Of Iambists and Buffaloes: Hipponax in John Tzetzes

Tzetzes and Hipponax present the reader with a unique case of a Byzantine author being the main non-papyrological source for an archaic Greek poet. Tzetzes cites Hipponax on 38 occasions, referring to 37 separate fragments for a total of some 80 lines. Often he quotes the same fragment on more than one occasion, or more than one fragment in one discussion. Words or verses quoted by Tzetzes have turned up in every papyrus of Hipponax's Book I published to date (P.Oxy. 2174, 2175, 2323, and PSI 1089). A.D. Knox suggested that Tzetzes found all this Hipponax in a manuscript of the Lycophron scholia that was much richer than those now surviving; H. Schultz, in a manuscript of Hephaestion with scholia, or in an anthology. O. Masson, followed by E. Degani, successfully argued against these gratuitous suggestions: as already remarked by W. Schneidewin, Tzetzes must have read Hipponax – at least Book I – directly. Degani argued that one passage in Ptochoprodromos, too, alludes to one in Hipponax, but what we find in Tzetzes is unparalleled. In this paper, I shall explore Tzetzes' references to Hipponax and map them on Tzetzes' oeuvre. In what works, dating from what periods of his life, does he quote or cite Hipponax? How does he do so, and what are his purposes for doing so? Mostly linguistic and socio-historical, to be sure – but that is not all that there is to it. Building on V.F. Lovato's recent remarks about Hipponax's place in Tzetzes' authorial self-image, I offer a more comprehensive examination of what Tzeztes does with Hipponax's verses and what the fearsome ancient iambist does in, and for, the celebrated Τζετζικαὶ ἔρευναι.