Editing Simonides of Ceos (section)

== Poetry ==
Simonides composed verses almost entirely for public performances and inscriptions, unlike previous lyric poets such as [[Sappho]] and [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]], who composed more intimate verses to entertain friends—"With Simonides the age of individualism in lyric poetry has passed."<ref>Weir Smith, quoted by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 379</ref> Or so it seemed to modern scholars until the recent discovery of papyrus ''P.Oxy.''&nbsp;3965<ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Deborah |editor-last1=Boedeker |editor-first2=David |editor-last2=Sider |title=The New Simonides: Contexts of praise and desire |location=New York; Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press – USA |year=2001}}</ref> in which Simonides is glimpsed in a [[Symposium|sympotic context]], speaking for example as an old man rejuvenated in the company of his homo-erotic lover, couched on a bed of flowers.<ref>fragment&nbsp;22, cited by Michael W. Haslam, ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'', reviewing M.L. West's ''Iambi et Elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati, vol. II'', [http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1993/04.02.14.html online copy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811020759/http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1993/04.02.14.html |date=11 August 2011 }}</ref> Some of the short passages identified by ancient or modern authors as epigrams may also have been performed at symposia. Very little of his poetry survives today but enough is recorded on papyrus fragments and in quotes by ancient commentators for many conclusions to be drawn at least ''tentatively'' (nobody knows if and when the sands of Egypt will reveal further discoveries).

Simonides wrote a wide range of choral lyrics with an [[Ionic Greek|Ionian]] flavour and elegiac verses in [[Doric Greek|Doric]] idioms. He is generally credited with inventing a new type of choral lyric, the [[encomium]], in particular popularising a form of it, the [[Epinikion|victory ode]]. These were extensions of the [[hymn]], which previous generations of poets had dedicated only to gods and heroes:
{{Quote|But it was Simonides who first led the Greeks to feel that such a tribute might be paid to any man who was sufficiently eminent in merit or in station. We must remember that, in the time of Simonides, the man to whom a hymn was addressed would feel that he was receiving a distinction which had hitherto been reserved for gods and heroes. — |[[Richard Claverhouse Jebb|R.C. Jebb (1905)]]<ref>{{cite book |author=Jebb, R.C. |author-link=Richard Claverhouse Jebb |title=Bacchylides: The poems and fragments |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1905 |pages=33–34 |url=https://archive.org/stream/bacchylidespoem00jebbgoog#page/n9/mode/1up |via=Google books}}</ref>}}
In one victory ode, celebrating Glaucus of Carystus, a famous boxer, Simonides declares that not even [[Heracles]] or [[Castor and Pollux|Polydeuces]] could have stood against him—a statement whose impiety seemed notable even to [[Lucian]] many generations later.<ref>Lucian, ''pro. imag.'' 19, cited by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 373</ref>

Simonides was the first to establish the choral [[dirge]] as a recognized form of lyric poetry,<ref>{{cite book |author=Jebb, R.C. |author-link=Richard Claverhouse Jebb |title=Bacchylides: The poems and fragments |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1905 |page=40 |url=https://archive.org/stream/bacchylidespoem00jebbgoog#page/n9/mode/1up |via=Google books}}</ref> his aptitude for it being testified, for example, by Quintillian (see quote in the Introduction), [[Horace]] ("''Ceae ... munera neniae''"),<ref>Horace, ''Carm.'' 2.1.38, cited by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 359</ref> [[Catullus]] ("''maestius lacrimis Simonideis''")<ref>Catullus, 38.8, cited by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 357</ref> and [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], where he says:
{{Quote|Observe in Simonides his choice of words and his care in combining them; in addition—and here he is found to be better even than Pindar—observe how he expresses pity not by using the grand style but by appealing to the emotions.<ref>Dionysius of Halicarnasus, ''Imit.'' 2.420, cited by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 359</ref>}}

Simonides was adept too at lively compositions suited to dancing ([[hyporchema]]), for which he is commended by Plutarch.<ref>Plutarch, ''Quaest. conviv.'' ix 15.2, cited by Jebb, ''Bacchylides: the poems and fragments'', Cambridge University Press (1905), page 40</ref> He was highly successful in dithyrambic competitions according to an anonymous epigram dating from the Hellenistic period, which credited him with 57&nbsp;victories, possibly in Athens.<ref>Anonymous epigram, cited by John H. Molyneux, ''Simonides: A Historical Study'', Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers (1992), pages 102–103</ref> The [[dithyramb]], a genre of lyrics traditionally sung to Dionysus, was later developed into narratives illustrating heroic myths; Simonides is the earliest poet known to have composed in this enlarged form<ref>Jebb, ''Bacchylides: the poems and fragments'', Cambridge University Press (1905), page 39</ref> (the geographer [[Strabo]] mentioned a dithyramb, ''Memnon'', in which Simonides located the hero's tomb in Syria, indicating that he didn't compose only on legends of Dionysus.)<ref>Strabo 15.3.2, cited by David Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 379</ref>

Simonides has long been known to have written epitaphs for those who died in the Persian Wars and this has resulted in many pithy verses being mis-attributed to him "...&nbsp;as wise saws to Confucius or musical anecdotes to [[Thomas Beecham|Beecham]]."<ref>David Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 380</ref> Modern scholars generally consider only one of the attributed [[epigram]]s to be unquestionably authentic (an inscription for the seer Megistius quoted by [[Herodotus]]),<ref>Herodotus, 7.228.3–4, cited by John H. Molyneux, ''Simonides: A Historical Study'', Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers (1992), page 19</ref> which places in doubt even some of the most famous examples, such as the one to the Spartans at Thermopylae, quoted in the introduction. He composed longer pieces on a Persian War theme, including ''Dirge for the Fallen at Thermopylae'', ''Battle at [[Battle of Artemisium|Artemisium]]'' and ''Battle at [[Battle of Salamis|Salamis]]'' but their genres are not clear from the fragmentary remains – the first was labelled by [[Diodorus Siculus]] as an ''encomium'' but it was probably a hymn<ref>Diodorus Siculus, 11.11.6, cited by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 383</ref> and the second was characterised in the Suda as elegiac yet [[Priscian]], in a comment on prosody, indicated that it was composed in lyric meter.<ref>Suda Σ&nbsp;439, Priscian ''de metr. Ter.'' 24, cited and annotated by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 425</ref> Substantial fragments of a recently discovered poem, describing the run-up to the [[Battle of Plataea]] and comparing [[Pausanias (general)|Pausanias]] to [[Achilles]], show that he actually did compose narrative accounts in elegiac meter.<ref>Deborah Boedeker and David Sider (eds.), ''The New Simonides: Contexts of Praise and Desire'' (New York and Oxford: OUP-USA, 2001)</ref> Simonides also wrote ''[[Paean]]s'' and ''Prayers/Curses'' ({{lang|grc|κατευχαί}})<ref>Scholiasts on Homer and Plutarch, cited by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 429-431</ref> and possibly in some genres where no record of his work survives.<ref>Jebb, ''Bacchylides: The poems and fragments'', Cambridge University Press (1905), page 43</ref>

===Poetic style===
Like other lyric poets in late [[Archaic Greece]], Simonides made notable use of compound adjectives and decorative epithets yet he is also remarkable for his restraint and balance. His expression was clear and simple, relying on straightforward statement. An example is found in a quote by [[Stobaeus]]<ref>Simonides 521 ''PMG'', Stobaeus 4.41, cited David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 90</ref> paraphrased here to suggest the original [[Aeolic verse]] rhythms, predominantly [[choriamb]]ic ( ¯˘˘¯, ¯˘˘¯ ), with some [[dactylic expansion]] (¯˘˘¯˘˘¯) and an [[Iamb (foot)|iambic]] close (˘¯,˘¯): 

{{poemquote|
Being a man you cannot tell what might befall when tomorrow comes
Nor yet how long one who appears blessed will remain that way,
So soon our fortunes change even the long-winged fly
Turns around less suddenly.
}}

The only decorative word is 'long-winged' ({{lang|grc|τανυπτέρυγος}}), used to denote a [[dragonfly]], and it emerges from the generalised meanings of the passage as an 'objective correlative' for the fragility of the human condition.<ref>Charles Segal, 'Choral lyric in the fifth century', P. Easterling and B. Knox (ed.s), ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), page 226</ref> The rhythm evokes the movement of the dragonfly and the mutability of human fortunes.<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 383</ref>