Psellos made a dismissive reply to Ophrydas' attack on Xiphilinos

Summary:
Psellos replied after a time to Ophrydas' attack on the appointment of Ioannes Xiphilinos as nomophylax. Xiphilinos' all-round ability and achievement, and the precocious age at which he achieved it, are stressed throughout Psellos' text, which often contrasts him with Ophrydas. The latter's limited career and the poor quality of his attack were compared unfavourably by Psellos with Ioannes' splendid exploits. His strictures on youthful promotions were shown to be unhistorical (especially among the admired ancients) and generally ridiculous. Konstantinos IX was praised by most legal experts when he appointed Xiphilinos as nomophylax. Ophrydas, in attacking the choice, was in fact attacking the emperor who made it. Psellos hints that behind the elderly nonentity Ophrydas there may lurk a man of greater education and legal knowledge [Eustratios Romaios? - but he is unlikely to have lived so long] 
Dates:
1047 
Ophrydas, jurist (Anonymus 2110)
  • His limited career and his poor attack on Ioannes 18 were compared unfavourably by Michael 61 with Ioannes’ splendid achievements; his strictures on youth were shown to be unhistorical and generally ridiculous (:) Psellos Against Ophrydas 1-505
Eustathios Romaios (Eustathios 61)
  • He may lurk behind the elderly nonentity Ophrydas as composer of the attack on Ioannes 18 - a man of greater education and knowledge of the law [? but he is unlikely to have lived so long] ἄλλον δέ τινα καὶ λόγου μετέχοντα καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν ἀντεχόμενον καὶ τὸν προστησόμενον ἱκανῶς εἰδότα τῶν νόμων Psellos Against Ophrydas 35-42
Ioannes VIII Xiphilinos, patriarch of Constantinople (Ioannes 18)
  • His all-round ability and achievement, and the precocious age at which he achieved it, are stressed throughout the text of Michael 61, which frequently contrasts him with Anonymus 2110 (:) Psellos Against Ophrydas 1-505
Emperor Konstantinos IX Monomachos (Konstantinos 9)
  • He was praised by most legal experts when he appointed Ioannes 18 as nomophylax; Anonymus 2110, in attacking the choice, was in fact attacking the emperor who organised the making of the choice (:) Psellos Against Ophrydas 72-79, 326-364
Michael Psellos (named Konstantinos till tonsure in 1054) (Michael 61)
  • After waiting to see if his intervenion was needed, he wrote a speech in favour of the nomophylax Ioannes 18 and against the jurist Ophrydas (Anonymus 2110), beginning with problems of defending a great man against a nonentity ῾Υπὲρ τοῦ νομοφύλακος κατὰ τοῦ ᾿Οφρυδᾶ Psellos Against Ophrydas 1-505
  • He hints that behind the elderly nonentity Ophrydas there may lurk a man of greater education and knowledge of the law [Eustratios Romaios? - but he is unlikely to have lived so long] ἄλλον δέ τινα καὶ λόγου μετέχοντα καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν ἀντεχόμενον καὶ τὸν προστησόμενον ἱκανῶς εἰδότα τῶν νόμων Psellos Against Ophrydas 35-42
  • Much of his “Against Ophrydas” compared the achievements of Ioannes 18 with those of Anonymus 168 Ophrydas, including his illiterate libel; Ophrydas could not even understand the terms in which praise of Ioannes 18 must be couched Psellos Against Ophrydas 80-198
  • Anonymus 168 claimed that only those of a certain age should rise to the top in a profession like law (thus excluding the young Ioannes 18); Psellos made a long list of ancient intellectuals and writers who disproved this rule Psellos Against Ophrydas 255
  • He praised Ioannes 18 for becoming a legal expert so early in life, while Anonymus 168 had assumed that precocious knowledge of the law was against nature and therefore somehow bad; he pointed out the absurdity of this view Psellos Against Ophrydas 374-488