O Zephyritis! I am but a shell, First gift of Selenæa unto thee. Her nautilus, who once could sail so well O'er the unquiet bosom of the sea. Then, if 't were ploughed by gentle, favoring gales, On my own ropes I spread my mimic sails, And, if 't were calm, I used my feet as oars And swiftly rowed--from which I bear my name. But I was cast upon the sandy shores Of fair lülis, and from there I came, To be a graceful ornament to thee, Here in thy fane, O fair Arsinoë! Now sad Alcyone will lay no more, Within her ocean-nest her eggs for me, For I am lifeless. Queen of this bright shore Let Clinias's daughter hence receive from thee Thy choicest gifts. She dwells beyond the main Where Smyrna towers o'er th' Æolian plain. It would scarcely be fair to conclude this little notice of some of the smaller gems of Greek poetry, without glancing at those intended to be satirical or witty. Of these we can find but few remaining, and what are thus preserved cannot induce us to regret much the loss of those which have been destroyed. They do not seem to show a taste as refined and delicate as is exhibited by the other productions of the Grecian muse, and, indeed, are usually very poor. Two or three specimens will suffice. Doctors and lawyers, as at present, were favorite butts for the shafts of the epigrammatists. The following mock-epitaph is intended as a cut at the former. The author is unknown: Ουτ' εκλυσεν Φειδων. κ. τ. λ. 'Twas not with drugs that Phidon killed me; He came not even near my side: But, while raging fevers thrilled me, I chanced to _think_ of him--and died! And here is an epitaph, 'A precious, tender-hearted scroll Of pure Simonides,' intended, no doubt, for the grave of an enemy: Πολλα φαγων, και πολλα πιων. κ. τ. λ Here lies Timocreon, the Rhodian; he Loved slander, drunkenness, and gluttony. This is certainly pithy. * * * * * Stepmothers, in those days, would seem to have been just as bad as at present, when they have become a very proverb. Here is a kind of epitaph by Callimachus, containing a hit at them which certainly has no very great merit: Στηλην μητρυιης. κ. τ. λ. On his step-mother's tomb, this youth piously placed Some flowers, that it might be properly graced. For he thought, as this life had abandoned her view, That her vices, no doubt, had abandoned her too. But, while he was thus standing close to the tomb, It fell, and it crushed him, Oh! terrible doom! Then youths! let this warning sink deep in your breasts, Shun each step-mother, e'en when in Oreus she rests. These are ample, as specimens of Grecian wit, which, as here exhibited, is certainly of no very refined or exalted description.