Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/186

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§ 1. Difference between the Lyric Poetry of the Æolians, and the Choral Lyric Poetry of the Dorians.—§ 2. Life and political Acts of Alcæus.—§ 3. Their connexion with his Poetry.—§ 4. The other subjects of his Poems.—§ 5. Their metrical form.—§ 6. Life and moral character of Sappho.—§ 7. Her Erotic Poetry to Phaon.—§ 8. Poems of Sappho to women.—§ 9. Hymenæals of Sappho.—§ 10. Followers of Sappho, Damophila, Erinna.—§ 11. Life of Anacreon.—§ 12. His Poems to the youths at the Court of Polycrates.—§ 13. His Love-songs to Hetæræ.—§ 14. Character of his versification—§ 15. Comparison of the later Anacreontics.—§ 16. Scolia; occasions on which they were sung, and their subjects.—§ 17. Scolia of Hybrias and Callistratus.

§ 1. lyric poetry of the Greeks is of two kinds, which were cultivated by different schools of poets; the name which is commonly given to poets living in the same country, and following the same rules of composition. Of these two schools, one is called the Æolic, as it flourished among the Æolians of Asia Minor, and particularly in the island of Lesbos; the other the Doric, because, although it was diffused over the whole of Greece, yet it was first and principally cultivated by the Dorians in Peloponnesus and Sicily. The difference of origin appears also in the dialect of these two schools. The Lesbian school wrote in the Æolic dialect, as it is still to be found upon inscriptions in that island, while the Doric employed almost indifferently either a mitigated Dorism, or the epic dialect, the dignity and solemnity of which was heightened by a limited use of Doric forms. These two schools differ essentially in every respect, as much in the subject, as in the form and style of their poems; and as in the Greek poetry generally, so here in particular, we may perceive that between the subject, form, and style, there is the closest connexion. To begin with the mode of recitation, the Doric lyric poetry was intended to be executed by choruses, and to be sung to choral dances, whence it is sometimes called choral poetry: on the other hand, the Æolic is never called choral, because it was meant to be recited by a single person, who accompanied his recitation with a stringed instrument, generally the lyre, and with suitable gestures. The structure of the Doric lyric strophe is comprehensive, and often very artificial; inasmuch as the ear, which might perhaps be unable to detect the recurring rhythms, was assisted by the eye, which could follow the different movements of the chorus, and thus the spectator was able to understand the intricate and artificial plan of the composition. The Æolic lyric poetry, on the other hand, was much more limited, and either consisted of verses joined together, or it formed of a few short verses, strophes in which the same verse is frequently repeated, and the conclusion is effected by a change in the versification, or by the addition of a short final verse. The strophes of the Doric