2: ‘plaints of Simonides,’ Simonides of Ceos was a poet of the sixth century BC who wrote elegies, epigrams and dramatic pieces, esteemed for their elegance and endearing nature. He became a byword in antiquity synonymous with comfort and tenderness in grief. Quintilian wrote of Simonides' poetry, "That his chief merit is the power to excite pity" (X 1). During a personal emotional crisis, Catullus requests of his hitherto neglectful friend Cornificius: "Send me some small scrap of comfort, sadder then Simonidean tears" (XXXVIII 7-8). Cf. Horace, Odes II. i.38; Plutarch, Consolation to Apollodorus 107B.