a man of humour--a union we are not surprised to find common at that
date--and who is said, perhaps with equal truth, to have died like
Philemon in a fit of laughter, on seeing an ass eat figs off a silver
plate--mentions a genius of this kind, one Pantaleon, who, when at the
point of death told each of his sons separately that he confided to him
alone the place where he had buried his gold. When he was dead, they all
betook themselves to the same spot, where they laboured for some time,
before discovering that they had all been deceived.

From this period we are mostly indebted to epigrams for any knowledge of
Greek humour. They originated in inscriptions or offerings in temples;
afterwards came to be principally epitaphial or sarcastic; and grew into
a branch of literature.

We can scarcely understand some of the fancies indulged in at the time,
which contain no salt at all--"Sports," Hephæstio calls them. Of these
devices may be mentioned the "Wings of Love" by Simmias, a Rhodian, who
lived before 300 B.C. The verses are graduated so as to form a
pair of wings. "The first altar," written by Dosiadas of Rhodes, is the
earliest instance of a Greek acrostic, or of any one which formed words.
An acrostic is a play upon spelling, as a pun is upon sound; and in both
cases the complication is too slight for real humour. They are rather to
be considered as ingenious works of fancy. The first specimens are those
in the Psalms--twelve of which have twenty-two verses beginning with the
twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The 119th Psalm is a curious
specimen of this conceit; it is divided into twenty-two stanzas, and a
letter of the alphabet in regular order begins each of them. The initial
letters of "The First Altar" of Dosiadas of Rhodes, form four words, and
seem to be addressed to some "Olympian," who, the dedicator hopes "may
live to offer sacrifice for many years." The altar states that it is not