Sweet in summer a draught of snow to him who thirsts,
and sweet for sailors after winter's storms to feel the Zephyr of the spring.
But sweeter still when one cloak doth cover two lovers and
Cypris (Aphrodite) hath honour from both

Asclepiades of Samos (Ασκληπιάδης) was an epigrammatist and lyric poet, as well as a friend Theocritus, who flourished about 270 BC. He was the earliest and most important of the convivial and erotic epigramists. Only a few of his compositions are actual inscriptions; others sing the praises of the poets whom he specially admired, but the majority of them are love-songs. It is doubtful whether he is the author of all the epigrams (some 40 iii number) which bear his name in the Greek Anthology. He possibly gave his name to the Asclepiadean metre.

Timeline related to Ancient Greek Literature