the most eminent poet of the new comedy in Greece, was the son of Diopeltites and Hegesistraté, and belonged to the demus of Cephissia. It is generally agreed that he was born in 342 B.C., the same year in which his father commanded the Athenian forces in the Hellenopont against Philip of Macedon. He had the advantage of receiving his education from his paternal uncle, Alexis the comic poet, and Theophrastus the philosopher. An intimate friendship which he formed at an early age with Epicurus may account for much of the tone of his subsequent works. Menander's first play, entitled Opyth, was exhibited in his twenty-first year, and gained a prize. Not so successful were the majority of his later efforts. His genius scorned to stoop to the gross jesting that was so palatable to the mob; and accordingly, out of more than a hundred comedies which he composed, only eight won the palm. Yet the popular sentence was reversed by a hand of select admirers, including Ptolemy, the first Greek King of Egypt, and Demetrius Phalereus. So intimate, indeed, was he with the latter, that on the expulsion of that eminent statesman from Athens, he with difficulty escaped being put to death. Menander had an estate at Piraeus; and it is said that he was drowned while swimming in the harbour of that place in 291 B.C. The Athenians erected a tomb to his memory not far from that of Euripides. His statue was also placed in the theatre; an honour, however, which was conferred upon too many to be of much value.

Only some fragments of Menander's numerous plays remain. They were lately printed by Meineke in the fourth volume of his Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum, Svo, Berlin, 1841. They were also published, with a Latin version by Dibb, as an appendix to the Aristophanes of Didot's Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum, Svo, Paris, 1840. Many of them have been translated into English by Cumberland in the Observer.

Menander was the first that established the superiority of the new comedy over the old. Clearly perceiving that every form of the drama ought to be a representation of nature, he abolished the use of the chorus, and changed comedy from a satire upon persons into a description of manners. He subdued the boisterous mirth of the old comedy, and by introducing occasionally the deep earnestness of tragedy, rendered his incidents at once more impressive and more life-like. So exquisitely faithful, indeed, were his delineations from nature, that Aristophanes the grammarian exclaimed in quaint admiration, "O Menander! O Life! which of you two copied from the other?" The estimation in which Menander was held by the ancients is indicated by the number of his imitators. Among his countrymen, Alciphron and Lucian borrowed from him. Among the Romans the best writers of comedy were often the closest imitators of Menander. Caecilius stole from him many of the titles, and probably a great part of the substance, of his plays. Afranius is accused by Horace, in the language of allegory, of wearing a gown that once fitted Menander. So openly and extensively did Terence plagiarize from the famous Greek comic poet, that Caesar addresses him as "Dimidiate Menander." The following eulogy of Menander is given by Quintilian (x. L):—" He has delineated the picture of human life most accurately; his invention is fruitful, his eloquence powerful, his characters, passions, and manners proper and natural."

Menander was handsome in person, polished in his manners, and self-possessed in his bearing. His scrupulous attention to elegance and effect transformed him sometimes into a coxcomb. He was wont to come into his patron's presence with a mincing gait and languid air, redolent of perfumes, and clad in a nicely adjusted robe; yet the native good-humour of his countenance could not be concealed by his affectation, nor driven away by his repeated defeats at the public theatre. Meeting on one occasion his most formidable competitor, he said to him, "Pray, Philémon, do you not blush when you carry off the palm from me?" That the morality of Menander was not below that of his own age is shown by the fact that his plays were universally read, were prescribed by teachers to their pupils, and were represented at private banquets. (See the dissertation on the life of Menander affixed to Meinecke's Menandri et Philemonis Ibeliquia, Svo, Berlin, 1823.)