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ANTHOLOGY
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ANTHOLOGY . The See also:term " anthology," literally denoting a See also:garland or collection of See also:flowers, is figuratively applied to any selection of See also:literary beauties, and especially to that See also:great See also:body of fugitive See also:poetry, comprehending about 4500 pieces, by upwards of 300 writers, which is commonly known as the See also:Greek Anthology. Literary See also:History of the Greek Anthology.—The See also:art of occasional poetry had been cultivated in See also:Greece from an See also:early See also:period,—less, however, as the vehicle of See also:personal feeling, than as the recognized See also:commemoration of remarkable individuals or events, on sepulchral monuments and votive offerings: Such compositions were termed epigrams, i.e. See also:inscriptions. The See also:modern use of the word is a departure from the See also:original sense, which simply indicated that the See also:composition was intended to be en-graved or inscribed. Such a composition must necessarily be I brief, and the restraints attendant upon its publication concurred with the simplicity of Greek See also:taste in prescribing conciseness of expression, pregnancy of meaning, purity of diction and.singleness of thought, as the indispensable conditions of excellence in the epigrammatic See also:style. The term was soon extended to any piece by which these conditions were fulfilled. The transition from the monumental to the purely literary See also:character of the See also:epigram was favoured by the exhaustion of more lofty forms of poetry, the See also:general increase, from the general See also:diffusion of culture, of accomplished writers and tasteful readers, but, above all, by the changed See also:political circumstances of the times, which induced many who would otherwise have engaged in public affairs to addict themselves to literary pursuits. These causes came into full operation during the Alexandrian era, in which we find every description of epigrammatic composition perfectly See also:developed. About 6o B.c., the sophist and poet, See also:Meleager of See also:Gadara, undertook to combine the choicest effusions of his predecessors into a single body of fugitive poetry. Collections of monumental inscriptions, or of poems on particular subjects, had previously been formed by Polemon Periegetes and others; but Meleager first gave the principle a comprehensive application. His selection, compiled from See also:forty-six of his predecessors, and including numerous contributions of his own, was entitled The Garland (IrEd:avos); and in an See also:introductory poem each poet is compared to some See also:flower, fancifully deemed appropriate to his See also:genius. The arrangement of his collection was alphabetical, according to the initial See also:letter of each epigram. In the See also:age of the See also:emperor Tiberius (or See also:Trajan, according to others) the See also:work of Meleager was continued by another epigrammatist, See also:Philippus of Thessalonica, who first employed the term anthology. His collection, which included the compositions of thirteen writers subsequent to Meleager, was also arranged alphabetically, and contained an introductory poem. It was of inferior quality to Meleager's. Somewhat later, under See also:Hadrian, another supplement was formed by the sophist See also:Diogenianus of Heracleia (2nd See also:century A.D.), and Strato of See also:Sardis compiled his elegant but tainted Moira Hac&ucil (Musa Puerilis) from his productions and those of earlier writers. No further collection from various See also:sources is recorded until the See also:time of Justinian, when epigrammatic See also:writing, especially of an amatory character, experienced a great revival at the hands of See also:Agathias of Myrina, the historian, See also:Paulus Silentiarius, and their circle. Their ingenious but mannered productions were collected by Agathias into a new anthology, entitled The Circle (KIKXos); it was the first to be divided into books, and arranged with reference to the subjects of the pieces.
These and other collections made during the See also:middle ages are now lost. The partial See also:incorporation of them into a single body, classified according to the contents in 15 books, was the work of a certain See also:Constantinus Cephalas, whose name alone is preserved in the single MS. of his compilation extant, but who probably lived during the temporary revival of letters under See also:Constantine Porphyrogenitus, at the beginning of the loth century. He appears to have merely made excerpts from the existing anthologies, with the addition of selections from Lucillius, Palladas, and other epigrammatists, whose compositions had been published separately. His arrangement, to which we shall have to recur, is founded on a principle of See also:classification, and nearly corresponds to that adopted by Agathias. His principle of selection is unknown; it is only certain that while he omitted much that he should have retained, he has preserved much that would other-See also:wise have perished. The extent of our obligations may be ascertained by a comparison between his anthology and that of the next editor, the See also: 1320), who has not merely grievously mutilated the anthology of Cephalas by omissions, but has disfigured it by interpolating verses of his own. We are, however, indebted to him for the preservation of the epigrams on See also:works of art, which seem to have been accidentally omitted from our only transcript of Cephalas. The Planudean (in seven books) was the only recension of the anthology known at the revival of classical literature, and was first published at See also:Florence, by See also:Janus See also:Lascaris, in 1494. It See also:long continued to be the only accessible collection, for although the See also:Palatine MS., the See also:sole extant copy of the anthology of Cephalas, was discovered in the Palatine library at See also:Heidelberg, and copied by Saumaise (See also:Salmasius) in r6o6, it was not published until '776, when it was included in See also:Brunck's Analecta Veterum Poetarunt Graecorum. The MS. itself had frequently changed its quarters. In 1623, having been taken in the See also:sack of Heidelberg in the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War, it was sent with the See also:rest of the Palatine Library to See also:Rome as a See also:present from See also:Maximilian I. of See also:Bavaria to See also:Gregory XV., who had it divided into two parts, the first of which was by far the larger; thence it was taken to See also:Paris in 1797. In 1816 it went back to Heidelberg, but in an incomplete See also:state, the second See also:part remaining at Paris. It is now represented at Heidelberg by a photographic facsimile. Bru nck's edition was superseded by the See also:standard one of See also:Friedrich See also:Jacobs (1794-1814, 13 vols.), the See also:text of which was reprinted in a more convenient See also:form in 1813-1817, and occupies three See also:pocket volumes in the See also:Tauchnitz See also:series of the See also:classics. The best edition for general purposes is perhaps that of See also:Dubner in See also:Didot's Bibliotheca (1864-1872), which contains the Palatine Anthology, the epigrams of the Planudean Anthology not comprised in the former, an appendix of pieces derived from other sources, copious notes selected from all quarters, a literal Latin See also:prose See also:translation by Boissonade, Bothe, and Lapaume and the metrical Latin versions of See also:Hugo See also:Grotius. A third See also:volume, edited by E. Cougny, was published in 189o. The best edition of the Planudean Anthology is the splendid one by See also:van See also:Bosch and van See also:Lennep (1795–1822). There is also a See also:complete edition of the text by Stadtmuller in the Teubner series. Arrangement.—The Palatine MS., the archetype of the present text, was transcribed by different persons at different times, and the actual arrangement of the collection does not correspond with that signalized in the See also:index. It is as follows: See also:Book 1. See also:Christian epigrams; 2. See also:Christodorus's description of certain statues; 3. Inscriptions in the See also:temple at See also:Cyzicus; 4. The pre-faces of Meleager, Philippus, and Agathias to their respective collections; 5. Amatory epigrams; 6. Votive inscriptions; 7. Epitaphs; 8. The epigrams of Gregory of Nazianzus; 9. Rhetorical and illustrative epigrams; to. Ethical pieces; 11. Humorous and convivial; 12. Strato's Musa Puerilis; 13. Metrical curiosities; 14. Puzzles, enigmas, oracles; 15. Miscellanies. The epigrams on works of art, as already stated, are missing from the Codex Palalinus, and must be sought in an appendix of epigrams only occurring in the Planudean Anthology. The epigrams hitherto recovered from See also:ancient monuments and similar sources form appendices in the second and third volumes of See also:Milliner's edition. Style and Value.—One of the See also:principal claims of the Anthology to See also:attention is derived from its continuity, its existence as a living and growing body of poetry throughout all the vicissitudes of Greek See also:civilization. More ambitious descriptions of composition speedily ran their course, and having attained their complete development became See also:extinct or at best lingered only in feeble or conventional imitations. The humbler strains of the epigrammatic muse, on the other See also:hand, remained ever fresh and animated, ever in intimate See also:union with the spirit of the See also:generation that gave them See also:birth. To peruse the entire collection; accordingly, is as it were to assist at the disinterment of an ancient See also:city, where generation has succeeded generation on the same site, and each stratum of See also:soil enshrines the vestiges of a distinct See also:epoch, but where all epochs, nevertheless, combine to constitute an organic whole, and the transition from one to the other is hardly perceptible. Four stages may be indicated:—1. The Hellenic proper, of which See also:Simonides of See also:Ceos (c. 556–469 B.C.), the author of most of the sepulchral inscriptions on those who See also:fell in the See also:Persian See also:wars, is the characteristic representative. This is characterized by a See also:simple dignity of phrase, which to a modern taste almost verges upon baldness, by a crystalline transparency of diction, and by an See also:absolute fidelity to the original conception of the epigram. Nearly all the pieces of this era are actual See also:bona fide inscriptions or addresses to real personages, whether living or deceased; narratives, literary exercises, and See also:sports of See also:fancy are exceedingly rare. 2. The epigram received a great development in its second or Alexandrian era, when its range was so extended as to include See also:anecdote, See also:satire, and amorous longing; when epitaphs and votive inscriptions were composed on imaginary persons and things, and men of taste successfully attempted the same subjects in mutual emulation, or sat down to compose verses as displays of their ingenuity. The result was a great gain in richness of,styleand general See also:interest, counterbalanced by a falling off in purity of diction and sincerity of treatment. The modification—a perfectly legitimate one, the resources of the old style being exhausted—had its real source in the transformation of political See also:life, but may be said to commence with and to find its best representative in the playful and elegant See also:Leonidas of See also:Tarentum, a contemporary of See also:Pyrrhus, and to See also:close with See also:Antipater of See also:Sidon, about 140 B.C. (or later). It should be noticed, however, that See also:Callimachus, one of the most distinguished of the Alexandrian poets, affects the sternest simplicity in his epigrams, and copies the austerity of Simonides with as much success as an imitator can expect. 3. By a slight additional modification in the same direction, the Alexandrian passes into what, for the See also:sake of preserving the See also:parallelism with eras of Greek prose literature, we may See also:call the See also:Roman style, although the peculiarities of its principal representative are decidedly See also:Oriental. Meleager of Gadara was a Syrian; his taste was less severe, and his temperament more fervent than those of his Greek predecessors; his pieces are usually erotic, and their glowing imagery sometimes reminds us of the See also:Song of See also:Solomon. The luxuriance of his fancy occasionally betrays him into far-fetched conceits, and the lavishness of his epithets is only redeemed by their exquisite felicity. Yet his effusions are manifestly the offspring of genuine feeling, and his See also:epitaph on himself indicates a great advance on the exclusiveness of See also:antique Greek patriotism, and is perhaps the first clear enunciation of the spirit of universal humanity characteristic of the later Stoic See also:philosophy. His gaiety and licentiousness are imitated and exaggerated by his somewhat later contemporary, the Epicurean See also:Philodemus, perhaps the liveliest of all the epigrammatists; his fancy reappears with diminished brilliancy in Philodemus's contemporary, Zonas, in See also:Crinagoras, who wrote under See also:Augustus, and in See also:Marcus Argentarius, of uncertain date; his See also:peculiar gorgeousness of colouring remains entirely his own. At a later period of the See also:empire another genre, hitherto comparatively in See also:abeyance, was developed, the satirical. Lucillius, who flourished under See also:Nero, and See also:Lucian, more renowned in other See also:fields of literature, display a remarkable See also:talent for shrewd, See also:caustic epigram, frequently embodying moral reflexions of great cogency, often lashing See also:vice and folly with See also:signal effect, but not seldom indulging in See also:mere trivialities, or deformed by scoffs at personal blemishes. This style of composition is not properly Greek, but Roman; it answers to the modern See also:definition of epigram, and has hence attained a celebrity in excess of its deserts. It is remarkable, however, as an almost solitary example of See also:direct Latin See also:influence on Greek literature. The same style obtains with Palladas, an Alexandrian grammarian of the 4th century, the last of the strictly classical epigrammatists, and the first to be guilty of downright See also:bad taste. His better pieces, however, are characterized by an austere ethical impressiveness, and his literary position is very interesting as that of an indignant but despairing opponent of See also:Christianity. 4. The See also:fourth or See also:Byzantine 'style of epigrammatic composition was cultivated by the See also:beaux-es prlts of the See also:court of Justinian. To a great extent this is merely imitative, but the circumstances of the period operated so as to produce a See also:species of originality. The peculiarly ornate and recherche diction of Agathias and his compeers is not a merit in itself, but, applied for the first time, it has the effect of revivifying an old form, and many of their new locutions are actual enrichments of the See also:language. The writers, moreover, were men of genuine poetical feeling, ingenious in invention, and capable of expressing emotion with See also:energy and liveliness; tha colouring of their pieces is sometimes highly dramatic. It wodild be hard to exaggerate the substantial value of the Anthology, whether as a storehouse of facts bearing on antique See also:manners, customs and ideas, or as one among the influences which have contributed to See also:mould the literature of the modern See also:world. The multitudinous votive inscriptions, serious and sportive, connote the phases of Greek religious sentiment, from pious See also:awe to irreverent familiarity and sarcastic See also:scepticism; the moral See also:tone of the nation at various periods is mirrored with corre,sponding fidelity; the sepulchral inscriptions admit us into the inmost See also:sanctuary of See also:family See also:affection, and reveal a See also:depth and tenderness of feeling beyond the See also:province of the historian to depict, which we should not have surmised even from the dramatists; the general tendency of the collection is to display antiquity on its most human See also:side, and to mitigate those contrasts with the modern world which more ambitious modes of composition force into See also:relief. The See also:constant reference to the details of private life renders the Anthology an inexhaustible See also:treasury for the student of See also:archaeology; art, See also:industry and See also:costume receive their fullest See also:illustration from its pages. Its influence on See also:European literatures will be appreciated in proportion to the inquirer's knowledge of each. The further his researches extend, the greater will be his astonishment at the extent to which the Anthology has been laid under contribution for thoughts which have become See also:household words in all cultivated See also:languages, and at the beneficial effect of the See also:imitation of its brevity, simplicity, and absolute verbal accuracy upon the undisciplined luxuriance of modern genius. See also:Translations, Imitations, &c.—The best versions of the Anthology ever made are the Latin renderings of select epigrams by Hugo Grotius. They have not been printed separately, but will be found in Bosch and Lennep's edition of the Planudean Anthology, in the Didot edition, and in Dr See also:Wellesley's Anthologia Polyglotta. The number of more or less professed imitations in modern languages is See also:infinite, that of actual translations less considerable. See also:French and See also:Italian, indeed, are See also:ill adapted to this purpose, from their incapacity of approximating to the form of the original, and their poets have usually contented themselves with paraphrases or imitations, often exceedingly felicitous. F. D. Deheque's French prose translation, however (1863), is most excellent and valuable. The See also:German language alone admits of the preservation of the original metre—a circumstance advantageous to the German translators, See also:Herder and Jacobs, who have not, however, compensated the loss inevitably consequent upon a See also:change of See also:idiom by any added beauties of their own. Though unfitted to reproduce the precise form, the See also:English language, from its See also:superior terseness, is better adapted to preserve the spirit of the original than the German; and the See also:comparative ill success of many English translators must be chiefly attributed to the extremely See also:low standard of fidelity and brevity observed by them. Bland, 1\/Ierivale, and their associates (1806-1813), are often intolerably diffuse and feeble, from want, not of ability, but of taking pains. See also:Archdeacon Wrangham's too rare versions are much more spirited; and See also: See also:George See also:Barges for See also:Bohn's Classical Library (1854). This is a useful volume, but the editor's notes are worthless. In 1864 See also:Major R. G. See also:Macgregor published an almost complete translation of the Anthology, a work whose stupendous industry and fidelity almost redeem the general mediocrity of the See also:execution. Idylls and Epigrams, by R. See also:Garnett (1869, reprinted 1892 in the See also:Cameo series), includes about 140 translations or imitations, with some original compositions in the same style. See also:Recent translations (selections) are: J. W. Mackail, Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology (with text, introduction, notes, and prose translation), 189o, revised 1906, a most charming volume; See also:Graham R. Tomson (Mrs Marriott See also:Watson), Selections from the Greek Anthology (1889); W. H. D. Rouse, See also:Echo of Greek Song (1899); L. C. See also:Perry, From the See also:Garden of Hellas (New See also:York, 189; W. R. See also:Paton, Love Epigrams (1898). An agreeable little volume on the Anthology, by See also:Lord Neaves, is one of See also:Collins's series of Ancient Classics for Modern Readers. The See also:earl of See also:Cromer, with all the cares of See also:Egyptian See also:administration upon him, found time to translate and publish an elegant volume of selections (1903).' Two critical contributions to the subject should be noticed, the Rev. See also: 1000, formed by See also:Peter See also:Burmann the Younger. Nothing corresponding to the Greek anthology is known to have existed among the See also:Romans, though professionalepigrammatists like See also:Martial published their volumes on their own See also:account, and detached sayings were excerpted from authors like Ennius and Publius Syrus, while the Priapela were probably but one among many collections on See also:special subjects. The first general collection of scattered pieces made by a modern See also:scholar was See also:Scaliger's Catalecta veterum Poetarum (1573), succeeded by the more ample one of Pithoeus, Epigrammata et Poemata e Codicibus et Lapidibus collecta (1590). Numerous additions, principally from inscriptions, continued to be made, and in 1759-1773 Burmann digested the whole into his Anthologia veterum Latinorum Epigrammatum et Poematum. This, occasionally reprinted, was the standard edition until 1869, when See also: The epitaphs are interesting, but the genuineness of many of them is very questionable. (R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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