serted pentameters between the lines of the Iliad. Many poets, best known as authors of other kinds of verse, also wrote elegies. The form of the distich makes it a natural vehicle for the expression of brief and pointed thoughts or sentiments, such as those ascribed to Phocylides, or some of those found in the poems of Solon. This quality of the distich led to its frequent use all through the classical period for inscriptions, and especially epitaphs. As such inscriptions were often strikingly apt and to the point, the word epigram, which originally meant merely inscription, has come to be applied to pungent, sententious remarks. Epigrams ascribed to many of the famous men of Greece · have been handed down to us, but in many instances their authorship is doubted. In any case, such couplets, though they show one of the uses to which the elegiac distich was put, are of little importance in the history of literature.

CHAPTER VII

IAMBIC POETRY-BEAST-FABLES

The origin of iambic poetry-Archilochus, first half of the seventh century B. C.-Simonides of Amorgus, second half of the seventh century B. C.-Hipponax, latter part of the sixth century B. C.-Ananius— Solon-Beast-fables-Esop.

Iambic poetry.

As the elegiac metre arose by a modification of the epic hexameter, so the iambic rhythm arose by a modification of the natural prose utterance, for the alternation of long and short syllables is so usual in Greek that it is sometimes hard to avoid writing or speaking in a sort of rough iambics. Such a rhythm was naturally popular, and was naturally adopted in the festivals at which gibes and jokes were exchanged. The connection of iambic poetry with the festivals of Demeter is therefore not improbable (see page 61). Certainly the iambic poems partake of the nature of satiric gibes, though no longer rude in expression or without the artistic merit which distinguishes real poetry from popular songs. Iambic metres were, as has been said before (page 62), used for various purposes, and they never went out of use, but when iambic poetry as a distinct class is spoken of, that poetry is meant which had its rise with Archilochus, was cultivated for a short time, and then disappeared until it was revived by imitators in the Alexandrian period.

Of the iambic poets, Archilochus, of Paros, was the first and greatest. He belonged to an important Parian family. His father's name was Telesicles; his mother was a slave

by the name of Enipo. The dates of his birth and death are unknown, but his life was passed in the first half of the seventh century B. C. He was, then, a contemArchilochus. porary of Callinus, though perhaps somewhat

younger than he. His verses mentioned the chief events of his life, and enabled ancient writers to transmit to us some biographical information. From them and from the extant fragments of the poems we gain the following facts: Some unknown event made Archilochus poor, and he left Paros to seek his fortune at Thasos, where he probably expected to be enriched by gold-mining. In this he was disappointed, for he succeeded in making nothing but enemies at Thasos, and presently he went to the adjacent mainland as a mercenary soldier. How long he remained a soldier of fortune or where he fought is not known, except that a fragment of one of his poems states that in a fight with a Thracian tribe he fled and threw away his shield. He must have returned to Paros, for he is said to have died in a battle between the Parians and the Naxians. How old he was at this time we do not know, but he was still young enough to bear arms. All the extant fragments of his poems and all the information we have from other sources show us Archilochus as a man in full youthful vigor. It is therefore probable that his death took place when he was not much over forty years old. At some time, we do not know when nor where, Archilochus wished to marry Neobule, daughter of Lycambes, but his suit was rejected. Thereupon his love turned to hate, and he attacked father and daughter alike with stinging verses, which made them the laughing-stock of the place. Both are said to have committed suicide. The story is probably not true, at least so far as the suicide is concerned, but it shows the power ascribed by the ancients to the satiric verse of Archilochus. He appears throughout as a bold, passionate, somewhat ungovernable nature, one who would love the excitement of battle rather than the quiet of a peaceful life. The

fact that he says he threw away his shield need not make us believe that he was cowardly, for a coward would not have been likely to become a mercenary soldier, nor would any one mention the loss of his shield who was not sure that his reputation for courage was so great that one flight would not destroy it. This confession was imitated by Alcæus and Anacreon among Greek poets, and by Horace among the Romans.

Archilochus.

The ancients admired the poetry of Archilochus greatly, associating his name with that of Homer. It is therefore peculiarly unfortunate that his poems are alThe poetry of most entirely lost, for there is little in the extant fragments to justify such admiration. There is life and vigor, lightness of touch and elegance of diction, variety of sentiment and of subject, but more than this it is hard to find in the short fragments preserved to us. They consist of elegiac verses, iambic trimeters, trochaic tetrameters,1 and other less familiar varieties of verse.

Archilochus is peculiarly hard to translate, as the charm of his diction is found in great measure in the aptness of his words and the concise and pointed manner of expression, qualities which are likely to be lost in translation. A few extracts will at least give an idea of the variety of subjects. and sentiments to be found even in the unsatisfactory fragments now existing. Of himself Archilochus says: "I am a servant of Lord Enyalius [the war-god], understanding also the lovely gift of the Muses." Again he says: “In my spear my bread is kneaded, in my spear Ismaric wine, leaning on my spear I drink," words which express clearly and vividly his dependence upon his arms for his livelihood. The loss of his shield is expressed as follows: "Some one of the Sæans rejoices in my shield, which excellent arm I

tli

he fell "

1 "Do not lift him from the bracken. Leave him lying where he fell " may serve as an example of the rhythm of the trochaic tetrameter in English.

left behind a bush against my will; but I myself escaped the end of death. That shield-well, let it go; I'll get another not inferior." Several fragments are said to refer to the death of his sister's husband, who was lost in a shipwreck.

Lamentable are our woes, Pericles, nor does any one of the citizens rejoice in festivals, such is the mourning for them, nor does the city; for the wave of the much roaring sea has swallowed up such men, and we have breasts swollen with grief. But the gods have given firm endurance as a drug for incurable ills; sometimes oue has these ills, sometimes another; now they have turned to us, and we lament a bleeding wound, but they will pass again to others; so straightway bear them, putting away womanish grief.

And again: "I shall not cure anything by wailing, nor do any harm by turning to enjoyments and feasts.' Archilochus seems to have been quite willing to enjoy himself in various ways. In one fragment he urges some one to "go through the ship with a cup and take the covers from the hollow casks and draw the red wine from the dregs; for we can not keep sober on this watch." Of Thasos he says: "But this island stands like an ass's back, clad with rough woods; for there is no such fair and lovely place as is about the streams of Siris" [in Paros]. Evidently the poet-soldier did not like Thasos.

Neobule is mentioned in wo fragments, but we learn little about her. In one Archilochus speaks of her as the youngest daughter of Lycambes, in the other he longs even to touch her hand. In some lines addressed to Lycambes, the poet says: "Father Lycambes, what is this you said? Who took away your sense, on which you used to lean? But now you're a great laughing-stock to all your fellow citizens." The hymn to Heracles was very famous throughout antiquity. It had a refrain, "Tenella kallinike,” which we are told was sung as an accompaniment to the words. Probably some voices of a chorus sang the real words, while others sang "Tenella kallinike." Something similar to this is some