[Footnote EF: Simonides, of Ceos, perfected Greek elegy and epigram, a "brilliant representative not only of Greek choral poetry in its prime, but of the whole literary life of Hellas during the period which immediately preceded and followed the Persian war." We find in him "a Dorian solemnity of thought and feeling, which qualified him for commemorating in elegy and epigram and funereal ode the achievements of Hellas against Persia.... The genius of Simonides is unique in this branch of monumental poetry (epigram). His couplets--calm, simple, terse, strong as the deeds they celebrate, enduring as the brass or stone which they adorned--animated succeeding generations of Greek patriots." (Symonds, _Studies of the Greek Poets_, 1st Series, pp. 146-149.) The phrase "pure Simonides" probably refers to his reputation--which was proverbial--for σωφροσύνη, that temperance and restraint, that moderation and self-control which are seen both in his poems and in his reputed sayings as a philosopher.--ED.] [Footnote EG: Horace refers to Simonides, _Carmina_ IV. ix. 5-8-- Non, si priores Mæonius tenet Sedes Homerus, Pindaricæ latent Ceæque et Alcæi minaces Stesichorique graves camenæ; and again, _Carmina_ II. i. 37-40-- Sed ne relictis, Musa, procax iocis Ceæ retractes munera neniæ: Mecum Dionæo sub antro Quære modos leviore plectro. ED. ] [Footnote EH: I have been unable to find any allusion to Simonides in Virgil. But probably Wordsworth merely refers to the numerous lost books of Greek and Latin literature; and wonders if these treasures (of all kinds), which Horace and Virgil knew and prized, would ever be recovered by us. Some of Horace's most significant references to the literature of Greece, and of the past, occur in _Odes_ III. 3; iv. 2 and 3. Since the above was written, the late Professor William Sellar wrote to me:--"I do not find any special reference to Simonides in Virgil. Besides the passages you refer to in Horace, there are two or three lines in the _Odes_, which he has translated from Simonides, _e.g._ Est et fideli tuta silentio Merces: (_Carmina_ III. ii. 25)