and the following satire, so well known by the parody of Porson (ii. 325):
πάντες μὲν Κίλικες κακοὶ ἀνέρες· ἐν δὲ Κίλιξιν
εἷς ἀγαθὸς Κινύρης, καὶ Κινύρης δὲ Κίλιξ.[235]
Again the play of words in the last line of this next epigram (ii. 24) gives a sort of pungency to its conclusion:
ἀτθὶ κόρα μελίθρεπτε, λάλος λάλον ἁρπάξασα
τέττιγα πτανοῖς δαῖτα φέρεις τέκεσιν,
τὸν λάλον ἁ λαλόεσσα, τὸν εὔπτερον ἁ πτερόεσσα,
τὸν ξένον ἁ ξείνα, τὸν θερινὸν θερινά;
κοὐχὶ τάχος ῥίψεις; οὐ γὰρ θέμις οὐδὲ δίκαιον
ὄλλυσθ' ὑμνοπόλους ὑμνοπόλοις στόμασιν.[236]
The Greek epigram has this, in fact, in common with all good poems, that the conclusion should be the strongest and most emphatic portion. But in liberty of subject and of treatment it corresponds to the Italian sonnet. Unquestionably of this kind is the famous poem of Ptolemy upon the stars (ii. 118), which recalls to mind the saying of Kant, that the two things which moved his awe were the stars of heaven above him and the moral law within the soul of man:
οἶδ' ὅτι θνατὸς ἐγὼ καὶ ἐφάμερος· ἀλλ' ὅταν ἄστρων
μαστεύω πυκινὰς ἀμφιδρόμους ἕλικας,
οὐκέτ' ἐπιψαύω γαίης ποσίν, ἀλλὰ παρ' αὐτῷ
Ζηνὶ θεοτρεφέος πίμπλαμαι ἀμβροσίης.[237]
The poem on human life, which has been attributed severally to Poseidippus and to Plato Comicus, and which Bacon thought worthy of imitation, may take rank with the most elevated sonnets of modern literature (ii. 71):
ποίην τις βίοτοιο τάμῃ τρίβον; εἰν ἀγορῇ μὲν
νείκεα καὶ χαλεπαὶ πρήξιες· ἐν δὲ δόμοις
φρόντιδες· ἐν δ' ἀγροῖς καμάτων ἅλις· ἐν δὲ θαλάσσῃ
τάρβος· ἐπὶ ξείνης δ', ἢν μὲν ἔχῃς τι, δέος·
ἢν δ' ἀπορῇς, ἀνιηρόν· ἔχεις γάμον; οὐκ ἀμέριμνος·
ἔσσεαι· οὐ γαμέεις; ζῇς ἔτ' ἐρημότερος·
τέκνα πόνοι, πήρωσις ἄπαις βίος· αἱ νεότητες
ἄφρονες, αἱ πολιαὶ δ' ἔμπαλιν ἀδρανέες·
ἦν ἄρα τοῖν δισσοῖν ἑνὸς αἵρεσις, ἢ τὸ γενέσθαι
μηδέποτ' ἢ τὸ θανεῖν αὐτίκα τικτόμενον.[238]
The reverse of this picture is displayed with much felicity and geniality, but with less force, by Metrodorus (ii. 72):