PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. To this edition a supplement has been added, consisting chiefly of epigrams of an amusing character. Some valuable ones have been inserted, which were omitted in the previous edition. Alterations have been made in the Greek Section by the omission of the fragments of Sappho and others, the Odes of Anacreon, and the Idylls of Bion and Moschus; and the insertion in their place of epigrams included by Jacobs in his "Anthologia." Similar alterations have been made in the Ancient Latin Section, where additional epigrams by Martial have been inserted. Various minor alterations have been made in the other Sections. An Index of First Lines of all the epigrams has been added. To many Reviews, in which "The Epigrammatists" received praise far greater than I ventured to hope, I am much indebted for valuable suggestions. Of these I have gladly availed myself in the present edition; and also of several excellent translations of medieval Latin epigrams by the Rev. James Davies, in the "Contemporary Review." For a few spirited renderings of epigrams of Theocritus I am indebted to Mr. Calverley's translation of that poet; and I have again to express my obligation to C., who has contributed more of his graceful translations from the Greek for this edition. RAMSGATE, Easter, 1875. INTRODUCTION. NO FORM of poetic composition is more universally popular than the epigram. The orator uses it in the Legislature to point his satire; the conversationalist at the diunertable to display his wit; and the correspondent in his Letters to enliven his subject. Short, it is easily retained in the memory; pithy, it contains in the compass of a few lines the sum of an argument; and the result of experience, it often expresses the wisdom of ages. Changed much in its character, it has yet retained its essentials, and, though shorn of its elegant simplicity, it has gained in the breadth of its application. So ancient is the epigram, that its earliest use must be sought in the uncertain traditions of an age, the literature of which has descended but in fragments. So varied has been its form, that at one time largely employed for monumental inscriptions to honour the dead, at another it has been commonly used for satire to vilify the living. For example, Artemidorus, the Greek, composed the following for the tomb of Theocritus (Jacobs Ï. 194, i., translated by Polwhele): Theocritus my name-of Syracuse I claim no kindred with the Chian Muse. With this let a well-known and worthless modern epigram be compared, on James Moore, or More, who was not averse to wear the bays belonging to others: Moore always smiles whenever he recites; He smiles, you think, approving what he writes: A modest man may like what's not his own. Both these are epigrams; yet, except in the number of lines, there is no similitude. Agreeably to modern phraseology, the former is an epitaph, the latter an epigram. But the Greeks had not this distinction, nor does the etymology of the word "epigram" warrant it. The epitaph is' only one of the forms of the epigram. According to its etymology, the epigram is a writing on -an inscription. The word was first appropriated by the Greeks to certain short sentences attached to offerings in the temples. It was afterwards more generally used for all inscriptions on religious and other public edifices; and was in time employed to express any record, whether in prose or verse, which was engraved on statues of gods and men, and on the wayside tombs of the dead. It was invariably short, because, being cut in brass or marble, a long inscription would have been, not only inappropriate, but inconvenient. A fine example of a short and nobleepigram on the tomb of Plato, by Speusippus, may be cited (Jacobs I. 109, translated by Merivale): Plato's dead form this earthly shroud invests : In process of time the brevity of the epigram`recommended it for other purposes than mere superscriptions. Striking events in contemporary history, the noble deeds of illustrious patriots, and the important decisions of wise' lawgivers, were embodied in a few terse lines, which were readily fixed in the memory of the people. Nor was this all. Love breathed forth its tender and impassioned sentiments in short thrilling verse, and spoke in the epigram of the ancients as in the love-sonnet of the moderns. Thus every subject which kindles the heart of man,-devotion, affection, patriotism, chivalry, love, wine,-found its expression in the epigram; and the word, which was originally confined to an inscription, became the term for every short poem which expressed one definite idea. Such was the epigram at the period at which it is first presented to view in the earliest specimens which the Greek Anthology contains. For this Anthology we are indebted to Meleager, the Syrian, who flourished about a century before the Christian era, and who was the first collector of epigrams. He gathered into a garland the scattered fragments, which, engraved on marble or dispersed abroad as fugitive pieces, were in danger of being irretrievably lost. This garland, or Anthology, received subsequent additions, and at a later period sustained severe loss through the decay of manuscripts, and the indifference of librarians in an ignorant age. But a noble store of Greek epigrams is still extant, gathered together in the "Anthologia" of Jacobs, 1794-1814, where a collection of these beautiful pieces is presented, which have defied the ravages of time, and are preserved as models of simplicity of thought and elegance of language. A few examples from the earlier Greek authors will show the simplicity, and display the character, of the epigrams. The first is an inscription by Simonides, which serves the double purpose of commemorating the deeds of the dead, and of impressing on the living the glory gained by the Athenian arms (Jacobs I. 68, xlv., translated by Merivale): Hail, great in war! all hail, by glory cherish'd! Athena's sons, in chivalry renown'd! For your sweet native soil in youth ye perish'd, It can well be imagined with what feelings an Athenian would read these pregnant lines; how he would cherish them in his heart; act upon their spirit in future wars; and repeat them to his children, when in old age He counts his scars, and tells what deeds were done. The next example, by the poetess Anyte, is of a very different character. It displays the devotion to their deities, as the guardian beings who presided over wood and water, calm and tempest, as well as over every incident of life, which was so forcibly felt by the Greeks; and which |