J.E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship Vol. I:
“We learn much about Tzetzes from his own writings; he often complains of his poverty and his misfortunes and of the scanty recognition of his services. He was once reduced to such distress that he found himself compelled to sell all his books, except his Plutarch; and he had bitter feuds with other scholars. His inordinate self-esteem is only exceeded by his extraordinary carelessness. He calls Simonides of Amorgos the son of Amorgos, makes Naxos a town in Euboea, describes Servius Tullius as ‘consul’ and ‘emperor’ of Rome, and confounds the Euphrates with the Nile. He is proud of his rapid pen and his remarkable memory; but his memory often plays him false, and he is, for the most part, dull as a writer and untrustworthy as an authority.”
