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Idylls
A key figure in the development of Western literature, the Greek poet Theocritus of Syracuse, was the inventor of "bucolic" or pastoral poetry in the first half of the third century BC. These vignettes of country life, which center on competitions of song and love are the foundational poems of
the western pastoral tradition. They were the principal model for Virgil in the Eclogues and their influence can be seen in the work of Petrarch and Milton. Although it is the pastoral poems for which he is chiefly famous, Theocritus also wrote hymns to the gods, brilliant mime depictions of
everyday life, short narrative epics, epigrams, and encomia of the powerful. The great variety of his poems illustrates the rich and flourishing poetic culture of what was a golden age of Greek poetry.
Based on the original Greek text, this accurate and fluent translation is the only edition of the complete Idylls currently in print. It includes an accessible introduction by Richard Hunter that describes what is known of Theocritus, the poetic tradition and Theocritus' innovations and what
exactly is meant by "bucolic" poetry.
the western pastoral tradition. They were the principal model for Virgil in the Eclogues and their influence can be seen in the work of Petrarch and Milton. Although it is the pastoral poems for which he is chiefly famous, Theocritus also wrote hymns to the gods, brilliant mime depictions of
everyday life, short narrative epics, epigrams, and encomia of the powerful. The great variety of his poems illustrates the rich and flourishing poetic culture of what was a golden age of Greek poetry.
Based on the original Greek text, this accurate and fluent translation is the only edition of the complete Idylls currently in print. It includes an accessible introduction by Richard Hunter that describes what is known of Theocritus, the poetic tradition and Theocritus' innovations and what
exactly is meant by "bucolic" poetry.
172 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 271
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About the author
Theocritus
422books56followersTheocritus (Greek: Θεόκριτος; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
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February 27, 2023hadu ti to psithurisma, kai ha pitus, aipole, tena....
Some authors in Greek hold up incredibly well in translation. Homer and the tragedians come to mind. You lose a lot of what the poetry is about, of course, but the powerful essence of the content usually manages to survive in the more skillful translation. Not so, I think, with Theocritus.
Theocritus in English is like going for a swim -- with a three piece suit and expensive shoes. He is one of those poets whose exquisite sound patterns and syntactical structures defy translation. Just about everything that he is doing in Greek is lost in an attempt to convey it in English. Oh yes, you will get the idea of what he wrote about when you read a translation, rather in the way that you can get an idea of what a Ferrari looks like from a picture of it. But that is not the same as sitting in the driver's seat and driving one very fast.
Theocritus is fascinating in the way that his poetry is one thing at first appearance -- shepherds piping under the shade of a pine tree, as a cool brook flows past and bees murmur nearby -- and yet another thing altogether when you look below the surface. Urban v. rural; rich v. poor; rustic v. sophisticated; simple v. complex; artificial v. real: all of these polarities are explored in often subtle and mysterious ways throughout his corpus. He wrote after the Greek city states had lost their political vitality; his poetry thus reflects wholly different concerns from the works of the great tragedians or Pindar, the choral poet. His poetry is strikingly modern in that it was written in an age where poetry had ceased altogether to have the fundamentally public function it once enjoyed.
From a language point of view, again, translations cannot convey what he is doing in redefining the established contours of the Homeric hexameter or employing the Doric dialect. Much of his complex artistry derives from the manner in which he has come up with something seemingly new while drawing at the same time on ancient language and poetic expressions that go all the way back through Attic tragedy to Homeric epic.
All this having been said, this translation is as good as it gets.
Some authors in Greek hold up incredibly well in translation. Homer and the tragedians come to mind. You lose a lot of what the poetry is about, of course, but the powerful essence of the content usually manages to survive in the more skillful translation. Not so, I think, with Theocritus.
Theocritus in English is like going for a swim -- with a three piece suit and expensive shoes. He is one of those poets whose exquisite sound patterns and syntactical structures defy translation. Just about everything that he is doing in Greek is lost in an attempt to convey it in English. Oh yes, you will get the idea of what he wrote about when you read a translation, rather in the way that you can get an idea of what a Ferrari looks like from a picture of it. But that is not the same as sitting in the driver's seat and driving one very fast.
Theocritus is fascinating in the way that his poetry is one thing at first appearance -- shepherds piping under the shade of a pine tree, as a cool brook flows past and bees murmur nearby -- and yet another thing altogether when you look below the surface. Urban v. rural; rich v. poor; rustic v. sophisticated; simple v. complex; artificial v. real: all of these polarities are explored in often subtle and mysterious ways throughout his corpus. He wrote after the Greek city states had lost their political vitality; his poetry thus reflects wholly different concerns from the works of the great tragedians or Pindar, the choral poet. His poetry is strikingly modern in that it was written in an age where poetry had ceased altogether to have the fundamentally public function it once enjoyed.
From a language point of view, again, translations cannot convey what he is doing in redefining the established contours of the Homeric hexameter or employing the Doric dialect. Much of his complex artistry derives from the manner in which he has come up with something seemingly new while drawing at the same time on ancient language and poetic expressions that go all the way back through Attic tragedy to Homeric epic.
All this having been said, this translation is as good as it gets.
June 12, 2022
The reason I sought Theocritus' Idylls was that I wanted to find that mythical verdant grove which grows within the imagination of many, where meadows bloom profusely, fields bow beneath the heft of golden corn and rivers & rills babble around myrtled fanes of Pan. I had previously been looking for this Arcadia from Virgil, and it worked to a certain extent, even though the poet's goal was far from this. I am still looking, for Theocritus entered this realm only on occasion.
The Idylls differ from my phantasmic destination in that they are both ripe with humour and blowing in biodiversity (especially since all of them are not written by the same author). The descriptions of the surroundings can be very refreshing in their controlled simplicity, and the materialistic bragging of shepherds does evoke pictures of rustic bliss. However, the characters are not serene guardians of the forest, but they are juvenile, sex-hungry and even cantankerous at times—and this adds to the risibility of the work. It does come as a surprise that, in the sun-mottled greensward, beneath the cooling shades of acacias and cypresses, two sons of the soil trade barbs over how goat-like the other screamed upon being done from behind.
And by Jove there is diversity herein. We have bucolic readings of poetry, magical incantations, unassuming serenades, shepherdic braggadocio, homoerotic scenery pieces, festive speeches, cyclopic monologues, minimyths and -epics, idle chatter, blatant attempts at worming into the palaces of the mighty, crystal epithalamia, seductive to-and-fro, Dionysian madness and whatnot. As a collection, the work may stand a bit ill at ease due to the great variety, but the individual poems do proffer plenty of aesthetic joy from the ancient world. And occasionally from my Arcadia.
The Idylls differ from my phantasmic destination in that they are both ripe with humour and blowing in biodiversity (especially since all of them are not written by the same author). The descriptions of the surroundings can be very refreshing in their controlled simplicity, and the materialistic bragging of shepherds does evoke pictures of rustic bliss. However, the characters are not serene guardians of the forest, but they are juvenile, sex-hungry and even cantankerous at times—and this adds to the risibility of the work. It does come as a surprise that, in the sun-mottled greensward, beneath the cooling shades of acacias and cypresses, two sons of the soil trade barbs over how goat-like the other screamed upon being done from behind.
And by Jove there is diversity herein. We have bucolic readings of poetry, magical incantations, unassuming serenades, shepherdic braggadocio, homoerotic scenery pieces, festive speeches, cyclopic monologues, minimyths and -epics, idle chatter, blatant attempts at worming into the palaces of the mighty, crystal epithalamia, seductive to-and-fro, Dionysian madness and whatnot. As a collection, the work may stand a bit ill at ease due to the great variety, but the individual poems do proffer plenty of aesthetic joy from the ancient world. And occasionally from my Arcadia.
August 4, 2022
I'm at work, but I finished this on the train in, and it's got me hyped for my Hellenistic lit module, so... Yes.
April 16, 2018
Up to this point in reading ancient Greek poetry, I’ve encountered verse that has struck me as interesting and beautiful, but the idylls of Theocritus are the first that I can say I’ve truly loved. These are lusty songs of life, desire, love, and loss. Anthony Verity’s translations are so vibrant that I felt at times as if I were reading slices of real life, even when the topics included mythical gods or ancient folk tales. I think what draws me to Theocritus more than other Greek poets is his bucolic poetry -- the focus on salt-of-the-earth goatherds, shepherds, laborers, and common men and women. These are not (for the most part) celebrating epic warriors or goddess-like women. As a scholar of American literature, I am reminded of everything from Whitman to William Carlos Williams to the short fiction of regional writers.
And I think that’s the other reason I enjoy these poems: they have the narrative thrust of fiction. (In fact, one of the books on my library reading list is Mark Payne’s , which explores these connections.) Even when Theocritus moves to more mythic topics in his later idylls, he gives us brief, powerful vignettes that again have the feel of short stories: Heracles killing snakes as a baby, the fight between Polydeuces and Amycus from the Argonautica, etc. For me, this pastoral verse is the epitome of Greek poetry and, more so than even the lyrical poets, the model of so much Western poetry to come.
And I think that’s the other reason I enjoy these poems: they have the narrative thrust of fiction. (In fact, one of the books on my library reading list is Mark Payne’s , which explores these connections.) Even when Theocritus moves to more mythic topics in his later idylls, he gives us brief, powerful vignettes that again have the feel of short stories: Heracles killing snakes as a baby, the fight between Polydeuces and Amycus from the Argonautica, etc. For me, this pastoral verse is the epitome of Greek poetry and, more so than even the lyrical poets, the model of so much Western poetry to come.
June 26, 2018
Come for the famous pastorals, stay for the poem of a girl performing witchcraft to gain back the affections of her lover.
January 31, 2018
Poetry is really not for me, but I'm glad a sampled Ancient Greek poetry anyway ;) I liked how different themes were touched throughout the 30 'idylls' in this book.
August 14, 2024
Pastoral. Celebrates ordinary lives and loves. Gently rebuts the idealization of male rage in heroic epic.
February 23, 2022
The bucolics are the most characteristic and influential of Theocritus’s works. They introduced the pastoral setting in which shepherds wooed nymphs and shepherdesses and held singing contests with their rivals. They were the sources of Virgil’s Eclogues and much of the poetry and drama of the Renaissance and were the ancestors of the famous English pastoral elegies, John Milton’s “Lycidas,� Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Adonais,� and Matthew Arnold’s “Thyrsis.� Among the best known of his idylls are Thyrsis (Idyll 1), a lament for Daphnis, the original shepherd poet, who died of unrequited love; Cyclops, a humorous depiction of ugly Polyphemus vainly wooing the sea nymph Galatea; and Thalysia (“Harvest Home,� Idyll 7), describing a festival on the island of Cos. In this the poet speaks in the first person and introduces contemporary friends and rivals in the guise of rustics.
May 25, 2019
Still, Arab and Persian poetry kicks more ass
January 31, 2024
So much gay poetry! Sappho and Theocritus are the ultimate power duo.
April 14, 2019
I really enjoyed this. I could have lived without the encomia dedicated to Ptolemy and the Dioscuri, perhaps, but the early singing contests and the Cyclops� serenade and the chatty exchange of the women at the festival and the idyll of the sorceress and the last two passionate poems addressed to anonymous young lovers by the poet in old age were beyond wonderful. Especially the delicacy of the details, the scent of rennet, the type of gauzy garments the little distaff makes possible, the names of places and plants particularly. I kind of liked the Idylls better than Virgil’s Eclogues, in fact. I need to go back and compare.
September 5, 2020
Idyll 1
�"You would win the second prize to Pan�"
�"a woman resplendent in a dress and circlet.
She stands between two men with fine long hair, who compete
In alternating song, but do not touch her heart."
Perennial beauty of woman's prerogative, suitors' assays.
"…everyone knows you cannot
Take your song to Hades, place of oblivion, and save it there."
What a beautiful line! Now is the time for song, now the time for feats of poets, now for the psalmist to praise. Don't leave hymnody in a ghetto, or bend obsequiously to scientism and rationalism's music-less soul. This admonition is a carpe diem, a wise admonition to anyone who would craft song.
If hell is where there is only justice, not mercy, why do we give poetry mere hell, no leisure and grace to callowly learn elegance? Doesn’t praise spring from the kiss of justice and mercy, hesed and mishpat? Prior and perenially, poetry reaches its limits at the approach to the Light that gives light. Now it seems to perish at a doorstep from which the light of screens emanates.
"Love is surely cruel to you, helpless man."
In the grip of eros, referent for a perennial mystery. Wonderous forge of new worlds. Guileless, hapless, callow youths move to majestic plans beyond their reckoning. Mystery's exterminators rationalize a brutal control, a lethal, bombastic political elision that consciences can't catch up with.
"See how Love now drags me off to Hades."
Another perennial cry. You may berate love in your affectation but "what a man desires is unfailing love; better to be a fool than a liar."
"To live is still to hope- it's only the dead who despair." (I. 4)
"What a tiny wound, and what a mighty man it has tamed." (I. 4)
"A pig once challenged Athena, they say." (I. 5)
"…s
Flees if a lover pursues her, and pursues him
If he flees�
In love, you see, Polyphemous, foul often appears as fair." (I. 6)
"The singer who comes from Chios" is used to refer to Homer.
This appears to be a prophecy of COVID-19 written in the late 280s BC by the father of bucolic poetry, Theocritus, especially when one is in a more claustrophobic and militantly reactionary mood:
"He will sing how once the goatherd was shut up alive
In a wide chest, through a king's high-handed arrogance;
In his fragrant cedar chest he was fed by snub-nosed bees,
Who came from the meadows to bring him tender flowers,
Because the Muse had poured sweet nectar over his mouth�"
(Idyll 7, Lines 78-82)
Unfortunately, then the murder hornets arrived. But neither COVID-19, nor tyrants, nor murder wasps shall separate us from the love of Christ, from the Good from which all good comes.
�"You would win the second prize to Pan�"
�"a woman resplendent in a dress and circlet.
She stands between two men with fine long hair, who compete
In alternating song, but do not touch her heart."
Perennial beauty of woman's prerogative, suitors' assays.
"…everyone knows you cannot
Take your song to Hades, place of oblivion, and save it there."
What a beautiful line! Now is the time for song, now the time for feats of poets, now for the psalmist to praise. Don't leave hymnody in a ghetto, or bend obsequiously to scientism and rationalism's music-less soul. This admonition is a carpe diem, a wise admonition to anyone who would craft song.
If hell is where there is only justice, not mercy, why do we give poetry mere hell, no leisure and grace to callowly learn elegance? Doesn’t praise spring from the kiss of justice and mercy, hesed and mishpat? Prior and perenially, poetry reaches its limits at the approach to the Light that gives light. Now it seems to perish at a doorstep from which the light of screens emanates.
"Love is surely cruel to you, helpless man."
In the grip of eros, referent for a perennial mystery. Wonderous forge of new worlds. Guileless, hapless, callow youths move to majestic plans beyond their reckoning. Mystery's exterminators rationalize a brutal control, a lethal, bombastic political elision that consciences can't catch up with.
"See how Love now drags me off to Hades."
Another perennial cry. You may berate love in your affectation but "what a man desires is unfailing love; better to be a fool than a liar."
"To live is still to hope- it's only the dead who despair." (I. 4)
"What a tiny wound, and what a mighty man it has tamed." (I. 4)
"A pig once challenged Athena, they say." (I. 5)
"…s
Flees if a lover pursues her, and pursues him
If he flees�
In love, you see, Polyphemous, foul often appears as fair." (I. 6)
"The singer who comes from Chios" is used to refer to Homer.
This appears to be a prophecy of COVID-19 written in the late 280s BC by the father of bucolic poetry, Theocritus, especially when one is in a more claustrophobic and militantly reactionary mood:
"He will sing how once the goatherd was shut up alive
In a wide chest, through a king's high-handed arrogance;
In his fragrant cedar chest he was fed by snub-nosed bees,
Who came from the meadows to bring him tender flowers,
Because the Muse had poured sweet nectar over his mouth�"
(Idyll 7, Lines 78-82)
Unfortunately, then the murder hornets arrived. But neither COVID-19, nor tyrants, nor murder wasps shall separate us from the love of Christ, from the Good from which all good comes.
September 12, 2022
Theocritus was a Greek poet of the 3rd century BC. From Syracuse in Sicily. He is best known - if you know him at all' as the 'inventor' of bucolic poetry. This collection of 31 short poems demonstrate the themes and style of his work. This edition was translated by Anthony Verity and has an introduction and notes* by Richard Hunter.
As the introduction points out though there is a variation within Theocritus' work. Yes, there is a format that revolve around song competitions - more like rap battles than actually competitions - between herdsman. These can be refreshing rude.
There are also though hymns, mimes, short re-tellings of parts of larger myths - Heracles, and some praise for the powerful. Some of it reads like plays. I wasn't quite sure how much of this material would have been set to music. The introduction implies that by the time Theocritus was writing poetry had moved away from being set to music and more to simply recitations and private reading. Obviously I can't tell you how accurate that is.
There is a lot of humour in some of the poems as well as the depictions of nature and rural life that one would expect from pastoral poetry.
As usual with Ancient Greece though we know less than we would like and the introduction does an excellent job of contextualising what you are reading. The notes are useful too, although a tad repetitive on occasion.
The poetry is interesting to read. I don't think Theocritus will be one of my favourite poets. Although I recommend Idyll 5 - Goatherd and Shepherd - for its comedy as well as poetry. It's how to diss people with poetry. There's even a bit on why the patch of ground I'm standing on is better than the patch of ground you're standing on. It also includes a brief back and forth which includes a joke about penis size.
There are a couple of love poems from older men about younger boys, which is an Ancient Greek thing, but to the modern ear they're a strange read.
There poetry is cut through with the required need to praise ones rulers for patronage, but considering what I'm reading and hearing after the death of Queen Elizabeth II that hasn't gone away. I feel sorry for Simon Armitage who must be beavering away as Poet Laureate for suitable words to mark her passing.
Worth reading for its influence as the source - if not the originator - of bucolic poetry and an influence on Virgil and Milton to name but two.
*A quick personal rant. I hate endnotes with poetry. The distraction of flicking back and forth between them really breaks up the reading experience. I'm prepared to accept that this might just be me.
As the introduction points out though there is a variation within Theocritus' work. Yes, there is a format that revolve around song competitions - more like rap battles than actually competitions - between herdsman. These can be refreshing rude.
There are also though hymns, mimes, short re-tellings of parts of larger myths - Heracles, and some praise for the powerful. Some of it reads like plays. I wasn't quite sure how much of this material would have been set to music. The introduction implies that by the time Theocritus was writing poetry had moved away from being set to music and more to simply recitations and private reading. Obviously I can't tell you how accurate that is.
There is a lot of humour in some of the poems as well as the depictions of nature and rural life that one would expect from pastoral poetry.
As usual with Ancient Greece though we know less than we would like and the introduction does an excellent job of contextualising what you are reading. The notes are useful too, although a tad repetitive on occasion.
The poetry is interesting to read. I don't think Theocritus will be one of my favourite poets. Although I recommend Idyll 5 - Goatherd and Shepherd - for its comedy as well as poetry. It's how to diss people with poetry. There's even a bit on why the patch of ground I'm standing on is better than the patch of ground you're standing on. It also includes a brief back and forth which includes a joke about penis size.
There are a couple of love poems from older men about younger boys, which is an Ancient Greek thing, but to the modern ear they're a strange read.
There poetry is cut through with the required need to praise ones rulers for patronage, but considering what I'm reading and hearing after the death of Queen Elizabeth II that hasn't gone away. I feel sorry for Simon Armitage who must be beavering away as Poet Laureate for suitable words to mark her passing.
Worth reading for its influence as the source - if not the originator - of bucolic poetry and an influence on Virgil and Milton to name but two.
*A quick personal rant. I hate endnotes with poetry. The distraction of flicking back and forth between them really breaks up the reading experience. I'm prepared to accept that this might just be me.
November 7, 2019
"Sitten Damoitas suuteli Dafnista ja antoi tälle syrinksinsä. Vastalahjaksi hän sai Dafniksen hienon huilun. Niin alkoi Damoitas soittaa huilua ja lehmipaimen Dafnis puhalsi syrinksiin ja hiehot tanssivat nuoressa heinässä. Eivätkä he voittaneet kumpikaan, vaan olivat taidossa tasavertaiset." (Paimenpojat I)
Paimenidylliä, mytologiaa, homoerotiikkaa ja rakkautta ilman vastakaikua.
lempparit:
2. Taiantekijät: Kaupunkimiljööhön sijoitettu miimi, joka kuvaa nuoren naisen (mahd hetairan) yrityksiä voittaa magian voimin takaisin haluamansa miehen kiinnostus.
6. Paimenpojat I: Kahden nuoren paimenpojan vuorolaulu Polyfemos-kykloopista.
10. Elonleikkaajat: Maalaismiljööhön sijoitettu runo elonkorjuusta. Henkilöinä kaksi maamiestä: toinen paimenrunoista tuttu naiivi, rakastunut, vähän sentimentaalinen maalaispoika, toinen arkisessa karuudessaan yksi Theokritoksen realistisimmin luonnehdituista henkilöhahmoista.
13. Hylas: Koskettava kuvaus siitä, miten Herkules menettää Hylaksen, rakastamansa nuoren pojan, jonka lähteen nymfit hukuttavat.
15. Syrakuusattaret: Kaksi syrakuusalaissyntyistä keskiluokkaisrouvaa matkaavat Aleksandrian Adonisjuhlaan.
Paimenidylliä, mytologiaa, homoerotiikkaa ja rakkautta ilman vastakaikua.
lempparit:
2. Taiantekijät: Kaupunkimiljööhön sijoitettu miimi, joka kuvaa nuoren naisen (mahd hetairan) yrityksiä voittaa magian voimin takaisin haluamansa miehen kiinnostus.
6. Paimenpojat I: Kahden nuoren paimenpojan vuorolaulu Polyfemos-kykloopista.
10. Elonleikkaajat: Maalaismiljööhön sijoitettu runo elonkorjuusta. Henkilöinä kaksi maamiestä: toinen paimenrunoista tuttu naiivi, rakastunut, vähän sentimentaalinen maalaispoika, toinen arkisessa karuudessaan yksi Theokritoksen realistisimmin luonnehdituista henkilöhahmoista.
13. Hylas: Koskettava kuvaus siitä, miten Herkules menettää Hylaksen, rakastamansa nuoren pojan, jonka lähteen nymfit hukuttavat.
15. Syrakuusattaret: Kaksi syrakuusalaissyntyistä keskiluokkaisrouvaa matkaavat Aleksandrian Adonisjuhlaan.
January 3, 2025
One of my favourite ancient texts (particularly Idylls 2, 15, & 18). Theocritus writes beautifully about mythology, artistic and physical excellence, reverence for Ptolemy I and II, Syracuse, and the pains of love. The translator has made this text very accessible and melodic, a true act of skill!
I highly recommend this to all - it is short, precise, worded clearly, and is quite enjoyable.
I highly recommend this to all - it is short, precise, worded clearly, and is quite enjoyable.
December 21, 2023
Ths is the Geek precursor to Vigil's Eclogues.
But these are not just pastoral poems there is a lot more variety to this book.
Howevr like in Vigil many of the peoms deal with unrequited love and have a poetry / singing competition within them.
But these are not just pastoral poems there is a lot more variety to this book.
Howevr like in Vigil many of the peoms deal with unrequited love and have a poetry / singing competition within them.
December 27, 2017
3.5/5
highlights: idylls 1, 7, 13 and 16, and epigram 4
highlights: idylls 1, 7, 13 and 16, and epigram 4
March 24, 2019
I enjoyed these idylls more than I thought I would. They were surprisingly funny and relatable, though written in the 3rd century BC. I will certainly come back to read these again someday.
March 13, 2020
Moved to the countryside because of this book: 0/10, entirely misleading.
April 9, 2020
For as long as I put this off for class you'd think I'd really hate it, but it was actually very interesting. It was also a lot gayer than I originally expected, so thats always nice.
Shelved as 'read-in-part'
April 26, 2021Read I, VI, VII, and XI for Roman Roads.
October 29, 2021
I recommend reading each poem twice, one for comprehension, the second to appreciate the imagery it evokes
March 11, 2022
Charming and pastoral; the 23 Idylls are all over the place in terms of topic and voice.
Really enjoyed the two on Polyphemus (the Cyclops).
Really enjoyed the two on Polyphemus (the Cyclops).
April 24, 2022
4.5 stars
June 12, 2022
This is a collection of ancient Greek pastoral poetry. I enjoyed most of the poems but idyll 11 was my favorite.
Read
December 3, 2022My study of "The Role of Rhetoric in Theocritus' Idyll V" is posted on my blog at .
August 15, 2023
Beautiful poetry however I feel as if some of the beauty has been lost in translation.
March 30, 2024
A very useful introduction and notes for someone who knows nothing about this (me). But I can't help but be bored by some bucolic. Zzzzz
Read
July 31, 2024fine idylls overall
May 15, 2016
Theocritus� Idylls--summaries of individual poems
1-A goatherd asks Thyrsis to sing him a song; in return, the former promises to give the latter an elaborately decorated drinking vessel (ekphrastically descibed). Thyrsis sings a tearful tale of Daphnis the cowheard’s unrequited “bitter love.� Venus mocks Daphnis; Daphnis tells Venus to take a hike and then drowns, possibly of his own volition.
2-The first “mime.� Simaetha, a city-dwelling spurned-lover-turned-sorceress, tells the story of how she fell in love with Delphis, a gorgeous wrestler who spends most of his time at the gymnasium: how she saw him walking by one day at a parade and nearly fainted with lust; how she ordered her slave-girl, Thestylis, to invite him to her house; made love to him on their first meeting; and was later deserted by him for another woman. Determined to avenge herself on his alleged treachery, she mixes a magic potion that will “draw her lover home to [her]� again.
3-a drunken goatherd serenades his lover from outside her “cave.� He seems to be trying to coax her into forgiving him for some fault he’d previously commited.
4-idle shepherd’s conversation.
5-A goatherd (Comatas) and a shepherd (the younger Lacon) battle it out in a kind of insult match, seeing who can come up with the sharpest insults. They recruit Morson the woodsman as a judge and referee, and after bandying back-and-forth the Ancient-Greek equivalent of increasingly belligerent yo�-mamma jokes, Morson awards Comatas the prize: a fat lamb.
6-Daphnis and Aratus sing contrasting versions of Polyphemus� love for the nereid Galatea. Daphnis depicts him as a lovelorn moaner; Aratus, as as a mischievous tease.
7-Simichidas meets a celebrated singer, Lycidas, on his way to a festival and invites him to compete with him. They each sing a song, and then Simichidas heads over to the festival.
10-Stricken with unrequited love and unable to focus on his work, Bucaeus can’t stop thinking of the “Beautiful Bombyca.� Milon, the chief shepherd asks Bucaeus to take a break and sing him a song about his love, which Bucaeus then proceeds to do.
11-Here we have another unrequited lover: Polyphemous, who’s extremely distraught about Galatea’s indifference to him. He begs her to join him on land and grieves over the fact that he can’t swim down to her in the sea.
12-A pederastic love song from an older shepherd to a younger one.
13-The story of how Hercules lost his beloved squire.
14-The second mime. Here we have yet another unrequited lover (a major theme, apparently, of the Theocritean Idyll). Aeschinas has recently discovered that his beloved, Cynisca, is seeing another man, Wolf, and he’s pissed. He slaps her at a gathering, after she confesses in front of him. Now he’s trying to get over her but having a very hard time.
15-The third and mime in the collection. Gorgo and Praxinoa meet up and head to the palace for a festival being held in honor of Adonis.
16-An encomium to Hieron II.
17-Encomium to Ptolemy.
18-A model example of the ancient Greek epithalamion; this one’s dedicated to Helen of Sparta on the night of her wedding to Menelaus.
22-The “Dioscuri� relates two stories of the twin brothers, Castor and Polydeuces�, valiant character and legendary strength. In the first song, the poet sings of how Castor defeated a rude giant on a remote island; in the second story, the poet sings of how Polydeuces fended off two men who unlawfully stole the fiancées of two other men.
24-This idyll relates the story of Hercules� childhood: how he clenched two malevolent god-sent snakes in his fists and grew up to be the strongest man in town. Tiresias offers a prophesy of his future: how he will complete the labours, etc.
26-A wonderful supplement to Euripides� The Bacchae. This poem relates the murder of Pentheus by the Dionysian revelers; he’s murdered for spying on the rights from a treetop.
29-An old man sings of his love for a young boy, although he’s saddened that the boy is beginning to neglect him.
30-Another pederastic poem... this one more morbid. The boy’s elderly lover counsels him not to grow too arrogant and grieves over the fact that he’s nowhere near as important to his beloved than as his beloved is to him. Another poem about unrequited love.
1-A goatherd asks Thyrsis to sing him a song; in return, the former promises to give the latter an elaborately decorated drinking vessel (ekphrastically descibed). Thyrsis sings a tearful tale of Daphnis the cowheard’s unrequited “bitter love.� Venus mocks Daphnis; Daphnis tells Venus to take a hike and then drowns, possibly of his own volition.
2-The first “mime.� Simaetha, a city-dwelling spurned-lover-turned-sorceress, tells the story of how she fell in love with Delphis, a gorgeous wrestler who spends most of his time at the gymnasium: how she saw him walking by one day at a parade and nearly fainted with lust; how she ordered her slave-girl, Thestylis, to invite him to her house; made love to him on their first meeting; and was later deserted by him for another woman. Determined to avenge herself on his alleged treachery, she mixes a magic potion that will “draw her lover home to [her]� again.
3-a drunken goatherd serenades his lover from outside her “cave.� He seems to be trying to coax her into forgiving him for some fault he’d previously commited.
4-idle shepherd’s conversation.
5-A goatherd (Comatas) and a shepherd (the younger Lacon) battle it out in a kind of insult match, seeing who can come up with the sharpest insults. They recruit Morson the woodsman as a judge and referee, and after bandying back-and-forth the Ancient-Greek equivalent of increasingly belligerent yo�-mamma jokes, Morson awards Comatas the prize: a fat lamb.
6-Daphnis and Aratus sing contrasting versions of Polyphemus� love for the nereid Galatea. Daphnis depicts him as a lovelorn moaner; Aratus, as as a mischievous tease.
7-Simichidas meets a celebrated singer, Lycidas, on his way to a festival and invites him to compete with him. They each sing a song, and then Simichidas heads over to the festival.
10-Stricken with unrequited love and unable to focus on his work, Bucaeus can’t stop thinking of the “Beautiful Bombyca.� Milon, the chief shepherd asks Bucaeus to take a break and sing him a song about his love, which Bucaeus then proceeds to do.
11-Here we have another unrequited lover: Polyphemous, who’s extremely distraught about Galatea’s indifference to him. He begs her to join him on land and grieves over the fact that he can’t swim down to her in the sea.
12-A pederastic love song from an older shepherd to a younger one.
13-The story of how Hercules lost his beloved squire.
14-The second mime. Here we have yet another unrequited lover (a major theme, apparently, of the Theocritean Idyll). Aeschinas has recently discovered that his beloved, Cynisca, is seeing another man, Wolf, and he’s pissed. He slaps her at a gathering, after she confesses in front of him. Now he’s trying to get over her but having a very hard time.
15-The third and mime in the collection. Gorgo and Praxinoa meet up and head to the palace for a festival being held in honor of Adonis.
16-An encomium to Hieron II.
17-Encomium to Ptolemy.
18-A model example of the ancient Greek epithalamion; this one’s dedicated to Helen of Sparta on the night of her wedding to Menelaus.
22-The “Dioscuri� relates two stories of the twin brothers, Castor and Polydeuces�, valiant character and legendary strength. In the first song, the poet sings of how Castor defeated a rude giant on a remote island; in the second story, the poet sings of how Polydeuces fended off two men who unlawfully stole the fiancées of two other men.
24-This idyll relates the story of Hercules� childhood: how he clenched two malevolent god-sent snakes in his fists and grew up to be the strongest man in town. Tiresias offers a prophesy of his future: how he will complete the labours, etc.
26-A wonderful supplement to Euripides� The Bacchae. This poem relates the murder of Pentheus by the Dionysian revelers; he’s murdered for spying on the rights from a treetop.
29-An old man sings of his love for a young boy, although he’s saddened that the boy is beginning to neglect him.
30-Another pederastic poem... this one more morbid. The boy’s elderly lover counsels him not to grow too arrogant and grieves over the fact that he’s nowhere near as important to his beloved than as his beloved is to him. Another poem about unrequited love.
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