John Malalas in the Excerpta Constantiniana de Insidiis (El)

249

a concubine. The emperor grew angry and punished many from both factions, and
also exiled the factions’ four dancers.47
The four had already been banished by Anastasius after a riot shortly before this, ac-
cording to the El 36: “Under Anastasius there was a disturbance in the hippodrome
and many died and many things were burnt and the four dancers were exiled”.48
In El 39, though, the plot and the description of the facts is much clearer than
usual, quite the opposite of El 38, where the Green riot of (probably) 498 is described
in such a clumsy way that no integration of a lacuna can save.
From a lexical point of view, some formulas and words such as κράζω, άγανακτέω
and κολάζω are consistent throughout Malalas’riots. Others are changed on purpose,
like άκαταστασία, which is only in El 39: it possibly comes from Socrates, Historia
Ecclesiastica 1,8,311.49 Another rarity in Malalas is the simple verb πνίγω.
Most of all, there is a peculiar care in constructing a double tricolon·, that of the
riot until the death of a natural son of the emperor50 and that of the repression.51 Eve-
rything is posited with accuracy here, much more than usual.
That is why I suggest that Malalas, or his source, alluded to a literary or biblical
model.
One is reminded, of course, of the drowning of Pharaoh, about which Elizabeth
Jeffreys has written that “the most basic elements of the Exodus” 12 are retained in
Malalas III 13.
In El 39, though, there is a young boy who dies in the waters; I suggest that the
model could be the Batracomyomachia, where the mouse king Psycharpax drowns be-
cause of the diving frog and his father takes revenge.
There are no close verbal parallels, yet a comparison of the Circus factions with
mice and frogs may well fit the context.
What is more relevant, this is a sample of different stylistic levels in Malalas’ prose,
according to El and already about the emperor Anastasius I (book XVI Thurn).
Bernard Flusin noted that there is a caesura in correspondence with XVII 2 Thurn
47 "Oil επί Κωνσταντίνου τό έπίκλην Τζουρούκκα έπαρχου τής πόλεως έγένετο
ακαταστασία, θεωρούντος δέκιμον του αυτού Κωνσταντίου έπαρχου των Λεγομένων
Βρυτών έν τω θεάτρω έπανέστησαν άλλήλοις τα μέρη έν τω θεάτρω, καί πολλοί
έπνίγησαν έν τοΐς ύδασι καί έτραυματίσθησαν καί ξιφήρεις άνηρέθησαν, ώστε καί τον
υιόν τού βασιλέως τον από παΛΛακίδος έν τω θεάτρω άποθανεΐν. ό δέ βασιλεύς
άγανακτήσας πολλούς έκόλασεν έξ άμφοτέρων των μερών καί έξώρισεν καί τούς
τέσσαρας όρχηστάς τών μερών. Trad. Jeffreys et alii, in in app.
48 "Οτι έπί Αναστασίου έγένετο έν τω ίππικώ στάσις, καί πολλοί άπέθανον καί πολλά
έκαύθη, καί έξωρίσθησαν οί δ' όρχησταί.
49 συγχυσις + άκαταστασία, a iunctura picked up by George Monachus (redact™ recentior, 1. no, p. 1213,
as regards Bulgarians).
50 έπανέστησαν άλλήλοις τά μέρη I πολλοί έπνίγησαν έν τοΐς ύδασι καί έτραυματίσθησαν
καί ξιφήρεις άνηρέθησαν / τον υιόν τού βασιλέως τον άπό παΛΛακίδος έν τω θεάτρω
άποθανεΐν.
5ΐ ό δέ βασιλεύς άγανακτήσας / πολλούς έκόλασεν έξ άμφοτέρων τών μερών / καί έξώρισεν
καί τούς τέσσαρας όρχηστάς τών μερών.