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Symphosius The Aenigmata

i
 Also available from Bloomsbury:

Martial Book XIII: The Xenia

By T. J. Leary
978 0 7156 3124 9

Martial Book XIV: The Apophoreta

By T. J. Leary
978 0 7156 2721 1

ii
 Symphosius The Aenigmata

An Introduction, Text and Commentary

T. J. Leary

iii
 Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway

London New York
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First published 2014

© T. J. Leary, 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
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Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

iv
 Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements vii

List of Tables ix
Select Bibliography xi

Introduction 1
1 Author and title 1
2 Date 4
3 The collection 6
(a) Martial, Symphosius, Riddles and the Saturnalia 6
(b) Order and arrangement 13
(c) Literary style 26
(d) Latinity and metre 27
(e) Literary debts 28
4 Nachleben 31
5 The text 32
(a) Sigla 35
(b) Differences with Shackleton Bailey’s 1982 Teubner text 36
Latin Text 39
Commentary 53

Appendix: Attributions to Symphosius 249

General Index 251
Index Verborum 264

v
vi
 Preface and Acknowledgements

There survives in the post-classical compilation known to modern scholarship as the

Latin Anthology a collection of a hundred riddles, each consisting of three hexameters
and preceded by a lemma which gives the riddle’s answer. It would seem from the
collection’s preface that these riddles were composed extempore at a dinner to celebrate
the Roman Saturnalia. The work was to have a defining influence on later collections of
riddles; yet of its author almost nothing is known, and a debate regarding his biography
has inevitably ensued. While the evidence will be presented in the pages which follow,
it is none the less helpful to state at the outset that the name he went by was probably
(a form of) Symphosius and that the riddles in his collection were probably called the
Aenigmata. He seems, further, to have belonged to the period of Late Antiquity, he may
have come from North Africa, it is evident that he was talented and well educated, and
he may well have been a student or teacher of one of the rhetorical schools. Although
his work was later to influence that of several Christian writers and is included in the
Corpus Christianorum, there is nothing in it which suggests that he himself was not
pagan.
Past work on Symphosius has centred mostly on the text and transmission and is to
be found mainly in periodicals and editions of the Minor Latin Poets or the Latin
Anthology. There have in addition been several book-chapters and articles of general
appreciation, and a number on such matters as the author’s name and date; but until
recently there has been only one modern commentary, the doctoral dissertation of
Raymond Theodore Ohl published in Philadelphia in 1928. This commentary contains
much of value and was favourably reviewed when it appeared,1 but it now appears
somewhat dated and leaves a good deal still to be said. Manuela Bergamin’s commentary
(Florence 2005) is considerably more detailed and has much to add on the textual
tradition. It appeared after I had been working for some years on my own commentary,
and I have modified several of my thoughts in the light of it. I have also adopted many
of her parallels. I believe nevertheless that a further edition, this time in English, is
justified by our differences in interest, approach and emphasis.
The Aenigmata have proved far more subtle and sophisticated than I first expected,
and accordingly I have at times allowed myself to be more speculative – and even
subjective – than I have been in earlier projects. The reader must judge to what extent
this is justified. I have followed the format of my commentaries on Martial, and my text
is therefore not accompanied by an apparatus. Instead textual variants and conjectures
are supplied as part of the lemmata in the commentary. In the case of Martial this did
not prove a difficulty, but the Symphosius MS tradition is more complex and a number

1
See e.g. Souter 242–3, Spaeth 279, Manitius 309–10. (Full details of these reviews are given in the
Select Bibliography.)

vii
viii Preface and Acknowledgements

of my lemmata are rather cumbersome in consequence.2 I could think of no easy way,

within the constraints of the book’s format, of avoiding this; but I apologise for any
irritation it may occasion. I have not consulted any works published after March 2013.
I first began thinking about Symphosius in 2001. Since then I have accumulated a
great many debts. Those whom I have pestered over individual points are thanked in
the commentary below, but I am conscious of more general obligations to the following:
Deborah Blake, then at Duckworth, who agreed to publish my work, and her successors
at Bloomsbury, Charlotte Loveridge and the Bloomsbury production team; Dr Bridget
Nichols, who has been a loyal friend and firm supporter since our first undergraduate
Greek class more than thirty years ago; the many librarians who have patiently and
courteously dealt with my queries, however misguided or obtuse; and Professor Kathy
Coleman, Professor Stephen Harrison and Dr Nigel Kay for nobly ploughing through
and commenting on my typescript. While the responsibility for any infelicities that
remain in the work is entirely mine, had it not been for their efforts there would have
been a great many more. (It is perhaps worth remarking here that I have not replicated
material in Kay (see the Select Bibliography), especially regarding Vandal North
Africa.) Finally, I must thank Dr Helen Cockle for the care and dedication with which
she has prepared the final submission copy.

2
The more complex tradition has meant that the various MS readings have often demanded comment,
explanation and summary. I have used Latin for this, in the style of an apparatus.
 List of Tables

1 Symphosius and the Xenia 7

2 Symphosius and the Apophoreta 7
3 Overview of Symphosius’ book structure 15
4 Allusions to Virgil and Horace 29
5 Allusions to authors other than Virgil and Horace 30

ix
x
 Select Bibliography

This bibliography, intended to serve the reader’s convenience and to save space in the
commentary, makes no claim to completeness. It supplies bibliographical details of the
texts and editions cited, of the standard reference works used, and of other works
referred to, in most cases more than once. Further Symphosius bibliography can be
found in Bergamin and Smolak (see below).

Editions, translations and commentaries

Works published before 1800
Perionius, I.: Simphosii Veteris Poetae Elegantissimi Erudita Iuxta ac Arguta et Festiva
Aenigmata, Paris 1533; 2nd edn Paris 1537
Castalio, Ios.: Aenigmata Symphosii Poetae, Rome 1581; 2nd edn Rome 1607
Pithoeus, P.: Epigrammata et Poematia Vetera, Paris 1590; 2nd edn London 1596; 3rd edn
Geneva 1619
Heumann, Chr. K: L. Caelii Firmiani Lactantii ‘Symposium’ seu Centum Epigrammata
Tristicha Aenigmaticha, Hannover 1722
Wernsdorf, I. Ch.: Poetae Latini Minores VI.1, Helmstadt 1794

Works published after 1800

Riese, A.: Anthologia Latina I, Leipzig 1869; 2nd edn Leipzig 1894 (Teubner)
Baehrens, A.: Poetae Latini Minores IV, Leipzig 1879; 2nd edn Leipzig 1882 (Teubner)
Ohl, Raymond Theodore: The Enigmas of Symphosius, Philadelphia 1928
Glorie, Fr.: Variae Collectiones Aenigmatum Merovingicae Aetatis (Pars Altera) VII:
Aenigmata Symphosii, Turnhout 1968 (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina CXXXIII A)
Shackleton Bailey, D. R.: Anthologia Latina I.1 : libri Salmasiani aliorumque carmina,
Stuttgart 1982 (Teubner)
Bergamin, Manuela: Aenigmata Symposii. La fondazione dell’enigmistica come genere
poetico, Florence 2005

Other works and abbreviations

Commentaries on Classical authors are referred to in the text merely by the name of
the work or author and that of the commentator, and, with the exception of Kay, N-H
and N-R, are not included here. For ancient sources, the abbreviations of the OLD2 and
of L-S-J have generally been adopted or adapted. Periodical titles are abbreviated as in
L’Année philologique.

xi
xii Select Bibliography

Adams: J. N. Adams, The Latin Sexual Vocabulary, London 1982

André: J. André, L’Alimentation et la Cuisine à Rome, 2nd edn Paris 1981
Balsdon: J. P. V. D. Balsdon, Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome, London-Sydney-Toronto
1969, revised 1974
Bishop and Coulston: M. C. Bishop and J. C. N. Coulston, Roman Military Equipment from
the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome, 2nd edn Oxford 2006
Bonner: Stanley F. Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome, London 1977
BM: The British Museum
Carcopino: Jérôme Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome trans. E. O. Lorimer,
Harmondsworth (Penguin) 1941, repr. (Peregrine Books) 1962
CC: Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, Turnhout 1953–
CGL: Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum ed. G. Goetz, Leipzig 1888–1923
Ciarallo and De Carolis: Annamaria Ciarallo and Ernesto De Carolis edd., Pompeii. Life in
a Roman Town, Exhibition Catalogue, Naples and Los Angeles 1999
CIL: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Berlin 1863–
CLE: Carmina Latina Epigraphica edd. F. Bücheler and E. Lommatzsch, Leipzig 1886–1926
Courtney (1981): E. Courtney, CR 31 (1981), 39–42 [review of Shackleton Bailey 1979]
Courtney (1989): E. Courtney, ‘Supplementary notes on the Latin Anthology’, C&M 40
(1989), 197–211
Dale Scott: Peter Dale Scott, ‘Rhetorical and Symbolic Ambiguity: the Riddles of
Symphosius and Aldhelm’ in Margot H. King and Wesley M. Stevens edd., Saints,
Scholars and Heroes. Studies in Medieval Culture in Honor of Charles W. James vol. I,
Collegeville, Minnesota 1979, 117–44
Davies and Kathirithamby: M. Davies and J. Kathirithamby, Greek Insects, London 1986
dell’Orto and Varone: Luisa Franchi dell’Orto and Antonio Varone edd., Rediscovering
Pompeii, Exhibition Catalogue, Rome 1992
DNP: Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider edd., Der neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie des
Antike, Stuttgart 1996–2001
Dodds: E. R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1951
D-S: C. Daremberg and E. Saglio edd., Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines
d’après les textes et les monuments, Paris 1877–1919
Finch (1961): Chauncey E. Finch, ‘The Bern riddles in Codex Vat. Reg. Lat. 1553’, TAPhA
92 (1961), 145–55
Finch (1967): Chauncey E. Finch, ‘Codex Vat. Barb. Lat. 721 as a source for the riddles of
Symphosius’, TAPhA 98 (1967), 173–9
Finch (1969): Chauncey E. Finch, ‘Symphosius in Codices Pal. Lat. 1719, 1753 and Reg. Lat.
329, 2078’, Manuscripta 13 (1969), 3–11
Forbes: R. J. Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology, 2nd edn Leiden 1964–72
Forster: E. S. Forster, ‘Riddles and Problems from the Greek Anthology’, G&R 14 (1945),
42–7
FLP: Edward Courtney, The Fragmentary Latin Poets, Oxford 1993
Frere and St Joseph: S. S. Frere and J. K. St Joseph, ‘The Roman Fortress at Longthorpe’,
Britannia 5 (1974), 1–129
GLK: Grammatici Latini ed. H. Keil, Leipzig 1857–80
Gowers: Emily Gowers, The Loaded Table. Representations of Food in Roman Literature,
Oxford 1993
Healy: John F. Healy, Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World, London 1978
Hunt (1982): J. M. Hunt CPh 77 (1982), 253–7 [review of Shackleton Bailey 1979]
Hunt (1988): J. M. Hunt CPh 83 (1988), 328–41 [review of Shackleton Bailey]
 Select Bibliography xiii

ILS: H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Berlin 1892–1916

Kay: N. M. Kay, Epigrams from the Anthologia Latina, London 2006
Keller: O. Keller, Die antike Tierwelt vol. I, Leipzig 1909; vol. II, Leipzig 1913
Khader et al.: Aïcha Ben Abed-Ben Khader, Élisabeth de Baland, Armando Uribe
Echeverría, Image in Stone. Tunisia in Mosaic, Paris 2003
Kl.P.: Konrat Ziegler and Walther Sontheimer edd., Der kleine Pauly. Lexikon der Antike in
fünf Bänden, Munich 1979
Kwapisz et al.: Jan Kwapisz, David Petrain, Mikolaj Szymański edd., The Muse at Play.
Riddles and Wordplay in Greek and Latin Poetry, Berlin 2013
Leary: T. J. Leary, ‘ “The winter does not pass through me, but the sun sparkles within me”:
a literary window on Roman glass?’, Journal of Glass Studies 53 (2011), 235–7
L-H-Sz: Lateinische Grammatik vol. I, Manu Leumann, Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre,
Munich 1977; vol. II, J. B. Hofmann, Lateinische Syntax und Stilistik revised A. Szantyr,
Munich 1965
Löfstedt: Einar Löfstedt, Syntactica. Studien und Beiträge zur historischen Syntax des
Lateins vol. I (2nd edn), Lund 1942; vol. II Lund 1933
Lowe: Dunstan Lowe, ‘Triple Tipple: Ausonius’ Griphus ternarii numeri’ in Kwapisz et al.,
335–52
L-S: C. T. Lewis and C. Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford 1879
L-S-J: H. G. Liddell and R. Scott edd., revised H. Stuart Jones and R. McKenzie, A Greek-
English Lexicon, 9th edn with revised supplement, Oxford 1996
Maltby: Robert Maltby, A Lexicon of Ancient Latin Etymologies, Leeds 1991
Manitius: M. Manitius, PhW 11 (1929), 309–10 [review of Ohl]
MANN: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
March: Jenny March, Dictionary of Classical Mythology, London 1998
Marquardt: J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, Leipzig 1881–5
Marshall: F. H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, in the
British Museum, London 1907
Merkelbach: R. Merkelbach, ‘Zwei Gespensternamen: Aelafius und Symphosius’, ZPE 51
(1983), 228–9
MGH AA: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, Berlin 1817–1919
MGH PLAC: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetarum Latinorum Medii Aevi: Poetae
Latini Aevi Carolini, Berlin et alibi 1880–1951
Moritz: L. A. Moritz, Grain Mills and Flour in Classical Antiquity, Oxford 1958
Munari: Franco Munari, ‘Die spätlateinische Epigrammatik’, Philologus 102 (1958), 127–39
N-H: R. G. M. Nisbet and Margaret Hubbard, A Commentary on Horace Odes. Book 1,
Oxford 1970; Book 2, Oxford 1978
N-R: R. G. M. Nisbet and Niall Rudd, A Commentary on Horace, Odes, Book III, Oxford
2004
Neue-Wagener: Friedrich Neue, Formenlehre der lateinischen Sprache vols I–IV, revised
C. Wagener, Leipzig 1802–1905
OCD4: Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow edd., The Oxford
Classical Dictionary, 4th edn Oxford 2012
Ohl (1932): Raymond T. Ohl, ‘Symphosius and the Latin Riddle’, CW 25 (1932), 209–12
Oleson: John Peter Oleson ed., The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the
Classical World, Oxford 2008
OLD2: P. G. W. Glare ed., The Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd edn Oxford 2012
Otto: A. Otto, Die Sprichwörter und sprichwörtlichen Redensarten der Römer, Leipzig 1890,
repr. Hildesheim 1965
xiv Select Bibliography

Paoli: Ugo Enrico Paoli, Rome: its People, Life and Customs trans. R. D. Macnaghten,
London 1963
Patr. Lat.: J.-P. Migne ed., Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, Paris 1844–65
Pavlovskis: Zoja Pavlovskis, ‘The Riddler’s Microcosm: from Symphosius to St Boniface’,
C&M 39 (1988), 219–51
PLM: Poetae Latini Minores ed. A. Baehrens, Leipzig 1879–81, revised F. Vollmer, Leipzig
1911–35
Pollard: J. Pollard, Birds in Greek Life and Myth, London 1977
PLRE: J. R. Martindale ed., Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge 1980–92
Raven: D. S. Raven, Latin Metre, London 1965
RE: Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Stuttgart 1893–
Reynolds and Wilson: L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars. A Guide to
the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature, 3rd edn Oxford 1991
Roscher: W. H. Roscher ed., Ausführliches Lexicon der griechischen und römischen
Mythologie, Leipzig 1884–1937
Reeve: M. D. Reeve, Phoenix 39 (1985), 174–80 [review of Shackleton Bailey]
Roberts: Paul Roberts, Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, London 2013
Sebo: Erin Sebo, ‘In scirpo nodum: Symphosius’ Reworking of the Riddle Form’ in Kwapisz
et al., 184–95
SHA: Scriptores Historiae Augustae
Shackleton Bailey 1979: D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Towards a text of ‘Anthologia Latina’
(Cambridge Philological Society Supplementary Volume no. 5), Cambridge 1979
Smolak: K. Smolak in Reinhart Herzog and Peter Lebrecht Schmidt edd., Handbuch der
lateinischen Literatur der Antike vol. V, Munich 1989, 249–52 (§548 Symphosius)
Souter: A. Souter, CR 42 (1928), 242–3 [review of Ohl]
Spaeth: John W. Spaeth, CPh 29 (1934), 279 [review of Ohl]
Spisak: Art L. Spisak, Martial: a Social Guide, London 2007
Tarrant: R. J. Tarrant in L. D. Reynolds ed., Texts and Transmission. A Survey of the Latin
Classics, Oxford 1983
ThLL: Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, Leipzig 1900–
Thompson: D’Arcy W. Thompson, A Glossary of Greek Birds, London-Oxford 1936
Ward-Perkins and Claridge: John Ward-Perkins and Amanda Claridge, Pompeii AD 79,
Exhibition Catalogue, London 1976
Watt (1987): W. S. Watt, ‘Notes on the Latin Anthology’, HSCPh 91 (1987), 289–302
Watt (1996): W. S. Watt, ‘Notes on the Latin Anthology’, C&M 47 (1996), 259–60
Watt (2003): W. S. Watt, ‘Notes on the Anthologia Latina’, HSCPh 101 (2003), 449–72
White Equipment: K. D. White, Farm Equipment of the Roman World, Cambridge 1975
White Farming: K. D. White, Roman Farming, London 1970
White Implements: K. D. White, Agricultural Implements in the Roman World, Cambridge
1967
Woodcock: E. C. Woodcock, A New Latin Syntax, London 1959, repr. 1960
Woolf: É. Woolf, REL 84 (2006), 481–2 [review of Bergamin]
 Introduction

1 Author and title

The complex questions of the title given to the riddles and the name and date of their
author have attracted considerable debate. The first two of these matters – name and
title – are considered immediately below, where the possibility of the author’s African
origins is also raised. The last is discussed in the next section, although some relevant
evidence is put forward in this.
Most surviving MSS of the work mark its beginning with an incipit which contains,
with variations of spelling, the words aenigmata (almost always in the nominative
plural) and symphosius (always genitive singular).1 Some MSS mark the end of the
work with an explicit containing the same words,2 and in the Anecdota Helvetica there
appears the phrase ‘in aenigmatibus Symphosii’.3
That aenigmata is part of the original title is very likely. In Greek two words in
particular were used for riddles. One was γρῖφος (a fishing basket or creel, and
metaphorically therefore something intricate or woven and so a riddle). This word was
transliterated into Latin (hence Ausonius’ Griphus Ternarii Numeri, a work with which
the author of the Aenigmata was quite possibly familiar),4 and the Latin equivalent
scirpus also existed.5 Scirpus is directly equated at Gel. 12.6.1 with the other Greek word
for a riddle, αἴνιγμα: ‘quae Graeci dicunt “aenigmata”, hoc genus quidam ex nostris
veteribus “scirpos” appellaverunt’. If the author knew Ausonius’ Griphus, his choice of
the alternative Greek word for a riddle is not surprising.
The word ‘Symphosius’ has commonly been taken as a personal name. It is attested
as such in an inscription from Thugga dating to the fourth/fifth century (CIL
VIII.27333) and the name was held by several Church figures at the end of the fourth
century.6 This accords with Aenig. 100.1 ‘nomen habens hominis’ (on which see ad loc.)
and is clearly how it was understood by those MSS which qualify it with adjectives like
scholasticus, physicus or philosophus (see below). Note also the annotation above the
word ‘Symphosius’ in h: ‘id est vir gentilis’. It was considered a name by Aldhelm, to

1
For details regarding the MSS and for their sigla, see Introduction (5)(a) below. The MSS are: A βcK
αAng.dHMNOQRZ gGhIsV; cf. Bergamin’s apparatus.
2
AαehI; cf. Glorie’s apparatus.
3
See Appendix (a) below.
4
See Introduction (2).
5
OLD2 s.v. scirpus §2: ‘A kind of riddle (resembling basket-work in its intricacy)’.
6
Cf. Bergamin xiii, citing Wernsdorf.

1
2 Symphosius The Aenigmata

whom is owed the earliest reference to the collection7 and by Perionius in the editio
princeps, and has usually been accepted as such by modern scholarship.
An exception to this understanding is von Premerstein in 1904, who has some
followers.8 The praefatio of the collection establishes the Saturnalia as its context, and
the several allusions it makes to drinking (5 ‘post dulcia pocula mensae’, 7 ‘madidae . . .
linguae’, 17 ‘ebria Musa’) are in keeping with Saturnalian festivities,9 but drinking
during and particularly after a meal is bound also to suggest to the reader a Greek-style
drinking party or symposium. It was therefore assumed by von Premerstein that
‘[aenigmata] symphosii’ or rather symposii (cf. below) refers not to the author but
means ‘[riddles] of or for a symposium’ (‘Räthseln des Symposions’).10
Merkelbach combines the idea of a personal name with the associations of a
drinking party in suggesting that symphosii is a signum assumed by the poet as a joke
to accord with the symposiastic content of the praefatio and the professed state of
inebriation in which the collection was composed.11 Smolak thinks instead that the
author’s name probably really was ‘Symphosius’ or rather ‘Symposius’, but he plays
nonetheless on its symposiastic connotations.12 Of the two positions, this seems most
likely.
The spelling ‘Symphosius’ is generally favoured in the English-speaking world and
is therefore followed throughout this edition, but it is very probable that, whether
resulting from vulgar pronunciation13 or the incorporation of an ‘h’ shaped
orthographical flourish into the MS tradition,14 the aspiration is incorrect. Merkelbach,
who notes that the unaspirated spelling accords better with the work’s symposiastic
character, refers in general to the index of ILS III(2), 817, for examples of false aspiration
and cites specifically Phylades (ILS 7929) and Olymphia (CIL XIII.12075).15
The ascription by Scaliger in 1573 of two poems in the Latin Anthology (AL 629 and
636 Riese) to a certain Caelius Firmianus Symphosius may have contributed to the
diffusion of the name Caelius Symphosius, adopted for the author of the Aenigmata by
Pithoeus in 1590,16 but the justification for this ascription is slight.17 Later, in 1772,
following Jerome de viris illustribus 80, Heumann ascribed the riddles to another
Caelius, Caelius Firmianus Lactantius,18 the author of a Symposium, with the result that
most eighteenth-century editions of the Aenigmata were incorporated in the works of
Lactantius.19 This ascription, although it again has little justification, nevertheless had a

7
See Introduction (4).
8
A. von Premerstein, Hermes 39 (1904), 337 n. 6. See also e.g. F. Murru, ‘Aenigmata Symphosii ou
Aenigmata Symposii?’, Eos 68 (1980) 155–8.
9
Cf. Introduction (3)(a) section A below.
10
For riddles at a symposium, see Introduction (3)(a) section C.
11
Merkelbach 229.
12
Smolak 251.
13
Smolak ibid.
14
Cf. Merkelbach ibid.
15
Note too Bergamin xiii.
16
Cf. Bergamin xii.
17
Cf. Ohl at Praef. 1–2.
18
Cf. Bergamin lxiii.
19
Cf. Bergamin lxiv.
 Introduction 3

precedent in the tenth-century Cod. Cass. 90, which contains the following gloss:
‘Simposium vel Simphonium: enigma quod Firmianus et Lactantius composuerunt’;
and a further gloss, at the end of the praefatio in O, reads ‘Incanus Firmianus’, where
‘Incanus’ might derive from a miswriting of ‘Lactantius’. ‘Lactantius’ may also have
given rise, via scribal intervention influenced by the content of the praefatio, to ‘vel
lucani’ in the incipit of M, which reads ‘incipiunt in enigmate simphosii vel lucani’, but
it is more likely that ‘vel lucani’ was a simple addition rather than a corruption, since
Lucan was a ‘good’ name in the early Middle Ages and it was known that the poet had
written a Saturnalia.20
Instead of ‘vel lucani’, Baehrens suggested Valentini,21 basing his argument on the
ascription of the second half of Aenig. 19.2(3) to the otherwise unknown Valentinus in
the early medieval treatise de dubiis nominibus, n. 129 (CC 133A = GLK V.577): ‘carmen
generis neutri, ut Valentinus “nullus mea carmina laudat” ’. Baehrens suggested that
Valentinus was Symphosius’ cognomen and that it was derived from his home Banasa
Valentia in Mauretania Tingitana. A North African attestation of the name Symphosius
is noted above, it is widely accepted that much of the material in the Codex Salmasianus
(A) was originally assembled in North Africa/Carthage c. AD 533, and many of the
authors came from Africa themselves.22 But although Glorie makes an ingenious
attempt to account for the further titles scholasticus and philosophus as palaeographical
corruptions of ‘val antini’ (i.e. ‘val entini’) in ‘Enigmata Simphosii Valentini’, he fails
to convince,23 and Baehrens’ extrapolation from the de dubiis nominibus has little to
commend it beyond the sentimental attraction of an African connection. Attempts to
explain the attribution of Aenig. 19.2(3) in GLK include false or mistaken ascriptions,
textual corruption and indebtedness by both Symphosius and the grammarian to a
shared and now lost source.24 There is, however, no reason to doubt the accuracy of the
citation itself, which is of relevance to the textual debate surrounding Aenig. 19: see at
line 2(3).
Glorie is nonetheless correct to query these further titles’ authenticity – in contrast
to Riese, Ohl and Shackleton Bailey, who all head their texts ‘Symphosii Scholastici
Aenigmata’. The description scholasticus is used of one ‘who attends a school of rhetoric
(as student or teacher)’.25 Symphosius had affinities with the learned figures of late
Antiquity26 and would therefore have merited the title, but he is unlikely to have used
it of himself, just as Catullus is unlikely to have described himself as doctus, for all the
neoterics’ valued doctrina.27 The adjective survives in just one MS (A) and was added
by a scribe influenced by the riddles’ content. Similarly, the content of some riddles (not

20
Cf. Smolak 251.
21
See his 1882 edition, 50.
22
PLRE vol. II s.v. Symphosius, Munari 134, Tarrant 9, Kay 9–10. Wernsdorf seems to have been the first
to put forward the idea that our Symphosius came from Africa: see his edition 414 f.
23
Cf. Smolak 251 n. 8.
24
See Smolak 251 and Bergamin xiii.
25
OLD2 s.v. scholasticus §2a; cf. L-S s.v. scholasticus §II.
26
See Introduction (3)(a) section C below.
27
Cf. my note at Mart. 14.100.1 ‘docti . . . terra Catulli’.
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