The "Letters" of Alciphron (second century CE) constitute one of
the most attractive products of the Second Sophistic. They are
fictitious compositions based on an astonishingly wide variety of
circumstances, though the theme of erotic love is constantly
sounded. The imagination shown by the author and his convincing
realism win him a place of distinction in the early development of
romantic prose. The letters, which are highly literary, owing much
to the New Comedy of Menander, purport to give us a sketch of the
social life of Athens in the fourth century BCE. The collection is
arranged in four divisions: Letters of Fishermen; Farmers;
Parasites; Courtesans. Senders and addressees are mostly invented
characters, but in the last section Alciphron presents us with
several attempts at historical fiction, the most engaging being an
exchange of letters between Menander and Glycera.
This volume also includes twenty "Letters of Farmers" ascribed
to Aelian ("c."170-235 CE) and a collection of seventy-three
"Erotic Epistles" of Philostratus (probably Flavius of that name,
also born "c." 170 CE). In style and subject matter these resemble
those of Alciphron, by whom they may have been influenced.
General
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