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ON THE

STYLE OF THE ANCIENT GREEK EPIGRAM

DOCTOR Johnson has described an epigram to be, "a short poen terminating in a point :" which, although perhaps not quite particula enough as a definition,' may nevertheless pass tolerably well, provide that it be referred to the Epigrams of Martial only, and to those d modern times, which have, almost without exception, taken Marti for their pattern. Owen, the celebrated Welch Epigrammatist, (who is to Martial precisely what Casimir is to Horace as a lyric poe! alluding to the personal invective which abounds so much in Martial and which he has taken care to introduce so plentifully into his ow performances, has somewhere given it out, that "an epigram is n thing but a short satire, as a satire, on the other hand, is but a long epigram;"'—a definition, it is obvious, that needs taking in a little, on the score of its too great roundness and latitude of asser tion.

The Greek epigram was, however, very widely different from any thing of this kind. It was at first nothing more than a simple inscrip tion, (as the term epigram,3 in the Greek, implies) written sometime in prose, sometimes in verse; and was originally appropriated t religious uses, being frequently fixed up over the porches of the temples, and upon the statues of the gods, and of deified men. This custom, it should seem, was derived from the Egyptians. It wa

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1 It would apply with equal propriety to a song; the only difference (say) Addison) between that and an epigram [in the manner of Martial] being this," that the one does not require the lyric numbers, and is usuall employed upon satirical occasions; whereas the business of the other, for the most part, is to express (as my Lord Roscommon translates it from Horace)“ Love's pleasing cares, and the free joys of wine.”

2 Nil aliud Satiræ quàm sunt Epigrammata longa;
Est præter Satiram nil Epigramma brevem.

3 And so it is used in Cicero: "Atque hæc Sappho sublata quantum desiderium sui reliquerit, dici vix potest. Nam cùm ipsa fuit egregiè facta, tum epigramma Græcum pernobile incisum habuit in basi, quod iste eruditus homo, et Græculus, qui hæc subtiliter judicat, qui solus intelligit, si unam literam Græcam scisset, certè non sustulisset." In Verr. IV. 57.

4 Of the numerous hieroglyphical inscriptions of this sort, that are extant, at least in translation, it will be sufficient to select two; that which Plu tarch tells us formerly stood over the gate-way of the temple of Minerva

afterwards, however, transferred to profane edifices, to the perpetuat ing of victories gained, and to the tombs of the departed.

"

"The brevity of these inscriptions," (says an elegant writer and translator of the present day) "which rendered it so easy to impress on the memory any particular event, or any illustrious name, soon recommended them to other purposes. The lawgiver adopted them to convey a moral precept, and the lover to express a tender senti. ment; and hence, in process of time, almost every little poem, which concisely presented one distinct idea, or pursued one general argument, acquired the title of Epigram." In this manner was it, that the Greek epigram ultimately assumed a distinct character, and became, in fact, a particular species of writing. The poems in our own language that approximate the nearest to it, are to be found mainly in the train of those lighter compositions, that are comprehended generally under the term "Fugitive Pieces;" to which may be added many of our sonnets. Our epigrammatical style, on the other hand, is derived directly from Martial; who seems to have struck out the invention' chiefly from the Romau satire.

It must not however be forgotten, that even in Martial there are here and there epigrams evidently constructed on the same model with those of Greece: of which class, perhaps, may be reckoned those beautiful ones on a celebrated minion of Domitian, by name Earinus. The Epigrams of Claudian and Ausonius are for the most part of the same sort; in the latter of whom we meet with several specimens of translation from the Greek. Contrariwise, it appears, that some of the more modern Epigrams of the Greek Anthology, and

at Sais, and the one upon Sethon's statue in the temple of Vulcan. The former of these may be thus translated: Thou that art coming into the world, thou that art leaving it, know this, that the Deity abominates impiety. Clemens of Alexandria tells us, that the same inscription was formerly to be found upon the temple of Jupiter at Egyptian Thebes, Pythagoras seems to have had it in his eye, in the line Αείδω συνετοῖς· θύρας δ ̓ ἐπίθεσθε βεβήλοις. Stob. p. 236. 3. ed. 2. Gesn. and there is reason for supposing that the sentence was once used in the same manner both by the Greeks and Romans. The other is much the same in import: Let none dare to look upon me, save only the pious. On the subject of these hieroglyphical inscriptions, the reader will find more in a prize-dissertation, entitled Hieroglyphicorum Origo et Natura, by Mr. James Bailey, of Trinity College, Cambridge.

We do not mean that Martial was the first who introduced the writing of Epigrams into the Latin language; and only call that style of epigrammatic writing, for which he is so famous, his invention, because it seems, as appears to us, to have had the Roman Satire for its fountain, rather than, the ancient Greek epigram. The Latin epigrams of Catullus, and even of Petronius, who lived close upon the time of Martial, are evidently built upon the style of the Greek. The same is the case with the well-known epigrams upon Ennius, Plautus, and Horace, and, we may add from numerous others, with the noted one which Julius Cæsar is said to have written upon Terence. In a word, it seems to have been so with all the Latin epigrams written before the time of Martial..

many of the satirical ones even of the better ages,' are precisely these, which we should call Epigrams at the present day.

A great part of the Latin Epigrams of Buchanan are translated from the Greek; so that they who may not be acquainted with that language, but know the Latin, will easily discern on perusing some ei these, (not to mention those that Dr. Johnson rendered in his old age) that the nature and bent of the Greek Epigram, properly so called, are very different from what we find generally in Martial. The English reader (if he have not seen Bland's Collections from the Greek Anthology) may turn to a poem by the unfortunate Savage, entitled, "The Climax of Love;" which is a paraphrase upon Buchanan's translation of a Greek Epigram, or rather the close of one, by Rufinus. Why he has lopped off the head, and left us the trunk only in his version of this beautiful little poem, 1 can in no wise divine. I shall, therefore, while on the subject, make bold to place a head, made of corresponding metal, upon this sine nomine corpus,— which it certainly is in the very closest sense of the expression,leaving it to some one better qualified, and more inclined than myself to paraphrase the four first lines to a length, that will tally with Savage's translation of the four last; he having actually spun out each line into a complete stanza. Buchanan has given four lines for

Of that kind is the following, which is preserved in Diogenes Laertius:

Μὰψ ἐμὲ λοιδορέεις, μάψ, Ζώιλε, καί σε ἐπαινῶ

Οὐ γὰρ ἐμοῖς, οὐ σοῖς, πίστις ἔνεστι λόγοις.

We select this in order to observe, that it is the original, from which the annexed French epigram was taken, which Addison informs us once passed current abroad for an excellent song; adding, that the French did very often in his time "confound the song and the epigram, and take the one recipro cally for the other." He was evidently ignorant of the source from whence it sprang:

Tu parles mal par tout de moi,
Je dis du bien par tout de toi;
Ami, quel malheur est le nôtre?
L'on ne nous croit ni l'un, ni l'autre.

Translated by Addison, so :

Thou speakest always ill of me,
And I speak always well of thee:
But spite of all our noise and pother,
The world believes nor one nor t'other.

With respect to the Frenchman, I am inclined to suspect that he got at the epigram through the medium of Buchanan's Latin:

Frustra ego te laudo; frustra me, Zoile, lædis
Nemo mihi credit, Zoile; nemo tibi.

1 Ομματ ̓ ἔχεις Ηρης, Μελίτη, τὰς χεῖρας Αθήνης,
Στήθια τῆς Κύπριδος, τούς τε πόδας Θέτιδος.
Εὐδαίμων, ὁ βλέπων σε, τρισόλβιος ὅστις ἀκούει,
Ημίθεος δ ̓ ὁ φιλῶν, ἀθάνατος δ ̓ ὁ συνών.

two of the Greek; and we have taken care to preserve the same proportion.

Junonis oculi sunt tibi,

O! Melita; Palladis manus ;
Veneris papillæ ; quosque habet
Argenteos Thetis pedes.
Qui te videt, beatus est;
Beatior, qui te audiet;
Qui basiat, semideus est;

Qui te potitur, est deus.

As it is not usual to see compositions in our language, written, or professing to be written, designedly in the manner of the ancient Greek Epigram, the following lines (which were produced in the summer of 1810) will, if they possess no other merit, at least have novelty to set them off. It is but fair to add, that they gave rise, in a great measure, to the foregoing remarks.'

It is well known that Sir William Browne bequeathed a gold medal to the university of Cambridge, to be given annually to that undergraduate, who should write the best pair of Greek and Latin epigrams, the former in the manner of the choicest epigrams of the Greek Anthology, the latter after the model of Martial. We have heard that, not very long ago, it was in contemplation to abolish this prize, on account of its alleged insignificance. I am far from subscribing to Rollin's extravagant assertion, that to put together a good epigram needs as much management as to write a good epic poem; but I much question if, among all the prizes that the university has to give away, there is one so well calculated as this to try the versatility of a man's talents: particularly when we consider that it by no means follows, that he, who can imitate Martial with success, should be able to work off a good Greek epigram, and versâ vice;—the manner of these two species of composition being, as we have shown, so peculiarly different. It is some argument in favour of the worth of this prize, that of forty men that have gained it, since its first institution in 1776, there are but seven that have not obtained one prize, at the least, besides; which is more by a great deal than can be said of either class of Ode-men. Add to this, that the medal has very seldom indeed fallen to the lot of any person more than once, that twice it was not awarded at all, which cannot be said of either of the ode-medals,-that the number of competitors is usually greater by far for this, than for any other university-prize,-and moreover, (a fact which out-herods all the rest) that the best poems, altogether, in the Muse Cantabrigienses are EPIGRAMS.

E. H. BARKERI

EPISTOLA CRITICA AD TH. GAISFORDIUM, DE FRAGMENTIS POETARUM MINORUM GR.

PARS QUINTA.

1AHTHΣ. Vide GAISFORD. ad Hesiodi E. x. H. i. 373. “Suidan et Etymologum," inquit T. Hemsterh. ad J. Poll. ix. 135., “nominis ratio latuit; non enim ita xar' artigo dicti, sed quod osculis amplexuque benigno deceptos homines trucidarent. Aud Senecam Epist. 51.: Voluptates præcipue exturba, et invisissi mas habe, latronuni more, quos philetas Ægyptii vocant: in foc nos amplectuntur, ut strangulent." Imo Senecæ locus, a T. H Gaisfordio et aliis male intellectus, sensu verborum postulante, sic interpungi debet: "Voluptates præcipue exturba et invisissimas habe: latronum more, quos philetas Ægyptii vocant, in hoc nos amplec tuntur, ut strangulent." Suspicor conj. enim, in præcedenti voce latronum absorptam, e textu excidisse; nam hic est sensus: Voluptates præcipue exturbanda et invisissimæ habendæ ; latronum enim more, quos Egyptii ideo philetas vocant, in hoc solum nos amplectuntur, ut strangulent.' Vide nov. Thes. Gr. L. p.

ccclxvi. a.'

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ARCHILOCHI Fragm. xxxiv. p. 305., Oux av μúposos žová ἠλείφετο. « Athen. xiv. p. 688. C., Τῷ δὲ τοῦ μύρου ὀνόματι πρῶτος ̓Αρχίλοχος κέχρηται λέγων. Οὐκ ἂν . . . καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δ ̓ ἔφη· Εσμι piauévas.-Sequens fragm. male reddidit Athenæi interpres. Sen sus est. Coma ejus et pectus ita unguentis erat delibutum, ut vel senem amore incenderet, quod non fugit perspicacissimum G. Wakefield, in S. C. iv. p. 43. ubi soμugioμév corrigit, quod verum videtur." Jacobsius ap. Gaisfordium.

Pro Athen. xiv. p. 688. C. lege, Athen. xv. p. 688. C. An leg. éoμugioμévai, ex Hesychii glossa, qui huc respexisse videri possit, Εσμυῤῥιγμέναι, (1. ἐσμυρισμέναι) μεμυρισμέναι ? Reiskius ib vulgatam retinet lectionem: "Zuppičem et oμugview," inquit, Σμυῤῥίζειν σμυρνίζειν,” "fut.-ow, et iw." In Cod. Ven. est ouvgixuevas: a typ. in Ald., notante Schowio, ioμuppiyueva. Vide nov. Thes. Gr. L. p. cccliv. a. Sed nullus dubito, quin Hesychio restituendum sit σμυρνισμέναι, ut legendum conjecerat Salmasius. Σμυῤῥίζεν enim s,

Hæc dudum scripseram, cum mecum per literas benigne communicaverit vir egregius, idemque mihi amicissimus, J. Fr. Boissonadius, nullum Senecæ codicem philetas, quæ est Mureti emendatio, exhibere, et Schweighæuserum cujus nota legenda est, locum interpungere eo ipso modo, quem

ego propono.