Gallus in Ecl. 6

The “Gallus” referred to in Eclogue 6 seems to be Gaius Cornelius Gallus. He is politically famous for being the first prefect of the province of Egypt, a position he held in 30 BCE as an equestrian. He is even more famous for supposedly committing suicide soon afterwards, perhaps 27 or 26 BCE. He had apparently taken the glorification of his military victories in Egypt too far for Augustus’ liking. The obliterated inscription of a particular obelisk now set up in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is often cited as evidence for this hypothesis. Our major sources for the life of Gallus come from Suetonius (through his Life of Augustus), Cassius Dio, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Jerome (through his Chronicle).

Gallus’ connection to the literary circle of Rome seems prominent. Of course, Vergil mentions him in Eclogue 6, and he will mention him again in Eclogue 10, perhaps partially out of a sense of gratitude for the mercy shown in not having his family property confiscated—an operation which Gallus may have supervised. Parthenius also dedicates the Erotika Pathemata to Gallus. Gallus’ specific contributions to Latin literature may have been translating Euphorion’s work (transmitted through Parthenius) into Latin and introducing the elegiac trope of the male lover dominated by his mistress. At least, Ovid (in his Tristia) regards him as an important ancestral figure in the line of Latin elegists. Quintilian also notes that Gallus’ poetry was “harder” than Propertius’ and Tibullus’. Inconveniently, we have only fragments of Gallus’ poetry, though just enough to see evidence for Gallus’ influence on Propertius.

(I draw my information from https://www-oxfordreference-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-1848?rskey=FoAUkQ&result=5 and https://livingpoets.dur.ac.uk/w/Gallus:_A_Guide_to_Selected_Sources)