INTRODUCTORY NOTE

486 anonymous elegiac epigrams appear in Books 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 16 (= A. Plan.) of the Anthology; the other Books contain nothing relevant to the present collection, which comprises epigrams composed earlier, in my opinion, than a.d. 50, and not included in Hellenistic Epigrams or The Garland of Philip. As styles and subjects are much alike in different periods, and as many anonymous epigrams are very brief and undistinguished, there is a fairly large limbo of doubtful cases; a few of these have been deliberately included.

To give the reasons for rejecting each of more than 320 epigrams would be insufferably tedious; I offer brief comment on the anonyma in each Book:

Book 5: 23 anonymous elegiac epigrams, of which 6 are in MG or PG and 3 are to be assigned to named authors (2 to Rufinus, I to Dionysius); II are included here. The 3 rejected are 99, which would be at home among the satirical authors; 303, probably from the period of the Cycle of Agathias; and 304, probably later than a.d. 50.

Book 6: 20 anonymous elegiac epigrams, of which 17 are in MG or the present collection. The 3 rejected are 42 and 87, for which the Cycle is at least as likely a source as the Garlands, and 24, a satirical epigram assigned to Lucillius by Stadtmüller.