Idyll XXIII

Idyll XXIII, also called Εραστής ('The Lover'), is a poem doubtfully attributed to the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus.[1] It tells how a lover hanged himself at the gate of his obdurate darling who, in turn, was slain by a statue of Love.[2]

Summary

The poem purports to be sent by a lover to his neglectful beloved.[1] The author tells how in a like case unrequited friendship led to the suicide of the one, and to the death of the other at the hands of an effigy of Love.[1]

Analysis
'Love stood on a pedestal of stone above the waters. And lo, the statue leaped, and slew that cruel one'

According to J. M. Edmonds, the actual death of a boy through the accidental falling of a statue probably gave rise to a folk-tale which is here put into literary shape.[1]

Authorship

This poem, known to the Latin poets, cannot be attributed with much certainty to Theocritus, and is found in only a small proportion of manuscripts, the text of which is corrupt.[1][2][3]

References
  1. Edmonds, ed. 1919, p. 277.
  2. Lang, ed. 1880, p. 113.
  3. Cholmeley, ed. 1919, p. 344.

Sources
  • Cholmeley, R. J., ed. (1919). The Idylls of Theocritus (2nd ed.). London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. pp. 344–47.

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

Further reading
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