' In course of time, chiefly under the influence of
Martial, and partly of Catullus, an ex- tensive literature of this sort
was formed. It was held the greatest of all triumphs, if an epigram was
mistaken for a genuine copy from some old marble, or if it was so good
that all Italy learned it by heart, as happened in the case of some of
Bembo's. When the Venetian government paid Sannazaro 600 ducats for a
eulogy in three distichs, no one thought it an act of generous
prodigality. The epigram was prized for what it was, in truth, to all
the educated classes of that age--the concentrated essence of fame.
Nor, on the other hand, was any man then so powerful as to be above the
reach of a satirical epigram, and even the most powerful needed, for
every inscription which they set before the public eye, the aid of
careful and learned scholars, lest some blunder or other should qualify
it for a place in the collections of ludicrous epitaphs. Epigraphy and
literary epigrams began to link up; the former was based on a most
diligent study of the ancient monuments.
The city of epigrams and inscriptions was, above all others, Rome. In
this state without hereditary honours, each man had to look after his
own immortality, and at the same time found the epigram an effective
weapon against competitors. Pius II enumerates with satisfaction the
distichs which his chief poet Campanus wrote on any event of his
government which could be turned to poetical account.
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