includes epigrams found in an anonymous Life of Aeschylus: in the
Onamasticon of Julius Pollux, a grammarian of the early part of the
third century, who cites from many lost writings for peculiar words or
constructions: and from the works of Athenaeus , Diogenes Laertius,
Plutarch, and Suidas mentioned above. The more famous the author of an
epigram was, the more likely does it become that his work should be
preserved in more than one way. Thus, of the thirty-one epigrams
ascribed to Plato, while all but one are found in the Anthology, only
seventeen are found in the Anthology alone. Eleven are quoted by
Diogenes Laertius; and thirteen wholly or partially by Athenaeus,
Suidas, Apuleius, Philostratus, Gellius, Macrobius, Olympiodorus,
Apostolius, and Thomas Magister. On the other hand the one hundred and
thirty-four epigrams of Meleager, representing a peculiar side of
Greek poetry in a perfection not elsewhere attainable, exist in the
Anthology alone.

Beyond these sources, which may be called literary, there is another
class of great importance: the monumental. An epigram purports to be
an inscription actually carved or written upon some monument or
memorial. Since archaeology became systematically studied, original
inscriptions, chiefly on marble, are from time to time brought to
light, many of which are in elegiac verse. The admirable work of
Kaibel[3] has made it superfluous to traverse the vast folios of the
Corpus Inscriptionum in search of what may still be hidden there. It
supplies us with several epigrams of real literary value; while the
best of those discovered before this century are included in
appendices to the great works of Brunck and Jacobs. Most of these
monumental inscriptions are naturally sepulchral. They are of all ages
and countries within the compass of Graeco-Roman civilisation, from
the epitaph, magnificent in its simplicity, sculptured on the grave of