The same thought is repeated with even more of descriptive energy in an epitaph on Archilochus (i. 287):
σῆμα τόδ' Ἀρχιλόχου παραπόντιον, ὅς ποτε πικρὴν
μοῦσαν ἐχιδναίῳ πρῶτος ἔβαψε χόλῳ,
αἱμάξας Ἑλικῶνα τὸν ἥμερον· οἶδε Λυκάμβης
μυρόμενος τρισσῶν ἅμματα θυγατέρων·
ἠρέμα δὴ παράμειψον, ὁδοιπόρε, μή ποτε τοῦδε
κινήσῃς τύμβῳ σφῆκας ἐφεζομένους.[190]
Diogenes offers similar opportunities for clever writing. The best of his epitaphs is this well-known but anonymous dialogue (i. 285):
εἰπὲ, κύον, τίνος ἀνδρὸς ἐφεστὼς σῆμα φυλάσσεις;
τοῦ κυνός. ἀλλὰ τίς ἦν οὗτος ἀνὴρ ὁ Κύων;
Διογένης. γένος εἰπέ. Σινωπεύς. ὃς πίθον ᾤκει;
καὶ μάλα· νῦν δὲ θανὼν ἀστέρας οἶκον ἔχει.[191]
The epitaphs on Erinna, who died when she was only nineteen, are charged with the thought which so often recurs when we reflect on poets, like Chatterton, untimely slain—what would not they have done, if they had lived? (i. 275):
ὁ γλυκὺς Ἠρίννης οὗτος πόνος, οὐχὶ πολὺς μὲν
ὡς ἂν παρθενικᾶς ἐννεακαιδεκέτευς,
ἀλλ' ἑτέρων πολλῶν δυνατώτερος· εἰ δ' Ἀΐδας οἱ
μὴ ταχὺς ἦλθε, τίς ἂν ταλίκον ἔσχ' ὄνομα;[192]
Sappho rouses a louder strain of celebration (i. 276):
Σαπφώ τοι κεύθεις χθὼν Αἰολὶ τὰν μετὰ Μούσαις
ἀθανάταις θνατὰν Μοῦσαν ἀειδομέναν,
ἃν Κύπρις καὶ Ἔρως σὺν ἅμ' ἔτραφον, ἇς μέτα Πειθὼ
ἔπλεκ' ἀείζωον Πιερίδων στέφανον,
Ἑλλάδι μὲν τέρψιν, σοὶ δὲ κλέος· ὦ τριέλικτον
Μοῖραι δινεῦσαι νῆμα κατ' ἠλακάτας,
πῶς οὐκ ἐκλώσασθε πανάφθιτον ἦμαρ ἀοιδῷ
ἄφθιτα μησαμένα δῶρ' Ἑλικωνιάδων;[193]
This is the composition of Antipater of Sidon, who excels in this special style. Without losing either the movement or the passion of poetry, he is always delicate and subtle in his judgments. His epigrams on Pindar are full of fire (i. 280):
Πιερικὰν σάλπιγγα, τὸν εὐαγέων βαρὺν ὕμνων
χαλκευτάν, κατέχει Πίνδαρον ἅδε κόνις,
οὗ μέλος εἰσαΐων φθέγξαιό κεν, ὥς ποτε Μουσῶν
ἐν Κάδμου θαλάμοις σμῆνος ἀνεπλάσατο.[194]