EPISTLE

epistle, in its primary sense any letter addressed to an absent person; from the greek word [greek: epistole], a thing sent on a particular occasion. strictly speaking, any such communication is an epistle, but at the present day the term has become archaic, and is used only for letters of an ancient time, or for elaborate literary productions which take an epistolary form, that is to say, are, or affect to be, written to a person at a distance. 1. _epistles and letters._--the student of literary history soon discovers that a broad distinction exists between the letter and the epistle. the letter is essentially a spontaneous, non-literary production, ephemeral, intimate, personal and private, a substitute for a spoken conversation. the epistle, on the other hand, rather takes the place of a public speech, it is written with an audience in view, it is a literary form, a distinctly artistic effort aiming at permanence; and it bears much the same relation to a letter as a platonic dialogue does to a private talk between two friends. the posthumous value placed on a great man's letters would naturally lead to the production of epistles, which might be written to set forth the views of a person or a school, either genuinely or as forgeries under some eminent name. pseudonymous epistles were especially numerous under the early roman empire, and mainly attached themselves to the names of plato, demosthenes, aristotle and cicero. both letters and epistles have come down to us in considerable variety and extent from the ancient world. babylonia and assyria, egypt, greece and rome alike contribute to our inheritance of letters. those of aristotle are of questionable genuineness, but we can rely, at any rate in part, on those of isocrates and epicurus. some of the letters of cicero are rather epistles, since they were meant ultimately for the general eye. the papyrus discoveries in egypt have a peculiar interest, for they are mainly the letters of people unknown to fame, and having no thought of publicity. it is less to be wondered at that we have a large collection of ancient epistles, especially in the realm of magic and religion, for epistles were meant to live, were published in several copies, and were not a difficult form of literary effort. the tell el-amarna tablets found in upper egypt in 1887 are a series of despatches in cuneiform script from babylonian kings and phoenician and palestinian governors to the pharaohs (c. 1400 b.c.). the epistles of dionysius of halicarnassus, plutarch, seneca and the younger pliny claim mention at this point. in the later roman period and into the middle ages, formal epistles were almost a distinct branch of literature. the ten books of symmachus' _epistolae_, so highly esteemed in the cultured circles of the 4th century, may be contrasted with the less elegant but more forceful epistles of jerome. the distinction between letters and epistles has particular interest for the student of early christian literature. g.a. deissmann (_bible studies_) assigns to the category of letters all the pauline writings as well as 2 and 3 john. the books bearing the names of james, peter and jude, together with the pastorals (though these may contain fragments of genuine pauline letters) and the apocalypse, he regards as epistles. the first epistle of john he calls less a letter or an epistle than a religious tract. it is doubtful, however, whether we can thus reduce all the letters of the new testament to one or other of these categories; and w.m. ramsay (hastings' _dict. bib._ extra vol. p. 401) has pointed out with some force that "in the new conditions a new category had been developed--the general letter addressed to a whole class of persons or to the entire church of christ." such writings have affinities with both the letter and the epistle, and they may further be compared with the "edicts and rescripts by which roman law grew, documents arising out of special circumstances but treating them on general principles." most of the literature of the sub-apostolic age is epistolary, and we have a particularly interesting form of epistle in the communications between churches (as distinct from individuals) known as the _first epistle of clement_ (rome to corinth), the _martyrdom of polycarp_ (smyrna to philomelium), and the _letters of the churches of vienne and lyons_ (to the congregations of asia minor and phrygia) describing the gallican martyrdoms of a.d. 177. in the following centuries we have the valuable epistles of cyprian, of gregory nazianzen (to cledonius on the apollinarian controversy), of basil (to be classed rather as letters), of ambrose, chrysostom, augustine and jerome. the encyclical letters of the roman catholic church are epistles, even more so than bulls, which are usually more special in their destination. in the renaissance one of the most common forms of literary production was that modelled upon cicero's letters. from petrarch to the _epistolae obscurorum virorum_ there is a whole epistolary literature. the _epistolae obscurorum virorum_ have to some extent a counterpart in the epistles of martin marprelate. later satires in an epistolary form are pascal's _provincial letters_, swift's _drapier letters_, and the _letters of junius_. the "open letter" of modern journalism is really an epistle. (a. j. g.) 2. _epistles in poetry._--a branch of poetry bears the name of the epistle, and is modelled on those pieces of horace which are almost essays (_sermones_) on moral or philosophical subjects, and are chiefly distinguished from other poems by being addressed to particular patrons or friends. the epistle of horace to his agent (or _villicus_) is of a more familiar order, and is at once a masterpiece and a model of what an epistle should be. examples of the work in this direction of ovid, claudian, ausonius and other late latin poets have been preserved, but it is particularly those of horace which have given this character to the epistles in verse which form so very characteristic a section of french poetry. the graceful precision and dignified familiarity of the epistle are particularly attractive to the temperament of france. clement marot, in the 16th century, first made the epistle popular in france, with his brief and spirited specimens. we pass the witty epistles of scarron and voiture, to reach those of boileau, whose epistles, twelve in number, are the classic examples of this form of verse in french literature; they were composed at different dates between 1668 and 1695. in the 18th century voltaire enjoyed a supremacy in this graceful and sparkling species of writing; the _epitre a uranie_ is perhaps the most famous of his verse-letters. gresset, bernis, sedaine, dorat, gentil-bernard, all excelled in the epistle. the curious "epitres" of j.p.g. viennet (1777-1868) were not easy and mundane like their predecessors, but violently polemical. viennet, a hot defender of lost causes, may be considered the latest of the epistolary poets of france. in england the verse-epistle was first prominently employed by samuel daniel in his "letter from octavia to marcus antonius" (1599), and later on, more legitimately, in his "certain epistles" (1601-1603). his letter, in _terza rima_, to lucy, countess of bristol, is one of the finest examples of this form in english literature. it was daniel's deliberate intention to introduce the epistle into english poetry, "after the manner of horace." he was supported by ben jonson, who has some fine horatian epistles in his _forests_ (1616) and his _underwoods_. _letters to several persons of honour_ form an important section in the poetry of john donne. habington's _epistle to a friend_ is one of his most finished pieces. henry vaughan (1622-1695) addressed a fine epistle in verse to the french romance-writer gombauld (1570-1666). such "letters" were not unfrequent down to the restoration, but they did not create a department of literature such as daniel had proposed. at the close of the 17th century dryden greatly excelled in this class of poetry, and his epistles to congreve (1694) and to the duchess of ormond (1700) are among the most graceful and eloquent that we possess. during the age of anne various augustan poets in whom the lyrical faculty was slight, from congreve and richard duke down to ambrose philips and william somerville, essayed the epistle with more or less success, and it was employed by gay for several exercises in his elegant persiflage. among the epistles of gay, one rises to an eminence of merit, that called "mr pope's welcome from greece," written in 1720. but the great writer of epistles in english is pope himself, to whom the glory of this kind of verse belongs. his "eloisa to abelard" (1717) is carefully modelled on the form of ovid's "heroides," while in his _moral essays_ he adopts the horatian formula for the epistle. in either case his success was brilliant and complete. the "epistle to dr arbuthnot" has not been surpassed, if it has been equalled, in latin or french poetry of the same class. but pope excelled, not only in the voluptuous and in the didactic epistle, but in that of compliment as well, and there is no more graceful example of this in literature than is afforded by the letter about the poems of parnell addressed, in 1721, to robert, earl of oxford. after the day of pope the epistle again fell into desuetude, or occasional use, in england. it revived in the charming naivete of cowper's lyrical letters in octosyllabics to his friends, such as william bull and lady austin (1782). at the close of the century samuel rogers endeavoured to resuscitate the neglected form in his "epistle to a friend" (1798). the formality and conventional grace of the epistle were elements with which the leaders of romantic revival were out of sympathy, and it was not cultivated to any important degree in the 19th century. it is, however, to be noted that shelley's "letter to maria gisborne" (1820), keats's "epistle to charles clarke" (1816), and landor's "to julius hare" (1836), in spite of their romantic colouring, are genuine horatian epistles and of the pure augustan type. this type, in english literature, is commonly, though not at all universally, cast in heroic verse. but daniel employs _rime royal_ and _terza rima_, while some modern epistles have been cast in short iambic rhymed measures or in blank verse. it is sometimes not easy to distinguish the epistle from the elegy and from the dedication. (e. g.) for st paul's epistles see paul, for st peter's see peter, for apocryphal epistles see apocryphal literature, for plato's see plato, &c. epistyle (gr. [greek: epi], upon, and [greek: stylos], column), the greek architectural term for architrave, the lower member of the entablature of the classic orders (q.v.). epistylis (c.g. ehrenberg), in zoology, a genus of peritrichous infusoria with a short oral disc and collar, and a rigid stalk, often branching to form a colony. epitaph (gr. [greek: epitaphios], sc. [greek: logos], from [greek: epi], upon, and [greek: taphos], a tomb), strictly, an inscription upon a tomb, though by a natural extension of usage the name is applied to anything written ostensibly for that purpose whether actually inscribed upon a tomb or not. when the word was introduced into english in the 14th century it took the form _epitaphy_, as well as _epitaphe_, which latter word is used both by gower and lydgate. many of the best-known epitaphs, both ancient and modern, are merely literary memorials, and find no place on sepulchral monuments. sometimes the intention of the writer to have his production placed upon the grave of the person he has commemorated may have been frustrated, sometimes it may never have existed; what he has written is still entitled to be called an epitaph if it be suitable for the purpose, whether the purpose has been carried out or not. the most obvious external condition that suitability for mural inscription imposes is one of rigid limitation as to length. an epitaph cannot in the nature of things extend to the proportions that may be required in an elegy. the desire to perpetuate the memory of the dead being natural to man, the practice of placing epitaphs upon their graves has been common among all nations and in all ages. and the similarity, amounting sometimes almost to identity, of thought and expression that often exists between epitaphs written more than two thousand years ago and epitaphs written only yesterday is as striking an evidence as literature affords of the close kinship of human nature under the most varying conditions where the same primary elemental feelings are stirred. the grief and hope of the roman mother as expressed in the touching lines-- "lagge fili bene quiescas; mater tua rogat te, ut me ad te recipias: vale!" find their echo in similar inscriptions in many a modern cemetery. probably the earliest epitaphial inscriptions that have come down to us are those of the ancient egyptians, written, as their mode of sepulture necessitated, upon the sarcophagi and coffins. those that have been deciphered are all very much in the same form, commencing with a prayer to a deity, generally osiris or anubis, on behalf of the deceased, whose name, descent and office are usually specified. there is, however, no attempt to delineate individual character, and the feelings of the survivors are not expressed otherwise than in the fact of a prayer being offered. ancient greek epitaphs, unlike the egyptian, are of great literary interest, deep and often tender in feeling, rich and varied in expression, and generally epigrammatic in form. they are written usually in elegiac verse, though many of the later epitaphs are in prose. among the gems of the greek anthology familiar to english readers through translations are the epitaphs upon those who had fallen in battle. there are several ascribed to simonides on the heroes of thermopylae, of which the most celebrated is the epigram-- "go tell the spartans, thou that passest by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie." a hymn of simonides on the same subject contains some lines of great beauty in praise of those who were buried at thermopylae, and these may be regarded as forming a literary epitaph. in sparta epitaphs were inscribed only upon the graves of those who had been especially distinguished in war; in athens they were applied more indiscriminately. they generally contained the name, the descent, the demise, and some account of the life of the person commemorated. it must be remembered, however, that many of the so-called greek epitaphs are merely literary memorials not intended for monumental inscription, and that in these freer scope is naturally given to general reflections, while less attention is paid to biographical details. many of them, even some of the monumental, do not contain any personal name, as in the one ascribed to plato-- "i am a shipwrecked sailor's tomb; a peasant's there doth stand: thus the same world of hades lies beneath both sea and land." others again are so entirely of the nature of general reflections upon death that they contain no indication of the particular case that called them forth. it may be questioned, indeed, whether several of this character quoted in ordinary collections are epitaphs at all, in the sense of being intended for a particular occasion. roman epitaphs, in contrast to those of the greeks, contained, as a rule, nothing beyond a record of facts. the inscriptions on the urns, of which numerous specimens are to be found in the british museum, present but little variation. the letters d.m. or d.m.s. (_diis manibus_ or _diis manibus sacrum_) are followed by the name of the person whose ashes are enclosed, his age at death, and sometimes one or two other particulars. the inscription closes with the name of the person who caused the urn to be made, and his relationship to the deceased. it is a curious illustration of the survival of traces of an old faith after it has been formally discarded to find that the letters d.m. are not uncommon on the christian inscriptions in the catacombs. it has been suggested that in this case they mean _deo maximo_ and not _diis manibus_, but the explanation would be quite untenable, even if there were not many other undeniable instances of the survival of pagan superstitions in the thought and life of the early christians. in these very catacomb inscriptions there are many illustrations to be found, apart from the use of the letters d.m., of the union of heathen with christian sentiment, (see maitland's _church in the catacombs_). the private burial-places for the ashes of the dead were usually by the side of the various roads leading into rome, the via appia, the via flaminia, &c. the traveller to or from the city thus passed for miles an almost uninterrupted succession of tombstones, whose inscriptions usually began with the appropriate words _siste viator_ or _aspice viator_, the origin doubtless of the "stop passenger," which still meets the eye in many parish churchyards of britain. another phrase of very common occurrence on ancient roman tombstones, _sit tibi terra levis_ ("light lie the earth upon thee"), has continued in frequent use, as conveying an appropriate sentiment, down to modern times. a remarkable feature of many of the roman epitaphs was the terrible denunciation they often pronounced upon those who violated the sepulchre. such denunciations were not uncommon in later times. a well-known instance is furnished in the lines on shakespeare's tomb at stratford-on-avon, said to have been written by the poet himself-- "good frend, for jesus' sake forbeare to digg the dust enclosed heare; bleste be y^e man y^t spares thes stones. and curst be he y^t moves my bones." the earliest existing british epitaphs belonged to the roman period, and are written in latin after the roman form. specimens are to be seen in various antiquarian museums throughout the country; some of the inscriptions are given in bruce's _roman wall_, and the seventh volume of the _corpus inscriptionum latinarum_ edited by hubner, containing the british inscriptions, is a valuable repertory for the earlier roman epitaphs in britain. the earliest, of course, are commemorative of soldiers, belonging to the legions of occupation, but the roman form was afterwards adopted for native britons. long after the roman form was discarded, the latin language continued to be used, especially for inscriptions of a more public character, as being from its supposed permanence the most suitable medium of communication to distant ages. it is only, in fact, within recent years that latin has become unusual, and the more natural practice has been adopted of writing the epitaphs of distinguished men in the language of the country in which they lived. while latin was the chief if not the sole literary language, it was, as a matter of course, almost exclusively used for epitaphial inscriptions. the comparatively few english epitaphs that remain of the 11th and 12th centuries are all in latin. they are generally confined to a mere statement of the name and rank of the deceased following the words "hic jacet." two noteworthy exceptions to this general brevity are, however, to be found in most of the collections. one is the epitaph to gundrada, daughter of the conqueror (d. 1085), which still exists at lewes, though in an imperfect state, two of the lines having been lost; another is that to william de warren, earl of surrey (d. 1089), believed to have been inscribed in the abbey of st pancras, near lewes, founded by him. both are encomiastic, and describe the character and work of the deceased with considerable fulness and beauty of expression. they are written in leonine verse. in the 13th century french began to be used in writing epitaphs, and most of the inscriptions to celebrated historical personages between 1200 and 1400 are in that language. mention may be made of those to robert, the 3rd earl of oxford (d. 1221), as given in weever, to henry iii. (d. 1272) at westminster abbey, and to edward the black prince (d. 1376) at canterbury. in most of the inscriptions of this period the deceased addresses the reader in the first person, describes his rank and position while alive, and, as in the case of the black prince, contrasts it with his wasted and loathsome state in the grave, and warns the reader to prepare for the same inevitable change. the epitaph almost invariably closes with a request, sometimes very urgently worded, for the prayers of the reader that the soul of the deceased may pass to glory, and an invocation of blessing, general or specific, upon all who comply. epitaphs preserved much of the same character after english began to be used towards the close of the 14th century. the following, to a member of the savile family at thornhill, is probably even earlier, though its precise date cannot be fixed:-- "bonys emongg stonys lys ful steyl gwylste the sawle wan- deris were that god wylethe"-- that is, bones among stones lie full still, whilst the soul wanders whither god willeth. it may be noted here that the majority of the inscriptions, latin and english, from 1300 to the period of the reformation, that have been preserved, are upon brasses (see brasses, monumental). the very curious epitaph on st bernard, probably written by a monk of clairvaux, has the peculiarity of being a dialogue in latin verse. it was in the reign of elizabeth that epitaphs in english began to assume a distinct literary character and value, entitling them to rank with those that had hitherto been composed in latin. we learn from nash that at the close of the 16th century it had become a trade to supply epitaphs in english verse. there is one on the dowager countess of pembroke (d. 1621), remarkable for its successful use of a somewhat daring hyperbole. it was written by william browne, author of _britannia's pastorals_:-- "underneath this sable hearse lies the subject of all verse; sydney's sister, pembroke's mother; death, ere thou hast slain another fair and learn'd and good as she, time will throw his dart at thee. marble piles let no man raise to her name for after days; some kind woman, born as she, reading this, like niobe, shall turn marble, and become both her mourner and her tomb." if there be something of the exaggeration of a conceit in the second stanza, it needs scarcely to be pointed out that epitaphs, like every other form of composition, necessarily reflect the literary characteristics of the age in which they were written. the deprecation of marble as unnecessary suggests one of the finest literary epitaphs in the english language, that by milton upon shakespeare. the epitaphs of pope are still considered to possess very great literary merit, though they were rated higher by johnson and critics of his period than they are now. dr johnson, who thought so highly of pope's epitaphs, was himself a great authority on both the theory and practice of this species of composition. his essay on epitaphs is one of the few existing monographs on the subject, and his opinion as to the use of latin had great influence. the manner in which he met the delicately insinuated request of a number of eminent men that english should be employed in the case of oliver goldsmith was characteristic, and showed the strength of his conviction on the subject. his arguments in favour of latin were chiefly drawn from its inherent fitness for epitaphial inscriptions and its classical stability. the first of these has a very considerable force, it being admitted on all hands that few languages are in themselves so suitable for the purpose; the second is outweighed by considerations that had considerable force in dr johnson's time, and have acquired more since. even to the learned latin is no longer the language of daily thought and life as it was at the period of the reformation, and the great body of those who may fairly claim to be called the well-educated classes can only read it with difficulty, if at all. it seems, therefore, little less than absurd, for the sake of a stability which is itself in great part delusive, to write epitaphs in a language unintelligible to the vast majority of those for whose information presumably they are intended. though a stickler for latin, dr johnson wrote some very beautiful english epitaphs, as, for example, the following on philips, a musician:-- "philips, whose touch harmonious could remove the pangs of guilty power or hapless love; rest here, distressed by poverty no more, here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before; sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine till angels wake thee with a note like thine!" in classifying epitaphs various principles of division may be adopted. arranged according to nationality they indicate distinctions of race less clearly perhaps than any other form of literature does,--and this obviously because when under the influence of the deepest feeling men think and speak very much in the same way whatever be their country. at the same time the influence of nationality may to some extent be traced in epitaphs. the characteristics of the french style, its grace, clearness, wit and epigrammatic point, are all recognizable in french epitaphs. in the 16th century those of etienne pasquier were universally admired. instances such as "la premiere au rendez-vous," inscribed on the grave of a mother, piron's epitaph, written for himself after his rejection by the french academy-- "ci-git piron, qui ne fut rien, pas meme academicien"-- and one by a relieved husband, to be seen at pere la chaise-- "ci-git ma femme. ah! qu'elle est bien pour son repos et pour le mien"-- might be multiplied indefinitely. one can hardly look through a collection of english epitaphs without being struck with the fact that these represent a greater variety of intellectual and emotional states than those of any other nation, ranging through every style of thought from the sublime to the commonplace, every mood of feeling from the most delicate and touching to the coarse and even brutal. few subordinate illustrations of the complex nature of the english nationality are more striking. epitaphs are sometimes classified according to their authorship and sometimes according to their subject, but neither division is so interesting as that which arranges them according to their characteristic features. what has just been said of english epitaphs is, of course, more true of epitaphs generally. they exemplify every variety of sentiment and taste, from lofty pathos and dignified eulogy to coarse buffoonery and the vilest scurrility. the extent to which the humorous and even the low comic element prevails among them is a noteworthy circumstance. it is curious that the most solemn of all subjects should have been frequently treated, intentionally or unintentionally, in a style so ludicrous that a collection of epitaphs is generally one of the most amusing books that can be picked up. in this as in other cases, too, it is to be observed that the unintended humour is generally of a much more entertaining kind than that which has been deliberately perpetrated. see weever, _ancient funerall monuments_ (1631, 1661, tooke's edit., 1767); philippe labbe, _thesaurus epitaphiorum_ (paris, 1666); _theatrum funebre extructum a dodone richea seu ottone aicher_ (1675); hackett, _select and remarkable epitaphs_ (1757); de laplace, _epitaphes serieuses, badines, satiriques et burlesques_ (3 vols., paris, 1782); pulleyn, _churchyard gleanings_ (c. 1830); l. lewysohn, _sechzig epitaphien von grabsteinen d. israelit. friedhofes zu worms_ (1855); pettigrew, _chronicles of the tombs_ (1857); s. tissington, _epitaphs_ (1857); robinson, _epitaphs from cemeteries in london, edinburgh, &c._ (1859); le blant, _inscriptions chretiennes de la gaule anterieures au viii^e siecle_ (1856, 1865); blommaert, galliard, &c, _inscriptions funeraires et monumentales de la prov. de flandre orient_ (ghent, 1857, 1860); _inscriptions fun. et mon. de la prov. d'anvers_ (antwerp, 1857-1860); chwolson, _achtzehn hebraische grabschriften aus der krim_ (1859); j. brown, _epitaphs, &c, in greyfriars churchyard, edinburgh_ (1867); h.j. loaring, _quaint, curious, and elegant epitaphs_ (1872); j.k. kippax, _churchyard literature, a choice collection of american epitaphs_ (chicago, 1876); also the poet william wordsworth's _essay on epitaphs_. epithalamium (gr. [greek: epi], at or upon, and [greek: thalamos], a nuptial chamber), originally among the greeks a song in praise of bride and bridegroom, which was sung by a number of boys and girls at the door of the nuptial chamber. according to the scholiast on theocritus, one form, the [greek: katakoimetikon], was employed at night, and another, the [greek: diegertikon], to arouse the bride and bridegroom on the following morning. in either case, as was natural, the main burden of the song consisted of invocations of blessing and predictions of happiness, interrupted from time to time by the ancient chorus of _hymen hymenaee_. among the romans a similar custom was in vogue, but the song was sung by girls only, after the marriage guests had gone, and it contained much more of what modern morality would condemn as obscene. in the hands of the poets the epithalamium was developed into a special literary form, and received considerable cultivation. sappho, anacreon, stesichorus and pindar are all regarded as masters of the species, but the finest example preserved in greek literature is the 18th idyll of theocritus, which celebrates the marriage of menelaus and helen. in latin, the epithalamium, imitated from fescennine greek models, was a base form of literature, when catullus redeemed it and gave it dignity by modelling his _marriage of thetis and peleus_ on a lost ode of sappho. in later times statius, ausonius, sidonius apollinaris and claudian are the authors of the best-known epithalamia in classical latin; and they have been imitated by buchanan, scaliger, sannazaro, and a whole host of modern latin poets, with whom, indeed, the form was at one time in great favour. the names of ronsard, malherbe and scarron are especially associated with the species in french literature, and marini and metastasio in italian. perhaps no poem of this class has been more universally admired than the _epithalamium_ of spenser (1595), though he has found no unworthy rivals in ben jonson, donne and quarles. at the close of _in memoriam_ tennyson has appended a poem, on the nuptials of his sister, which is strictly an epithalamium.