IBYCUS

A Greek lyric poet of Rhegium in Lower Italy, about 530 B.C. Like Anacreon, he led a wandering life, and spent much of his time at the court of Polycrates of Samos. According to his epitaph, he died in his native town; according to the legend made familiar by Schiller's poem, he was slain on a journey to Corinth, and his murderers were discovered by a flock of cranes. His poems, which were collected into seven books, survive in scanty fragments only. They dealt partly with mythological themes in the metres of Stesichorus and partly with love-songs in the spirit of Eolic lyric poetry, full of glowing passion and sensibility. It was mainly to the latter that he owed his fame.