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MENANDER (342–291 B.C.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 110 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MENANDER (342–291 B.C.) , See also:Greek dramatist, the See also:chief representative of the New See also:comedy, was See also:born at See also:Athens. He was the son of well-to-do parents; his See also:father Diopeithes is identified by some with the Athenian See also:general and See also:governor of the Thracian See also:Chersonese known from the speech of See also:Demosthenes De Chersoneso. He doubtless derived his See also:taste for the comic See also:drama from his See also:uncle See also:Alexis (q.v.). He was the friend and See also:associate, if not the See also:pupil, of See also:Theophrastus, and was on intimate terms with See also:Demetrius of Phalerum. He also enjoyed the patronage of See also:Ptolemy See also:Soter, the son of Lagus, who invited him to his See also:court. But Menander, preferring See also:independence and the See also:company of his See also:mistress Glycera in his See also:villa in the See also:Peiraeus, refused. According to the See also:note of a scholiast on the See also:Ibis of See also:Ovid, he was drowned while bathing; his countrymen built him a See also:tomb or the road leading to Athens, where it was seen by See also:Pausanias. A well-known statue in the Vatican, formerly thought to represent See also:Marius, is now generally supposed to be Menander (although some distinguished archaeologists dispute this), and has been identified with his statue in the See also:theatre at Athens, also mentioned by Pausanias. Menander was the author of more than a See also:hundred comedies, but only gained the See also:prize eight times. His See also:rival in dramatic See also:art and also in the affections of Glycera was See also:Philemon (q.v.), who appears to have been more popular. Menander, however, believed himself to be the better dramatist, and, according to Aulus See also:Gellius, used to ask Philemon: " See also:Don't you feel ashamed whenever you gain a victory over me? " According to See also:Caecilius of Calacte (See also:Porphyry in See also:Eusebius, Praep. evan. x.

3, 13) he was guilty of See also:

plagiarism, his AecacSaL uov being taken bodily from the Otwvearis of See also:Antiphanes. But, although he attained only moderate success during his lifetime, he subsequently became the favourite writer of antiquity. Copies of his plays were known to Suidas and See also:Eustathius (loth and 11th centuries), and twenty-three of them, with commentary by See also:Psellus, were said to have been in existence at See also:Constantinople in the 16th See also:century. He is praised by See also:Plutarch (Comparison of Menander and See also:Aristophanes) and See also:Quintilian (Instil. x. 1. 69), who accepted the tradition that he was the author of the speeches published under the name of the See also:Attic orator See also:Charisius. A See also:great admirer and imitator of See also:Euripides, he resembles him in his keen observation of See also:practical See also:life, his See also:analysis of the emotions, and his fondness for moral See also:maxims, many of which have become proverbial: " The See also:property of See also:friends is See also:common," " Whom the gods love See also:die See also:young," " Evil communications corrupt See also:good See also:manners " (from the See also:Thais, quoted in ' See also:Cor. xv. 33). These maxims (chiefly monostichs) were afterwards collected, and, with additions from other See also:sources, were edited as Mev6,vbpov yvWµac FcovbariXoc, a See also:kind of moral textbook for the use of See also:schools. Menander found many See also:Roman imitators. The Eunuchus, See also:Andria, Heautontimorumenos and Adelphi of See also:Terence (called by See also:Caesar " dimidiatus Menander ") were avowedly taken from Menander, but some of them appear to be adaptations and combi- - ,nations of more than one See also:play; thus, in the Andria were combined Menander's 'Avtpia and llepu'OLa, in the Eunuchus the EbvoirXos and K6XaE, while the Adelphi was compiled partly from Menander and partly from See also:Diphilus. The See also:original of Terence's Hecyra (as of the Phormio) is generally supposed to be, not Menander, but See also:Apollodorus of Carystus.

The Bacchides and Stichus of See also:

Plautus were probably based upon Menander's Dis'Etanarwv and cftMbeXcoc, but the Poenulus, does not seem to be from the KapXribbvcos, nor the Mostellaria from the 'I o sa, in spite of the similarity of titles. Caecilius See also:Statius, Luscius Lavinius, Turpilius and Atilius also imitated Menander. He was further credited with the authorship of some epigrams of doubtful authenticity; the letters addressed to Ptolemy Soter and the discourses in See also:prose on various subjects mentioned by Suidas are probably See also:spurious. Till the end of the 19th century, all that was known of Menander were the fragments collected by A. See also:Meineke (1855) and T. See also:Kock, Comicorum atticorum fragmenta, iii. (1888). They consist of some 165o verses or parts of verses, in addition to a considerable number of words quoted expressly as from Menander by the old lexicographers. From 1897 to 1907 papyri were discovered in different parts of See also:Egypt, containing fragments of considerable length, amounting to some 1400 lines. In 1897, about eighty lines of the rEwpy6s; in 1899, fifty lines of the IIEpiKeLpOOPn; in 1903, one hundred lines (See also:half in a very mutilated See also:condition) from the Kbaa ; in 1906, two hundred lines from the See also:middle of the HEpu sipop. v, , the See also:part previously discovered containing the denouement; five hundred lines from the 'Eiirpi rovr€i, generally well preserved; sixty-three lines (the See also:prologue, See also:list of characters, and the first See also:scene), from the "Hews; three hundred and See also:forty lines from the See also:Eaµta (the See also:identification of the two last plays is not considered absolutely certain); and twenty lines from an unknown comedy. Subsequently, part of a third copy of the HEpucsipop. vat was found in Egypt, some one hundred and forty lines, half of which were already known, while the See also:remainder were new (Abhandlungen der konigl.-sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, See also:Leipzig), 1908. It is doubtful whether these fragments, which are of sufficient length to afford a basis for the See also:consideration of the merits of Menander as a writer of comedies, justify the great reputation enjoyed by him in See also:ancient times.

With the exception of a scene in the 'EaLrpeaovrsc, which would See also:

appeal to the litigious Athenians, they contain little that is witty or humorous; there is little variety in the characters, the situations are conventional, and the plots, not of a highly edifying See also:character, are lacking in originality. Menander's chief excellences seem to be facility of See also:language, accurate portrayal of manners, and naturalness of the sentiments which he puts into the mouth of his dramatis personae. It is remarkable that the maxims, which See also:form the chief part of the earlier collections of fragments, are few in the later. On Menander generally see monographs by C. See also:Benoit (1854) and G. See also:Guizot (1855) ; J. See also:Geffcken, Studia zu Menander (1898) ; H. See also:Lake, Menander and See also:seine Kunst (1892); J. See also:Denis, La Comedie grecque' (1886), vol. ii. ; H. Weil, Etudes sur l'antiquite grecque (1900). See also:Editions of the fragments: rswpy6s, by J.

See also:

Nicole, with See also:translation and 'notes . (1898) and by B. P. Grenfell and A. S. See also:Hunt, with revised See also:text and translation (1898) ; the "Hpws, 'EFLrpi rovrsS, HEpLKELpoJ iv ], Eaµta, by G. See also:Lefebvre and M. Croiset, with introduction, notes and translation (See also:Cairo, 1907); J. See also:van Leeuwen, with Latin notes (2nd ed., 1908) ; L. See also:Bodin and P. Mazon, Extraits de Menandre (Samia and Epilreponies, 19o8); E. Croiset, L'See also:Arbitrage, See also:critical ed. and translation (1908); C. See also:Robert, Der new Menander (text reconstructed, 19o8); Wilamowitz-Miillendorff, " Der Menander von Kairo" in Neue Jahrbiicher fiir das klassische Altertum (1908), pp.

34–62; See also:

German trans. by Robert, Szenen aus Menander (1908); See also:English by Unus Multorum (1909). See also Wilamowitz-Mollendorff, " Der Landmann See also:des Menandros " in Neue Jahrbitoher (1899), p. 513 ; C. Dziatzko, "Der Inhalt des Georgos von Menander," in Rhein. See also:Mus. liv. 497, Iv. 104; F. See also:Leo, Der Neue Menander " in See also:Hermes, xliii. 120; E. Capps, " The See also:Plot of Menander's Epitrepontes " in Amer. Journ. of See also:Philology (1908), p. 41o; A.

Kretschmar, De Menandri reliquiis nu per repertis (1906); F. G. See also:

Kenyon in ?See also:Sept. arterly See also:Review (See also:April, 19o8); The Times See also:Literary Supplement (20, 1907); See also:Athenaeum (Oct. 23,1897 ; Aug. 1, 1908; Oct.24, 1908) ; and list of articles in See also:periodicals in Van Leeuwen's edition. (J. H.

End of Article: MENANDER (342–291 B.C.)

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