Epigrams, Greek; Greek poetry -- Translations into English
PAMPHILUS, also a grammarian, and pupil to Aristarchus, was one of the
poets in the /Garland/ of Meleager (l. 17, "the spreading plane of the
song of Pamphilus"). Only two epigrams of his are extant in the
Anthology.
ANTIPATER OF SIDON is one of the most interesting figures of the close
of this century, when Greek education began to permeate the Roman
upper classes. Little is known about his life; part of it was spent at
Rome in the society of the most cultured of the nobility. Cicero,
/Or./ iii. 194, makes Crassus and Catulus speak of him as familiarly
known to them, but then dead; the scene of the dialogue is laid in
B.C. 91. Cicero and Pliny also mention the curious fact that he had an
attack of fever on his birthday every winter. "The young Phoenician
cypress of Antipater," in the /Garland/ of Meleager, l. 42, refers to
him as one of the more modern poets in that collection.
There is much confusion in the Anthology between him and his equally
prolific namesake of the next century, Antipater of Thessalonica. The
matter would take long to disentangle completely. In brief the facts
are these. In the Palatine Anthology there are one hundred and
seventy-eight epigrams, of which forty-six are ascribed to Antipater
of Sidon and thirty-six to Antipater of Thessalonica, the remaining
ninety-six being headed "Antipater" merely. Twenty-eight other
epigrams are given as by one or other in Planudes and Diogenes
Laërtius. Jacobs assigns ninety epigrams in all to the Sidonian poet.
Most of them are epideictic; a good many are on works of art and
literature; there are some very beautiful epitaphs. There is in his
work a tendency towards diffuseness which goes with his talent in
improvisation mentioned by Cicero.
To this period seem to belong the following poets, of whom little or
nothing is known: ARISTODICUS of Rhodes, author of two epigrams in the
Palatine Anthology: ARISTON, author of three or four epigrams in the
style of Leonidas of Tarentum: HERMOCREON, author of one dedication in
the Palatine Anthology and another in Planudes: and TYMNES, author of
seven epigrams in the Anthology, and included in the /Garland/ of
Meleager, l. 19, with "the fair-foliaged white poplar" for his
cognisance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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