Some Ancient Greek Authors: Chronologically Arranged [pp. 301-302]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
Yet mniust my fervor back, and wait
Till solitude can set it free,Yet must I not forget that fate
Has locked my heart, and lost the key;
These very rhymes I'm weaving now
Condemn mc for a broken vow!
N. P. W.
N. B. My friend soon recovered from this sad stroke,
and he has since recovered the "key," and locked within
the fate-closed casket a pearl, I learn, of great price.
So much for a sophomore's Anacreontics!
If this "loan" prove acceptable, I have a choice one
in store for May. o.
SOME ANCIENT GREEK AUTHORS.
CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED.
Whether Homer or Hesiod lived first has never been
determined. Herodotus supposes them both to have
lived at the same time, viz. B.C. 884. The Arun. marbles make them contemporaries, but place their era B.
C. 907. Besides the Iliad and Odyssey, Homer wrote,
according to some, a poem upon Amphliaraus' expedition
against Thebes; Also, the Phoceis, the Cercopes, the
smrrall Iliad, the Epiciclides, the Batrachomyomfachia,
and some Hymns to the Gods.
Hesiod wrote a poem on Agriculture, called The Works
and Days, also Theogony, which is valuable for its account of the Gods of antiquity. His Shield of Hercules,
and some others, are now lost.
J.rchilocus wrote elegies, satires, odes and epigrams,
and was the inventor of Iambics; these are by some
ascribed to Epodes. Some fragments of his poetry remain. He is supposed to have lived B.C. 742.
.lcccus is the inventor of Alcaic verses. Of all his
works, nothing remains but a few fragments, found in
AthenNeus. B.C. 600.
He was contemporary with the famous Sappho. She
was the inventress of the Sapphic verse, and had composed nine books in lyric verses, besides epigrams, elegies, &c. Of all these, two pieces alone remain, and a
few fiagments quoted by Didymus.
Theognis of Megara wrote several poems, of which
only a few sentences are now extant, quoted by Plato
and some others. B.C. 548.
Sirnonides wrote elegies, epigrams and dramatical
pieces; also Epic poems-one on Cambyses, King of
Persia, &c. One of his most famous compositions, The
Lamentations, a beautiful fiagment, is still extant.
Thespis, supposed to be the inventor of Tragedy, lived
about this time.
.lnacreon. His odes are thought to be still extant,
but very few of them can be truly ascribed to Anacreon
Eschylits is the first who introduced two actors on the
stage, and clothed them with suitable dresses. He likewise removed murder from the eyes of the spectator.
He wrote 90 tragedies, of which 7 are extant, viz. Promnetheus Vilnctus, Septem Ditces contra Thebas, Persee,
Agamemnon, Ch6ephore, Eumenides and Supplices.
Pindar was his contemporary. Most of Piidar's
works have perished. He had written some hymns to
the Gods,-poemns in honor of Apollo,-dithyrambics
to B icchus, and odes on several victories obtained at the
Olympic, Isthmian, Pythlian and Nemean games. Of
all these the odes alone remain.
Sophocles first increased the number of actors to three,
and added the decorations of painted scenery. He composed 120 tragedies-7 only of which are extant, viz.
Ajax, Electra, (Edipus, Antigone, The Trachniae, Phli1octetes and (Ediputs at Colonos. B. C. 454.
Plato, the comic poet, called the prince of the middle
comedy, and of whose pieces some fragments remain,
flourished about this time.
Also,.,ristarchus, the tragic poet of Tegea, who composed 70 tragedies, one of which was translated into
Latin verse by Ennius.
Herodotus of Ialicarnassus, wrote a history of the Wars
of the Greeks against the Persians from the age ofCyrus
to the battle of Mycale, including an account of the
most celebrated nations in the world. Besides this, he
had written a history of Assyria and Arabia which is
not extant. There is a life of Homer generally attributed to him, but doubtfully. B. C. 445.
Euripides, who lived at this time,wrote 75 or, as some
say, 92 tragedies, of which only 19 are extant. He was
the rival of Sophocles.
About the commencement of the Peloponnesian war,
flourished many celebrated authors, among whom was
aristophanes. He wrote 54 comedies, of which only
11 are extant.
Also, Cratinats and Eopolis, who with Aristophanes,
are mentioned by Horace-they were celebrated for their
comic writings. B. C. 431.
Also, the mathematician and astrologer, Mleton, who,
in a book called Enneadecaterides, endeavored to adjust
the course of the sun and moon, and maintained that
the solar and lunar years could regularly begin from the
same point in the heavens. This is called the Metonic
cycle.
Thucydides flourished at this time. He wrotea history
of the important events which happened durinn his command. This history is continued only to the 21st year
of the war. It has been divided into eight books-the
last of which is supposed to have been written by his
daughters. It is imperfect.
Also Hippocrates;-few of his writings remain.
Lysias, the orator, wrote, according to Plutarch, no
less than 425 orations-of these 34 are extant. B. C.
404.
Contemporary witlh him was i/gatho, an Athenian
tragic and comic poet-there is now nothing extant of
his workls, except quotations in Aristotle and others.
Xenophon, whose works are well known, lived about
the year 3198 before Christ.
Ctesias, who wrote a history of the Assyrians and
Persians, which Justin and Diodorus have prefered to
that of Herodotus, lived also at this time. Some fiagments of his compositions have been preserved.
The works of Plato are numerous-they are all written, except twelve letters, in the form of a dialogue.
388.
Of the 64 orations of Ismus, 10 are extant. Demosthenes imitated him. 377.
About 32 of the orations of Isocrates, who lived at
the same time, remain.
All the compositions of the historian Theopompus are
lost, except a few fragments quoted by ancient writers.
354.
VOL. II.-39
301.