“Tristia Ex Melitogaudo: Lament in Greek Verse of a XIIth-century Exile in Gozo” – the Latin title of this work translates as Song of Sadness out of Malta’s Gozo, it being a poetical composition in the classical hendecasyllabic metrical verse by a Sicilian who was exiled to Gozo after falling out with his King, Roger II.

Written in an archaic form of Greek, the three authors who undertook this formidable literary task performed a masterpiece of detective literary work, both linguistically and historically. Professors Joseph Busuttil, Horatio Vella and Stanley Fiorini have bequeathed to the world of academe many vital clues relating to fervently debated issues concerning our Maltese past. In this English rendering of the poem comprising 4,043 verses, which is conveniently and wisely presented alongside the original Greek version, the avid reader discerns a challenge of no mean effort to scholars of ancient Greek, the historian, the biblical scholar, as well as testing one’s recall of Greek mythology.

Future linguists and historians alike will surely debate this finely executed work. From a language viewpoint, tackling the different styles of individual Greek writers along with the flexibility in which Classical Greek was written, adds considerably to the semantics and its interpretation, even though the three scholars have applied all their linguistic skills to their utmost.

After having dealt with these issues, the unfolding historicity places its own demands on the general, as well as the more specific happenings around the Mediterranean, both during the time when the poem was written in the 12th century and retrospective to the days of Hellenic Greece. A good knowledge of Greek mythology, biblical events and the political intrigue that dominated the Mediterranean world of those days are therefore essential added ingredients for an in-depth appreciation of the vast and significant implications directly concerning the Maltese nation. These qualities in our three authors, collectively, have been put to the test in nothing less than this thorough translation, analysis and interpretative presentation of a no less scholarly and difficult poetical composition.

In the confines of a few spared columns in a popular medium such as this newspaper, one can never render proper justice to such an important and complex literary work.

The salient points in this opus that directly appertain to the Maltese as a nation, as the unique ethnic group that we are, include:

• the veracity of St Paul’s shipwreck on Malta’s shores rather than on some other Mediterranean island, as has been so contentiously argued in the past;

• the continuation of a certain level of adherence to the Christian faith by at least a minimal proportion of the Maltese without a complete break from Christianity during the Arab occupation; and,

• the contiguity of the Maltese language and Maltese ethnicity from the earliest days since the Phoenician occupation of the Maltese islands.

In the light of recent academic debate as a result of fresh information that has come to the fore, all these three points of contention have raised the eyebrows of many a scholar. Hence I conclude with my oft repeated retort that “the genuine scholar always leaves his door of knowledge ajar and never seals himself within a cocoon” as if his word is final.

In this marvellous work, our three authors − Busuttil, Vella and Fiorini − present the intelligent reader with ample scope to revisit and rethink the three principal points just highlighted.

The Maltese nation has much to be proud of in its glorious though little known past. Here is a first class exemplum clearly placing our ties with the ancient world on a sounder footing. It remains for the sceptic to prove otherwise.

Roderick Bovingdon read Latin & Greek at the Seminary and in later years added the works of Plato, Aristotle and others in the original while reading philosophy at the University of New England, Armidale, NSW. He also read the biblical works in their original Greek and Aramaic.