Chœrĭlus

, a tragic poet of Athens, who wrote 150 tragedies, of which 13 obtained the prize.――An historian of Samos.――Two other poets, one of whom was very intimate with Hero dot us. He wrote a poem on the victory which the A then i ans had obtained over Xerxes, and on account of the excellence of the composition, he received a piece of gold for each verse from the A then i ans, and was publicly ranked with Homer as a poet. The other was one of Alexander’s flatterers and friends. It is said the prince promised him as many pieces of gold as there should be good verses in his poetry, and as many slaps on his forehead as there were bad; and in consequence of this, scarce six of his verses in each poem were entitled to gold, while the rest were rewarded with castigation. Plutarch , Alexander .— Horace , bk. 2 , ltr. 1 , li. 232 .