Idyll XX

Idyll XX, also called Βουκολίσκος ('The Young Countryman'), is a bucolic poem doubtfully attributed to the 3rd century BC Greek poet Theocritus.[1] A neatherd, chafing because a city woman disdains him, protests that he is handsome, that Gods have been known to make love to country-folk, and that she deserves no lover at all.[1][2] For grammatical and other reasons, some critics consider this Idyll apocryphal.[3]

Summary

A herdsman, who had been contemptuously rejected by Eunica, a girl of the town, protests that he is beautiful, and that Eunica is prouder than Cybele, Selene, and Aphrodite, all of whom loved mortal herdsmen.[3] He calls down upon her the curse of perpetual celibacy.[1]

Analysis
Taunting me, thus she spoke: 'Get thee gone from me! Wouldst thou kiss me, thou—a neatherd?'

This poem is a monologue, but includes dumb characters—the shepherds of line 19.[1] Stylistic considerations belie the tradition which ascribes it to Theocritus.[1][2]

See also

References
  1. Edmonds, ed. 1919, p. 237.
  2. Gow, ed. 1950, ii, p. 364.
  3. Lang, ed. 1880, p. 96.

Sources
  • Gow, A. S. F., ed. (1950). Theocritus. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 364–8.

Attribution: Public Domain This article incorporates text from these sources, which are in the public domain.

Further reading
  • Cholmeley, R. J., ed. (1919). The Idylls of Theocritus (2nd ed.). London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. pp. 327–9.
  • Gow, A. S. F., ed. (1950). Theocritus. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 149–51.
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