seem to have had a reputation like that of Addison and the English
essayists of the eighteenth century. Meleager's fame however is
securely founded on the one hundred and thirty-four epigrams of his
own which he included in his Anthology. Some further account of the
erotic epigrams, which are about four-fifths of the whole number, is
given above. For all of these the MSS. of the Anthology are the sole
source.

DIODORUS of Sardis, commonly called ZONAS, is spoken of by Strabo, who
was a friend of his kinsman Diodorus the younger, as having flourished
at the time of the invasion of Asia by Mithridates B.C. 88. He was a
distinguished orator. Both of these poets were included in the
Anthology of Philippus, and in the case of some of the epigrams it is
not quite certain to which of the two they should be referred. Eight
are usually ascribed to Zonas: they are chiefly dedicatory and
pastoral, with great beauty of style and feeling for nature.

ERYCIUS of Cyzicus flourished about the middle of the first century
B.C. One of his epigrams is on an Athenian woman who had in early life
been captured at the sack of Athens by Sulla B.C. 80; another is
against a grammarian Parthenius of Phocaea, possibly the same who was
the master of Virgil. Of the fourteen epigrams in the Anthology under
the name of Erycius one is headed "Erycius the Macedonian" and may be
by a different author.

PHILODEMUS of Gadara was a distinguished Epicurean philosopher who
lived at Rome in the best society of the Ciceronian age. He was an
intimate friend of Piso, the Consul of B.C. 58, to whom two of his
epigrams are addressed. Cicero, /in Pis./ § 68 foll., where he attacks
Piso for consorting with /Graeculi/, almost goes out of his way to
compliment Philodemus on his poetical genius and the unusual literary
culture which he combined with the profession of philosophy: and again
in the /de Finibus/ speaks of him as "a most worthy and learned man."
He is also referred to by Horace, 1 /Sat./ ii. 121. Thirty-two of his
epigrams, chiefly amatory, are in the Anthology, and five more are
ascribed to him on doubtful authenticity.

IV. Roman period; from the establishment of the Empire to the decay of
    art and letters after the death of Marcus Aurelius, B.C. 30-A.D.
    180.

This period falls into three subdivisions; (1) poets of the Augustan
age; (2) those of what may roughly be called the Neronian age, about
the middle of the first century; and (3) those of the brief and
partial renascence of art and letters under Hadrian, which, before the
accession of Commodus, had again sunk away, leaving a period of some
centuries almost wholly without either, but for the beginnings of
Christian art and the writings of the earlier Fathers of the Church.
Even from the outset of this period the epigram begins to fall off.
There is a tendency to choose trifling subjects, and treat them either
sentimentally or cynically. The heaviness of Roman workmanship affects
all but a few of the best epigrams, and there is a loss of simplicity
and clearness of outline. Many of the poets of this period, if not
most, lived as dependants in wealthy Roman families and wrote to
order: and we see in their work the bad results of an excessive taste
for rhetoric and the practice of fluent but empty improvisation.

(1) ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA, the author of upwards of a hundred
epigrams in the Anthology, is the most copious and perhaps the most
in his work to contemporary history. He lived under the patronage of
L. Calpurnius Piso, consul in B.C. 15, and afterwards proconsul of
Macedonia for several years, and was appointed by him governor of
Thessalonica. One of his epigrams celebrates the foundation of
Nicopolis by Octavianus, after the battle of Actium; another
anticipates his victory over the Parthians in the expedition of B.C.
20; another is addressed to Caius Caesar, who died in A.D. 4. None can
be ascribed certainly to a later date than this.

ANTIPHANES the Macedonian is the author of ten epigrams in the
Palatine Anthology; one of these, however, is headed "Antiphanes of
Megalopolis" and may be by a different author. There is no precise
indication of time in his poems.

BIANOR of Bithynia is the author of twenty-two epigrams in the
Anthology. One of them is on the destruction of Sardis by an
earthquake in A.D. 17. He is fond of sentimental treatment, which
sometimes touches pathos but often becomes trifling.

CRINAGORAS of Mitylene lived at Rome as a sort of court poet during
the latter part of the reign of Augustus. He is mentioned by Strabo as
a contemporary of some distinction. In one of his epigrams he blames
himself for hanging on to wealthy patrons; several others are
complimentary verses sent with small presents to the children of his
aristocratic friends: one is addressed to young Marcellus with a copy
of the poems of Callimachus. Others are on the return of Marcellus
from the Cantabrian war, B.C. 25; on the victories of Tiberius in
Armenia and Germany; and on Antonia, daughter of the triumvir and wife
of Drusus. Another, written in the spirit of that age of tourists,
speaks of undertaking a voyage from Asia to Italy, visiting the
Cyclades and Corcyra on the way. Fifty-one epigrams are attributed to
him in the Anthology; one of these, however (/Anth. Pal./ ix. 235), is
on the marriage of Berenice of Cyrene to Ptolemy III. Euergetes, and
must be referred to Callimachus or one of his contemporaries.

DIODORUS, son of Diopeithes of Sardis, also called Diodorus the
Younger, in distinction to Diodorus Zonas, is mentioned as a friend of
his own by Strabo, and was a historian and melic poet besides being an
epigrammatist. Seventeen of the epigrams in the Anthology under the
name of Diodorus are usually ascribed to him, and include a few fine
epitaphs.

EVENUS of Ascalon is probably the author of eight epigrams in the
Anthology; but some of these may belong to other epigrammatists of the
same name, Evenus of Athens, Evenus of Sicily, and Evenus Grammaticus,
unless the last two of these are the same person. Evenus of Athens has
been doubtfully identified with Evenus of Paros, and elegiac poet of
some note contemporary with Socrates, mentioned in the /Phaedo/ and
quoted by Aristotle: and it is just possible that some of the best of
the epigrams, most of which are on works of art, may be his.

PARMENIO the Macedonian is the author of sixteen epigrams in the
Anthology, most of which have little quality beyond commonplace
rhetoric.

These seven poets were included in the Anthology of Philippus; of the
same period, but not mentioned by name in the proem to that
collection, are the following:--

APOLLONIDES, author of thirty-one epigrams in the Anthology, perhaps
the same with an Apollonides of Nicaea mentioned by Diogenes Laėrtius
as having lived in the reign of Tiberius. One of his epigrams refers
to the retirement of Tiberius at Rhodes from B.C. 6 to A.D. 2, and
another mentions D. Laelius Balbus, who was consul in B.C. 6, as
travelling in Greece.

GAETULICUS, the author of eight epigrams in the Palatine Anthology
(vi. 154 and vii. 245 are wrongly ascribed to him), is usually
identified with Gn. Lentulus Gaetulicus, legate of Upper Germany,
executed on suspicion of conspiracy by Caligula, A.D. 39, and
mentioned as a writer of amatory poetry by Martial and Pliny. But the
identification is very doubtful, and perhaps he rather belongs to the
second century A.D. No precise date is indicated in any of the
epigrams.

POMPEIUS, author of two or three epigrams in the Palatine Anthology,
also called Pompeius the Younger, is generally identified with M.
Pompeius Theophanes, son of Theophanes of Mitylene, the friend of
Pompey the Great, and himself a friend of Tiberius, according to
Strabo.

To the same period probably belong QUINTUS MAECIUS or MACCIUS, author
of twelve epigrams in the Anthology, and MARCUS ARGENTARIUS, perhaps
the same with a rhetorician Argentarius mentioned by the elder Seneca,
author of thirty-seven epigrams, chiefly amatory and convivial, some
of which have much grace and fancy. Others place him in the age of
Hadrian.

(2) PHILIPPUS of Thessalonica was the compiler of an Anthology of
epigrammatists subsequent to Meleager and is himself the author of
seventy-four extant epigrams in the Anthology besides six more
dubiously ascribed to him. He wrote epigrams of all sorts, mainly
imitated from older writers and showing but little original power or
imagination. The latest certain historical allusion in his own work is
one to Agrippa's mole at Puteoli, but Antiphilus, who was included in
his collection, certainly wrote in the reign of Nero, and probably
Philippus was of about the same date. Most of his epigrams being
merely rhetorical exercises on stock themes give no clue to his
precise period.

ANTIPHILUS of Byzantium, whose date is fixed by his epigram on the
restoration of liberty to Rhodes by the emperor Nero, A.D. 53 (Tac.
/Ann./ xii. 58), is the author of forty-nine epigrams in the
Anthology, besides three doubtful. Among them are some graceful
dedications, pastoral epigrams, and sea-pieces. The pretty epitaph on
Agricola (/Anth. Pal./ ix. 549) gives no clue to his date, as it
certainly is not on the father-in-law of Tacitus, and no other person
of the name appears to be mentioned in history.

JULIUS POLYAENUS is the author of a group of three epigrams (/Anth.
Pal./ ix. 7-9), which have a high seriousness rare in the work of this
period. He has been probably identified with a C. Julius Polyaenus who
is known from coins to have been a duumvir of Corinth (Colonia Julia)
under Nero. He was a native of Corcyra, to which he retired after a
life of much toil and travel, apparently as a merchant. The epigram by
Polyaenus of Sardis (/Anth. Pal./ ix. 1), usually referred to the same
author, is in a completely different manner.

LUCILIUS, the author of one hundred and twenty-three epigrams in the
Palatine Anthology (twenty others are of doubtful authorship) was, as
we learn from himself, a grammarian at Rome and a pensioner of Nero.
He published two volumes of epigrams, somewhat like those of Martial,
in a satiric and hyperbolical style.[1]

NICARCHUS is the author of forty-two epigrams of the same kind as
those of Lucilius. Another given under his name (/Anth. Pal./ vii.
159) is of the early Alexandrian period, perhaps by Nicias of Miletus,
as the converse mistake is made in the Palatine MS. with regard to xi.
398. A large proportion of his epigrams are directed against doctors.
There is nothing to fix the precise part of the century in which he
lived.

To some part of this century also belong SECUNDUS of Tarentum and
MYRINUS, each the other of four epigrams in the Anthology. Nothing
further is known of either.

(3) STRATO of Sardis, the collector of the Anthology called {Mousa
Paidike Stratonos} and extant, apparently in an imperfect and
mutilated form, as the twelfth section or first appendix of the
Palatine Anthology may be placed with tolerable certainty in the reign