Page:A History of Ancient Greek Literature.djvu/410

 386 LITERATURE OE ANCIENT GREECE Roman, and as full of those little phrases that smack of the Gracilis and suggest self-satisfaction — Bion is " the Dorian Orpheus^' Homer is ^Uhat sweet mouth of Calliope!' Yet his bad manner cannot hide his inborn gifts. Among the innumerable echoes of the Greek pastoral which are still ringmg in the ears of modern Europe, a good many come from Moschus's Lament for Bion; for instance, Matthew Arnold's dream, id '■'■Make leap tip with joy the beauteous head Of Proserpine^ atnong whose crown} d hair Are flowers first ope7ied 071 Sicilian air; Attd flute his friend, like Orpheus, from the deadP The other great mark of the Alexandrian epos and elegy, besides the love interest, was the learned interest. There were numerous archaeological poems. RhiAnus wrote on the Messenian Wars, making a kind of Wallace out of Aristomenes. Callimachus wrote four elegiac books of Aitia or 'Origins,' and an antiquarian epos ' Hecale,' centring upon Theseus and the Bull of Marathon, but admitting many digressions. There were still more philosophical poems. Aratus of Soli wrote on Phcenomena or 'Things Seen in the Sky,' with an appendix on the signs of the weather ; Nicander, on natural history, and on poisons and antidotes, as well as on the origins and legends of various cities. Neither of these two poets appeals much to our own age, which prefers its science neat, untempered with make-believe. The extraordinary influence and reputation enjoyed by Aratus in antiquity appear to be due to the fact that he succeeded in annexing, so to speak, as his private pro- perty, one of the great emotions of mankind. In the centuries following him it almost seems as if no cultured man was capable of looking long at the stars without