EPICHARMUS, Greek philosopher and comic poet: b. Cos, about 540 B.C. ; d. 450 B.C. He lived at Syracuse, and there wrote his cele brated comedies, now lost. Their number is reckoned at 52, and the titles of 35 of them have been preserved. Very little is known def initely about his life. But it is said that, be fore commencing his career as a comic poet, which apparently he did somewhat late in life. he lived at Megara, engaged in the study of philosophy, both physical and metaphysical. The fragments of his writings which are preserved abound with philosophical maxims, and with speculative discourses. His genius was highly esteemed among the ancients by such judges as Plato and Cicero. The Sicilian comedy of Epi charmus, prior to the Attic, grew out of the mimes, which were peculiar to this island, mak ing a sort of popular poetry. He arranged the separate unconnected scenes, exhibited in the mimes, into continued plots, as in tragedy. His comedies were long regarded as models in this species of composition, and were as much dis tinguished by their knowledge of human nature as by their wit and lively dialogue. The Sicil
ian comedy, in opposition to the Attic-Ionic, is also designated as the Doric comedy and is written without chorus. As their subject mat ter Epicharmus chose mythological incidents which he travestied or characters from every day life. He wrote in trochaic and anapaestic tetrameter. The best and most recent collec tion of his fragments is contained in
EPICcENE, or THE SILENT WOMAN, a comedy by Ben Jonson, produced in 1609. An old man, named Morose, disliking noise marries Epiccene because of her good reputation as a good listener and also with the aim of disin heriting a nephew. Immediately after marriage Epiccene displays an exceedingly shrewish dis position. Morose, in order to be rid of her, secures the services of his nephew by gifts and promises of reward. The nephew then discloses Epiccene as a boy in disguise, who had been in duced to play this trick upon Morose.