The Mazaris: Reflections and Reappraisal

Abstract

I shall waste no time redoing what others have done well. Editors and historians have dissected much of the Mazaris' historical content. Some details call for friendly augmentation or corrections, thanks to new (or newly noticed) evidence. Identification of narrator with author needs scrutiny; the equation is frailer than is presently admitted. Above all, the literary side demands attention. The general denigration of the Mazaris1 is without warrant. It is partly the result of residual prejudice against Byzantine literature and the changes that had occurred and were still occurring in the Greek language. Another factor is widespread dislike of the extravagant puns in which the author indulges, also his endless streams of abuse, occasionally verging on the obscene. Little or no credit has been granted to his more subtle manifestations of humour. It is not enough simply to dub the piece and leave it at that. Paradoxically, those who do this have not always divined the full Lucianic features. Our satire does (of course) owe debts to Lucian. But in respect of content, style, and vocabulary, the only fair way is to analyse it in its own contemporary terms. Judged thus, the Mazaris emerges as no strange and lamentable oddity, but an effective contribution to the rich late Byzantine tradition of imaginative comic writing. The modern world was first made aware of the Mazaris by C. B. Hase,2 a savant of Napoleon. The first text, with notes more valuable on philological than on historical matters, was printed eighteen years later by Boissonade.3 Next came the edition (with German translation) of Ellissen,4 a work of versatile virtue. But the really giant step was taken in our own time, with the publication in 1975 of a new text enriched with English

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