The material of epigrams comprises any subject and anything that can be said on it—in fact, there are as many kinds of epigrams as there are kinds of things that can be said. We will notice here particularly those kinds from which the special powers of each can be understood.
There is, then, a kind of epigram that is elevated, weighty, sublime, pursuing a noble subject in noble lines and concluding with a noble sentiment. Such is Martial's on Scaevola:
That hand that sought a king and found a slave
Was thrust to burn up in the sacred fire:
So cruel a portent the good enemy
Appalled, who bade him carried from the fire.
The hand the regicide endured to burn,
The king could not endure to see it done.
Greater the glory of the hand deceived!
Had it not erred it had accomplished less.[41]
Of the same sort are Grotius' epigrams on Ostend and on the sailing carriages, and Barclay's on Margaret of Valois.[42]
There is another sort somewhat lower in style but weighty and profitable in idea: for example, that truly distinguished one of Martial:
In that you follow the strict rules of Cato
And yet are willing to remain alive
And will not run bare-breasted on the sword
You do exactly as I'd have you do:
I scorn the fame purchased with easy blood
And praise the man who can be praised alive.[43]
And this:
In private she mourns not the late-lamented;
If someone's by her tears leap forth on call.
Sorrow, my dear, is not so easily rented.
They are true tears that without witness fall.[44]
And that genuinely golden epigram:
That I now call you by your name
Who used to call you sir and master,
You needn't think it impudence.
I bought myself with all I had.
He ought to sir a sir and master
Who's not himself, and wants to have
Whatever sirs and masters want.
Who can get by without a slave
Can get by, too, without a master.[45]