The
Διονυσιακά, an epic on
Dionysos
Nonnus is the author of an enormous epic poem, which has come down to us under the name of
Διονυσιακά or Βασσαρικά, and consists of fortyeight books. As the subject of the poem is a
pagan divinity and a number of mythological stories, some writers have supposed that it was
written previous to his conversion to Christianity or that it was composed in ridicule of
the theology of the pagans; but neither opinion appears to be founded on any sound argument,
for it does not appear why a Christian should not have amused himself with writing a poem on
pagan subjects. The poem itself shows that Nonnus had no idea whatever of what a poetical
composition should be, and it is, as Heinsius characterises it, more like a chaos than a
literary production. Although the professed subject of the poem is Dionysus, Nonnus begins
with the story of Zeus carrying off Europa; he proceeds to relate the fight of Typhonus with
Zeus; the story of Cadmus and the foundation of Thebes, the stories of Actaeon, Persephone,
the birth of Zagreus and the deluge, and at length, in the seventh book, he relates the
birth of Dionysus. The first six or seven books are so completely devoid of any connecting
link, that any one of them might by itself be regarded as a separate work.
The remaining books are patched together in the same manner, without any coherence or
subordination of less important to more important parts. The style of the work is bombastic
and inflated in the highest degree; but the author shows considerable learning and fluency
of narration. The work is mentioned by Agathias, repeatedly by Eustathius in his commentary
on Homer, and in the Etymologicum Magnum (s. v.
Διόνυοσος. There is an epigram in which Nonnus speaks
of himself as the author of a poem on the fight of the Gigantes, but it seems that this is
not a distinct work, but refers to the fight of Zeus and the Gigantes related in the first
books of the Dionysiaca.
Editions
The first edition that was published is that of G. Falckenburg, Antwerp, 1569,
4to.In 1605 an octavo edition, with a Latin translation, appeared at Hanau.A reprint of it, with a dissertation by D. Heinsius, and emendations by Jos.
Scaliger, was published at Leiden in 1510, 8vo.A new edition, with a critical and explanatory commentary, was edited by F. Graefe,
Leipzig, 1819-1826, in 2 vols. 8vo.
Paraphrase of the Gospel of St. John
A second work of Nonnus, which has all the defects that have been censured in the
Dionysiaca, is a paraphrase of the gospel of St. John in Hexameter verse.
Editions
The first edition of it was published by Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1501, 4to.;
and subsequently others appeared at Rome, 1508, Hagenau, 1527, 8vo. with
an epistle of Phil. Melanchthon, Frankfort, 1541; Paris, 1541,
1556; Goslar, 1616; Cologne, 1566.
Translations
It was also repeatedly translated into Latin, and several editions appeared with Latin
versions. The most important of these is that of D. Heinsius, Lugd. Bat. 1627,
8vo.
Συναγωγὴ καὶ ἐξήγησις ἱστοριῶν
(
Collection and Exposition of Stories)
There is further a collection and exposition of various stories and fables, bearing the
titles of Συναγωγὴ καὶ ἐξήγησις ἱστοριῶν, which
is ascribed to Nonnus.
Editions
The
Collection and Exposition was published at
Eton in 1610, 4to. by
R. Montacutius. But Bentley (
Upon the Ep. of Phalaris, p. 17,
&c.) has shown that this collection is the production of a far more ignorant person
than Nonnus.