ANTHOLOGY. The term anthology, literally denoting a collection of flowers, is figuratively applied to any selection of literary beauties, and especially to that great body of fugitive poetry, comprehending about 4500 pieces, by upwards of 300 writers, which is commonly known as the Greek Anthology.
Literary History of the Greek Anthology.—The art of occasional poetry had been cultivated in Greece from an early period,—less, however, as the vehicle of personal feeling, than as the recognis-ed commemoration of remarkable individuals or events, or the accompaniment of votive offerings. Such compositions were termed epigrams, i.e., inscriptions. The modern use of the word is a departure from the original sense, which simply indicated that the composition was intended to be engraved or inscribed. Such a composition must necessarily be brief, and the restraints attendant upon its publication concurred with the simplicity of Greek 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 style. The term was soon extended to any piece by which these conditions were fulfilled. The transition from the monumental to the purely literary character of the epigram was favoured by the exhaustion of more lofty forms of poetry, the general increase, from the general diffusion of culture, of accomplished writers and tasteful readers, but, above all things, by the changed political circ*mstances of the times, which induced numbers 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 developed. About 90
B.C., the sophist and poet, Meleager of 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 the grammarian, Alcetas, and others; but Meleager first gave the principle a comprehensive application. His selection, compiled from forty-six of his predecessors, from Sappho downward, and including numerous contributions of his own, was entitled The Garland (Στέφανος); and in an introductory poem each poet is compared to some flower, fancifully deemed appropriate to his genius. The arrangement of the collection was alphabetical, according to the initial letter of each epigram.
In the age of Tiberius (rather than of Trajan, as commonly stated) the work of Meleager was continued by another epigrammatist, Philip of Thessalonica, who first employed the term anthology. His collection included the compositions of thirteen writers subsequent to Meleager. Somewhat later, another supplement was formed by the sophist Diogenianus, and, under Hadrian, Strato of Sardis compiled his elegant but tainted Μοῦσα παιδική from his own productions and those of earlier writers. No further collection from various sources is recorded until the time of Justinian, when epigrammatic writing, especially in its amatory department, experienced a great revival at the hands of Agathias, the historian, Paulus Silentiarius, and their circle. Their ingenious but mannered productions were collected by Agathias into a new anthology, entitled The Circle (Κύκλος); the first to be divided into books, and arranged with reference to the subjects of the pieces.
Five Greek anthologies, accordingly, existed at the commencement of the Middle Ages. The partial incorporation of these into a single body was the work of a certain 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 Constantine Porphyrogenitus, at the beginning of the 10th
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 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 otherwise have perished. The extent of our obligations may be ascertained by a comparison between his anthology and that of the next editor, the monk Maximus Planudes
(1320 A.D.), who has not merely grievously mutilated theanthology of Cephalas by omissions, but has disfigured itby interpolating verses of his own. We are, however, indebted to him for the preservation of the epigrams onworks of art, which seem to have been accidentally omitted
from our only transcript of Cephalas.
The Planudean was the only recension of the anthologyknown at the revival of classical literature, and was firstpublished at Florence, by Janus Lascaris, in 1594. Itlong continued to be the only accessible collection, foralthough the Palatine MS., the sole extant copy of theanthology of Cephalas, was discovered at Heidelberg bySalmasius in 1606, it was not published until 1772, whenit was included in Brunck s Analecta Veterum PoetarumG rcecorum. This edition was superseded by the standardone of Friedrich Jacobs (Leipsic, 1794-1803, 13 vols.),the text of which was reprinted in a more convenient formin 1813-17, and occupies three pocket volumes in theTauchnitz series of the classics. The best edition forgeneral purposes is perhaps that of M. Dlibner in Didot sBibliotheca (Paris, 1864-72), which contains the PalatineAnthology, the epigrams of the Planudean Anthology notcomprised in the former, an appendix of pieces derivedfrom other sources, copious notes selected from all quarters,a literal Latin prose translation by Boissonade, Bothe,and Lapaume, and the metrical Latin versions of HugoGrotius. The best edition of the Planudean Anthology isthe splendid one by Van Bosch and Van Lennep (Utrecht,1795-1822). Welcker, Meineke, and other Germanscholars have written valuable monographs on the Anthology.
Arrangement of the Anthology.—The Palatine MS., thearchetype of the present text, was transcribed by differentpersons at different times, and the actual arrangement ofthe collection does not correspond with that signalised inthe index. It is as follows: Book 1. Christian epigrams;2. Christodorus s description of certain statues; 3. Inscriptions in the temple at Cyzicus; 4. The prefaces ofMeleager, Philip, and Agathias to their respective collections; 5. Amatory epigrams; G. Votive inscriptions; 7.Epitaphs; 8. The epigrams of Gregory of ISTazianzus;9. Rhetorical and illustrative epigrams; 10. Ethicalpieces; 11. Humorous and convivial; 12. Strato s MovcraTraiSi/o;; 13. Metrical curiosities; 14. Puzzles, enigmas,oracles; 15. Miscellanies. The epigrams on works of art,as already stated, are missing from the Codex Palatinus,and must be sought in an appendix of epigrams only occur-ing in the Planudean Anthology. The epigrams hithertorecovered from ancient monuments and similar sourcesform another appendix in the second volume of Diibner sedition.
Style and Value of the Anthology.—One of the principal
claims of the Anthology to attention is derived from itscontinuity, its existence as a living and growing body ofpoetry throughout all the vicissitudes of Greek civilisation. More ambitious descriptions of composition speedilyran their course, and having attained their complete development became extinct, or at best lingered only infeeble or conventional imitations. The humbler strains ofthe epigrammatic muse, on the other hand, remained everfresh and animated, ever in intimate union with the spiritof the generation that gave them birth. To peruse theentire collection, accordingly, is as it were to assist at thedisinterment of an ancient city, where generation has succeeded generation on the same site, and each stratum ofsoil enshrines the vestiges of a distinct epoch, but whereall epochs, nevertheless, combine to constitute an organicwhole, and the transition from one to the other is hardlyperceptible. Four stages may be indicated: 1. TheHellenic proper, of which Simonides is the characteristicrepresentative. This is characterised by a simple dignityof phrase, which to a modern taste almost verges uponbaldness, by a crystalline transparency of diction, and byan absolute fidelity to the original conception of the epigram. Nearly all the pieces of this era are actual bonafide inscriptions, or addresses to real personages, whetherliving or deceased; narratives, literary exercises, and sportsof fancy are exceedingly rare. 2. The epigram receiveda great development in its second or Alexandrian era, whenits range was so extended as to include anecdote, satire,and amorous longing; when epitaphs and votive inscriptions were composed on imaginary persons and things, andmen of taste successively attempted the same subjects inmutual emulation, or sat down to compose verses as displays of their ingenuity. The result was a great gain inrichness of style and general interest, counterbalanced bya falling off in purity of diction and sincerity of treatment.The modification, a perfectly legitimate one, the resourcesof the old style being exhausted, had its real source in thetransformation of political life, but may be said to commence with and to find its best representative in the playful and elegant Leonidas of Tarentum, a contemporary ofPyrrhus, and to close with Antipater of Sidon, about 140B.C. It should be noticed, however, that Callimachus, oneof the most distinguished of the Alexandrian poets, affectsthe sternest simplicity in his epigrams, and copies theausterity of Simonides with as much success as an imitatorcan expect. 3. By a slight additional modification in thesame direction, the Alexandrian passes into what, for thesake of preserving the parallelism with the eras of Greekprose literature, we may call the Roman style, althoughthe peculiarities of its principal representative are decidedlyOriental. Meleager of Gadara was a Syrian; his taste wasless severe, and his temperament more fervent than thoseof his Greek predecessors; his pieces are usually erotic,and their glowing imagery sometimes reminds us of theSong of Solomon. The luxuriance of his fancy occasionally betrays him into far-fetched conceits, and the lavish-ness of his epithets is only redeemed by their exquisitefelicity. Yet his effusions are manifestly the offspring ofgenuine feeling, and his epitaph on himself indicates agreat advance on the exclusiveness of antique Greek patriotism, and is perhaps the first clear enunciation of the spiritof universal humanity characteristic of the later Stoicalphilosophy. With respect to his more strictly poeticalqualities, Mr Symonds does not overpraise him when hesays " his poetry has the sweetness and the splendour ofthe rose, the rapture and full throated melody of thenightingale." His gaiety and licentiousness are imitatedand exaggerated by his somewhat later contemporary, theEpicurean Philodemus, perhaps the liveliest of any of theepigrammatists; his fancy reappears with diminished brilliancy in Philodemus s contemporary, Zonas, in Crinagoras,who wrote under Augustus, and in Marcus Argentarius, ofuncertain date; his peculiar gorgeousness of colouringremains entirely his own. At a later period of the empireanother genre, hitherto comparatively in abeyance, wasdeveloped, the satirical. Lucillius, who nourished underNero, and Lucian, more renowned in other fields of literature, display a remarkable talent for shrewd, caustic epigram, frequently embodying moral reflections of greatcogency, often lashing vice and folly with signal effect, butnot seldom indulging in mere trivialities, or deformed byscoffs at personal blemishes. This style of composition isnot properly Greek, but Roman; it answers to the moderndefinition of epigram, and has hence attained a celebrityin excess of its deserts. It is remarkable, however, as analmost solitary example of direct Latin influence on Greekliterature. The same style obtains with Palladas, anAlexandrian grammarian of the 4th century, the last of the strictly classical epigrammatists, and the first to beguilty of downright bad taste. His better pieces, however,are characterised by an austere ethical impressiveness, andhis literary position is very interesting, as that of an indignant but despairing opponent of Christianity. 4. The fourthor Byzantine style of epigrammatic composition was cultivated by the beaux-esprits of the court of Justinian. To agreat extent this is merely imitative, but the circ*mstancesof the period operated so as to produce a species of originality. The peculiarly ornate and rechercM diction ofa*gathias and his compeers is not a merit in itself, butapplied for the first time, it has the effect of revivifying anold form, and many of their new locutions are actual enrichments of the language. The writers, moreover, were men ofgenuine poetical feeling, ingenious in invention, and capableof expressing emotion with energy and liveliness; thecolouring of their pieces is sometimes highly dramatic.The charge of impurity, alleged by Mr Symonds againstthem as a body, applies to Rufinus alone in any considerable degree, and he is purity itself compared with Martial.There is something very touching in the attitude of theselast belated stragglers towards the antique culture fromwhich they are hopelessly severed, their half-consciousyearning for the glorious past, whose monuments still surrounded them on every side, but whose spirit had departedfur ever. With them the volume of the Greek anthologyis closed, for the " Christian epigrams " are totally value
less in a literary point of view.
It would be hard to exaggerate the substantial value ofthe Anthology, whether as a storehouse of facts bearing onantique manners, customs, and ideas, or as one among theinfluences which have contributed to mould the literatureof the modern world. The multitudinous votive inscriptions, serious and sportive, connote the phases of Greekreligious sentiment, from pious awe to irreverent familiarityand sarcastic scepticism; the moral tone of the nation atvarious periods is mirrored with corresponding fidelity;the sepulchral inscriptions admit iis into the inmost sanctuary of family affection, and reveal a depth and tendernessof feeling beyond the province of the historian to depict,and which we should not have surmised even from thedramatists; the general tendency of the collection is todisplay antiquity on its most human side, and to mitigatethose contrasts with the modern world which more ambitious modes of composition force into relief. The constant reference to the details of private life renders theAnthology an inexhaustible treasury for the student ofarchaeology; art, industry, and costume receive theirfullest illustration from its pages. Its influence on European literatures will be appreciated in proportion to theinquirer s knowledge of each. The further his researchesextend, the greater will be his astonishment at the extentto which the Anthology has been laid under contributionfor thoughts which have become household words in allcultivated languages, and at the beneficial effect of theimitation of its brevity, simplicity, and absolute verbalaccuracy upon the undisciplined luxuriance of moderngenius.
Translations, Imitations, &c., of the Anthology.—Thebest versions of the Anthology ever made are the Latinrenderings of select epigrams by Hugo Grotius. Theyhave not been printed separately, but will be found inEosch and Lennep s edition of the Planudean Anthology, inthe Didot edition, and in Dr Wellesley s Anthologia Poly-fflotta. The number of more or less professed imitationsin modern languages is infinite, that of actual translationsless considerable. French and Italian, indeed, are illadapted to this purpose, from their incapacity of approximating to the form of the original, and their poets haveusually contented themselves with paraphrases or imitations, often exceedingly felicitous. Dehesme s Frenchprose translation, however (1863), is most excellent andvaluable. The German language alone admits of the preservation of the original metre, a circ*mstance advantageous to the German translators, Herder and Jacobs,who have not, however, compensated the loss inevitablyconsequent upon a change of idiom by any added beautiesof their own. Though unfitted to reproduce the preciseform, the English language, from its superior terseness, isbetter adapted to preserve the spirit of the original thanthe German; and the comparative ill success of manyEnglish translators must be chiefly attributed to the extremely low standard of fidelity and brevity observed bythem. Bland, Merivale, and their associates (1806-13),are often intolerably diffuse and feeble, from want, not ofability, but of painstaking. Archdeacon Wrangham s toorare versions are much more spirited; and John Sterling stranslations of the inscriptions of Simonides deserve highpraise. Professor Wilson (Blackivood s Magazine, 1 833-35)collected and commented upon the labours of these andother translators, with his accustomed critical insight andexuberant geniality, but damaged his essay by burdeningit with the indifferent attempts of William Hay. In 1849Dr Wellesley, principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford, published his Anthologia Polyglotta, a most valuable collection of the best translations and imitations in all languages,with the original text. In this appeared some admirableversions by Mr Gold win Smith and Dean Merivale, which,with the other English renderings extant at the time,will be found accompanying the literal prose translation ofthe Public School Selections, execiited by the Rev. GeorgeBurges for Bohn s Classical Library (1854). This is auseful volume, but the editor s notes are worthless. In1864 Major R. G. Macgregor published an almost completetranslation of the Anthology, a work of stupendous industryand fidelity, which almost redeem the general mediocrityof the execution. Idylls and Epigrams, by R. Garnett(1869), include about 140 translations or imitations, withsome original compositions in the same style. An agreeable little volume on the Anthology, by Lord Neaves, is oneof Collins s series of Ancient Classics for Modern Readers.Two recent critical contributions to the subject should benoticed, the Rev. James Davies s essay on Epigrams, inthe Quarterly Review (vol. cxvii.), especially valuable for itslucid illustration of the distinction between Greek andLatin epigram; and the brilliant disquisition in Mr J. A.Symonds s Studies of the Greek Poets (1873).
The Latin Anthology is the appellation bestowed
upon a collection of fugitive Latin verse, from the age ofEnnius to about 1000 A.D., formed by Peter Burmann theYounger. Nothing corresponding to the Greek anthologyis known to have existed among the Romans, though professional epigrammatists likeMartialpublishedtheirvolumeson their own account, and detached sayings were excerptedfrom such sententious authors as Publius Syrus, whilethe Priapeia were probably but one. among many collections on special subjects. The first general collection ofscattered pieces made by a modern scholar was Scaliger s,in 1573, succeeded by the more ample one of Pithoeus, in1594. Numerous additions, principally from inscriptions,continued to be made, and in 1759 Burmann digested thewhole into his Anthologia veterum Latinorum Epigramma-tum et Poematum. This, occasionally reprinted, has beenthe standard edition until recently; but in 1869 AlexanderRiese commenced a new and more critical recension, fromwhich many pieces improperly inserted by Burmann arerejected, and his classified arrangement is discarded for oneaccording to the sources whence the poems have beenderived. The first volume contains those found in MSS.,in the order of the importance of these documents; those furnished by inscriptions are to follow. Being formed by scholars actuated by no aesthetic principles of selection, butsolely intent on preserving everything they could find, the Latin anthology is much more heterogeneous than the Greek, and unspeakably inferior. The really beautiful poems of Petronius and Apuleius are more properly in serted in the collected editions of their writings, and more than half the remainder consists of the frigid conceits or pedantic professional exercises of grammarians of a very late period of the empire, relieved by an occasional gem, such as the apostrophe of the dying Hadrian to his spirit, or the epithalamium of Gallienus. The collection is also, for the most part, too recent in date, and too exclusively literary in character, to add much to our knowledge of classical antiquity. The epitaphs are interesting, but the genuine
ness of many of them is very questionable.
(r. g.)
