2. Of Alexandria, was born, as he informs us (Ep. 8), on the banks of
the Nile, whence he went to Rome (Ep. 27), and there taught grammar for a
long time without attracting any notice, but ultimately he became very popular, and obtained
the patronage of the imperial family. Leonidas' epigrams show that he flourished under Nero,
and probably down to the reign of Vespasian.
In the Greek Anthology, forty-three epigrams are ascribed to him, but some of these belong to Leonidas of Tarentum.
The epigrams of Leonidas of Alexandria are of a very low order of merit. Several of them
are distinguished by the petty conceit of having an equal number of letters in each
distich; these are called
Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. xiii. pp. 908-909; Meineke, Prolusio ad utriusque Leonidae Carmina, Lips. 1791; Fabric. Bibl.
Graec. vol. iv. pp. 479-480.