Ο Πτωχοπρόδρομος παραπονιέται για τα τρυφηλά συμπόσια των ηγουμένων σε αντιδιαστολή με τα φτωχικά γεύματα των απλών μοναχων όπως ίδιος. Από το ποίημα αρ. IV (αρ. III στην έκδοση των Hesseling-Pernot):

Τετράδα καὶ παρασκευὴν ξηροφαγοῦσιν ὅλως·
ἰχθὺν γὰρ οὐκ ἐσθίουσιν, ἄναξ, ποσῶς ἐv τούτοις,
εἰμὴ ψωμίτσιν, ἀστακοὺς καὶ ἀληθινὰ παγούρια, [275]
καὶ καραβίδας εκζεστάς, τηγάνου καριδίτσας
καὶ λαχανίτσιν καὶ φακὴν μετὰ ὀστρειδομυδίτσια,
καὶ μετὰ . . . . δέσποτα, καὶ κτένια καὶ σωλῆνας,
καὶ φαβατίτσιν ἀλεστὸν καὶ ὀρύζιν μὲ τὸ μέλιν,
φασόλια ἐξοφθάλμιστα, ἐλαίτσας καὶ χαβιάριν, [280]
καὶ πωρινὰ αὐγοτάραχα διὰ τὴν ἀνορεξίαν,
μηλίτσια τε καὶ φοίνικας, ἰσχάδας, καρυδίτσια,
καὶ σταφιδίτσας χιώτικας, καὶ ἀπὸ τὸ διὰ κίτρου.
. . . ., νὰ χωνεύσουσιν ἐκ τῆς ξηροφαγίας,
κρασὶν γλυκὺν γανίτικον, καὶ κρητικὸν καὶ σάμιον, [285]
ἵνα χυμοὺς ἐκβάλωσιν ἐκ τῆς γλυκοποσίας,
ἡμᾶς δὲ προτιθέασι κυάμους βεβρεγμένους,
Ἡμεῖς δὲ νῦν ἐσθίομεν καθόλου τὸ ἁγιοζούμιν,
καὶ σκόπει τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ τὴν ποικιλίαν·
κακκάβιν ἔνι δίωτον, ὡσεὶ μετρῶν τεσσάρων,
καὶ ἕως ἄνω οἱ μάγειροι γεμίζουσί το ὕδωρ,
καὶ πῦρ ἐξάπτουσι πολὺ κατὰ τοῦ κακκαβίου,
καὶ βάλλουσι κρομμύδια κἂν εἴκοσι κολέντας, [295]
καὶ τότε βλέπε, δέσποτα, καλὴν φιλοτιμίαν·
εἰς κλῆσιν γὰρ βαπτίζονται τριάδος τῆς ἁγίας,
στάζει γὰρ τρεῖς τὸ ἔλαιον ὁ μάγειρος ἀπέσω,
καὶ βάλλει καὶ θρνμβόξυλα τινὰ πρὸς μυρωδίαν
καὶ τὸν ζωμὸν ἐκχέει τον ἐπάνω τῶν ψωμίων, [300]
καὶ δίδουν μας καὶ τρώγομεν καὶ λέγεται ἁγιοζούμιν.

Eideneier, Hans, Ptochoprodromos : Einführung, kritische Ausgabe, deutsche Übersetzung, Glossar (Köln: Romiosini 1991).

Μια αποτίμηση των πτωχοπροδρομικών στο πλαίσιο της βυζαντινής δημώδους λογοτεχνίας και του ρόλου της στην αυλή των Κομνηνών

What conclusions can be drawn? Byzantinists have been all too ready to treat our poems as "non-sens in disenables," simply because they arc in “mixed-up Greek.” They have also been reluctant to accept that vernacular texts, from the twelfth century on, can and should be created with the same degree of seriousness as texts in the style. Textual emendations and conflation of different manuscripts have been arbitrary. Yet, if Theodore Prodromos was the author of our four poems, as a mounting body of evidence suggests, the twelfth century provides the literary, cultural, and linguistic starting point for "modern" Greek, at the same time as ''ancient”' texts were rediscovered, edited, and performed. The twelfth century, as Michael Hendy, Alan Harvey, and Magdalino have shown from socioeconomic and cultural perspectives, was not one of decline, rather one of bewildering yet productive social diversification. Prodromos in the four vernacular poems spells out a timely if complex message for imperial rulers: they must pay serious attention to games and play in low-style language or else they will fall, as did indeed Constantinople to the Latins in 1204. Such is the wealth and specificity of detail afforded by the four poems here that we may be certain that they were not composed after that date, although they may have been revised by later scribes.

Alexiou M. “Ploys of Performance: Games and Play in the Ptochoprodromic Poems”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 53 (1999), σελ. 109.