22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



In the dedicatory inscriptions of the fifth century we find always the 

 name of the dedicator, always some verb of dedicating. The name of 

 the divinity is, however, frequently omitted, since the site of the stone 

 made it sufficiently clear to whom the offering was made. In the epi- 

 grams preserved in MSS. we sometimes miss the verb of dedicating 

 also. In 158 Swpoto-i may be said to take its place, but in 144, 167, 169, 

 170, 181 there is no such equivalent. These epigrams are all, however, 

 quite as much honorary as dedicatory and conform to the type of such 

 verses in the sixth century. ^4 



Thus far the epigrams of the fifth century do not differ much from 

 the earlier ones in the elements which they contain. There is, however, 

 one important point of difference, — the name of the dead or of the 

 dedicator is sometimes repeated extra metruin.^^ This means that the 

 epigram is no longer primarily a means of giving necessary information, 

 but an ornament. Reitzenstein indeed says,^^ "Dennoch ist noch bis 

 liber die Mitte des vierten Jahrhunderts hinaus das Epigramm keine 

 anerkannte Form der Kunstdichtung," but he gives no proof of his 

 statement. On the contrary, the moment the name was added extra 

 metrum the epigram must have been regarded as a poem rather than 

 as a poetic label. 81 shows this clearly. The names of the fallen 

 warriors and the place where they fell were inscribed first. There was 

 no need of anything further. A poem, however, was added giving the 

 same information in verse, because thus the monument was made more 

 splendid. The names of the individual dead are necessarily omitted 

 in these lines, but in private monuments, as stated above,®'*^ the name 

 is never omitted in the epigram. To be sure, occasionally information 

 not contained in the epigram is added extra metrum, but it is never 

 information essential to the interpretation of the epigram. ^8 An inter- 

 esting example is 138, where the name of the author was inscribed on 

 the stone, — a peculiarity which does not occur again till the second 

 century b. C. 



But in spite of this difference between the epigrams of the fifth and 

 those of the sixth century, we must not suppose that the poems of the 

 two periods are sharply divided by an impassable barrier. The simple 

 epigram continues to exist, e. g. 



78. 'Ei'^a'8' avr]p dyados Kflrai KaWiarparov vos, 



KaX\ip.a)(os <f)v\(jj)s KfKponi(y8)os MeXtrevs. 



131. 'E]vxav fKTf\eaavTi Aioviicru Neo/xijST/s, 



fpycov upt' dyadcov p.uap.' du(6r]K( ro8f.°' 



8* See p. 17. Cf. ep. 24, ." 78, 79, 84, 135. " gj,. „. sk., p. 121. 



87 p. 20. 83 Cf. 84, 135. 89 Cf. 80, 82, 122, 123. 



