1822.] 
was much in use among the ancients); 
and Martial, though he evidently de- 
lighted more in the opposite style, has 
yet a great number of this description. 
The epigrams in the Greek Anthology 
are chiefly simple ones; .and it is in- 
deed in this class that we generally 
mect with the greatest poetical beauty 
and; elegance of composition. Per- 
haps no example will convey.a more 
eorrect idea of the nature of the sim- 
ple epigram than the following, written 
by Gellius:*— 
Adolescens tametsi properas, hoc te saxum 
rogat, 
Ut se aspicias: deinde quod scriptum 
est legas, 
Hie sunt poete Pacuvii Marci sita 
Ossa; hoc volebam nescius ne esses: 
-, Vale. 
The line in the Atneid, “‘ Aineas hee 
de Danais victoribus arma ;” and the 
distich said to have been written by 
Virgil upon himself, ‘Mantua me ge- 
nuit,” &c. may be considered as exam- 
ples of the same kind. 
The complex epigram admits of 
the introduction of an endless variety 
of ideas, and deductions from premises 
of every kind. The works of Martial 
furnish specimens of every imaginable 
description of this composition. It 
may not be uninteresting to give some 
examples of the very different manner 
in which his various conclusions are 
deduced. Sometimes a greater con- 
elusion is obtained from smaller pre- 
mises, as in his eulogium on the am- 
phitheatre of Titus, in which he places 
that edifice above all the wonders of 
the world :— : 
Barbara pyramidum sileat miracula Mem- 
 phis ; 
Assiduis jactet nec Babylona labor ; 
Nee Triviz templo molles laudentur ho- 
mores, 
Dissimuletque Deum cornibus ara fre- 
quens ; 
Aére nec vacuo pendentia mausolea 
Laudibus immodicis Cares inastra ferant; 
Omnis Cxsareo cedat labor amphitheatro; 
Unum pro cunctis fama loquatur opus.t 
In other instances he adopts a con- 
trary method, as in lib. 9, ep. 4, where 
he demonstrates Jupiter to be poorer 
than Cesar; and that the merits of 
the latter are too great for Jove to be 
able sulliciently to compensate them, 
Again, he occasionally makes his de- 
ductions trom comparing things really 
* Lib. 1, c, 24, + Lib. 1, ep.1. 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature, 
- made him illustrious. 
319 
or apparently equal, as in that well- 
known epigram— - 
Cum sitis similes, paresqve vitd 
Uxor pessima, pessimns maritus, 
Miror, non bene convenire vobis.* 
And in the ingenious conclusion of his 
epigram to Flaccus, in which) after 
attributing the want of poetical excel- 
lence to the deficiency of proper pa- 
tronage, he adds— 
Ergo ero Virgilins, si munera Mzcenates 
Des mihi? Virgilius non ero: Marsus ero.f 
Sometimes he makes the point of his 
epigrams turn upon the bringing toge- 
ther ideas of a dificrent, and even of a 
contrary nature. Of the first we have 
an example in the 47th of his cighth 
book :— 
Pars maxillarym tousa est tibi, pars. tibi 
pusa est, 
Pars vitlsa est: unum quis putet esse caput? 
Of the effect which he produces from 
contrarieties, we have a fine example 
in his admirable distich to a person of - 
capricious character :— 
Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus es 
‘idem ; 
Nee tecum possum vivere, nec sine te. 
He not unfrequently terminates an 
epigram with a happy ambiguity, as 
in that to Scazon, where, after deé- 
scribing the object of his satire ina 
manner too plain to admit of any mis- 
application, he conclades by saying— 
Queeris quis hic set ? excidit mihi nomen. 
Examples might be given from Mar- 
tial of many other varieties equally 
ingenious, but those we have selected 
are suflicient for our present purpose. 
His writings, besides numerous simple 
epigrams, embrace every variety. of 
the complex kind; and, in the compo- 
sition of the latter, (the only descrip- 
tion which modern taste appears to 
recognise,) he has served more or less 
as a model to all succeeding writers. 
The life of this author was not 
marked by any very remarkable or 
eventful circumstances. He was born 
at Bilbilis, in Celtiberia; the name of 
his father was Fronto, that of his mo- 
ther Flaccilla. His ancestry, indeed, 
was altogether obscure, though the 
celebrity of his genius afterwards 
Concerning the 
name of the poet himself, no controversy 
exists, all the existing manuscripts 
agrecing in calling him Marcus Vale- 
* Lib. 8, ep. 55. + Lib. 8, ep, 56. 
¢ Lib, 1, ep, 97. 
rius 
