Tzetzes complained about an aggressive plagiarist

Summary:
A friend of Tzetzes wrote a fine epitaph for Ioannes II, but it was claimed by another man as his own. And the plagiarist did not stop there: he tried to appropriate the Lykophron commentary of Tzetzes himself, a work whose author was known to everybody. The lie was pointed out by Mesarites, but the plagiarist's response was to attack him violently. Tzetzes now intervened with a letter to point out the truth and excoriate the guilty man 
Dates:
1145 (Uncertain) 
plagiarist, who claimed works of Tzetzes and a friend (Anonymus 770)
  • He appropriated the imperial epitaph of Anonymus 771, then claimed the Commentary on Lykophron (which the whole world knew was Ioannes 459's); he attacked Anonymus 772 for revealing the fraud, but was then excoriated by Tzetzes (:) Tzetzes, Letters 60.5-63.8
friend of Tzetzes, who wrote an epitaph for Ioannes II (Anonymus 771)
  • His fine epitaph for Ioannes 2 had been claimed as his own by Anonymus 770; this was the first theft of the latter to become known to Ioannes 459 (:) Tzetzes, Letters 60 tit-61.9
Mesarites, who unmasked a plagiarist (Anonymus 772)
  • He criticised Anonymus 770 for claiming that the commentary on Lykophron had been written by himself, not Ioannes 459; as a result, he was angrily attacked by the plagiarist, but defended by Tzetzes (:) Tzetzes, Letters 60.5-63.8
Ioannes Tzetzes, man of letters (Ioannes 459)
  • He was told by Anonymus 772 of the thefts of Anonymus 770: first he claimed as his own the epitaph of Anonymus 771 for Ioannes 2, a case of plagiarism which made Tzetzes very uncomfortable, then he appropriated Tzetzes' own work (:) Tzetzes, Letters 60.5-61.18
  • His Lykophron commentary was claimed by Anonymus 770, a book that everyone on earth knew was by Tzetzes; then the man had the effrontery to attack Anonymus 772 for revealing the fraud; Tzetzes excoriated the plagiarist in a letter (:) Tzetzes, Letters 61.18-63.8