“El vino pone a prueba el carácter” (XI, 232): epigramas convivales en Antología Palatina.

Abstract

Greek Anthology XI includes 442 sympotiká and skÅptiká epigrams, of banquet and of jeer, anonymous and on known authors, diverse in estimation, geography, time and poetical quality. Of this total, 15% of poems sings to the wine and to its tenacious presence in the human life, according to different approaches, intentions and tones: festive some, more serious others, they attest witness to the joy of its ingestion -even better in good company-, the stimulant force and the compensation before pain and ups and downs but, in opposition, register the fact of being a cause of disagreement, the risk of its abuse and the scornful rejection to the bad quality. From the selection of sixteen texts and the personal translation of each original Greek source, this investigation holds that the wine induces to antagonistic considerations, which are offered as a complex and plural code to an audience in occasion precisely as a banquet. Such an assertion will be justified through the integrated analysis of the artistic components, the conformation of a lexical specific net and the valuation of these peculiar documents of universal character. A mediated contribution is foreseen as a result for the critical-reflexive understanding of the chosen epigrams.