And here is an exquisite little one by Tymneus, on an Egyptian who died in Crete:
Μησοι τουτο, Φιλαινι. κ. τ. λ.
Grieve not, dear lost one! that thou find'st a grave
In Crete, far from thy native Nile's dark wave.
Alas! hell's gloomy portals open wide
To all who seek them, upon every side.
This touching one, by Callimachus, is for the cenotaph of a friend who was shipwrecked:
Ωφελε μηδ' εγενοντο. κ. τ. λ.
I would that swift-winged ships had ne'er been made to cleave the billow.
O Sopolis! we should not then deplore thy watery pillow:
Thou liest 'neath the heaving waves, and of thee naught we claim
Save this poor, empty sepulchre, and thy beloved name.
When a man died at sea, and his corpse was not recovered, to receive the usual funeral honors, he was refused admittance into Charon's boat, unless his friends erected a cenotaph and performed the accustomed rites over it. The above appears to have been an inscription designed for such an occasion.
Simonides does not forget his fire in commemorating the exploits of a friend who fell in one of the battles against the Persians:
ON MEGISTIAS, THE SOOTHSAYER.
Μναμα τοδε κλεινοιο. κ. τ. λ.