Page "Alcaeus of Mytilene" Paragraph 24

* Miscellaneous: Alcaeus wrote on such a wide variety of subjects and themes that contradictions in his character emerge.

The grammarian Athenaeus quoted some verses about perfumed ointments to prove just how unwarlike Alcaeus could be and he quoted his description of the armour adorning the walls of his house as proof that he could be unusually warlike for a lyric poet.

Other examples of his readiness for both warlike and unwarlike subjects are lyrics celebrating his brother's heroic exploits as a Babylonian mercenary and lyrics sung in a rare meter ( Sapphic Ionic in minore ) in the voice of a distressed girl, " Wretched me, who share in all ills!

"-possibly imitated by Horace in an ode in the same meter ( C. 3. 12: Miserarum est neque amori dare ludum neque dulci ).

He also wrote Sapphic stanzas on Homeric themes but in unHomeric style, comparing Helen of Troy unfavourably with Thetis, the mother of Akhilles.