ἐποίησέ θ’ ἱλαρὸν εὐθέως τ’ ἀφεῖλε πᾶν
αὐτοῦ τὸ λυποῦν κἀπέδειξεν ἵλεων.
(Empole. 1.)
Epicrates is chiefly noticeable for the brutality of his Antilais, a considerable fragment of which is preserved in Athen. xiii. 570 B.
Xenarchus’ best contribution to literature is, perhaps, his famous
ὅρκους ἐγὼ γυναικὸς εἰς οἶνον γράφω.
(Pentathl. 3.)
Lastly, there is Alexis, who, though he extends from the Middle well into the New Comedy (388-284 are the dates—rather trying to the credulity—given for his life), yet belongs very distinctly to the former, and shows no signs of a newer spirit, unless it be in the revolt against the artificiality of the Hetaerae, of which there is a specimen in his Isostasium. He makes, however, a favourable allusion to “Platonic” love (Helene), though he does not suggest the possibility of its application to women. For the rest, he confines himself to the ordinary topics, and his complaints against wives are, here and there, amusing, as when he argues that marriage is worse than disfranchisement:—
τοὺς μὲν γοῦν ἀτίμους οὐκ ἐᾷ
ἀρχὴν λαχόντας ὁ νόμος ἄρχειν τῶν πέλας·