Abstract

Choerilus of Samos' epic poem, Persica, opens with a lament on the current state of poetry. Scholars have misread this lament as a genuine expression of dismay on the part of a poet who is disillusioned with poetry and who thinks that the time for poetry has passed. Choerilus' lament is not sincere but rather a rhetorical device in which the poet draws attention to the problems found in contemporary poetry, problems which he then overcomes with his new style of poetry, namely, historical epic.