... Aeolic dialect, were of various kinds: some were hymns to the gods; others were of a martial or political character; others breathed an ardent love of liberty and hatred of tyrants; lastly, some were love-songs. Alcaeus was allotted the second place among the nine lyric poets in the Alexandrian canon. The considerable number of fragments extant, and the well-known imitations of Horace, who regarded Alcaeus as his great model, enable us to form a fair idea of the character of his poems. A new ... — Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia