2160 Epigrams, Fragments, and Fugitive Pieces from the Greck. {April 1, 
ment. But epigrams were nearly the fir 
vehicles of information, and when Greece 
was in her infancy, were almoft the only 
records of things, and memorials of the 
dead. To their teftimony Herodotus and 
‘Thucydides recur, and are followed by 
Diodorus and Plutarch, all of whom ap- 
peal to them, as to fure and undifputed 
authority. Scarecly was a trophy confe- 
crated, or a city raifed or depreffed by the 
viciffitudes of fortune and of war, without 
fome epigram recording the event and the 
caufes which led to its completion. ‘Thus 
the hiftory of an age is fometimes found 
couched in a few diftichs, which are re- 
membered and referred to without troubie, 
Simonides in a particular manner ‘claims 
our attention among the metrical hiftorians 
of Greece. His elegy on the fight at 
Marathon gained him the prize from 
Elchylus, the tragedian. 
The valour of the people of Tegeza, 
in defending themfelves againit the Spar- 
tans, is celebrated in four lines. Ona 
Corinthian monument were four lines in- 
fcribed by the fame poet to thofe of Co- | 
rinth, who fell at Salamis; and many 
other memorials of events, equally con- 
ife and important, are yetremaining. 
Polemo appears to have been the firft 
collector of that {pecies of epigram, whole 
only aim it was to commemorate public 
tranfactions, cities, and gifts confecrated 
tothe gods. His book, ‘¢ Tes tov xara 
“qOAsig Emiypampmatoy,” that! ‘* Msp. rev ava- 
Enuatav ev Aaxedasuon’ and £* Tleps tov ev 
Aeros Exncavpwy,” have furnifhed Athe- 
nzeus and Plutarch with quotations and 
illuftrations of times that had long 
elapfed. 
But Meleager, the Syrian, who flourifh- 
ed under the laft of the Seleucide*, firft 
collected the numercus fragments of 
Greece, which were entrufted, before his 
time, to the memory of men, engraven 
on marbles, or difperfed as fugitive 
pieces. iad 
He is faid to have been an imitator of 
the Cynic Menippus, whom Lucian has 
feleéted as the moft convenient and cha- 
racteriftic vehicle for feurrility and abufe. 
I quote from memory Mersaypoy 
Mace Mevnresass nyAaicey yapics. 
But, cither fome other Menippus, or 
fome Meleager, far different from the 
elegant and atfecting author and collector 
* An old Greek fcholiaft feems to fettle 
the difpate concerning the zra in which 
Meleager lived, nxpacev Emt Zedivue rz 
Ecyata. Olymp. 170. 3. about ninety fix 
years before the Chriftian ara. 
of the firft Anthologia, feems to have been 
intended. It would appear impoffible 
that he who fo eloquently pourtrays the 
fofter paffions of our nature, whofe mufe 
is dedicated to amorous pleafures and 
incentives, fhould have fat a fevere and 
ftern cenfor on human frailties, paffions, 
and infirmities 5; that the fame man who 
was a flave by turns to love and melan- 
choly, fhould have f{neered farcaftically on 
his fellow creatures, few of whom were 
as prone to error as himfelf. 
Diogenes Laertius fpeaks of a Melea- 
ger, who not only imitated, but equalled, 
the biting and barking cynic of Ga- 
dara, in wit and acrimony. VI. 99. va 3¢ 
BiGdta Mevmore moAAR xaTayEhartos pEpet, wy 
vb izoy ror MEAsaves Te Kar adroy yevorseve, 
And: *Athenzus mentions a cynic by 
the name ot Meleager, but in fuch a 
manner that he feems almoft to be making 
a diftin@ion at the fame time between 
him and another of that name, —Mereaypog 
0 Kuyineg ey To Suamorim arect ypadss. 
From whence it appears that the Cynic 
had written a fatire called Suerocion, And 
the fame author mentions the titles of two 
other fatirical performances by the fame 
Meleager, whom he calls the cynic of 
Gadara, the birth place of the epigram-. 
matilt.—Would not Athenzus with more 
confiftency have given to our author the 
titles of colle¢tor and poet, as well as 
that of cynic, had he intended the. Jaft- 
mentioned appellation to have applied to 
the fame man? At leaft, his fatires are 
no more; while the amatory poems, epi- 
taphs, and other memorials of affection, 
tendernefs, and forrow, remain in fuficient 
number either to contradict his being de- 
voted to Menippus, or to prove that, if he 
was fo, it was not until he had banquetted 
to fatiety at the table of Epicurus., 
The venom of Archilochus ceafes to 
operate. All that we know of Menippus 
is, that his fatires were written in profe, 
with a {prinkling of verfe; and even this 
peculiarity might have been unrecorded, 
had it not been imitated by Varro, who 
thus procured to himfelf the title of the 
Roman Cynic, and to his writings the 
name of the poet whom he imitated. The 
extemporary burlefques written in France 
againit the League were collected together, 
under the title of ** Satyres Menippées.”” 
And our countryman, Dr. Ferriar, of 
Manchefter, has giyen us a fpecimen of 
the peculiarity at leaft of a Menippean 
treatife. 
The Menippean fatires of Meleager 
-* Deipnos. Lib. XI, p. soz, 
arg 
