Editing Mimnermus (section)

==Life and work ==
The Byzantine encyclopaedia ''[[Suda]]'' provides a good example of the biographical uncertainties.
{{Blockquote|Mimnermus, son of Ligyrtyades, from Colophon or Smyrna or [[Astypalaia|Astypalaea]], an elegiac poet. He flourished in the 37th [[Olympiad]] (632–29 BC) and so is earlier than the [[Seven Sages of Greece|seven sages]], although some say that he was their contemporary. He was also called Ligyaistades because of his harmonious clarity. He wrote&nbsp;... books.<ref>Suda, cited and translated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 73 note 3</ref>}}
The gap indicates a corruption in the text and the original wording probably testified to two books, though the only source we have for this number was the grammarian [[Pomponius Porphyrion]].<ref>Porph. on Hor. ''Epist.'' 2.2.101, cited, translated and annotated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 77 note 1</ref> The ''Suda''{{'}}s mention of Astypalaea, an island in the southern Aegean, as a possible candidate for the poet's home town is mere fantasy.<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 73 note 1</ref> Smyrna seems to be the most likely candidate.<ref>A. Allen, ''The Fragments of Mimnermus: Text and Commentary'', (Stuttgart 1993) page 13 note 17</ref> The nickname ''Ligyaistades'' was probably taken by the ''Suda'' from an elegy addressed to Mimnermus by one of the seven sages—the Athenian lawgiver and elegiac poet, [[Solon]] (see [[Mimnermus#Comments by other poets|Comments by other poets]]). Solon clearly admired the skills of the older poet, whom he addressed as ''Ligyaistades'', yet he objected to his hedonism and singled out this couplet for criticism:
{{Blockquote|{{lang|grc|αἲ γὰρ ἄτερ νούσων τε καὶ ἀργαλέων μελεδωνέων}}

::{{lang|grc|ἑξηκονταέτη μοῖρα κίχοι θανάτου.}}
Would that my fated death might come at sixty, unattended by sickness and grievous cares.<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 85</ref>}}
Solon thought he should be willing to live to eighty. [[Plutarch]] was another ancient author critical of the poet's self-indulgence, dismissing one poem (see Fragment 1 in [[Mimnermus#Poetic style|Poetic style]] below) as "the utterances of intemperate people."<ref>Plutarch ''de virt.mor.'' 6.445f, cited and translated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 81</ref>  Mimnermus however was not timid in his hedonism, as indicated by a couplet attributed to him in the [[Palatine Anthology]], an exhortation to others to live intemperately: "Enjoy yourself. Some of the harsh citizens will speak ill of you, some better.". However, the same lines have also been attributed to [[Theognis]].<ref>''Anth.Pal.'' 9.50 = ''Theognis 795–96, cited, translated and annotated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), pages 86 and 289</ref> A robust side to his personality is shown by his versatility as a poet. Archaic elegy was often used for patriotic purposes, to screw courage to the sticking place in times of war and to celebrate national achievements, and there is ample evidence that Mimnermus assumed this role as a poet. A quote recorded by the geographer [[Strabo]] represents the earliest surviving account of the [[Ionia]]n migration, celebrating the settlement of Colophon and Smyrna from [[Pylos]],<ref>J.P. Barron and P.E. Easterling, "Early Greek Elegy", P. Easterling and B. Knox (ed.s), ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature:Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), page 134</ref>
<ref>Strabo 14.1.4 and 14.1.3, cited by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), pages 87–9</ref> while another quotation, recorded by [[Stobaeus]], describes the heroic exploits of a Greek warrior against the cavalry of the [[Lydia]]n king, [[Gyges of Lydia|Gyges]], early in the 7th century—Mimnermus evidently hoped thereby to strengthen his countrymen's resolve against further Lydian encroachments.<ref>Stobaeus 3.7.11, cited and annotated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), pages 95–7</ref> The name "Mimnermus" might have been chosen by his parents to commemorate a famous Smyrnean victory against Gyges near the [[Hermus]] river (and yet names ending in -''ermus'' were quite common in Ionia).<ref>Martin Litchfield West, ''Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus'', Walter de Gruyter and Co. (1974), page 73</ref> He was alive when Smyrna was besieged for the final time by the Lydians under [[Alyattes of Lydia]] and possibly he died with the town.<ref>Stobaeus 3.7.11, cited by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), pages 222–23</ref> The disappearance of Smyrna for the next three hundred years might be the reason why Colophon was able to claim the poet as one of its own, yet Smyrna's own claim persisted and this suggests that its claim had the advantage of being true.<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), pages 222</ref>

Smyrna lay near Mount [[Sipylos]], one of whose rocky outcrops was traditionally imagined to be the tragic figure [[Niobe]]. Like other archaic poets, Mimnermus adapted myths to his own artistic needs and [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] recorded that he attributed twenty children to Niobe, unlike Homer, for example, who attributed twelve to her.<ref>Aelian ''V.H.'' 12.36, cited and annotated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 99</ref> According to [[Sallust]]ius, Mimnermus was just as creative in his poetical account of [[Ismene]], representing her as being killed by [[Tydeus]] at the command of the goddess, [[Athena]], in the very act of making love to [[Theoclymenus]]<ref>Sallustius' preface to Sophocles, ''Antigone'', cited by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 99</ref>—an original account that was soon accepted by an international audience, being represented on an early Corinthian [[amphora]]<ref>J.P.Barron and P.E.Easterling, "Early Greek Elegy", P.Easterling and B.Knox (ed.s), ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature:Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), page 136</ref> (pictured below). Imaginative accounts of the sun, voyaging at night from west to east in a golden bed, and of [[Jason]] the Argonaut voyaging to "[[Aeetes]]' city, where the rays of the swift Sun lie in a golden storeroom at the edge of [[Oceanus]]", survive in brief quotes by ancient authors.<ref>Athenaeus 11.470a, and Strabo 1.2.40, cited by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 91–3</ref> According to Strabo, Smyrna was named after an Amazon and, according to a manuscript on proverbs, Mimnermus once composed on the theme of the proverb "A lame man makes the best lover", illustrating the Amazonian practice of maiming their men.<ref>Manuscript on proverbs, cited and annotated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), page 101–3</ref>