the sons and descendants of the Grecian heroes who were killed in the first Theban war. The war of the Epigoni is famous in ancient history. It was undertaken ten years after the Theban war. The sons of those who had perished in that contest resolved to avenge the death of their fathers, and marched against Thebes, under the command of Thersander, or, according to others, of Alemanor the son of Amphiarous, about 1307 years before Christ. The Argives were assisted by the Corinthians and the people of Messenia, Arcadia, and Megara. The Thebans had engaged all their neighbours in their quarrel, as in one common cause. The two hostile armies met on the banks of the Glissas, and a battle ensued. The combat was obstinate and bloody; but victory declared for the Epigoni, and some of the Thebans fled to Illyrium with Leodamas their general, whilst others retired into Thebes, where they were soon afterwards besieged and forced to surrender. In this war Ægialeus was the only person of note who was killed; and in the former his father Adrastus was the only individual of this description who escaped alive. This whole war, as Pausanias observes, was written in verse; and Callinus, who quotes some of the verses, ascribes them to Homer, an opinion which has been adopted by many writers. "For my part," continues the geographer, "I own, that next to the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, I have never seen a finer poem." The Epigoniad of Wilkie is a modern poetical celebration of the same story. The descendants of the veteran Macedonians, who served under Alexander the Great, and who had children by Asiatic women, were also called Epigoni.

EPICRITIC, in Poetry, a short poem in verse, treating only of one thing, and ending with some lively, ingenious, and natural thought or point. The word is formed of ἐπιγραφή, inscription, from ἐπιγράφω, to inscribe or write upon. See POETRY.