Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/149

127 LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 127 aider as the essence of this species of composition, were not required in the ancient Greek epigram ; in which nothing more is requisite than that the entire thought should be conveyed within the limits of a few dis-i tichs: and thus in the hands of the early poets the epigram was remarkable for the conciseness and expressiveness of its language ; differing in this respect from the elegy, in which a full vent was given to the feelings of the poet. Epigrams were probably composed in an elegiac form, shortly after the time when the elegy first arose ; and the Anthology contains some under the celebrated names of Archilochus, Sappho, and Anacreon. No peculiar character, however, is to be observed in the genuine epi- grams of this early period. It was Simonides, with whom we have closed the series of elegiac poets, who first gave to the epigram the perfection of which, consistently with its purpose, it was capable. In this respect Simonides was favoured by the circumstances of his time; for on account of the high consideration which he enjoyed both in Athens and Peloponnesus, he was frequently employed by the states which fought against the Persians to adorn with inscriptions the tombs of their fallen warriors. The best and most celebrated of these epi- taphs is the inimitable inscription on the Spartans who died at Ther- mopylae, which actually existed on the spot : " Foreigner, tell the Lacedaemonians that we are lying here in obedience to their laws*." Never was heroic courage expressed with such calm and unadorned grandeur. In all these epigrams of Simonides the characteristic peculia- rity of the battle in which the warriors fell is seized. Thus in the epigram on the Athenians who died at Marathon — " Fighting in the van of the Greeks, the Athenians at Marathon destroyed the power of the glittering Medians!. " There are besides not a few epigrams of Simonides which were intended for the tombstones of individuals: among these we will only mention one which differs from the others in being a sarcasm in the form of an epitaph. Tt is that on the Rhodian lyric poet and athlete Timocreon, an opponent of Simonides in his art: " Having eaten much, and drunk much, and said much evil of other men, here I lie, Timocreon the Rhodian J." With the epitaphs are naturally connected the inscriptions on sacred offerings, especially where both refer to the Persian war ; the former being the discharge of a debt to the dead, the latter a thanksgiving of the survivors to the gods. Among these one of the best refers to the battle of Marathon, which, from the neatness and elegance of the expression, loses its chief beauty in a prose translation §. It was inscribed on the statue of Pan, which t In Lycurgus and Aristides. I Fr. 58. § The words are these (fr. 2~i — T«v T^ay'oTovv Ifti Tlavot, tov ' ApKxox, tov Ka.ru. MtgS&v, "Yovfi.iT ' A0r,vciiikiv <rrr,<rxro NiXridont
 * Simonides, fr 27. ed. Gaisford.