GNOME (Gr. gnome), a pithy and sententious saying, commonly in verse, embodying some moral sentiment or precept. The gnome belongs to the same generic class with the proverb; but it differs from a proverb in wanting that common and popular accept ance which stamps the proverb; as it were, with public authority. The use of gnomes prevailed among all the early nations, especially the Orientals; and the literatures, both sacred and profane, of most countries abound with them. In the Bible, the book of Proverbs, part of Ecclesiastes, and still more the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, pre sent, so far as regards language and structure, numberless illustrations of the highest form of this composition. The other books of the Old Testament contain many exam ples; and in the New Testament the familiar lessons of our Lord are frequently pre sented in this striking form, which was peculiarly adapted to impress and move the classes whom he addressed. The Indian, the Arabian, and the Persian literatures also are rich in gnomes, as are those of the northern nations. But the most interesting form which they have taken is that in which we find them in Greek literature, in which the writers who have cultivated this form of composition are known as a distinct class—the gnomic poets (gnomikoz). The Greek gnome is commonly couched in the elegiac distich;
and the most celebrated gnomic poets were Solon, Theognis, Phocylides, Simonides, Tyrtmus, and Xenophanes of Colophon. The most remarkable of these is Theognis, whose gnomes extend to above 1200 lines. The remains of gnomic writers have been repeatedly edited under the title of Gnomid Poeta Grad from the days of 31elanctlion downwards. The standard editions arc those of Bekker (1815) and Welcker (1820). There is, moreover, a popular edition by Brunck, which is reprinted in the Tauchnitz classics; and the gnomic poets are also commonly included in the collections of minor Greek poets.
In Latin literature, the Disticha of Dionysius Cato, the authorship of which has proved so fertile a source of controversy, may be mentioned as belonging to the class of gnomes.