No Zenobius in English?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I never cease to be astonished at the quantity of ancient Greek literature that does not exist in English.  A few days ago I was looking into the testimonia for the tomb of Alexander.  Andrew Chugg has the following on his site:

“Ptolemy Philopator built [in 215 BC] in the middle of the city of Alexandria a memorial building, which is now called the Sema, and he laid there all his forefathers together with his mother, and also Alexander the Macedonian.”
Zenobius, 2nd century AD (Zenobius Proverbia III.94)

A scanty Wikipedia article tells me that Zenobius was a 2nd century collector of proverbs.  Yet I can find no trace of a translation. 

 

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15 thoughts on “No Zenobius in English?”

  2. Thank you for this, although it doesn’t give us anything (a quick translation):

    ZENOBIUS, Greek sophist, about whom the ancients have left us little information. The scholiast on Aristophanes (ad Nubes) and Erasmus (Chiliades) following him call him Zenodotus, leading many authors to confuse him with the grammarian of Ephesus (see ZENODOTUS). According to Suidas, Zenobius lived at Rome in the reign of the emperor Hadrian; but, in his collection of Proverbs, two are found taken from Lucian (cent. II, 1; cent. III, 68), leading some critics to conclude that he cannot be anterior to the author of the Dialogues. We have already remarked (see DIOGENIAN, XI, 392) that the copyists permitted themselves very frequently to make additions to the works that they transcribed and that we must not admit too easily, against the authority of Suidas, passages which might be intercalated. This lexicographer attributes to Zenobius various works, among others the horoscope (genethliacon) of Hadrian and a Greek version of the history of Sallust. All that remains is just a collection of Proverbs with explanations; it is entitled Epitome proverbiorum Lucil. Tarrhaei et Didymi Alexandrini secundum ordinem alphabeticum, graece Florence, Philippe de Zunta, 1487, in quarto, very rare. This volume is seen as the first to come from the presses of the Junti or Giunti, the celebrated printers of Venice (see JUNTE, XXII, 158). Vincent Opsaeus has given a second edition of the Proverbs of Zenobius, Hagenau, 1531, small octavo; no less rare than the previous. A third appeared at Cracow, 1543, in quarto. This was unknown to Fabricius. There is a fourth by Gilbert Cousin (Cognatus) accompanied by a Latin version, under the title Sylloge paroemiarum quas Erasmus in suas Chiliades non retulit etc, Basle, Henric. Petit, 1560, in octavo. This version made part of the Works of Cousin, volume 1, 24-84. However Andre Schott declares that he does not know it, since he made a new one which he published with the text of Zenobius under the heading Adagia sive Proverbia Graecorum, etc, Anvers, 1612, in quarto. (See And. Schott). W–s.

    These ancient dictionaries are fascinating, tho, aren’t they! I’ve come across Schott recently, but can’t recall where.

  3. From here I find a little more:

    ZENOBIUS (Zhno/bioj), lived at Rome in the time of Hadrian and was the author of a collection of proverbs in Greek, which have come down to us. In this collection the proverbs are arranged alphabetically, and divided into hundreds. The last division is incomplete, the total number collected being five hundred and fifty-two. It is printed in the collection of Schottus (Paroimi/ai E)llhnikai/, Antwerp, 1612), [in the Paramiographi Graeci of Gaisford, Oxford, 1836, and of Leutsch and Schneidwin, Gottingen, 1839].

  11. Very useful post: I came here also looking for an English or French translation but could not find any. Doing research about the proverb “κοινα τα φιλων” which Iamblichus attributed to the Pythagoreans. There seems to be a discussion about it in Zenobius.

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