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and Epigrams in the works of ancient authors and inscriptions ; the third volume contains the notes, which are only critical and not explanatory, the indices, and the corrections of Paulssen, under the following title: — Apographi Golkani, quemadmo-dum id eapressum Jtabemus in Editionis liujus tarn Textu quam Comm. usque ad sectionem decimam quartam cum ipso Codice Palatino diligenter nunc iterum collati accurata correctio. Edidit, adjectis passim observationibus suis palaeographice criticis, Ant. Jac. Paulssen., D. This appendix is preceded by a Prooentium, containing a more exact account of the Palatine Codex than had previously appeared. The series of Greek and Latin authors, printed by Tauchnitz, contains a very inaccurate reprint of the work of Jacobs ; Lips. 1829. 3 vols. 18mo.
d. The Anthology since the Works of Jacobs.
Immense as were Jacobs's services for the Greek Anthology, much has still been left for his successors to accomplish, in the further correction of the text, the investigation of the sources and forms of the earlier Anthologies, the more accurate assignment of many epigrams to their right authors, and the collection of additional epigrams, especially from recently-discovered inscriptions. The great scholars of the day, such as Hermann, Welcker, Mei-neke, and others, have not neglected this duty. The most important contributions are the following:— Welcker, Sylloge Epigrammatum Graeco-rum, ex Marmoribus et Libris collectorum, et illus-tratorum, studio F. T. Welckeri, Bonn. 1828, 8vo. with G. Hermann's review in the Ephem. Lit. Lips. 1829, Nos. 148—151, and Welcker's reply, Abweisung der verungluckten Conjecturen des Herrn Prof. Hermann, Bonn, 1829, 8vo.: Cramer, Anec-dota, vol. iv. pp. 366—388, Oxon. 1838, with Meineke's Epirn. XIII. to his Analecta Alexan-dri?ia, Berol. 1843, de Antliologiae Graecae Supple-mento nuper edito: Meineke, Delectus Poetarum Aniholoyiae Graecae^ cum Adnotatione Critica. Accedunt Conjectanea Critica de Antliologiae Graecae Locis controversis, Berol. 1843, 8vo. (comp. Zeit-schrift fur A Iterthumswissenschaft, 1845, No. 51): A. Hecker, Comment. Crit. de Antli. Graec. Lugd. Bat. 1843: R. Unger, Beitr'dye zur Kritik der GriecMschen Anthologie, Neubrandenburg, 1844, 4to. ; besides several other monographs ; and an extremely important article by G. Weigand, de Fontibus atque Or dine Antliologiae Cepltalanae, in the Rlieinisches Museum, vol. iii. pp. 161, seq. 541, seq. 1846, with an appendix in vol. v. pp. 276, seq. 1847. There is also an article in the Revue de PUlologie for 1847, vol. ii. No. 4. pp.305— 335, entitled Observations sur V Anthologie Grecque^ par M. le docteur N. Piccolos. Lastly, a passage in the preface to Meineke's Delectus intimates that he has contemplated an entirely new edition of the Anthology, a work for which he is perhaps better qualified than any other living scholar.
Of the innumerable chrestomathies and delectuses, the most useful for students is that of Jacobs, in the Bibliotheca Graeca, Delectus Epigrammatum Graec,, quern novo ordine concinnavit et comment, in us. scholar, instruxit F.Jacobs, Gothae, 1826, 8vo.
Of the numerous translations into the modern European languages, those best worth mentioning are the German translations of Herder, in his Zerstr. Blatter, and of Jacobs, in his Tempe and Leben und Kunst der Alien (Jacobs, Prolegom. ad
Animadv. in Epigrannnata Anih. Graec. ; Id. Praef. ad A nth. Pal. ; Id. art Anthologie in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclop'ddie ,• Fabricius, BibL Graec. vol. iv. cap. 32 ; Hoffmann, Lexicon Bibliograph. Script. Graec.; Schoell, Geschichte der GriecMschen Litteratur, vol. iii. p. 37 ; Bernhardy, Grundriss der GriechiscJien Litter atur, vol. ii. pp. 1054— 1066.) [P.S.]
PLATAEA (U\draia\ a daughter of Asopus, who had a sanctuary at Plataeae (Paus. ix. 1. § 2, 2. § 5), which according to some derived its name from her, but according to others from the TrAaryj t£v Kw-nwv. (Strab. ix. p. 406 ; comp. p. 409, &c.) [L. S.]
PLATO (UA.c&rcoz'), one of the chief Athenian comic poets of the Old Comedy, was contemporary with Aristophanes, Phrynichus, Eupolis, and Phe-recrates. (Suid. s. -y.) He is erroneoiisl}r placed by Eusebhis (Chron.) and Syncellus (p. 247, d.) as contemporary with Cratinus, at 01. 81. 3, b. c. 454 ; whereas, his first exhibition was in 01.88, b. c. 427, as we learn from Cyril (adv. Julian, i. p. 13, b.), whose testimony is confirmed by the above statement of Suidas, and by the fact that the comedies of Plato evidently partook somewhat of the character of the Middle Comedy, to which, in fact, some of the grammarians assign him. He is mentioned by Marcellinus ( Vit. Thuc. p. xi. Bekker) as contemporary with Thucydides, who died in 01. 97.2, b.c. 391 ; but Plato must have lived a few years longer, as Plutarch quotes from him a passage which evidently refers to the appointment of the demagogue Agyrrhius as general of the army of Lesbos in 01. 97. 3. (Plut. de Reptib. gerend. p. 801, b.) The period, therefore, during which Plato flourished was from b. c. 428 to at least b. c. 389.
Of the personal history of Plato nothing more is known, except that Suidas tells a story of his being so poor that he was obliged to write comedies for other persons (s. v. *Ap/ca5as /j.Lfj.ov/j.€voi). Suidas founds this statement on a passage of the Peisander of Plato, in which the poet alludes to his labouring for others: but the story of his poverty is plainly nothing more than an arbitrary conjecture, made to explain the passage, the true meaning of which, no doubt, is that Plato, like Aristophanes, exhibited some of his plays in the names of other persons, but was naturally anxious to claim the merit of them for himself when they had succeeded, and that he did so in the Parabasis of the Peisander, as Aristophanes does in the Parabasis of the Clouds. (See the full discussion of this subject under philonides.) The form in which the article 'Aptcaoas uiuovjiievos is given by Arsenius ( Violet. ed. Walz, p. 76), completely confirms this interpretation.
Plato ranked among the very best poets of the Old Comedy. From the expressions of the grammarians, and from the large number of fragments which are preserved, it is evident that his plays were only second in popularity to those of Aristophanes. Suidas and other grammarians speak of him as Xa/Airpos tov ^apaKrrjpa. Purity of language, refined sharpness of wit, and a combination of the vigour of the Old Comedy with the greater elegance of the Middle and the New, were his chief characteristics. Though many of his plays had no political reference at all, yet it is evident that he kept up to the spirit of the Old Comedy in his attacks on the corruptions and
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