingly have sought to separate.)
A22. Jacques de Vitry, Historia Hierosolymitana,c. 43 (early thirteenth century).
Ed. Jacques Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 2 vols (Hanover, 1611), II, pp.
1047-1124: see p. 1071. Mention of Tyre leads the chronicler to tell the story of
Hiram and Solomon’s riddle contest (see pp. 43-4 above); this is followed immediately by a brief reference to Apollonius, similar to that of earlier crusade
chroniclers [A7, 8 and 13].
Huius etiam praedictae urbis Rex fuit Apollonius cuius gesta late
patentin vulgatis historiis.
(Another king of the above-mentioned city was Apollonius,
whose deeds are knownfar and wide in popularstories.)
A23. Qui de Cambrai, Barlaam et Josaphas, 1l. 8708-8720 (carly thirteenth
century). Ed. Carl Appel (Halle, 1907), pp. 256-7. Describing a young girl of
noble birth who has been enslaved and sent to temptthe ascetic prince Josaphas,
the poct mentions that herfather, the king of Sidon, is related to Apollonius
(whois king of Sidon as well as Tyre in some versions, e.g. Godfrey of Viterbo's
Pantheon [V4]); this detail docs not appear in other versions of the story. The
situation suggests a comparison with Tarsia, bur there is no explicit reference to
her.
Unc en iot ki sot assés
Et molt estoit de erant haureche
APPENDIX II: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
227
Et par parage et par nobleche,
Fille à .i. roi deshirctéc;
Mise estoit fors de sa contrée:
Sespere, si com j'ói dire,
Fu de Sydoinceroisct sire;
Siue ert la terre de Sydoine;
Parente fu roi Apolloine,
Quidesa terre s'en füi
(Jou cuic qu'assés avés ói
Comentcil Apolloinesfist
Et k'il perdi et qu'il conquist).
(One of them knew a lot and was of high standing in terms of
both birth and nobility, the disinherited daughter of a king; she
had been exiled from her country. Her father, I have heard, was
the king and lord of Sidon; the land of Sidon was his. He was a
relation of King Apollonius, who fled from his own land (I think
you will know how Apollonius acted and what he lost and what
he garnered.)
A24. Wilbrandus de Oldenburg, Peregrinatio, I, 2 (c. 1230). Ed. J.C. M. Laurent
in Peregrinationes Medii Aevi Quatuor (Leipzig, 1873), pp. 169-91: see p. 164.
Onceagain Tyre is associated with Apollonius in a description of journeys to the
Holy Land,but this timc, uniquely, a particular building is associated with him.
Hecest illa Tyrus, de qua Apollonium de Tyro appellamus, in qua hodie
cius palacium monstratur.
(This is the same Tyre after which Apollonius of Tyre is named, where
his palace is pointed out today.)
A25. Kyng Alisaunder,Il. 1315-1322 (c. 1250). Ed. G. V. Smithers, EETS os.
227 and 237 (London, 1952-7), I, p. 75 (Laud text). Apollonius is mentioned in
connection with Tyre (and Sidon) in a Middle English romance about Alexander (compare A12 above).
Kyng Alisaunder, so lyoun kene,
Hoteb be messagers out of his eigene.
Quyk hij delivereb Macedoyne,
And passep by Tyre and by Sydoyne,
Pere woned whilom Kyng Appolloyne,
Al forto hij comen to Babyloyne . . .
dismissed from his presence
passed by
lived once
until
A26. Flamenca, |l. 633-8 (c. 1260). Ed. Ulrich Oschwind, 2 vols, Romanica
Helvetica 86 (Berne, 1976), 1, p. 39. In this Occitan romance, the story of
Apollonius forms part of the entertainment ar a wedding, with other classical
tales.
228
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
l'us comtet de Pollinices
de Tideu e d'Etiocles;
l'autres comtava d'Apolloine
consi retenc Tyr et Sidoine;
l'us comtet de rei Alixandri,
l'autre d'Ero e de Leandri.
(One sang of Polynices, of Tydeus and of Eteocles; anothertold of
Apollonius, how he held Tyre and Sidon; one told of King Alex-
ander, another of Hero and Leander.)
A27. A chantar mer un discortz (anonymous Occitan poem of unknowndate).
Ed. K. A. F. Mahnas no. 282 in Gedichte der Troubadours, 4 vols in 2 (Berlin,
1856-1873), I, p. 173. (Mahnprins it as prose, without line numbers; I follow
thc line division used by Bayot [A19], p. cviii.) This text is corrupt; it is hard to
sce how thereference relates to the story as we knowit.
C’anc Apoloine de Tir
Mels amar
Ni tener car
Nolpogra los quil fes faillir.
(Never could Apollonius of Tyre have loved better or cherished
more the ones whom hecaused to dic.)
A28. Bertrand de Paris en Rouergue, Guordo, ie.us fas un sol sirventes l'an, 1l.
18-24 (?1270-90). Ed. and tr. Frangois Pirot in Recherches sur les connaissances
littéraires des troubadours occitans et catalans des XIle et XIlle si2cles (Barcelona,
1972), pp. 596-614; see p. 601.3 Bertrand reproacheshis joglar with his ignorance
of all the heroes of popular songs and tales; he mentions Apollonius together
with classical, biblical and medieval figures.
Ni no sabeu cossi pres del jayan
de Tideus cantli tolc lo castel;
ni no sabetz las novas de Tristan
ni del rey Marc ni d'Apsalon lo bel;
d'Apoloini no cug sapiatz res,
ni d'Adraste nul bo fag qu'el fezes;
ni no sabetz per que selet son nom
Polinises al palais al prim som.
(And you do not know how Tydeus took the castle in the giant's
presence; nor do you know the tale about Tristan, nor about King
Mark or the beautiful Absalon; I do not think that you know
anything about Apollonius, nor a single one of the exploits of
Adrastus; nor do you know why Polynices concealed his name in
frontofthe palace at thefirst hour of sleep.)
YA shyphely different readingis piven by FM. Chambers in ‘The ensenhamen-sirventes of
Bereand de Paris"; in Mélinges de limgsastuque et de littévatave à la memone d'lsteán Frank
(1957), pp. 129 40 sc p 19?
APPENDIX II: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
229
A29. Adam de Suel, Distichs of Cato, Prologue to Book 4, ll. 14-21 (this
allusion appearsonly in somelate thirteenth-century manuscripts). Ed. J. Ulrich,
‘Der Cato des Adamsde Sucl’, in RF 15 (1904), pp. 107-140, AppendixI, p. 139.
(Paul Meyer quotes the same passage in ‘Notice du MS de l'Amenal 5201’,
Romania 16 [1887], 1-72, p. 65; he points out the parallel with the Po?me Moral
[A19].) The writer claims that his work is much more profitable to hear than
romances such as those of Roland and Oliver, Apollonius and Alexander (1
quote from MS A; in B the comparison is with Oliver, Roland, Tristan, Loier and
Alexander).
Mais ja orricz vos un conte
Oude Rollant ou d'Olyvier,
D'Apoloine ou d'un chevalier
Ou de Forcon ou d' Alexandre:
Moutpocz plusici aprandre.
Ce cist romanz ne vosdelite,
Si saichiez bien qu'il vos profite
A celi qui entendre i vuct.
(But now you could listen to a story of Roland or of Oliver or of
Apollonius or a knight or of Fulk or of Alexander; but you could
learn more from this. This text docs not delight you, but you may
be sure that it is profitable to the person who wants to understand.)
A30. Ystoria Regis Franchorumetfilie in qua adulterium comitere voluit, c. 2 (fourteenth century). Ed. H. Suchier, 'La fille sans mains: II’, Romania 39 (1910),
61-76, p. 64. In this Latin version of the popular Incestuous Father narrative,
preserved in a manuscript written in 1370, the daughter tries to ward off her
father’s advances by threatening him with thefate of Antiochus.
"Nonne Deus excelsus legem tibi stabilivit ut ab hiis et aliis que animam
ad inferrosire festinant vos liceat abstinere, non dubitans quod,si forte
rcquisita sortirentur efectum,ita vobis eveniret ut Ántiochoregilegitur
accedise, quod, cum ejus filia ipso delicto uteretur, eos Jupiter Vulcano
ignc voluntate divina in judicium dicitur peremise? Abstineasergo, care
pater, ab hiis que animam ct corpus in perdicionem atraunt!’
(‘Did not God on high establish a law for you so that you should abstain
from these and other things which hasten the soul to hell, nor doubting
that, if what is to be expected takes place, it would turn out for you as
we read that it did for King Antiochus: when he abused his daughter
with the very same sin, it is said that Jupiter struck them with a
thunderbolt [Vulcan's fire] by divine will as a judgement. So, dear father,
abstain from these deeds which will drag your soul and body to damnation.’)
ASI. Poem by Pedro IV of Aragon, the Ceremontous (1579). Quoted by Ma
nucl Milá y Fontanals, De dos. hovadoes imn Plspana, vol 2 0£OBPas Completas, 8
230
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
vols (Barcelona, 1889, rp. 1966), pp. 502-3, n. 7. The king quotes Apollonius in
a poem against marriage written to his newly married son Juan 1. Marden cites
this passage in his introduction to the Libro de Apolonio [V10], I, pp. xxvii-xxviii,
and suggests that it is derived from a lost Occitan version; but to me it sounds
more like the philosopher of Tyana than the prince of Tyre.
Qui ben crex son patrimoni
Est n'est mon per tuyt presat.
Axf ho dits Apolloni
Largament en undictat
On ho a ben declarat.
(He whose patrimony flourishes is plundered by everybody. So
says Apollonius at some length in a proverb, and it is well said.)
A32. Geoffrey Chaucer, Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale, Il. 77-90, in
The Canterbury Tales, ed. L. D. Benson and others in The Riverside Chaucer
(Boston, 1987), p. 88. The Man of Law,discussing Chaucer’s work, says that he
nevertold shocking tales of incest, such as the stories of Canace or Apollonius,
and then proceeds to give some of the worst details of the Apollonius story (the
father throwing his daughter on the pavement is probably Apollonius in the
recognition scene with Tarsia, rather than Antiochus).
‘But certcinly no word ne writeth he
Of thilke wikke ensample of Canacce,
Thatloved hir owene brother synfully Of swiche cursedstories I sey fy! Orellis of Tyro Appollonius,
How that the cursed kyng Antiochus
Birafte his doghter of hir maydenhede,
Thatis so horrible a tale for to rede,
Whanhehir threw upon the pavement.
Andtherfore he,of ful avysement,
Nolde nevere write in none of his sermons
Of swiche unkynde abhomynacions,
Ne I wol noonreherce,if that I may.
But of my tale how shal I doon this day”
(unnatural)
A33. John Capgrave, Life of St. Katharine of Alexandria, |l. 629—637 (c. 1440).
Ed. Carl Horstmann, EETS o.s. 100 (London, 1893), p. 54 (Rawlinson text). The
story of Apollonius is mentioned in the course of an account of the Seleucid
*
]t has been suggested that this passage is a dig at Gower, whotold the story of Canace,
with considerable sympathy, in the third book of his Confessio Amantis: sce the commentary in the Riverside Chaucer. See also my discussion of the connection between
the Man of Law's Tale and the popular Incestuous Father stories in The Flight from
Incest: Two Late Classical Precursors of the Constance “Pheme', Chaucer Review 20
(1986), 259. 72, and chapter 4 above, pp 58 ff
APPENDIX IIl: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
231
kings, but is not found in Capgrave’s source.’ He might have knowna bricf
reference such as that in Honorius Augustodunensis’ Imago Mundi [A9]; but 1.
633 suggests that his knowledge of the whole story came from an independent
text of HA (Latin or vernacular), rather than an extended account embedded in
a world history. Like Honorius and some others, he calls the incestuous father
Seleucus rather than Antiochus, though he makes him the father of Antiochus
Epiphanes(in fact Antiochus II] Magnus).
he left a sone nye ofbat sameplyte,
Seleucus philophator men sayn pat he hyght;
he synnyd be hys doghtyr ful on-kyndely,
ber-for was he brent wyth pe bryght leuenc;
In appollonyof tyre 3e mayrede be storye
who manylordes were dede be vj. & be sevyne
ffor bci coude not gesse hys problemes evyne.
he reygned bere xj. yere wyth-owten anylees,
hys sone aftyr hym hyght antiochus epiphanes.
wickedness
unnaturally
lightning
riddles
A34. Continuación de la Crónica de Esparia del Arzobispo don Rodrigo Jimenez de
Rada (1455), c. 242. Printed in Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de Espafia CVI (Madrid, 1893), pp. 24-5. These lines are printed by
Mardenin the introduction to his edition of the Libro de Apolonio [V10], I, pp.
xxxv-xxxvii. King Alfonso el Sabio (1221—84), whose son organized a successful
rising against him, sings a song about his betrayal by his friends and family and
comparcshis distress to that of Apolloniusafter his shipwreck. The attribution to
the king is probably apocryphal, but the ballad is certainly carly; Marden suggests
that there is an echo of the Libro de Apolonio.
AyüdemeJesucristo e la Virgen Santa Maria,
que 4 ellos me acomiende de noche de dias.
Non he más á quien lo diga nin á quien me querellar,
pues los amigos que yo avia non me osan ayudar,
que con micdo de don Sancho desamparado me han.
Ya yo oi otras veces de otro rey contar,
que con desamparose ovo de meteren alta mar,
4 morir en los ondas6 en las aventuras buscar.
Apolonio fué aqueste ¢ yo faré otrotal.
(Help me Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, to whom I commend
mysclf night and day. 1 have no oncto tell it to, no one to lament
to, since the friends that I had do not dare help me; they have
abandoned me for fear of Don Sancho. | have heard stories before
about another king who was abandoned and had to put out onto
*
See Ac Kurvinen, Ehe Sources of Capgtave Fife of Se Katharine of Albvandia', NM 61
(1900), 76H.
$4, epp
232
APOLLONIUS OF TYRE
the high sea, to die in the waves or seek adventures. This man was
Apollonius, and I will do something else of this sort.)
A35. Robert Henryson, Orpheus and Eurydice, Il. 316-327 (c. 1470). Ed. Denton Fox in The Poems of Robert Henryson (Oxford, 1981), pp. 132-53: see pp.
142-3. In Hades among other wrongdoers Orpheussees the incestuous Antiochus.®
Thare fand he monycarefull king and quene,
Wyth croun on hedeof brasse full hate birnand,
Quhilk in thair lyf rycht maisterfull had bene
And conquerouris of gold, richesse, and land:
Ector of Troy and Priam tharc he fand,
And Alexanderfor his wrang conquest,
Anthiocustharefor his foule incest,
And Iulius Cesarfor his crueltee,
And Herode wyth his brotheris wyf he sawe,
And Nero for his grete iniquitee,
AndPilotfor his breking of the lawe . . .
A36. Pimlyco or Runne Red-cap (1609). Facsimile edn A. H. Bullen (London,
1891). Cited by F D. Hoenigerin his second edition of Pericles (London, 1963),
p. Ixvi. This passage from an anonymous pamphlet describing how people desert
the theatres to drink Pimlico ale in Hogsdon demonstrates the popularity of the
play.
Amazde I stood to see a Crowd
Of Ciuill Throats stretched out so lowd; . .
So that I truly thought, all These
Cameto see Shore, or Pericles.
A37. Ben Jonson, ‘On The New Inn: Ode to Himself’,Il. 21-30 (1631). Ed. Ian
Donaldson in Ben Jonson, Oxford Authors (Oxford, 1985), pp. 502-3. Jonson's
play The New Inn, which had a very complex plot depending on a background of
family separations and recognition scenes, was not a success; in this poem he
complains aboutthe the poortaste of the theatre-going public and the popularity
of Pericles, which heclearly sees as a much inferior work in the same genre.’
No doubt some mouldytale
Like Pericles, and stale
$
7
Onthe reason for Henryson's choice of Antiochus as onc of the inhabitants of ] lades,
sce my comments in The Incestuous Kings in H enryson's Hades', in Scottish Language
and Literature, Medieval and Renaissance, ed. 1). Strauss and 11. W. Drescher, Scottish
Studies 4 (Frankfure 1986), pp. 281-9.
For further comment on The New Inn and Pencles, see N. Frye, A Natural Perspective:
The Development of Shakespearuin Comedy and Romance (New Yoik/London, 1965), pp.
14 t
APPENDIX Il: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ALLUSIONS
Asthe Shrieve’s crusts, and nasty ashis fishScraps out [of] every dish,
Thrownforth, and raked into the common tub,
Maykeep up theplay club:
There sweepings do as well
Asthe best-ordered meal;
For whotherelish of these guestswill fit
Needs set them but the alms-basketof wit.
233
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
In thefirst section, editions and translations of HA are listed chronologically by
publication date. Editions and critical studies of the later versions are not included, since they are listed chronologically with bibliography in Appendix I.
Thesecond section contains primary sources which are frequently mentioned or
particularly important for my discussion. Texts containing allusions to Apollonius are notincluded, since they are listed in Appendix II. The contents of both
Appendices are listed on pp. xi-xiii, and the reference numbers are included in
the General Index. The third section includes the secondary sources which I
have found most useful (including the introductions to some editions and translations of HA, and of other versions). Studics of single versions of the story are
included only if they have significant general implications, since they are also
listed in Appendix I. Full citationsfor all references in the introductory chapters
(except versions and allusions) are given in the footnotes.
I have also tried to include in the Bibliography as many as possible of the
more recent publications on HA, even whenI have notreferred to them specifically. 1 have not listed all the older studies: for a thorough survey ofthe critical
tradition, sec the bibliographies in the editions of Kortekaas and Schmeling.
la. HA: Editions
Velserus, M. [Markward Welscer], Narratio eorum quae contigerunt. Apollonio Tyrio
(Augsburg, 1595). [Rp. in C. Arnold, Marci Velseri Opera Historica et Philologica,
(Nuremberg, 1682), pp. 681—704].
Lapaume, A. J., Erotica de Apollonio Tyrio Fabula, in Erotici Scriptores, ed. O. A.
Ilirschig (Paris, 1856), pp. 599-628.
Riese, Alexander, Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri, Bibliotheca Teubncriana (Leipzig,
1871).
Ring, Michacl, Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri e Codice Parisino 4955 (Posen & Leipzig,
188
Riese, Alexander, Historia Apollonii Regis Tyr, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, 2nd edn
(Leipzig, 1893; rp. Stuttgart, 1973).
Garcia de Diego, E., El libro de Apolonio segin un cédice latino de la Biblioteca Nacional
de Madnd (Totana [Murcia], 1934).
Oroz, R., Hisumia de Apolonio de Tiro, la novela favorita de la edad media (Santiago de
Chile, 1954).
Rath, Josef, PHlistoria. Apolloni: Regis. Tyri: Test. der englischen. Handschriftengruppe
(Munich, 1956). [Rp. fioi Die alt und. mitelenglischen: Apollenius-Bruchstücke
(Munich, 1956), pp. 85. 132].
Goolden, P; Ehe Old Enelish Apollonius of. Done (Clo, 1958)
236
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Waiblinger, Franz P., Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri. Die Geschichte vom Kénig Apollonius
(Munich, 1978).
Tsitsikli, Dimitra, Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri, Beitrage zur klassischen Philologie 134
(Kónigstein/Ts., 1981).
Kortekaas, G. A. A., Historia Apolloni Regis Tyri, Medievalia Groningana 3 (Groningen, 1984).
Konstan, David, and Roberts, Michael, Historia Apollonii Regis Tyrii, Bryn Mawr Latin
Commentaries (Bryn Mawr, Pa., 1985).
Schmeling, Gareth, Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri, Bibliotheca Teubneriana (Leipzig,
1988).
1b. HA: Translations
d'Avencl, J., Apollonius de Tyr (Paris, 1857).
Peters, R., Die Geschichte des Kénigs Apollonius von Tyrus. Der Lieblingsroman des
Mittelalters, 2nd edn (Berlin & Leipzig, 1904).
Oroz, R., Historia de Apolonio de Tiro, la novela favorita de la edad media (Santiago de
Chile, 1954).
Turner, Paul, Apollonius of Tyre. Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri (London, 1956).
Dalboni, G., Storia di Apollonio re di Tiro, in Il romanzo classico, ed. €). Cataudella
(Rome, 1958), pp. 1309-66.
Waiblinger, Franz P., Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri. Die Geschichte vom Kónig Apollonius
(Munich, 1978).
Pavlovskis, Zoja, The Story of Apollonius, King of Tyre (Lawrence, Ka., 1978).
Kortekaas, G. A. A., De wonderbaarlijke Geschiedenis van Apollonius, Koning van Tyrus,
Nieuwc Vormen 4 (The Hague, 1982).
Kytzler, B., Die Geschichte von Apollonius dem Kénig von Tyros, in Im Reiche des Eros.
Samuiche Liebes- und Abenteuerromane der Anuke (Munich, 1983),I, pp. 164-223.
Sandy, Gerald N., The Story of Apollonius King of Tyre, in Collected Ancient Greek
Novels, ed. B. P. Reardon (Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, 1989), pp. 736-72.
2. Other Primary Sources
Becker, G. (ed.), Catalogi bibliothecarum antiqui (Bonn, 1885).
Collected Ancient Greek Novels, ed. B. P. Reardon (Berkeley, Los Angeles & London,
1989).
Daurel et Beton, ed. A. S. Kimmel as A Critical Edition of the Old Provencal Epic Daurel
et Beton, University of North Carolina Studies in Romance Languagesand Literatures 108 (Chapel Hill, 1971).
Floire et Blancheflor: Edition du ms 1447 du fonds francais, ed. Margaret M. Pelan, 2nd
edn (Paris, 1956).
Floire et Blancheflor: Seconde version éditée du ms 19152 du fonds francais, cd. Margaret
M. Pelan,(Paris, 1975).
Heliodorus, Les Éthiopiques (Théagàne et Chariclée), cd. R. M. Rattenbury and T. W.
Lumb,3 vols (Paris, 1933—45).
Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea, ed. J. G. Th. Graesse, 3rd edn (Dresden, 1890;
rp. Osnabrück, 1969).
Josephus, Flavius, Opera, ed. and tr. H. St. J. Thackeray et al., 9 vols, LCL (London,
1926 65).
Jordan de Hlaye, ed Peter Dembowski (Chicago, L969)
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
237
Manitius, Max (ed.), Handschriften antiker Autoren in miuelalterlichen Bibliothekskata-
logen, Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 67 (Leipzig, 1935; Nendeln & Wicsbaden, 1968).
Mary Magdalene, in The Late Medieval Plays of Bodleian Digby 133 and E Museo 160,
ed. Donald C. Baker, John L. Murphy and Louis B. Hall Jr, EETS O.S. 283
(London, 1982), pp. 24-95.
Orendel, cd. Hans Steinger, Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 36 (Halle, 1935).
Papiri della Università degli Studi di Milano VI, ed. Claudio Gallazzi and Mariangela
Vandoni (Milan, 1977).
Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, ed. and tr. E. C. Conybeare, 2 vols, LCL
(London, 1927).
Plautus, Works, ed. and tr. Paul Nixon, 5 vols, LCL (London, 1916—38; rp. 1960—6).
Die Pseudoklementinen, ed. B. Rehm and F. Paschke, Vol. 1: Homilien, [2nd edn], Vol.
II: Rekognitionen in Rufins Ubersetzung, Dic griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller
der ersten Jahrhunderte 51 and 42 (Berlin, 1965-9).
Riche, Barnabe, Apollonius and Silla, in Riche his farewell to Militarie Profession, ed.
Thomas M. Cranfil (Austin, 1959).
Seneca the Elder, Controversiae, ed. and tr. M. Winterbottom, 2 vols, LCL (London,
1974).
Shakespeare, William, The Comedy of Errors, ed. R. A. Foakes, Arden edition (Lon-
don, 1962).
, Twelfth Night, ed. ]. M. Lothian and T. W. Craik, Arden edition (London,
1975).
Symphosius, Aenigmata, ed. F. Olorie in Variae collectiones Aenigmatum Merovingicae
aetatis, 2 vols, CCSL 133 and 133A (Turnhout, 1968), II, pp. 611-721.
Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, vol. IV of Speculum (Quadriplex seu Speculum
Maius (Douai, 1624; rp. Graz, 1965).
Xenophon of Ephesus, Ephesiacorum Libri V, ed. A. D. Papanikolaou, Bibliotheca
Teubneriana (Leipzig, 1978).
3. Secondary Sources
Archibald, Elizabeth, Apollonius of Tyre in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Ph.D.
diss., Yale University, 1984.
; 'Apollonius of Tyre in Vernacular Literature: Romance or Exemplum, in
Groningen Colloquia on the Novel III, ed. H. Hofmann (Groningen, 1990), pp.
123-37.
, ' "Deep clerks she dumbs”: The Learned Heroine in Apollonius of Tyre and
Pericles’, Comparative Drama 22 (1988-9), 289-303.
, ‘Fathers and Kings in Apollonius of Tyre’, in Images of Authority: Papers
presented to Joyce Reynolds on the occasion of her 70th birthday, ed. M. M. Mackenzie
and Charlotte Roucché, Cambridge Philological Society Supplementary Vol. 16
(Cambridge, 1989), pp. 24-40.
; "The Flight from Incest: Two Late Classical Precursors of the Constance
Theme’, Chaucer Review 20 (1986), 259-72.
. ‘Incest in Medieval Literature and Society’, Forum for Modem Language
Studies 25 (1989), 1-15.
Badian, E., ‘Apollonius at Tarsus’) in Srudia in Honorem. [iro Kajanto, Arctos: Acta
Philologca Fenmica Supplementum H (EHlelsuiki, 1985), 14. 21
Beaon, Rodeick, The: Medieed Creek Romance, Cambridge Stihes tn Medieval
| uterature 6 (Cumnlasldec, 1989)
238
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Boose, Lynda, ‘The Father and the Bride in Shakespeare’, PMLA 97 (1982), 325-47.
Braswell, Laurel, ‘Sir Isumbras and the Legend of St. Eustace’, Medieval Studies 27
(1965), 128-51.
Brownlees, Marina S., ‘Writing and Scripture in the Libro de Apolonio: The Conflation of Hagiography and Romance’, Hispanic Review 51 (1983), 159-74.
Bullough, G., Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare VI (London, 1966), pp.
349-74.
Callu,J.-P., ‘Les prix dans deux romans mineurs d'époque impériale: Histoire d'Apollo-
nius roi de Tyr — Vie d’Esope’, in Les dévaluations 2 Rome: Epoque républicaine et
impériale 2, Collection de l'école francaise de Rome 37 (Rome, 1980), pp. 187212.
Chiarini, O., 'Esogamia e incesto nella Historia Apollonii Regis Tyn', Materiali e Discussioni per l'Analisi dei Testi Classici 10-11 (1983), 267-92.
Dannenbaum, Susan Crane, 'Guy of Warwick and the Question of Exemplary Romance’, Genre 17 (1984), 351-74.
Dawkins, R. M., ‘Modern Greek Oral Versions of Apollonios of Tyre’, MLR 37
(1942), 169-84.
Delbouille, Maurice, ‘Apollonius de Tyr et les débuts du roman frangais’, in Mélanges
offerts a Rita Lejeune, 2 vols (Gembloux, 1969), II, pp. 1171-1204.
Deyermond,A. D., ‘Motivos folkléricos y técnica estructural en el Libro de Apolonio’,
Filología 13 (1968-9), 121—49.
Duncan-Jones, R., ‘The Use of Prices in the Latin Novel’, in The Economy of the
Roman Empire: Quanutative Studies, 2nd edn (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 251-6.
Enk, P. J., ‘The Romanceof Apollonius of Tyre’, Mnemosyne s. 4, 1 (1948), 222-37.
Frye, Northrop, The Secular Scripture: A Study of the Structure of Romance (Cambridge,
Ma., 1976).
Garin, F, ‘De Historia Apollonii Tyrii', Mnemosyne 42 (1914), 198-212.
Gesner, Carol, Shakespeare and the Greek Romances (Lexington, Ky., 1970).
Gillmeister, H., ‘The Origin of European Ballgames’, Stadion 7 (1981), 19-51.
Goepp, P. IL, "The Narrative Material of Apollonius of Tyre’, EL} 5 (1938), 150-72.
Goolden, Peter, ‘Antiochus’ Riddle in Gower and Shakespeare’, RES, n.s. 6 (1955),
245-51.
Hágg, Tomas, The Novel in Antiquity (Oxford, 1983).
Hagen, H., Der Roman vom Kénig Apollonius von Tyrus in seinen verschiedenen Bearbeitungen (Berlin, 1878).
Haight, Elizabeth I1., More Essays on the Greek Romances (New York, 1945), pp.
142-89.
Haupt, M., ‘Uber die Erzahlung von Apollonius von Tyrus', in Opuscula III (Leipzig,
1876), pp. 4-29.
Heiserman, Arthur, The Novel before the Novel (Chicago, 1977).
Hexter, Ralph, review of Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri, ed. G. A. A. Kortcekaas, Speculum 63 (1988), 186-90.
Hibbard, Laura, Medieval Romance in England (London, 1924; rp. New York, 1960).
Hofmann, Konrad, ‘Uber Jourdain de Blaivies, Apollonius von Tyrus, Salomon und
Marcolf', SBAW 1 (1871), 415-48. [Rp. in Amis et Amiles und Jourdain de Blaivies:
qwei altfranzosische I leldengedichte des kerlingischen Sagenkreises, 2nd edn (Erlangen,
1882)}.
Holzberg, Niklas, ‘The Historia Apollonregis Tyr and the Odyssey’, in Groningen
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239
Huer, G., 'Un miracle de Marie Madeleine ct le roman d’Apollonius de Tyr’, Revue
des Religions 74 (1916), 249-55.
Hunt, J. M., ‘A Crux in Apollonius of Tyre’, Mnemosyne s. 4, 35, (1982), 348-9.
, ‘Apollonius Citharoedus’, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 91 (1987),
283-7.
——, ‘Apollonius Resartus: A Study in Conjectural Criticism’, Classical Philology
75 (1980), 23-37
, 'Ei and the Editors of Apollonius of Tyre', Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
85 (1981), 217-9.
, ‘More on the Text of Apollonius of Tyre', Rheinisches Museum für Philologie,
N.F. 127 (1984), 350—61.
——, 'On Editing the Text of Apollonius of Tyre’, Classical Philology 78 (1983),
331-43.
———,, review of The Story of Apollonius, King of Tyre, tr. Zoja Pavlovskis, Classical
Philology 76 (1981), 341-4.
Klebs, Elimar, Die Erzáhlung von Apollonius aus Tyrus: eine geschichlliche Untersuchung
über ihre lateinische Urform und ihre spáteren Bearbeitungen (Berlin, 1889).
Knight, C. Wilson, The Crown of Life: Essays in the Interpretation of Shakespeare's Last
Plays (London, 1947).
Kortekaas, G. A. A., ‘Het adaptie-proces van de Ilistoria Apollonii Regis Tyn in de
Middcelecuwen en vroege Renaissance’, in Dwergen op de schouders van Reuzen,ed.
H. van Dijk and E. R. Smits (Groningen, 1990),pp. 57-74.
., "The Latin Adaptations of the Historia Apollonii regis Tyri in the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance’, in Groningen Colloquia on the Novel III, ed. H. Hofmann (Groningen, 1990), pp. 103-22.
. [see under editions]
Krappe, A. H., 'Euripides' Alemaeon and the Apollonius Romance’, Classical Quarterly
18 (1924), 57-8.
Lana,Italo, ‘Il posto della cultura nella Storia di Apollonio re di Tiro', in Aui della
Accademia delle scienze di Torino, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche
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McCulloch,Florence, ‘French Printed Versions of the Tale of Apollonius of Tyre’, in
Medieval Studies in Honor of Urban Tigner Holmes, ed. John Mahoney and JohnE.
Keeler, University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and
Literatures 56 (Chapel Hill, 1965), pp. 111-28.
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Manitius, Max, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, 3 vols (Munich,
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Mazza, Mario, ‘Le avventure del romanzo nell'occidente latino: La Historia Apollonii
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"Tyrus", SBAW2 (1872), 3. 28.
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(Copenhagen, 1966).
Nilsson, Nils A., Die Apollonius-Erzáhlung in den slawischen Literaturen, Études de
philologie slave 3 (Uppsala, 1949).
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dell’Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, Classe di Lettere, Filosofia e Belle Arti, 55
(1979), 273-84.
Pavlovskis, Zoja [see undertranslations]
Perry, B. E., The Ancient Romances: A Literary-Historical Account of their Origins,
Sather Classical Lectures 37 (Berkeley & London, 1967).
Peters, R. [see under translations}
Pickford, T. E., ‘Apollonius of Tyre as Greek Myth and Christian Mystery’, Neophilologus 59 (1975), 599-609.
Propp, Vladimir, The Morphology of the Folktale, tr. Lawrence Scott, 2nd edn revised
and ed. Louis Wagner (Austin, 1971).
Rank, Otto, Das Inzest-Motif in Dichtung und Sage, 2nd edn (Vienna, 1926; rp.
Darmstadt, 1974).
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Rohde, Erwin, Der griechische Roman und seine Vorldufer, ed. W. Schmid, 3rd edn
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» 'Ke staroceské povídce o Apolónovi Tyrském (Zur aletschechischen Er-
zühlung über Apollonios von Tyros), Listy Filologické 107 (1984), 232-9.
Ziegler, Ruprecht, ‘Die Historia Apollonius Regis Tyri und der Kaiserkult in. Tarsos',
Chiron 14 (1984), 219. 34.
Zw, Mi hel (ed), Le roman d' Apollonius de Dy, Biblitheque médiéval 10/18 (Paris,
1082), pp. 1858
INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS CITED
The numbers in square brackets refer to the discussion of versions of the Apollonius story in Appendix I. I do not give the redaction to which HA texts belong
except in the case of the Bern Redaction [V5]. Versions of the Apollonius story
which are not HA texts, and do nothavea specific title, are listed as Ap.
BERN
Burgerbibliothck
208,s. XIII. HA (Bern Redaction), ff. 49r-58v [V5]: 186
BRUSSELS
Bibliothéque Royale
11097, s. XV. Brussels Redaction,ff. 1r-52v [V14]: 194
11192, s. XIV. Brussels Redaction,ff. 1r-79v [V14]: 194
BUDAPEST
Ornzágos Széchényi Kónyvtár
lat 4, s. X-Xl. HÀ (fragmentof 4 leaves): 9, 46, 94-5
CAMBRIDGE
Corpus Christi College
201, s. XI. Old English Ap., pp. 131-145 [V2]: 96, 183-4
318,s. XII. HA,ff. 4771-509r: 184
451, s. XII-XIII. HA, ff. 88r-105v: 76,78
CIIARTRES
Bibliothéque Municipale
419, s. XIV-XV. French Ap., ff. 1v-26r: 96
COLMAR
Bibliotheque Municipale
10, s. XIV. Gesta Romanorum,ff. 741-84v [V11]: 90 n. 26,93, 191, 192
DONAUESCI IINGEN
Fürstlich Fürstenbergische Hofbibliotnek
150, s. XV. Steinhéwel, Die hystoy des Küniges Appollonii, ff. 2r-40v [V25]:
96
FSCORIAI.
Biblioteca Reale
HER 4,8 XIV Fio de ANpolmio, l8 91i 64e [VIO].
96, 190
242
INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS CITED
FLORENCE
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
Ashbumham 123, s. XIV. French Ap., ff. 14r-22v: 68, 74,95, 194 n. 7
plut. LXV 35, s. XI. HA,ff. 130r-131v: 46
plut. LXVI40,s. IX. HA,ff. 62r-70v: 9
Biblioteca Nazionale
Magliabecchiana VIII 1272, s. XIV. Italian (Tuscan) Ap., ff. 51-32v [V168B]:
195
Palchetto II 68, s. XIV. Italian (Tuscan) Ap., ff. 2141-238v [V16A]:
GDANSK
Biblioteka Gdariska
2425, s. XIII. Old French Ap. Fragment [V8]: 188
GHENT
Universitcitsbibliotheek
92, c. 1120. Liber Floridus, ff. 263v-269v and 258v-259r [V3]: 185
169, s. XI. Gesta Apollonii (on flylcaves) [V1]: 183
LEIDEN
Universitcitsbibliotheck
Vossianuslat. F 113, s. IX. HA, ff. 30v-38v: 9
LEIPZIG
Universiratsbibliothek
1279,s. XV. Germanprose Ap., ff. 160v-235r, [V26]: 96, 202
LONDON
British Library
Royal 20 C ii, s. XV. London Redaction,ff. 210r-236r [V21]: 95, 199
MUNICH
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
clm 17129, s. XIV. HA,ff. 220r-228v: 86
clm 18060, s. XV. HA,ff. 287r-298r: 86
OXFORD
Bodleian Library
Bodley 287, s. XIV. HA, f. 306v: 86
Douce 216, s. XV. Middle English Ap. Fragment [V13]: 193
Laud Misc. 247, s. XII. HA, ff. 203v-223r: 22
Corpus Christi College
82, s. XI. HA (Bern Redaction), pp. 329. 45 [V5]: 186
Majsdalen College
50, NIE HA, ft 8816 1O8C€
9,92
INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS CITED
243
PARIS
Bibliothéque de l’Arsenal
2991, s. XIV. French Ap., ff. 11-23v: 75 n. 22, 78
Bibliothéque Nationale
lat. 4955, s. XIV. HA,ff. 9r-15r: 9,73
lat. 8502, s. XIV. HA,ff. 11-27r: 95,194 n.7
lat. 8503, s. XIV. HA,ff. 1r-7v: 68,95
nouv.acq. lat. 1423, s. XIII. HA, ff. 156r-166r: 92 n. 31
nouv.acq. fr. 20042, a.1436. French Ap., ff. 25v—50r: 75 n. 22,96
ROME
Biblioteca Casanatense
463 (formerly A.1.21), s. XIII. HA (Bern Redaction), ff. 8r-18r [V5]: 186
STUTTGART
Wuürttembergische Landesbibliothek
Hist. Fol. 411, s. XII. HA,ff. 2391-247 v: 26 n. 56
TURIN
Biblioteca Nazionale
NV6,s. XIV. Italian (Tuscan-Venetian) Ap., ff. 1-28. [V17] (destroyed): 1
VATICAN CITY
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
lat. 1961, s. XIV. HA,ff. 373v-385v: 93
lat. 1984, s. XII, HA, ff. 167r-184r: 9
lat. 2947, s. XIV. HA, ff. 46r-48v: 93
lac. 7666, s. XV. HA,ff. 246r-267v: 96
Ottobon. lat. 1387, s. XIII. HA, ff. 59r-67v: 73, 93
Ortobon. lar. 1855, s. XIII. HA (Bem Redaction), ff. Ir—-16v [V5]: 73, 78, 93
n. 35, 94, 186
Reg. lat. 718,s. XII. HA,ff. 206r-222r: 21, 94
Reg.lar. 905, s. XII. HA (Bern Redaction), f 13v-30v [V5]: 78, 186
Urb. lat. 456, s. XIV. HA, ff. 38v-46v: 73,9
VIENNA
Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek
480,s. XIII. HA,ff. 59r-66r: 44 n. 52
2886, 2.1467. Heinrich von Neustadt, Apollonius von Tyrland, ff. 1-120r
[V 15]: 95
3126, s. XV. HA, ff. 50r 52v: 46
3428, s. XV. If. Vienna Redaction, Ir 55r [V22]:
199
244
INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS CITED
WROCEAW (formerly Breslau)
Stadtbibliothek
R 304, a.1465. German Ap., ff. 38v-62r (destroyed) [V26]: 202 n. 12
ZURICH
Zentralbiblothek
C 35, 3.1468. HA,ff. 256r-269r: 93 n. 35
GENERAL INDEX
This index is selective. Only the main characters in the Apollonius story are included
(underthe standard HA forms of their names); the subject headings refer to major themes
and discussions. Apart from versions of HA and texts containing allusions to it, primary
sources are included if they are frequently cited or of substantial importance to my
arguments (the same applies to secondary sources). Primary sources are listed by author,
unless anonymous (cross-references are given for texts equally well knownby title, or of
doubtful attribution). Versions of HA are cited as in Appendix |; reference numbers for
Appendices I andII are given in square brackets. The index does not cover the text and
translation (for a synopsis of the plot see pp. 9-12).
A chantar mer un discortz [A27], 47, 228
Achilles Tatius, 32, 49 n.5
acting, 75 ff., 180
Adam deSuel [A29], 98, 229
apocryphal texts, 31, 34, 202
Apollonius, historical characters of this
name, 40ff., 50, 204-5 (and see
Apollonius of Tyana)
Albanus, St., 96, 99
Alexander the Great, 37 n.30, 40, 47, 81,
85, 86, 91, 97, 98, 106, 185, 200, 201,
205, 220, 221, 224, 225, 227, 228, 229,
232 (and see Kyng Alisaunder and
Lamprecht)
Alfonso el Sabio, 86 n.15, 231
Antiochus (in HA): in allusions, 96ff.,
219ff., 224ff., 229ff.; death, 59, 67, 89,
97, 192, 204, 214-15, 224, 229; histori-
(and see Philostratus)
Apollonius of Tyre (in HA): and acting,
75f., 180; in allusions in other texts,
45ff., 96ff., 217ff; autobiography, 9, 223, 92 n.5, 199, 201, 205, 206; and
daughter, 12ff., 15ff., 20, 31, 59, 62, 68,
70-1, 88, 90, 94, 98-9, 230; as Everyman, 105-6; and Fortune, 1OOff.; generosity, 21, 43, 54, 89; guilt, 21, 90ff.,
190; historical identification, 40ff.; in
Aeneas, 97, 180, 223
cal identification, 37ff., 89, 185, 201,
204;in illustrations, 95, 199; incest
with daughter, 12ff., 15ff., 19, 29, 38ff.,
43, 54, 55, 59(f., 67-8, 71, 89-90, 93,
95. 98ff., 191, 198, 204, 207, 210,
219ff., 224ff., 229ff.; and kingship,
18ff., 67, 199; and riddle, 24, 44, 64ff.;
in rubrics, 93, 98
Antiochus, name of various Syrian kings:
Antiochus 1 Soter, 27, 38ff., 208; AntiochusIII Magnus, 39, 85, 207, 220,
230; Antiochus IV Fpiphanes, 39ff.,
85, 185, 201, 204, 214 n.19, 221 2,
23; Antiochus Junior Eupator, 204;
Anto hus Junior Seleucus, 40 n 43,
H5, | H5
Apollo, 15, 38, 75, 102 n 48, 186, ^0]
Apollonius of Tyana, 42ff., 60, 218, 230
illustrations, 94ff.; and kingship, 18ff.,
68-9, 88, 214; and love, 12-13, 17, 63,
66-1, 83, 92, 187ff., 221ff.; passivity,
90ff., 93, 105 n.55; renamed Pericles,
50, 212, 214-15; and riddles, 12, 13,
23ff., 64, 65, 66; in rubrics, 92ff.; and
son,20, 88, 195, 200, 205
Apollonius' wife: false death, 14, 20, 29,
94, 184, 208, 214; and father, 13, 15ff.,
20, 95, 212; and learning, 22-3; and
love, 12-13, 15, 17, 28, 52, 63, 66-7,
83, 92, 184ff.; name, 9, 30.11, 98,
181, 186, 201, 204, 207, 210, 212, 214;
pregnam y, 67, 180.1
Apuleius, 35,640 3,67
Atchestrates and daughters 13, 158, 70,
99, 2172, and kinda, 158
246
GENERAL INDEX
Aristippus of Cyrene, 37
Aristotle, 29
Amaut Guilhem de Marsan [A15], 47, 91,
97,187, 222-3
Arthur, King, 47, 57, 67, 85, 91, 97—8, 99,
106, 189, 195, 223
Athenagoras: and daughter, 15ff.; and
kingship, 18ff.; and Tarsia, 13-14,
16ff., 69ff., 77-8, 102, 182, 192, 196,
200, 204, 211, 212-3, 215
Aye d'Avignon [A14], 47, 98, 222, 225
ballgame, 25 n.52, 28, 74-5, 192, 196,
197, 198, 199
baths and bathing, 25 n.52, 33, ?2ff., 196,
201, 206, 210
Belleforest, Frangois de [V35], 50, 65, 66,
67, 69, 70, 76, 80, 103-4, 209, 214
Bern Redaction [V5], 14.26, 47, 74
n.21, 78, 102, 186
Bertrand de Paris en Rouergue [A28], 47,
91, 97,187, 228
Bogáti, E. M., see Hungarian version
Braswell, Laurel, 35 n.26, 104-5
brothel, 14, 16, 21, 23, 27, 29, 33, 34, 367, 55, 69-70, 71, 72, 77ff., 184, 190,
192, 200, 203, 212, 214-5, 216
Brussels Redaction [V 14], 48, 66, 67, 74,
76, 92, 94, 103, 193-4, 215
Bullough, G., 36 n.39, 60 n.19, 61 n.23,
104, 211, 213, 215
Canace, 230
Capgrave, John [A33], 42 n.49, 49, 86, 97,
230-1
Carmina Burana [V6], 47-8, 64, 87, 98,
103, 187
Cave, Terence, 17 n.32, 29 n.5
Chariton, 32
La Changon de Doon de Nanteuil [A20], 47,
97, 225
Charlemagne, 54, 81, 99 n.41
chastity, 30 n.12, 55, 58, 83, 105, 186, 201
Chaucer, Geoffrey: Clerk's Tale, 96;
General Prologue, 5, 81; Man of Law's
Prologue and Tale (A32], 48, 58ff., 97,
98, 105 n.54, 192 n.6, 230; Melibee, 96
Chiarini, G., 16 n.31, 18.35, 23, 24, 25
n.51, 78
Chrétien de Troyes: Chevalier de la Char-
Christianization of Apollonius story, 6-7,
41, 56-8, 78ff., 87 ff., 92, 104, 182ff.
Chronicon Lemovicense [A16], see Geoffrey
de Vigeois
Chronicon Novaliciense [A6], 47, 97, 219
classical customs in HÀ and later versions,
55, 56, 72ff., 89, 102, 182ff.
Clementine Recognitions, 31, 34ff., 59ff., 61
comedy (classical), 27, 29ff., 36, 44, 66,
69
Compendium Libri Apollonii, 46
Confisyón del Amante [V29], 34 n.24, 48—
9, 93, 203
Constance, 58ff., 105 n.54 (and see
Chaucer, Manof Law's Tale)
Continuación de la Crónica de Esparaa del
Arzobispo don Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada
[A34], includes ballad attributed to
Pedro IV of Aragon, 229-30
Copland, Robert [V32], 49-50, 74-5, 78,
201, 206, 207, 212, 214
Corrozer, Gilles [V34], 50, 67, 69, 74, 77,
18, 94 n.36, 103, 207
crusade chronicles, 43, 47, 85ff., 97, 219—
20, 222, 226
Czech version [V 19], 48, 66, 67, 69, 74,
197-8, 210
Danish ballad [V7], see Kong Apollon af
Tyre
Dares Phrygius, 86
Daurel et Beton, 53-4
De dubiis nominibus [A3], 45, 218
Delbouille, M., 52, 53, 55, 57, 61, 82ff.,
96, 185, 199, 217, 226
Demetrius (son of Seleucus IV), 41
Deyermond, A. D., 16 n.31, 42 n.48, 63ff.,
76 n.27, 189, 203
Diana, 14, 22, 89, 96, 102, 104, 201, 215
Diegesis Apolloniou [V27], 48, 50, 74, 76,
78, 80, 89 n.24, 92, 93, 99, 104, 196,
202-3
Digenes Akritas, 37
Disuchs of Cato [A29], see Adam de Sucl
Doon de Nanteuil [A20], see La Changon de
Doon de Nanteuil
Dutch printed versions [V20]: Die Gesten
of geschienissen van Romen [V20A], 49,
92, 198, Dw schoone ende dw suecrlicke
rete, 7319, Philomena (Al 2], 47,
historic van Appollonies van Thyra
dt
an
‘
IV 208], 49, 198
GENERAL INDEX
education, 12, 18, 22 ff., 37, 78-9, 212
n.18 (and see learning)
Emaré, 88
Ephesiaca, see Xenophon of Ephesus
epic (classical), 27-8, 36, 44, 67 n.9
Eihiopica, see Heliodorus
Euripides, 29; Alemaeon at Corinth, 16, 27,
29, 36 n.27; lon, 31
Eustace, Sr., 35, 93 n.35, 104, 105 n.54
Everard, Marquis of Friuli [A5], 46, 219
exemplum, 48, 57, 87ff., 93-4, 96, 99, 106,
192
Falckenburg, Jacob [V30], 40, 50, 64, 65,
61, 70, 74, 79, 91, 92 n.31, 104, 203ff.
false death, 14, 20, 29, 32, 43, 55, 56—7,
184, 208, 214
family reunion, 5, 6, 18, 29, 30, 35-6, 44,
58ff., 71-2, 83, 88, 90, 99, 105
father-daughter relations, 12-13, 15ff.,
18ff., 21, 24, 40, 58ff., 62, 70-1, 98ff.,
105, 198, 216 (and see incest and
Incestuous Father narratives)
Flamenca [A26], 47, 74, 97, 101, 227-8
Floire et Blancheflor, 53, 77
folktale, 30 n.10, 33, 36, 44, 52, 58 n.13,
64, 71, 82-3, 84, 188, 198, 201, 209
Fortune, 47, 62, 88, 97, 100ff., 186, 187,
192, 206, 208, 215, 225
Frye, Northrop, 12, 16 n.31, 60, 81, 84,
100, 102 n.48, 105, 106 n.59, 213, 232
n.7
Fulcher of Chartres [A7], 42 n.49, 84, 219,
220 (and see Gesta Francorum expugnantium lH ierusalem)
Garbin, Louis, 49, 200-1 (and see Le romant de Appollin roy de Thir)
Geoffrey de Vigeois [A16], 47, 96-7, 224
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 85
German prose versions [V26], 48, 202
(and see Steinhówel)
Gesner, Carol, 49 n.5, 61, 105 n.55, 213
Gesta Apollonii [V 1], 22, 46, 183-4
Gesta Francorum expugnantium I lerusalem
[A8], 84, 220, 226
Gesta Romanorum [V1 1], 4, 23, 48, 49, 50,
61, 77, 718, 89, 92, 93.4, 99, 182, 190
1, 192, 198, 200, 201, 203, 206, 207,
209, 210, 214
Die Gesten of geschienissen van Romen
IV 20A], see Dutch printed verieons
247
Godfrey of Viterbo: Memoria Seculorum
[A17], 47, 85, 97, 185, 192, 220 n.2,
224-5, 226; Pantheon [V4], 40 n.43,
47, 49, 61, 64, 67, 68, 75, 85-6, 92, 98,
102-3, 185-6, 192, 201, 210, 220 n.2,
Goepp, P. H., 16 n.31, 27-8, 29 n.4, 58ff.,
89
Goolden, Peter, 24, 184, 191-2, 213
Gower, John: Chorusin Pericles, 22, 50-1,
81, 100ff., 212, 214-15; Confessio
Amanuis [V12], 5, 24 n.48, 34 n.24, 48,
49, 59, 61, 66, 68, 70, 74-5, 76, 79, 90,
93 n.33, 99, 100, 101ff., 182, 186, 191—
3, 203, 213, me Greck oral version, 7
Greek rhymed version 31 50, 64, 71,
15, 197, 209, 212
Greek romances(classical): see romance,
Hellenistic
Gregorius, 65 n.5, 81, 96 n.39, 99, 210
Griselda, 96, 105 n.54, 210,
Guerau de Cabrera [A10], 47, 91, 97, 187,
220-1
Gui de Cambrai [A23], 47, 98, 226
gymnasium scene, 15, 25 n.52, 28, 33, 37,
45, 55, 72—f., 192, 196, 197, 198, 199,
201, 204, 206, 210, 215, 218
]l4gg, T., 32, 34 nn.23 and 25, 94 n.37
hagiography, 31, 34ff., 55ff., 77, 88, 90,
96, 101-2, 184, 190, 203
Heiserman, Arthur, 17, 31, 67 n.9
Heinrich von Neustadt [V15], 26 n.55, 48,
49, 63, 65, 68, 74-5, 91, 95, 194-5,
197-8, 199
Heliodorus, 20, 32-3, 42 n.48, 49 n.5, 208
Hellenistic romances, 7-8, 17, 20, 22
n.43, 23, 31ff., 34, 36-7, 42, 44, 49
n.5, 50, 61, 71, 87, 186, 211 (and see
individual authors)
Henricus Septimellensis [A18}, 47, 97,
102, 225
Henryson, Robert [A35], 49, 97, 232
Hibbard, Laura, 3, 82
Hiram of Tyre, 25 n.51, 43-4, 189, 222,
226
Historia Apollonia: allusions in other texts,
45I( , 960, 2 VT; cr alanion, 45ff ;
date of « otnposition, GFF, pence and ie
cepion, 8B, and bogegraphy, M,
248
GENERAL INDEX
55ff., 77, 88, 96, 101-2, 184; historical
sources, 37ff.; influence, 52ff.; in library catalogues, 46, 87, 93, 97; literary
sources and analogues, 28ff, manu-
scripts, 8-9, 20-1, 26, 73ff., 92ff.; prob-
lemsin the plot, 63ff.; structure and
style, 12ff., 32ff.; synopsis of plot, 9ff.;
themes, 15ff.; Ur-text (hypothetical),
6ff., 27, 33-4, 39, 42, 43, 63, 66, 102
n.50, 180; versions, 46ff., 182ff.
Homer, 25, 27, 28, 104
Honorius Augustodunensis [A9], 40 n.40,
85 n.14, 220, 231
Hungarian version [V38], 50, 209
Hunt,J., 4, 109, 180
Hystoria de Apolonio [V 28), 48-9, 92, 203
incest: in allusions to Apollonius story, 48,
49, 86, 97, 219, 220, 221, 230;
contributed to popularity of story, 21,
98ff., 105; in HA plot, 7 n.15, 12,
15ff., 19, 21ff., 70-1, 89-90; in rubrics
and illustrations, 93ff.; in sources and
analogues, 29, 30, 34, 35, 38ff., 42, 43,
44; in texts influenced by HA, 55, 56,
58ff., 62; in versions of HA, 182ff.
Incestuous Fathernarratives, 58ff., 62, 65
n.5, 99, 198 n.11, 229, 220 n.4
Italian prose versions [V16 and 17], 48,
65, 74, 79, 195-6, 202
Jacques de Vitry [A22], 43-4, 47, 7? n.31,
84, 226
Job, 93, 105 n.55, 203
Jonson, Ben [A37], 3, 50, 105, 216, 232-3
Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, 41, 43, 222;
Contra Apion, 43
Jourdain de Blaye, 23 n.45, 53, 54-5, 57,
71, 77, 90 n.28, 98
Jupirer, 21, 102 n.48, 229 (and see Zeus)
Katharine, St.: see Capgrave
kingship, 12-13, 18ff., 24, 67ff., 214
Klebs, E., 5, 6-7, 64, 72 n.17, 77, 86 n.15,
87 n.17, 102, 182ff.
Kong Apollon af Tyre [V?), 47, 65, 187-8
Konstan, David, 4, 29 n.6, 66 n.8, 67
nn.9-10, 109, 180-1
Kortckaas, G. A. A., 4, 5, 6-8, 9 nn.20-1,
13n.23, 14 nn.25 27, 15 n.29, 16
n. M, 20, 24, 26 n.56, 32. 0.18, 33, M
and nn 2 9 and 25, 39, 400 45, 42 and
n 349, 45, 45, 4660 V 4660 4, 50,63 HI
n.2, 86, 89 nn.23-4, 93, 94 nn. 36-7,
102 n.50, 109, 180ff., 217, 218 n.1
Kyng Alisaunder [A25], 47, 97, 227
Lamprecht [A11], 47, 97, 221
Lambert of St. Omer [V3], 47, 85 n.14,
92, 185
Lana, Italo, 7 n.17, 13 n.24, 15 n.30, 18,
22 n.42, 33, 67 n.9, 83 n.9
Lancelot, 61, 73
learning, importance of, 12, 13, 22ff., 55,
64, 69, 78—9, 80 (and see education)
Liber Floridus, see Lambert of St. Omer
Libro de Apolonio [V10], 5, 15 nn.30-1, 19
n.38, 25 n.52, 26 n.55, 47, 64 n.2, 66,
67, 69, 74, 75, 76 n.27, 77, 79, 89
n.24, 92, 96, 103, 104, 189-90, 211,
231
London Redaction (V21], 49, 76, 78, 199,
201, 206
Maccabees, Booksof, 40ff., 50, 86, 91,
204-5
Mary Magdalene, 56-7
manuscripts: 8-9, 20-1, 26, 73ff., 92ff.
(and see Index of Manuscripts)
Marden, C. C., 42 n.49, 65, 86 n.15, 189,
193, 217, 230, 231
Martin, Sc., 34
Mazza, Mario, 7 n.18, 15 n.30, 22 n.42, 34
n.
Melibee, 96 (and see Chaucer)
Menander: Epitrepontes, 29 n.7; lliereia, 30
Middle English fragment [V 13], 48, 193
Mirk, John, 100 n.43
Moller, Hermann, 50, 211 (and see Eine
schine unde kortwylige Historia van
Koninge Apollonio)
money, 6-7, 180
monuments, commemorative, 7, 13, 21,
22 n.43, 32, 43, 53, 55, 65, 209
music, 15, 19, 25, 69, 75ff., 79, 95, 180,
186, 199, 201, 212, 214, 215
Myrtha, 65 n.5, 207
names: Apollonius’ wife, 9, 98, 181, 186,
201, 204, 207, 210, 212, 214; source of
Shakespearean Pericles, 215; sources
andsignificance of names in HA, ¥7f6;
sources and significance of names in
texts influenced hy HA, 56, 57. 8,60
|; variations in versions o EEA, 82?tt
Neptune, 28, 89, 103, 104
GENERAL INDEX
O Antioche cur decipis me, see Carmina
Burana
Odysseus, 28, 67 n.9, 104 (and see Homer)
Oedipus, 24, 207 (and see Sophocles)
Old English version [V2], 3, 5, 26, 46-7,
13, 87, 93, 96, 183-4
Old French fragment [V8], 47, 65, 98, 188
Orendel, 55-6
Orpheus, 49, 75, 97, 186, 201, 232
Ovid, 15, 27, 33, 52, 78, 82, 180
papyrus fragments of Greek Apollonius
romance, 7-8
Paris (Trojan hero), 97, 223
Pedro IV of Aragon [A31], 42 n.49, 22930 (and see Continuación de la Crónica
de Esparia)
Pericles (Athenian statesman), 215
Perry, D. E., 6, 15 n.30, 18, 27-8, 31, 32
n.17, 33, 34 n.25, 35, 37(f., 41, 44,
63ff.
Petronius, 25, 33
Philoména, see Chrétien de Troyes
249
Philostratus, 31 n.15, 42ff. (and see Apollo-
Roberts, M., 4, 66 n.8, 109, 180-1
Rohde, E., 6, 15, 18, 32 n.18, 38 n.35, 42
n.48
Roland, 98, 229
Romannovels, 25, 31, 33, 64 n.3, 67 (and
see Apuleius and Petronius)
romance, Hellenistic, 7-8, 17, 20, 22
n.43, 23, 31ff., 34, 36-7, 42, 44, 49
n.5, 50, 61, 71, 87, 186, 211 (and see
individual authors)
romance, medieval, 3, 23, 52ff., 82ff.,
88ff., 186ff., 192, 194—5, 199—200,
206-7, 209 (and see individual authors
and titles)
Le romant de Appollin roy de Thir, Garbin’s
version [V24], 49, 74-5, 78, 96, 103,
200-1, 206, 207
Ruiz-Montero, C., 18 n.37, 36 n.28, 40
n.43, 68, 90
Russian version, 210
Sachs, Hans [V36], 50, 103, 187, 208
Sagan om Didrik af Bern, 44 n.52, 57 n.2,
189 n.3
pirates, 29, 30, 32, 186, 201, 206, 211
Plautus: Curculio, 30; Menaechmi, 61;
Poenulus, 30; Rudens, 30
Plutarch, Banquetof the Seven Sages, 25;
Life of Demetrius, 38 n.34
Poé&me Moral [A19], 47, 92, 98, 217, 225,
228
Polish version [V39], 50, 92, 210
Priapus, 14, 78-9, 80, 192, 196, 202, 204
printed editions of Apollonius story, 3-4,
49ff., 92ff., 182ff.
Propp, V., 36, 68, 71, 84
Pucci, Antonio [V18], 48, 64, 70, 74, 103,
196-7, 209, 212
recognitionscenes, 5-6, 12, 13, 16ff., 28,
29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 56, 59, 61, 71-2, 79,
88, 99, 181, 186, 187, 211, 212, 215,
216, 230, 232
Renart, Jean [A21], 47, 226
Riche, Barnabe: Apollonitas and Silla, 60. 1;
Opmion Deified, 60 0.20
21 n.41, 65, 68, 69, 109
Die schone ende die suverlicke historie van
Appollonius van Thyrus [V20B], 49, 198
(and see Dutch printed versions)
Eime schine unde kortwylige Historia vam
Kéninge Apollonio, Moller’s version
[V41], 50, 211
Seleucus, name ofvarious Syrian kings:
Seleucus I, 38, 40, 201; SelecucusII,
220 n.2; Seleucus III, 40 n.40; Seleucus
IV, 41; Seleucus Callinicus, 220;
Seleucus Ceraunius, 40 n.40, 220;
Seleucus Philopator, 231
Seneca, Elder, 27, 36-7
Shakespeare, William: 5, 21, 62; Comedy
of Errors, 61, 216; Coriolanus, 215;
Cymbeline, 102 n.48; Pericles [V43], 3,
5, 21-2, 24 n.48, 26 n.55, 30 n.9, 36
n.29, 40 n.41, 46, 50, 51, 66, 68, 69,
10, 74-5, 79, 81, 90-1, 99, 100ff., 105
n.58, 182, 185, 186, 192, 206, 209,
210ff., 2196, 232; Romeo andJuliet,
101; Twelfth Nyli, 60 1; Two
nius of Tyana)
Pimlyco or Runne Red-cap [A3], 51, 216,
riddles, 89,02
13,16, 07, 21, 2210, 33
494, 64, 65, 66, 71, 79, 94, 99, 180),
180, 1570, 221, 776
Schmeling, Gareth,4, 6, 9 n.20, 18 n.37,
Gentlemen of Verona, 206, Two Noble
Kinsmen, 102 n 48, Winter lale, 1072
n dA
250
GENERAL INDEX
Sidney, Sir Philip, 215
Singer, S., 5, 44 n.52, 54 n.5, 55 n.7, 57
n.12, 93 n.33, 182ff.
Sir Isumbras, 88, 105 n.54
Smyth, A. H., 5, 32, 86 n.15, 182ff.
Solomon,King, 25 n.51, 43-4, 57, 189,
Sophocles, 29, 31
Steinhéwel, Heinrich [V25], 40 n.43, 48,
49, 50, 74, 78, 86, 96, 201-2, 211, 220
n.2
Swatonice,27, 37ff., 208
Svoboda, K., 8 n.19, 12 n.22, 13 n.23, 14
n.25, 15 n.28, 22 n.42, 34 n.22
Swedish version, see Sagan om Didrik af
Bern
Symphosius, 8, 25-6, 33, 43, 181 (and see
riddles)
Tarsia: and Apollonius, 12-13, 15ff., 20,
31, 59, 62, 68, 70-1, 88, 90, 91, 99, 94,
230; and Athenagoras, 13-14, 16ff.,
69ff., 83, 102, 203, 204, 212ff.; in
brothel, 14, 16, 36, 69-70, 77ff., 203,
212; fostering, 13, 16, 20, 68, 90, 94,
214; and learning, 23, 78, 181, 214;
name, 38, 41, 210-11, 212, 214; and
riddles, 9, 12, 23ff., 33; in rubrics and
illustrations, 93ff.
Theodosius [A2], 41 n.47, 218
Thidreks SecaaBem [V9], 44 n.52, 47, 57-
8, 97-8, 1
thunderbolt, 1,39-40, 43, 59, 89, 204,
219, 220, 229
Timoneda, Juan de [V40], 26 n.55, 38
n.32, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 74, 76, 79, 96
n.39, 103, 210-11
Trenkner, Sophie, 30, 35 n.26, 40
Tristan, 61-2, 73, 76, 97, 221-2, 223, 228,
229
Twine, Lawrence [V33], 23, 50, 61, 74, 75,
71, 18, 92 n.31, 94, 104, 191 n.5, 2067, 212-13, 214
Venantius Fortunatus [A1], 45, 97, 217-8
Vienna Redaction [V22], 24 n.47, 41
n.46,49, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 74, 15
n.22, 77, 79, 91, 95, 98, 103, 198, 199200, 215
Vincentof Beauvais, 56, 85
Le violier des histoires romaines [V23], 49,
92, 94 n.36, 200, 207
Virgil: 33; Aeneid, 15, 27, 28, 67 n.9, 82,
180-1; Eclogues, 194 n.8
Vitruvius, 37
Wando, Abbot of Sc. Wandrille [A4], 45,
218
Welser, Markward [V31], 50, 63, 97, 182,
205
Wilbrandus de Oldenburg [A24], 227
Wilkins, George [V42], 19 n.38, 40 n.41,
50, 66, 68, 70 n.13, 74—5, 79, 94, 102
n.41, 209, 211ff., 214ff.
William of Tyre [A13], 43-4, 45, 47, 84,
22, 226
Wolfram von Eschenbach, 69, 195
Worde, Wynkyn de, 50, 206
Xenophon of Ephesus, 22 n.43, 32, 36, 49
n.5
Ystoria Regis Franchorum et filie in qua adul-
terium comitere voluit [A30], 59, 97, 229
Zeus, 39-40 (and see Jupiter)
Zink, M., 24—5, 29, 38, 40 n.43, 42 n.48,
49, 200
lim.
ee
Lapolis
oD
=
"xD
THE TRAVELS OF APOLLONIUS AND HIS FAMILY
A. Apollonius sails from Tyre to Antioch.
H. Tarsia is carried by pirates from Tarsus to
D. Apollonius sails to Cyrene (where he is
shipwrecked).
J.
G. Apollonius sails from Tarsus co Egypt.
M. Apollonius and his family sail from Tarsus
to Cyrenc.
B. Apollonius returns to Tyre.
C. Apollonius sails to Tarsus.
E. Apollonius and his bride set sail for Antioch;
she is buried at sea; he and his baby
daughter arrive at Tarsus.
E His wife's coffin floats to Ephesus.
I.
Mirylene.
Apollonius returns from Egypt to Tarsus.
Apollonius,sailing aimlessly, arrives at
Mitylene.
K- Apollonius, Tarsia and Athenagoras sail
from Micylene to Ephesus.
L. Apollonius and his family sail from Ephesus
to Tarsus.
+ Io.