When a man died at sea, and his corpse was not recovered, to receive the usual funeral honors, he was refused admittance into Charon's boat, unless his friends erected a cenotaph and performed the accustomed rites over it. The above appears to have been an inscription designed for such an occasion. Simonides does not forget his fire in commemorating the exploits of a friend who fell in one of the battles against the Persians: ON MEGISTIAS, THE SOOTHSAYER. Μναμα τοδε κλεινοιο. κ. τ. λ. Within this tomb is famed Megistias laid. He bravely fell beneath the Persian's blade, Where old Sperchius rolls his waters clear. Although his death was known unto the seer, To leave his Spartan chief he would not deign, But, bravely fighting, 'mid the foe was slain. The Greeks delighted to frame epitaphs for their most distinguished men, especially for their poets. Those in honor of Homer are almost innumerable. Anacreon has more than a dozen, and other favorites in proportion. We will give a specimen of these compositions in the following beautiful lines by Simmias the Theban, on Sophocles: Ηρεμ' ὑπερ τυμβοιο Σοφοκλεος, ηρεμα, κισσε, Ἑρπυζοις, χλοερους εκπροχεων πλοκαμους, Και πεταλον παντη θαλλοι ῥοδου, ἡ τε φιλορρωξ Αμπελος, ὑγρα περιξ κληματα χευαμενη, Ἑινεκεν ευμαθιης πινυτοφρονος, ἡν ὁ μελιχρος Ησκησεν, Μουσων αμμιγα και Χαριτων. O verdant ivy! round the honored tomb Of Sophocles, thy branches gently twine; There let the rose expand her vernal bloom Amid the clasping tendrils of the vine; For he, with skill unrivalled, struck the lyre, Amid the Graces, and the Aonian choir. Not less beautiful were the inscriptions affixed to fountains, rustic statues, baths, and the hundred other little evidences of cultivated taste so frequent in Greece. With such a people, it must have afforded double pleasure to a wearied traveller on approaching a fountain, sparkling in its basin of rocks, to find over it an invitation to repose from some one of the first epigrammatists of antiquity; as, for instance, this one of Anyte: Ξειν', ὑπο ταν πετραν τετρυμενα γυι' αναπαυσον· Ἁδυ τοι εν χλωροις πνευμα θροει πεταλοις. Πιδακα τ' εκ παγας ψυχρον πιε· δη γαρ ὁδιταις Αμπαυμ' εν θερμω καυματι τουτο φιλον. Weary stranger, sink to rest, 'Neath this rock's o'erhanging crest. Where the trees their branches fling Breezes soft are whispering. Freely drink these waters cold, Welling from yon fountain old. While the sun thus fiery glows, Travellers here should seek repose. These compositions being so limited as to their subject, bear of course much similarity to each other. We will, however, give two or three specimens in as different styles as we can select. Here is one by Leonidas of Tarentum, on a brook, too much frequented by the flocks to be acceptable to the traveller: