121. Or the early Greek poets of the names of Orpheus 122. Of Homer and his works. 128. Of the originality of Homer's epic, and of his translator 126. Of the origin and introduction of the drama. Of 127. Of the nature and character of the first drama. 128. Athenian history resumed, and continued from the 129. The same continued, to the expulsion of Hippias. 131. The subject of the drama resumed. Of the old tragic 132. Of the poet Eschylus. 133. Of Eschylus as compared with Sophocles and Euripides. 135. Of the Greek comedy. Of Aristotle's definition and 136. Fragments of Epicharmus. Account of Phormis, Chioni- des, Magnes, and Dinolochus, the founders of comedy. 138. Of Aristophanes; his history, character, and works. 139. Aristophanes defended from the criticisms of Plutarch, also from the account which Ælian gives of his attack 140. The motives and grounds for Aristophanes's attack upon Socrates more fully considered, with some anecdotes of that philosopher's school and private character. The dates of the eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes 141. Of the remaining writers of the old comedy; viz. Amip- sias, Plato, Crates, Phrynichus, Pherecrates, Amphis, Hermippus, Hipparchus, Philonides, and Theopom- pus, with their fragments translated. 142. Of the middle comedy of the Greeks. Anecdotes of Alexis fragments of that dramatic poet collected. 143. The same collection continued and concluded. Anec- 144. Collection of fragments from: the comedies of Anti- 145. Of Anaxandrides. Of Aristophon, with fragments of that poet. Of Axionicus, Bathon, Chæremon, Clear- chus, Criton, Crobytus, Demoxenus, Demetrius, and Diodorus, with fragments of the latter. Of Dionysius 146. Fragment of Epicrates. Of Eriphus and Eubulus, with fragments of the latter. Of Euphron, Heniochus, Philippus, Phænicides, Sotades, and Straton, with various fragments of their respective comedies. 148. Fragments of Theophilus, Timocles, and Xenarchus. Conclusion of the catalogue of writers of the middle comedy. General observation upon these poets, and the author's address to his readers upon this portion of 149. Account of the new comedy of the Greeks, and of the several writers of that æra. Anecdotes of Menander. 150. Various fragments of Menander translated. 151. Anecdotes of the poet Philemon, and a selection of his 152. Anecdotes and fragments of Diphilus, of Apollodorus Gelous, of Philippidas, and of Posidippus. General remarks upon the conclusion of the subject. The THE OBSERVER. NUMBER CXXI. I Now propose to review the state of literature in Greece antecedent to the time when Pisistratus founded his library in Athens. Letters, or the alphabet, were probably imported into Greece from Phoenicia: this is ascribed to the poet Linus: this poet, according to the fabulous taste of the times, was of divine origin, being reputed the son of Apollo by Terpsichore, according to other accounts of either Mercury, or Amphimarus, by Urania: if in a pedigree so doubtful we may chuse for ourselves, Mercury, as inventor of the lyre, seems to have a preferable claim to Amphimarus or Apollo, for Linus is said to have been the father of lyric poetry; he is also recorded as the instructor of Hercules in letters, but if the elder Orpheus was also his disciple, he must have been of too early an age to have been contemporary with Hercules, for Orpheus is placed eleven ages before the siege of Troy. Hercules may have been instructed by the Theban Linus, who was considerably junior to this of Chalcedon: Linus of Thebes was the son of the poet Eumolpus, and imparted to Greece the knowledge of the globes; he also before the time of Hesiod composed a poem, in which he gives the genealogy of the deities; all we know respecting it is that it differs in some particulars from Hesiod's Theogony: he paid dearly for the honour of being Hercules's preceptor, for that deified hero put Linus to death; though he gave the genealogy of the heathen gods, he is supposed to have taught a sublimer doctrine of the Unity of the Supreme Being. Of the name of Orpheus grammarians reckon no fewer than five epic poets; their histories are involved in fable, and their distinctions uncertain and obscure. The Thracian Orpheus, who is the elder of the name, is said to have been the disciple of Linus, and to have lived before the Trojan war eleven ages he was a prophet as well as a poet, and instituted many ceremonies in the Pagan theology; he delivered precepts in verse relative to the modes of initiation: the mysterious rites of Ceres and Bacchus are supposed to have originated with him, but as it is pretty clear that these rites were Egyptian, they might be introduced, but not invented, by Orpheus. The second Orpheus was sirnamed Ciconæus or Arcas, and was also of Thracian extraction; he is said to have flourished two generations before the siege of Troy; he also was an heroic poet and wrote fables and hymns addressed to the deities. Orpheus Odrysius and Orpheus Camarinæus were epic poets, but he, who was sirnamed Crotoniates, was contemporary with Pisistratus, and lived in great favour and familiarity at the Athenian court; he is said to have written the Argonautics; the 6 hymns and the poems de Lapidibus' now in our hands. The antients, in the true spirit of fable, ascribed miraculous powers to the harmony of Orpheus's lyre, and almost all the Roman poets have echoed his praises in the same fanciful strain. Ovid gives us a list of forest trees that danced to his lyre, as long as a gardener's calendar: (Metam. fab. 2. lib. 10.) Seneca in his Hercules Furens' gives him power over woods, rivers, rocks, wild beasts, and infernal spirits (Herc. Fer. 569.) Horace adds to these the winds, and Manilius places his lyre amongst the constellations, having enumerated all his supernatural properties in the following short but comprehensive and nervous description, At lyra diductis per cælum cernibus inter Sidera conspicitur, qua quondam ceperat Orpheus MANIL Of the name of Musæus there were also several poets; the elder, or Athenian Musæus, son of Antiphemus, was the scholar of Orpheus. The poetry of these antient bards was chiefly addressed to the services of religion; their hymns were chaunted as parts of divine worship, and the power of divination was ascribed to them, as the natural tribute of a barbarous multitude to men of superior and enlightened talents: the knowledge of simples, and their use in healing diseases or wounds, was amongst the arts by which these early benefactors to mankind attracted the reverence of the vulgar, and Musæus is said to have composed a poem on the cure |