Detail from the Wall Painting of Polyphemus and Galatea in a Landscape, Imperial Villa at Boscotrecase, 1st century BCE, 187cm x 119cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20.192.17
I decided to title this blog post with my most recent google search: “do sheep have horns?”. I included a detail from a wall fresco that appears to show a hierarchical scale from top to bottom of sheep to goat (it doesn't), but I did not realize that not only do rams have horns, but there are species of sheep who do as well, be them ram or ewe. I must admit, my knowledge of the animal kingdom is...basic-- and basic is forgiving. I digress…
Theocritus sometimes incorporated a hierarchical scale of herdsman in his idylls, cowherds being the most prestigious, then shepherds, then goatherds. The earliest observation of this was noted by Donatus and it continues to be a contested topic of discussion among Virgilian scholars. Thus, my question: Does Virgil utilize this scale in his bucolics?
In the first twenty lines of Eclogue I, we see Virgil making use of this hierarchical scale. Tityrus is established as not only a cowherd but a shepherd as well, whose flock is so prosperous that he is able to often produce a sacrifice to his beloved "god", Augustus. He is juxtaposed with Meliboeus, a goatherd, who faces displacement under the same system which Tityrus prospers.
namque erit ille mihi semper deus illius āram
saepe tener nostrīs ab ovīlibus imbuet agnus
ille meās errāre bovēs
...permīsit (10)
for that man will always be a god to me,
often, a delicate lamb from my sheepfold will stain his altar
that man/god allows my cows to to roam
...ēn ipse capellās
prōtinus aeger agō hanc etiam vix Tītyre dūcō
hīc inter dēnsās corylōs modo namque gemellōs
spem gregis, ā! silice in nūdā conīxa relīquit (15)
see, I myself, a sufferer, lead my goats onward yet this one, Tityrus, I barely lead
for, here between dense hazel trees, just having given birth to twins,
ah! the hope of the flock, she abandoned them on a bare rock.
Here, the hierarchical scale of herdsmen not only reflects the social status of both Tiyrus and Meliboeus but also reflects a sort of emotional hierarchy where happiness and leisure correlate with the status of a cowherd/shepherd and sadness/turmoil with a goatherd. The animals themselves are paralleled to the emotional state of their herdsmen. While Tityrus’ cattle are roaming, his sheep thriving, and himself relaxing, Meliboeus is struck with a series of bad omens-- notably that of his she-goat abandoning twins, which in better circumstances would enrich his flock. Later we learn Melibeous, too, must abandon his flock. The emotional connection between herdsman and animal is repeated during Meliboeus' last speech:
īte meae, felix quondam pecus, īte capellae (74)
Go, once happy flock, go my little goats
(Go, once happy Meliboeus, go!)
To end, I would like to completely abandon the subject of herdsman and sheep-goats and turn to the Hyblaean Bee mentioned in line 55. This may be considered a "shout out" to Theocritus, as these bees are local to Sicily. The name "Hyblaean" is either in reference to an ancient Sicilian king, an unknown city "Hybla", or a local goddess- but today the name is certainly associated with the south-eastern Hyblaean Mountain Range. As for the bee, there is a special type of bee found on Sicily; it has populated the area for thousands of years, and it is super cute; the black bee! Although it almost went extinct in the 70's/80's, some continue to populate the island. The black bee is more productive in extreme temperature changes and more docile than the average Italian honey bee and it usually produces a table honey with a vinegary quality.
Save the bees!
As Tina points out, the Hyblaean bees suggest Theocritus, the first pastoral poet, as Vergil's model because of their Sicilian location. The bees, of course, produce honey, which, as far back as Hesiod, was a metaphor for poetry. Locating the bees in Sicily suggests Vergil's master project, the fusion of Greek and Latin literature (Sicily was a Greek-speaking part of Magna Graecia).
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