Studies of the Greek Poets (Vol 1 of 2)Symonds, John Addington
History
Studies of the Greek Poets (Vol 1 of 2)
Symonds, John Addington
Greek poetry -- History and criticism
[62] very ingenious attempt was made by Mr. Hookham Frere to
reconstruct the life of Theognis from his elegies. It would be too
much to assert that his conjectures are always successful. Indeed,
he often introduces foreign matter and modern sentiment, while he
neglects the peculiarly Greek relations of the poet to his friend.
Those who are curious about such works of hypercriticism would do well
to study his _Theognis Restitutus_. (Frere's Works, vol. ii.) In doing
so, they must, however, bear in mind, as already observed above, that
a great many of the couplets and short poems ascribed to Theognis
by the later Greeks were not really his own. Theognis, like Hesiod,
Solon, and Phocylides, was credited with more proverbial wisdom than
he can be held responsible for. Contradictory utterances are therefore
not unfrequent in his elegies, and this fact renders a trustworthy
restoration of his biography and body of opinion almost impossible.
[63] "Be stout, O heart of mine: ere now thou hast endured even more
grimly grief than this."
[64] _Miscellanies_, by the late John Addington Symonds, M.D., p. 411.
CHAPTER IX.
_THE SATIRISTS._
Invention of the Iambic Metre.--Archilochus.--His Parentage and
Life.--His Fame among the Ancients.--Ancient and Modern
Modes of Judging Artists.--The Originality of Archilochus
as a Poet.--Simonides of Amorgos.--His Satire on
Women.--The Ionian Contempt for Women.--Hipponax.--Limping
Iambics.--Differences between the Satire of the Greeks and
Romans.
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