Eclogue V parallels

Since Konnor has already compiled notes from Williams, I will compile the notes of Clausen (in addition to my own observations).

Themes/Characters/Imagery from previous eclogues:

The very idea of a singing competition recalls Eclogue 3.

Calamos, line 2: This noun appears in Eclogue 1.10; 2.32 and 2.34; and 3.13

Daphnis, the subject of most of this eclogue, has appeared in both Eclogue 2 and Eclogue 3.

The cave laced with wild ivy recalls the cups of Eclogue wreathed with ivy at the lip.

Lines 60-61 (the inversions of natural order) recall the Golden Age discussed in Eclogue 4.

Lines 86-87 partially quote the first lines of Eclogues 2 and 3 (the “identifying” lines).

Cicuta, line 85: hemlock appears in Eclogue 2.36

For more specific vocabulary comparisons, check out the “max” hyperlink on each Lewis & Short entry online to see other places the word is used in the corpus.

Adaptations from Theocritus Idyll I:

Virgil reworks the idea of a sing-off lamenting the death of Daphnis and taking account of nature’s grief. Specifically:

Compare Ec. 5.5-6 with Id. 1.12-14 – the appropriate place for making music is under a beech tree.

Compare Ec. 5.27 with Id. 1. 71-72 – In both passages lions mourn the death of Daphnis.

Compare Ec. 5.43-44 with Id. 1.120-121 – Both two-line epitaphs of Daphnis, specifically mentioning Daphnis as the guardian of a flock.

Compare Ec. 5.45-47 with Id. 1.7-8 – Images of song being sweeter than fresh spring-water.

Ec. 5.36-39 – an interesting twist on the inverted plant life in Idyll 1.132-137. In Eclogue 5 the prickly and undesirable plants are growing in place of the good crops, but in Idyll 1 flowers and fruit grow on weeds.