Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/845

Rh SIMONIDES. There is an edition of the fragment on women, by G, D. Koeler, with a prefatory epistle by Heyne, Getting. 1781, 8vo. But the first complete edition was that of Welcker, published in the Rlieinisches Museum for 1835, 2nd series, vol. iii. pp. 353, foil., and also separately, under the title of Simonidis Amorgini Iambi quae supersunt, Bonn. 1835, 8vo. The text of the fragments is also contained in Schneidewin's Delectus Poesis Graecorum, y>T[>. 196, foil., in Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci, pp. 500, foil., and the Poetae Gnomici, in the Tauchnitz classics. (Welcker, I. c; Schneidewin, in Zimmermann's Zeitschrift filr Alterth. 1836, pp. 365, foil. ; Muller, Hist. Lit. I. c. ; Ulrici, Gesch. d. Hell, Dichtk. vol. ii. pp. 304—307 ; Bode, vol. ii. p. 1, pp. 318—327 ; Bernhardy's Grundriss d. Griech. Litt. vol. ii. pp. 339—341.) 2. Simonides, of Ceos, one of the most celebrated lyric poets of Greece, was the perfecter of the Elegy and Epigram, and the rival of Lasus and Pindar in the Dithyramb and the Epinician Ode. He lived at the close of that period of two cen- turies, during which lyric poetry advanced from the earliest musical improvements of Terpander, to that high stage of development which it attained in his own works, and in the odes of Pindar and the choruses of Aeschylus ; in which the form could be no further improved without injuring the true spirit of poetry ; and from which, after a brief rest at the point of perfection in the choruses of Sophocles, it i-apidly degenerated in the hands of Euripides and of the Athenian dithyrambic poets, whom Aristophanes so severely satirized. Plis genius must have received, also, no small impulse from the political circumstances of his age. VVhen young, he formed a part of the brilliant literary circle which Hipparchus collected at his court. In advanced life, he enjoyed the personal friend- ship of Themistocles and Pausanias, and celebrated their exploits ; and in his extreme old age, he found an honoured retreat at the court of Syracuse. His life extended from about the first usurpation of Peisistratus to the end of the Persian wars, from 01. 56. 1, to 01. 78. I, B.C. 556—467. The chief authorities for his life, besides the ancient writers, and the historians of Greek literature (Muller,UIrici, Bode, Bernhardy, &c.) are the two works of Schnei- dewin {Simonidis Cei Carminis Reliquiae^ Brunsv. 1835, 8vo.) and Richter {Simonides der aelt. von Keos^ nach seinem Lehen beschriehen und in seinem poetisclien Ueberresten iibersetzt, Schleusingen, 1836, 4to), in which the ancient authorities are so fully collected and discussed, that it is unnecessary to refer to any except the most important of them. Simonides was born at Julis, in the island of Ceos, in 01. 56. 1, B.C. 556, as we learn from one of his own epigrams (No. 203*), in which he cele- brates a victory which he gained at Athens, at the age of 80 years, in the archonship of Adeimantus, that is, in 01. 75. 4, b. c. 476 ; and this date is confirmed by other authorities, and by the date of his death, which took place at the age of 89 (Suid.) or 90 {Mar. Par.), in 01. 78. I, B.C. 467 ; Lucian (Macrob. 26) extends his life beyond 90 years. (Schn. pp. iii. iv. ; Clinton, F. H. s. aa. 556, 476, 467.) His father was named Leoprepes, and his grand- father Hyllichus ; but this must have been his article are those of Schneidewin's edition. vol . III. SIMONIDES. 833 maternal grandfather, if, as there is reason t(» be- lieve, his paternal grandfather was also named Simonides, and was also a poet. {Marm. Par. Ep 49 ; Bockh, a I. vol. ii. p. 312.) The poet Bac- chylides was his nephew ; and another Simonides, distinguished by the epithet of Genealogus., was his grandson. (See below. No. 3.) The following is the whole genealogy. Simonides. Hyllichus. Leoprepes. == (Daughter.) Simonides. (Daughter.) Simonides. (Daughter) = Midon, or I Midj'lus. Bacchylides. It seems, from a story related by Charaaeleon (Ath. X. p. 456, c), that the family of Simonides held some hereditary office in connection with the worship of Dionysus, and that the poet himself officiated, when a boy, in the service of the god at whose festivals he afterwards gained so many vic- tories. He appears also to have been brought up to music and poetry as a profession. The pre- ceding genealogy furnishes strong presumption that the art, according to the then common custom, was hereditary in his family ; and it is stated that he instructed the choruses who celebrated the wor- ship of Apollo at Carthaea, where, as also in the rest of his native island, that god was especially honoured. (Chamael. I. c.) Pindar, who was a bitter rival of Simonides, makes this early poetic discipline a subject of reproach, designating him and Bacchylides as rovs /ixddovTas, as if they had been poets merely by instruction, and not by inspiration. (See further, Schneidewin, pp. vi. — viii.) From his native island Simonides proceeded to Athens, probably on the invitation of Hipparchus, who attached him to his society by great rewards (Plat. HipparcL p. 228, c. ; Aelian, V.H.ui.2). The reign of Hipparchus was from B. c. 528 to 514, so that Simonides probably spent the best years of his life at the tyrant's court. Anacreon lived at the court of Hipparchus at the same time, but we have no evidence of any intimate relations between the two poets, except an epitaph upon Anacreon, which is ascribed to Simonides (Fr. 171, Schn.; Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 136, No. 49. s. 55). Another of the great poets then at the court of Hipparchus was the dithyrambic poet Lasus, Pindar's teacher, who engaged in poetical contests with Simonides ; and the rivalry between them appears to have been carried on in no friendly spirit. (Aristoph. Vesp. 1410, c. Schol.) We have no positive information respecting the poet's life between the murder of Hipparchus and the battle of Marathon. It appears not improbable that he remained at Athens after the expulsion of Hippias, of whom he speaks as 'AvSpos dpiffTevaavTos if 'EaAoSj roiv e(^' eouroC, in his epitaph on the tyrant's daughter Archedice (No. 170), which bears, however, internal evidence (vv. 3, 4) of having been written after the ex pulsion of the Peisistratids. But the favours he had received from the Peisistratids, and especially from Hipparchus, did not prevent him from speak ing of the death of his patron as " a great light 3h
 * The numbers of the fragments quoted in this