Monday, September 9, 2013

Theocritean Parallels in Eclogue III

Theocritean Parallels; Eclogue III

Idyll 1
     Date: Early 3rd c. BCE
     Genre: Bucolic (pastoral poetry)
     Setting and Characters: A shepherd, Thysis, and a goatherd meet in a Sicilain pasture one afternoon. The goatherd persuades Thysis to sing a ballad (the Affliction of Daphnis) for a goblet. Thysis ends his speech by giving his pipe to Pan and receives the cup from the goatherd. *
     Cf. l. 29-30 (Eclogue III)
 In Idyll I.25-26, a goat who has two kids and can yet fill two pails of milk is wagered
     Cf. l. 38-39
 In Idyll 1.29-31, clusters of yellow fruit on winding ivy on the goblet
     Cf. l. 43
 In Idyll 1. 59-60, Aipolos says the goblet has not yet touched his lips, but lies unsullied

Idyll 3
     Date: Early 3rd c. BCE
     Genre: Bucolic (pastoral poetry)  
     Setting and Characters: This poem is a monologue of a goatherd. He dedicates his song to Tityrus, and sings to his love Amaryllis. His gifts (apples, a garland, and a goat) and love-song are all rejected, and the poem ends in a lament
     Cf. l. 20
 In Idyll 3. 1-5, a goatherd entrusts his goats to Tityrus
     Cf. l. 68-71
In Idyll 3.10-11, the goatherd offers a present of ten apples


Idyll 4
     Date: Early 3rd c. BCE
     Genre: Bucolic (pastoral poetry)  
     Setting and Characters: Near Crotona in Southern Italy, goatherds Battus and Corydon converse while Corydon watches Aegon’s oxen. Enjoying his elevated position, Corydon teases Battus for losing the favor of Amaryllis to Milon.
     Cf. l. 1-2
                        In Idyll 4.1-2, Battus asks whose cows are present; if they are Philondas’s. Corydon responds that they are Aegon’s, and they are to graze under his watch
     Cf. l. 3
 In Idyll 4.13 the sheep are pitied for their poor herdsman
     Cf. l. 5
 In Idyll 4.3, Battus suggests that Corydon milks his sheep secretly in the evening


Idyll 5
     Date: Early 3rd c. BCE
     Genre: Bucolic (pastoral poetry)  
     Setting and Characters: This takes place in the wooded pastures by the mouth of the river Crathis (Sybaris/Thurii districts in Southern Italy). There is a lagoon nearby with figures of the Nymphs and Pan. A goatherd Comatas and a shepherd Lacon begin a contest of song. The judge of the contest is a woodcutter, Morson, who interrupts the contest and awards a lamb to Comatas.  The themes of the verses often have to do with love.
     Cf. l. 10
 In Idyll 5.112 Comatas mentions Micon’s vineyard
     Cf. l. 13-15
 In Idyll 5.11-13, Comatas accuses Lacon of being envious of the dappled skin Crocylus gifted after sacrificing a goat to the Nymphs.
     Cf. l. 25-27
 Comatas teases Lacon for being accustomed to rustic, cheap pipes and playing with Corydon
     Cf. l 62
 A translation of Idyll 5.82, Phoebus loves me (kai gar em’ Wpollwn fileei)

     Cf. l 64-67
 In Idyll 5.88, Lacon recalls Clearista throwing apples (the fruit of love) at a goatherd
     Cf. l 68-71
 In Idyll 5.94-95, Lacon praises wild apples and Comatas says he will catch a dove in a juniper tree for his girlfriend (compare Damoetas trying to give his girl eggs from a nest high in a tree)
     Cf. l 89
 In Idyll 5.126, Lacon wishes Sybaris would flow with honey for him
     Cf. l. 94-97
 In Idyll 5.100-104, Comatas interrupts the singing contest to shoo his goats away from the olives


Idyll 8
     Date: Early 3rd c. BCE
     Genre: Bucolic (pastoral poetry)  
     Setting and Characters: Daphnis and Menalcas the shepherd have a song contest judged by a goatherd. The prize is a set of pipes, and the themes include landscape and love. Edmonds does not believe this is actually a work of Theocritus.
     Cf. l. 32-34
 In Idyll 8.15-16, Menalkas won’t wager a lamb because his stern father and mother count the sheep each evening
     Cf. l. 101
 In Idyll 8.43, Menalkas says if Nais departs, the cow and cowherd will wither


* Edmonds, J. M. The Greek Bucolic Poets. London, William Heinemann. 1928.

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