GRAGG. — THE GREEK EPIGRAM BEFORE 300 B.C. 11 



century, is assigned to no poet at all, so that we may conclude that 

 famous names were not sprinkled over the contents of the Anthology 

 (juite so profusely and indiscriminately as some would have us think. 

 Indeed, in all probability, mistakes in .authorship come not so much 

 from the perversity of scribes as from confusion and changes in arrange- 

 ment. Finally, we ought always to bear in mind what gaps there are 

 in our knowledge of Greek literature — gaps which are nowhere wider 

 than in our knowledge of the lyric poets. Under these conditions we 

 ought to give the MSS. at least an unprejudiced hearing. 



The third test — that of style — helps us less than one might at first 

 expect. Since the approximate date of the inscribed epigrams can 

 usually be determined with certainty, we should naturally look to them 

 for the standard by which to judge the epigrams preserved only in MSS. 

 But the standard they set is hardly adequate, for while the inscriptions 

 are the work of men widely different in rank, education, and ability, 

 many of the epigrams preserved in MSS. may be the work of famous 

 poets and it would be unfair to deny to a great master the author- 

 ship of a given epigram merely because it exhibits more charming 

 sentiment, more graceful diction, more brilliant genius than do the. 

 inscriptions composed by ordinary men. Some assistance is given us 

 by the fact that certain formulas seem to leap into favor at certain 

 periods, but any such evidence must be used with caution, for it may 

 be that the original use of a phrase by a great poet gave that phrase 

 its popularity with a later generation. *o 



For our purpose it will be sufficient to determine the age of the epi- 

 grams without considering their authorship, but from what has been 

 said above it is evident that even this is difiicult enough. It is, there- 

 fore, with diffidence that I have approached the task, especially when I 

 remember that certain epigrams which recent discoveries have shown 

 to belong to the fifth century were pronounced late by very excellent 

 scholars, ^i If 217 and 224 had come down to us only in MSS. I ven- 

 ture to think there would be no lack of critics to assign them to a far 



" E. g. 19 (= Sappho, 119). Cf. Table III. 



" Some ha%-e even denied that tliey were inscribed at all. So Kaibel (EM 28, 

 p. 45.')): Ante omnia Simonidi abiudicanda cum Bergkio aliis [sic] epp. 95 et 96, 

 manifesto demonstrativa. 



Hauvette, p. 94 (Sim. 108) : A notre avis I'inscription ne pent etre ni de Simonide 

 ni meme d'lin poete dii 5^ siecle ipii I'aurait composee dans les premieres annees de la 

 guerre da Peloponnese. Cf. Kaibel, EM 28, p. 456. 



Hauvette, p. 1.33 (Sim. 150) : Par sa forme, par les idees qu'elle exprime, et par 

 .son style cette piece ne saurait . . . passer pour une inscription reelle, gravoe au 

 debut du 5^ sieclo sur une statue dans I'academie . . . une telle formule ne convieiit 

 (^u'i une pitce composee apres coup h I'Dccasion d'une olfrande. 



