ancient poets, and that of Plato to a critical examination; he is supposed to have introduced the accents. His scholar, Aristarchus of Samothrace, (150) one of the most esteemed grammatical authors, is known by his severe criticism and arrangement of the Homeric epopees, which, however, have undergone other revisions. At the same time also, Crates, teacher of grammar at Pergamus, who, when ambassador of King Attalus II. at Rome, had there introduced the study of grammar, was occupied with a revision and explanation of the Homeric poems.t Dyonisius of Thrace (60)) established the first scientific principles of the Greek language, upon which, many of the Alexandrian school wrote commentaries. Didymus, (xaλyevrεgos) of Alexandria, wrote on the Aristarchic revision of the Homeric poems. Mythology was also carefully and zealously cultivated by many learned men. The mythological stories were separated and arranged according to their respective branches, tenor, and manner of representation; attempts were also made to explain them historically. Many works of this nature, among which are those of the learned Callimachus, are lost. Apollodorus of Athens, (140) A. C.) of whose numerous and important historical works but few remnants have been preserved, collected a mythological library on the ancient sayings, composed by different poets in the epic cycle, in 24 books, of which only three have been preserved. Parthenius of Nicea, (25 A. C.) collected mythological stories of the fate of lovers, and thus occasioned the composition of Greek novels. The Greek poetry was too intimately connected with public life, to survive the destruction cf civil liberty. Except the epigrams preserved in the Anthology, some serious scolias of Aristotle, Crates of Thebes, and others, and besides a most beautiful fragment of Hermesianax of Colophon, (preserved by Athenæus in the 13th century) who assumes, with his contemporary Phanocles, (284) the first place among the later elegiasts, only a few fragments of some comic poets exist, many of whom, as Apollodorus of Athens, (320) Diphilus of Sinope, (300) and others, are known only by their names. Much of the pleasant and witty Alexis of Thurium, is found in the compilations of Athenæus and Stobæus. We also possess fragments of the comedies of Menander, the model of Terence, distinguished by the delicacy of his wit, and by his just representation of manners; also of his rival, (who surpassed him in comic energy) Philemon of Soli, (d. 263.) In Sicily, the native place of some tragedians, originated the Mimes, refined in a masterly style by Sophron, contemporary of Euripides. These were pictures of life in rhythmic Doric prose, arranged in dialogues, partly of a serious, and partly of a comic nature, of which we have an imitation in the Adoniads of Theocritus. The Alexandrian poets formed a peculiar circle, all of whom, except the Bucolic writers, were distinguished rather by their learning, studious art, and correctness of language, than by a free and creative fancy and animated feeling. Of the seven epic poets who were adopted in the Alexandrian canon, Lycophron, Theocritus, Callimachus, Aratus, Apollonius Rhodius, Nicander and Homer of Byzantium, the works of the latter only are lost. Lycophron and Apollonius chose difficult mythological subjects for composition, which they examined and collated by dint of extensive reading, The didactic poets, Aratus and Nicander, were profoundly acquainted with the scientific subjects which they undertook to represent, yet without penetrating into their poetical sense. The hymns of Callimachus overflow with antiquarian knowledge. The Bucolic poets, Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, may claim poetical fame in a stricter sense, and as fixed by their poetical predecessors. Of the seven tragedians adopted in the canon, we know Lycophron by his epic monodrame. Of Sositheus, (125) some fragments exist. Among the comedians, Machon (246) seems to have been one of the most distinguished. The chronological order of the more celebrated Alexandrian poets, may be as follows: Philetas of Cos, (300) of whose learned elegies and epigrams there are fragments. Grievous marks of degenerated taste are the figurative epigrams of the Rhodians, Simmias (300) and Dosiadas, (perhaps the contemporary of the former.) Only some fragments of the sarcastic and satirical poem of Timon Sillographus, (275) have been preserved to us.* Lycophron of Chalcis, (275) inventor of the anagram, composed a prophetic monodrama in iambics. Cassandra, full of mythological learning and intentional obscurity, which affected even the language itself. Callimachus of Cyrene, (275) member and teacher of the Alexandrian museum, left many learned, grammatical, mythological and historical writings which are lost; elegies (imitated by Propertius) of which we have some fragments; six learned hymns, useful for the study of mythology, distinguished by elegant correctness, and composed in the Doric dialect, and Fabr. Bib. gr. 3, 623. seventy-three epigrams.* Aratus of Soli in Cilicia, (275) was induced by King Antigonus Gonatas to describe, in hexameter, the position, motion and phenomena of the stellar system, and the criteria of their influence upon the earth and men. The works of Eudoxus, and other poetical essays on the same subject, were then used. The plan and representation of this instructive poem, striking by its classical language, possess great merit from their artful execution-the second part has less poetical value than the first; it was much esteemed among the Romans, and was translated into Latin by Cicero, Germanicus Cæsar, and afterwards by Rufus Festus Avienus. Of the many commentaries and introductions of the ancient learned, we possess the scolias of Hipparchus, Achilles Tatius, and those attributed to the Alexandrian Theon.† Theocritus of Syracuse, (275) who lived for some time at Alexandria, but mostly in Sicily, gave perfection to the Bucolic poetry which had taken its origin in Sicily-the thirty Idylls preserved under his name, and written for the most part in the Doric and refined Doric dialect, vary in tenor and style. Most of them are ennobled pictures of nature and society, to which latter, the Mimes of Sophron have served as models. Although the works of many poets have been united under one common title, yet it is not difficult to find out those which belong to Theocritus himself, for they bear a peculiar mark of excellence in their simplicity and lively representations, combined with tender grace and strict correctness. There also exist twenty-two epigrams of his. Bion of Smyrna and Moschus of Syracuse, contemporaries of Theocritus, were distinguished by their rich and pompous Doric language-in the poems of the former are discovered agreable ease and ardent love. Of the stoic, Eanthes, of Assos, (265) we possess a sensible hymn on Zeus. Of Rhianus of Crete, (225) one of the best commentators upon Homer, and the most esteemed opulent poet, there are epigrams and fragments. Also of Euphorion of Chalcis, (225) librarian of the Syrian king, Antiochus the Great, and whose poetical works were favourite studies at Rome, we possess only fragments. Apollonius Rhodius, (192) scholar of Callimachus, librarian at Alexandria, and a learned grammarian, represented, in an epopee of four books, the stories of the Argonautic expedition. The richness of its mystical matter, its plan and ↑ H. Grotii Syntagma Arateæorum. Fab. Bib. gr. 4, 87. Reiske-Toup curæ posteriores. Fab. Bib. gr. 3, 800. Athenæum, 3, 2. Fabr. Bib. gr. 2, 304. arrangement, and a good and correct diction, give this work a peculiar value; but it wants poetical fire and vigour. Nicander of Colophon, (160) who lived at the court of Pergamus, and among whose lost works were his Georgica and Metamorphosea, selected, as the subject of a poem, animal and vegetable poisons and their antidotes. The subject is one scarcely fit for poetical composition, yet these poems, Theriaca and Alexipharmaca, are distinguished by the elegant correctness of their language. Meleager, of Gadara in Syria, (100) is entitled to one of the first places among the ingenious poets of this period. The one hundred and twenty-eight small poems of his that have been preserved, are full of grace and loveliness. The same Meleager collected an anthology, a wreath of epigrammatical poems of forty-four authors, in alphabetical order of the names of the authors, which collection, now lost, was the basis of the collection of the Thessalian Philippus (I after Ch.?) who retained the alphabetical order of his predecessor, and included in it many epigrams of later dates. This no longer exists, as well as the poems of Strato of Sardis, (130 after Christ) and the collection of Agathias of Myrina, (590 after Christ) which he arranged according to their matter. This latter served as the foundation of that of Constantinus Cephalus, (910 after Christ) who omitted and included much of former collections. This anthology was found in the library of Heidelberg by Cl. Saumaise and F. Sylburg, (1606) and published by single communications.* in Of this collection, the monk, Maximus Planodes, published a new edition at Constantinople, (1330) in which many poems are omitted, while other new ones are introduced, and many decent passages altered. It soon got into general circulation.t The theory of poetry was discussed by Aristotle, and after him, by many learned men-Lycophron, Duris of Samos, Eratosthenes, Didymus, and others, whose works are lost. Eloquence had lost, with the decline of political independence, its importance in civil matters, and with that also, its internal energy, and had degenerated into an art which was but slightly connected with serious political reality, and derived its exclusive value only from the dazzling agreeableness of expression which was taught in the sophistical institutions. Many of the rhetorical works of this age are lost, among which were those of Demetrius Phalereus, (300) who is to be considered as the last good Attic orator, or rather as the first model of a copious, elegant and soft rhetorical expression. His long and ex ⚫ Jensii Lucubrationes Heyschianæ. Reiske Anthol: gr. t Fabr. 4, 413. cellent treatise on elocution belongs to the Alexandrian grammarian Tiberius, (200 after Ch.)* The theory of eloquence was discussed by Aristotle. The nature of the historical works of this period also manifests the influence that the times had upon all the branches of literature which were closely connected with public life. History, the epic character of which had been already very much lost, was forced to renounce all its direct relation with public life, with political sentiments and popular feeling, and to be content with satisfying partly the curiosity of general readers, partly the opinions of the critics, and partly the desire after amusement and adventure. It is not difficult to decide whether the loss which it sustained in moral and political effect, in dignified simplicity and mental energy, has been made up by the enlarged extent of its sphere of observation, by the scientific perfection of its evidence, and the arrangement of its matter. The number of the historians is very great; but of those who lived before Polybius, very little has been preserved. The historians of Alexander the Great, are known to us only by later citations, quotations, extracts and criticisms. Their most important works were; the journals of the faithful Eumenes of Candia, and Diocles of Erythræa, of whom Plutarch has preserved some fragments; the memoirs of Ptolemy Lagus, and the history of the great king, by Aristobulus of Cassandria, both of which were written concerning the death of Alexander, and taken as guides by Arrian-of the latter, Plutarch also made use. Of the later historians, are worthy of notice, Eratosthenes, the polyhistorian, because of his examination of the older, especially the geographical accounts of Alexander's expedition; Daris of Samos, (285) because of his minute history of Macedonia, (in 23 books) having been consulted by Diodorus and Plutarch; also the Alexandrian Timagenes, (20) the historiographer of the Emperor Augustus, whose book on the kings has been made use of by Curtius. Less lamentable is the loss of the works of the cynic Anaximenes, of Lampsacus, of the rhetorician Callisthenes, of whom Plutarch takes notice, of the famous and incredible Clitarchus, whose stories Curtius and Justinus had before them; of Onesicritus of Egina, of whose fables Plutarch makes mention; of Hegesias of Magnesia, who is but a spoiler of fine words, and is known to us also by means of Plutarch. Fabr. Bib gr. 6, 63. + Id. ibid. p. 36. + Mem. de l'Acad. d'Inscrit. vol. xiii. 20. Fabr. Bib. gr 3, 32. De St. Croix, Examen critique des anciens historiens d'Alex. le Gr. |