Choerilus
- a wretched Greek poet, in the train of Alexander the Great, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 233; id. A. P. 357; Curt. 8, 5, 8; Aus. Ep. 16, 3.—After him, or another poet of the same name (cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 232), is named Choerĭlīum (or -ēum) metrum, a dactylic species of verse, Serv. Centim. p. 1820 P.; Victorin. p. 2558 ib.
(Χοιρίλος or Χοίρλλος). There were four Greek poets of this name who have been frequently confounded with one another. They are treated of, and properly distinguished, by A. F. Näke, Choerili Samii quae supersunt, Lips. 1817, 8vo.
1. Choerilus of Athens, a tragic poet, contemporary with Thespis, Phrynichus, Pratinas, Aeschylus, and even with Sophocles, unless, as Welcker supposes, he had a son of the same name, who was also a tragic poet. (Welcker, Die Griech. Tragöl. p. 892.)
His first appearance as a competitor for the tragic prize was in B. C. 523 (Suid. s.v.), in the reign of Hipparchus, when Athens was becoming the centre of Greek poetry by the residence there of Simonides, Anacreon, Lasus, and others. This was twelve years after the first appearance of Thespis in the tragic contests; and it is therefore not improbable that Choerilus had Thespis for an antagonist. It was also twelve years before the first victory of Phrynichus. (B. C. 511.) After another twelve years, Choerilus came into competition with Aeschylus, when the latter first exhibited (B. C. 499); and, since we know that Aeschylus did not carry off a prize till sixteen years afterwards, the prize of this contest must have been given either to Chocrilus or to Pratinas. (Suid. s.vv,. Αἰσχύλος, Πρατίνας.) Choerilus was still held in high estimation in the year 483 B. C. after he had exhibited tragedies for forty years. (Cyrill. Julian. i. p. 13,b.; Euseb. Chron. sub. Ol. 74. 2; Syncell. p . 254, b.) In the statement in the anonymous life of Souhocles, that Sophocles contended with Choerilus, there is very probably some mistake, but there is no impossibility; for when Sophocles gained his first victory (B. C. 468), Choerilus would be just 80, if we take 25 as the usual age at which a tragic poet first exhibited. (Compare Welcker, l.c. and Näke, p. 7.)
Of the character of Choerilus we know little more than that, during a long life, he retained a good degree of popular favour. The number of his trgedies was 150, of his victories 13 (Suid. s. v.). being exactly the number of victories assigned to Aeschylus. The great number of his dramas not only establishes the length of his career, but a much more important point, namely, that the exhibition of tetralogies commenced early in the time of Choerilus; for new tragedies were exhibited at Athens only twice a year, and at this early period we never hear of tragedies being written but not exhibited, but rather the other way. In fact, it is the general opinion, that Choerilus was the first who composed written tragedies, and that even of his plays the greater number were not written.
Some writers attributed to him the invention or great improvement of masks and theatrical costume (τοῖς προσωπείοις καὶ τῆ σκεύη τῶν στολῶν ἐπεΧείρησε are the words of Suidas, s. v.). These inventions are in fact ascribed to each of the great tragedians of this age; and it is remarkable that the passages on the authority of which they are usually attributed to Aeschylus imply not so much actual invention as the artistic perfection of what previously existed in a rude form. It is evident, moreover, that these great improvements, by whomsoever made, must have been adopted by all the tragedians of the same age. The poetical character and construction of the plays of Choerilus probably differed but little from those of Thespis, until the period when Aeschylus introduced the second actor --a change which Choerilus of course adopted, for otherwise he could not have continued to compete with Aeschylus. The same remark applies to the separation made by Pratinas of the satyric drama from the regular tragedy. It is generally supposed that Choerilus had some share in effecting this improvement, on the authority of a line from an unknown ancient poet (apud Plotium de Metris, p. 2633, ed. Putsch.), ἡνίκα μὲν Βασιλεὺς ἦν Χοιρίλος ἐν Σατύροις. But it seems more natural to take the words ἐν Σατύροις to mean the tragic Chorus, at the time when the persons composing it retained the costume of satyrs.
The name of Choerilus is mentioned in a very curious fragment of the comic poet Alexis, from his play Linus. (Athen. 4.164c.; Meineke, Fray. Com. Graec. iii. p. 443.) Linus, who is instructing Hercules, puts into his hand some books, that he may choose one of them to read, saying, Ὀρφεὺς ἔνεστιν, Ἡσίοδος, τραγῳδία, Χοιρίλος, Ὅμηρος, Ἐπίχαρμος, συγγράμματα παντοδαπά.
Here we have a poet for each sort of poetry: Orpheus for the early mystic hymns, Hesiod for the didactic and moral epos, Homer for the heroic epos, Epicharmus for comedy; but what are τραγωδία, Χοιρίλος ? The usual answer of those critics who abstain from evading the difficulty by an alteration of the text is, Tragedy and the Satyric Drama: but the question is a very difficult one, and cannot be discussed here. (See Näke, p. 5.) Possibly the passage may refer, after all, to the epic poet, Choerilus of Samos, and there may be some hit at his ὀψοφαγία (see below) in the choice of Hercules, who selects a work on ὀψαρτυσία.
The Latin grammarians mention a metre which they call Choerilian. It was in fact, a dactylic hexameter stript of its final catalexis. It must not be supposed that this metre was invented by Choerilus, for the Greek metrical writers never mention it by that name. Perhaps it got its name from the fact of the above-mentioned line, in praise of Choerilus, being the most ancient verse extant in this metre. (See Näke, pp. 257, 263; Gaisford's edition of Hephaestion, notes, pp. 353, 354.) Works
Of all the plays of Choerilus we have no remnant except the statement by Pausanias (1.14.2) of a mythological genealogy from his play called Ἀλόπη.
2. Choerilus, a slave of the comic poet Ecphantides, whom he was said to assist in the composition of his plays. (Hesych. s.v. Ἐκκεχοιριλωμένη and Χοιρίλον Ἐκφαντίδος.) This explains the error of Eudocia (p. 437), that the epic poet Choerilus wrote tragedies. (Meineke, Hist. Crit. Com. Graec. pp. 37, 38; Gaisford, ad heph. p. 96.)
3. Choerilus of Samos, the author of an epic poem on the wars of the Greeks with Xerxes and Dareius. Suidas (s. v.) says, that he was a contemporary of Panyasis and a young man (νεανίσκον) at the time of the Persian war, in the 75th Olympiad. But this is next to impossible, for Plutarch (Plut. Lys. 18) tells us that, when Lysander was at Sainos (B. C. 404), Choerilus was residing there, and was highly honoured by Lysander, who hoped that the poet would celebrate his exploits. This was 75 years later than the 75th Olympiad : and therefore, if this date has anythlig to do with Choerilus, it must be the date of his birth (B. C. 479); and this agrees with another statement of Suidas, which implies that Choerilus was younger than Herodotus (οὕτινος αὐτὸν καί παριδικὰ γεγονέναι φασιν). We have here perhaps the explanation of the error of Suidas, who, from the connexion of both Panyasis and Choerilus with Herodotus, and from the fact that both were epic poets, may have confounded them, and have said of Choerilus that which can very well be true of Panyasis. Perhaps Choerilus was even younger. Näke places his birth about B. C. 470. Suidas also says, that Choerilus was a slave at Samos, and was distingaished for his beauty; that he ran away and resided with Herodotus, from whom he acquired a taste for literature; and that he turned his attention to poetry : afterwards he went to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia, where he died. His death must therefore have been not later than B. C. 399, which was the last year of Archelaus. Athenaeus (viii. p. 345e.) states, that Choerilus received from Archelaus four minae a-day, and spent it all upon good living (ὀψοφαγίαν). There are other statements of Suidas, which evidently refer to the later poet, who was contemporary with Alexander. (See below.) There is some doubt whether the accounts which made him a native either of Iasos or of Halicarnassus belong to this class. Either of them is perfectly consistent with the statement that he was a slave at Samos. (Conpare Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἰασσός; Hesych. Miles. p. 40, ed. Meurs.; Phot. Lex. s. v. Σαμιακὸν τροπόν.)
His great work was on the Persian wars, but its exact title is not known: it may have been Περσικά. It is remarkable as the earliest attempt to celebrate in epic poetry events which were nearly contemporary with the poet's life. Of its character we may form some conjecture from the connexion between the poet and Herodotus. There are also fragments preserved by Aristotle from the Prooemium (Rhet. 3.14, and Schol.); by Ephorus from the description of Dareius's bridge of boats, in which the Scythians are mentioned (Strab. vii. p.303); by Josephus from the catalogue of the nations in the army of Xerxes, among whom were the Jews (c. Apion. 1.22. vol. ii. p. 454, ed. Havercamp, iii. p. 1183, ed. Oberthür; compare Euseb. Praup. Evang. 9.9); and other fragments, the place of which is uncertain. (See Näke.) The chief action of the poem appears to have been the battle of Salamis. The high estimation in which Choerilus was held is proved by his reception into the epic canon (Suid. s. v.), from which, however, he was again expelled by the Alexandrian grammarians, and Antimachus was substituted in his place, on account of a statement, which was made on the authority of Heracleides Ponticus, that Plato very much preferred Antimachus to Choerilus. (Proclus, Comm. in Plat. Tim. p. 28; see also an epigram of Crates in the Greek Anthology, ii. p. 3, eds. Brunck and Jac., with Jacobs's note, Animadr. ii. l. pp. 7-9.) The great inferiority of Choerilus to Ilomer in his similes is noticed by Aristotle. (Topic. 8.1.24.)
4. Choerilus, probably of Iasos, a worthless epic poet in the train of Alexander the Great. (Curtius, 8.5.8.) Horace says of him (Ep. 2.1. 232-234),
" Gratus Alexandro regi Magno fuit ille Choerilus, incultis qui versibus et male natis Rettulit acceptos, regale nomisma, Philippos;" and (Art. Poet. 357, 358),
" Sic mihi, qui multum cessat, fit Choerilus ille, Quem bis torque bonum cum risu miror"
From the former passage it is evident that we must refer to this Choerilus the statement of Suidas respecting Choerilus of Samos, that he received a gold stater for every verse of his poem. However liberally Alexander may have paid Choerilus for his flattery, he did not conceal his contempt for his poetry, at least if we may believe Acron, who remarks on the second of the above passages, that Alexander used to tell Choerilus that " he would rather be the Thersites of Homer than the Achilles of Choerilus." The same writer adds, that Choerilus bargained with Alexander for a piece of gold for every good verse, and a blow for every bad one; and the bad verses were so numerous, that he was beaten to death. This appears to be merely a joke.
Suidas assigns to Choerilus of Samos a poem entitled Λαμιακά, and other poems. But in all probability that poem related to the Lamian war, B. C. 323; and, if so, it must have been the composition of this later Choerilus. To him also Näke assigns the epitaph on Sardanapalus, which is preserved by Strabo (xiv. p.672), by Athenaeus (viii. p. 336a., who says, that it was translated by Choerihus from the Chaldee, xii. p. 529f.; compare Diod. 2.23; Tzetz. Chil. 3.453), and in the Greek Anthology. (Brunck, Anal. i. p. 185; Jacobs, i. p. 117; see Jacobs, Animadv. vol. i. pt. 1, p. 376.) [P.S]
(Χοιρίλος and Χοίριλλος). (1) An Athenian dramatist, one of the oldest Attic tragedians, who appeared as a writer as early as B.C. 520. He was a rival of Pratinas, Phrynichus, and Aeschylus. His favourite line seems to have been the satyric drama, in which he was long a popular writer.
(2) A Greek epic poet, born in Samos about B.C. 470, a friend of Herodotus and afterwards of the Spartan Lysander. He lived first at Athens and afterwards at the court of King Archelaüs of Macedonia, where he was treated with great consideration, and died about B.C. 400. He was the first epic poet who, feeling that the old mythology was exhausted, ventured to treat an historical subject of immediate interest, the Persian wars, in an epic entitled Perseïs. According to one account, the poem was read in the schools with Homer. The few fragments that remain show that it did not lack talent and merit; but little regard was paid to it by posterity. Ed. by Näke (Leipzig, 1817).
(3) Of Iasos in Caria. This Choerilus was also an epic poet, who accompanied Alexander the Great. Alexander promised him a gold-piece for every good verse he wrote in celebration of his achievements, but declared that he would rather be the Thersites of Homer than the Achilles of Choerilus. Cf. Hor. A. P. 357.
- Olympic victor: Paus. 6.17.5
- his play Alope, Paus. 1.14.3