A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

MENANDER. -MENANDEL- 1033
trasted.with another writer's description'of the wlickli was brought out in B. c. 321, when Mediction of Philemon, as ourvnprr1Ar/ Kical oTov nander was only in his twenty-first year. (Clinton,
o'eaAw'evrlp T'oits ouV86'puoLs. (Meineke, pp. F. H. sub asm.; Meineke, p. xxx.) We have
xxxvi, xxxvii.) fragments of, or references to, the following plays,
To criticise the poetry of -Menander is to describe amounting in -all to nearly ninety titles: -'A8eAthe whole spirit and genius of the New Comedy, of cpot (imitated by Terence, who, however, has mixed
which his plays may be safely taken as the normal up with it the 2vva7roOv7Jewov'rss of Diphilus),
representatives. This has been done with a most'AAaees not'AAal'ApaoivBSes,'AAers,'Ava-rt0masterly hand by Schlegel, in his seventh lecture, lua,7 i Meo-rnrva,'Azr'pfa (mixed up with the
from which the following passage is quoted:- Ilepwrfa in the Andria of Terence),'AvpO'yvvoPS
" The New Comedy, in a certain point of view, may 1 Kp7s,'Avei/iao,'AwrYTros,'APPrqpdpos e AViAqindeed be described as the Old Comedy tamed Trp's,'A7rtis, AThdv 7reV86Ov,'Appoiosta, BoliawT,
down: but, in speaking of works of genius, tame- rewpyo'r, arCT-VAios, Adpeavos, AseirOaeao'l,
ness does not usually pass for praise. The loss At/uAoup'y6s,. A41/La, Als 5 ra7raTceY, AoSlcoAos,
incurred in the interdict laid upon the old, unre-'EavT4dV rAoWpoeU'Ivos (copied by Terence),'E/ystricted freedom of mirth, the newer comedians Xeipltov,'E/uArrapae'vn,'ErayyeAA4,oJAvos,'Errsought to compensate by throwing in a touch of KXh7pos,'ErEtpT'roT-es (the plot of which was simiearnestness borrowed from tragedy, as well in the lar to that of the Hecyra of Terence), EvoiiXos
form of representation, and the connection of the (imitated by Terence, but with a change in the
whole, asin the impressions, which they aimed at pro- dramatis personae),'Epe'ros%,'HioXos, VHpws,
ducing. We have seen how tragic poetry, in its last Oads, OETTaA v, Seocppovue4l, Ooaavpds (transepoch, lowered its tone from its ideal elevation, and lated into Latin by Lucius Lavinius), OpouvA4auv,
camenearer to common reality, both in the characters'I'4pea,'I~fpClot,'I7r7ro!o`'os, Kavrplpoes, KapFvtn,
and in the tone of the dialogue, but especially as it KapX7bvc'Los (from which Plautus probably took
aimed at conveying useful instruction on the proper his Poenulus), Kanaraevs'Mdevos, KepiKcpaXos,
conduct of civil and domestic life, in all their Kteapwr'-4s, Kvrs&a, Kd4cS\ (partly followed in the
several emergencies. This turn towards utility Eunuchus of Terence), KoveLado'lAeva (perhaps
Aristophanes. has ironically commended in Euri- better KwvLanO'JLeeva), KvgepvTrat, Aevtatfa, Aopides. (Ran. 971-991.) Euripides was the spot, M60nl, MvaySpuT-s, MsooTyzv's (reckoned by
forerunner of the New Comedy; the poets of this Phrynichus the best of all Menander's comedies,
species admired him especially, and acknowledged Epit. p. 417), M0ov'oe'oP, (another of his best
him for their master. Nay, so great is this plays, Liban. Orat. xxxi. p. 701), NadKcXpos,
affinity of tone and spirit, between Euripides and NoOe'T77r, ) evod'~yos,'OAuvOla,'OoUr'dTrptoL,
the poets of the New Comedy, that apophthegms of'Op'yl, HIarslov, HIaAAaic, Ilapca'raTafc7l, rlpEuripides have been ascribed to Menander, and Kcepoty'v, InepvOta, IlAo'IKo,, n1pSJayoi, ipovice versa. On the contrary, we find among the EytcaXCOS, nwxaozxev;ot,'ParLto0LJvp7, tla/d, a Ca, UsVfragments of Menander maxims of consolation, VLos, ZTpaarTwcar, ZvvapLca''cral, Zvvepc Ta, Zvv'which rise in a striking manner even into the 0I 77o, Trt07r, TpoepcSvos,'~Tpla,'Tpivs,'Trofotragic tone." (It may be added, that we have AluaCos h "A'ypowos, 4&vlov,, 4,'od-a, 4,dC8exApot,
abundant testimony to prove that Menander was a XakXiesa, XaActs, Xupa, TeuvrqpaXfjV,'oq)opex4s.
great admirer and imitator of Euripides. An There are also about 500 fragments which cannot
elaborate comparison of the parallel passages is be assigned to their proper places. To these must
instituted by Meineke in an Epimetrumn to his Trag. be added the rs'/az plovoJ'oXoa, some passages of
Corn. Graec. volh iv. p. 705.) the rrziala (or Jvytplaers) Mevdv8pou Kal iAao-.
" The New Comedy, therefore, is a mixture of -rtwvzos, and two epigrams, one in the Greek Ansport and earnest. The poet no longer makes a thology (quoted above), and one in the Latin versport of poetry and the world, he does not resign sion of Ausonius (Epig. 139). Of the letters to
himself to a mirthful enthusiasm, but he seeks the Ptolemy, which Suidas mentions, nothing survives,
sportive character in his subject, he depicts in hu- and it may fairly be doubted whether they were
man characters and situations that which gives not, like the so-called letters of other great men of
occasion to mirth; in a word, whatever is pleasant antiquity, the productions of the later rhetoricians.
and ridiculous." - Suidas ascribes to him some orations, A'Jyotsr
Menander is remarkable for the elegance with rAeolorSovs icaTaXoy'afrlJ, a statement of which
which he threw into the form of single verses, or there is no confirmation; but Quintilian (x. 1. ~ 70)
short sentences, the maxims of that practical wis- tells us that some ascribed the orations of Charisius
dom in the affairs of common life which forms so to Menander.
important a feature of the New Comedy. Various Of the ancient commentators on Menander, the
"Anthologies" of such sentences were compiled by earliest was Lynceus of Samos, his contemporary
the ancient grammarians from Menander's works, and rival [LYNCEus]. The next was the gramof which there is still extant a very interesting marian Aristophanes, whose admiration of Menanspecimen, in the collection of several hundred lines der we have spoken of above, and whose work,
(778 in Meineke's edition), under the title of entitled 7rapa'AAIXot Mevdvpov're Kal ciq' c
rCtZrat o oo'r-tXOi. Respecting the collection en- ecXteeV EJKxo'yal, is mentioned by Eusebius (Praep.
titled MsevYavpoL Kscal Ikci'Tw'vosr o-yKcplalS, see Evan. x. 3), who also mentions a work by a cerPHILISTmON. tain Latinus or Cratinus, 7repl r'V Oacs itcoy MeThe number of Menander's comedies is stated vaspo,. Next comes Plutarch's Comparison of
at a few more than a hundred; 105, 108, and Menander and Aristophanes: next Soterides of
109, according to different authorities. (Suid. s. v.; Epidaurus, who wrote a J7rod/yr'vua esi Me,'varpozs
Anon. de Com. p. xii.; Donat. Vit. Ter. p. 753; (Eudoc. p. 387; Suid. vol. iii. p. 356); and lastly
Aul. Gell. xvii. 4.) We only know with certainty Homer, surnamed Sellius, the author of a work enthe date of one of the plays, namely, the'Opyf, titled reproXaL Tcs' Mevapov apalcdra'., (Suid&