Idyll IX
Idyll IX, also titled Βουκολιασταί γʹ ('The Third Country Singing-Match'), is a bucolic poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus.[1] Daphnis and Menalcas, at the bidding of the poet, sing the joys of the neatherds and of the shepherds life.[2] Both receive the thanks of the poet, and rustic prizes—a staff and a horn, made of a spiral shell.[2]
Summary
[edit]The characters are two neatherds, Daphnis and Menalcas, and the writer himself.[1] We are to imagine the cattle to have just been driven out to pasture.[1] There is no challenge and no stake.[1] At the request of the writer that they shall compete in song before him, each of the herdsmen sings seven lines, Daphnis setting the theme; and then the writer, leaving it to be implied that he judged them equal, tells us how he gave them each a gift and what it was.[1] The writer now appeals to the Muses to tell him the song he himself sang on the occasion, and he sings a six-line song in their praise.[1]
Analysis
[edit]J. M. Edmonds thinks this poem "would seem to be merely a poor imitation of the last" (Idyll VIII).[1] Doubts have been expressed as to the authenticity of the prelude and concluding verses.[2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Sources
[edit]Attribution: 
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Edmonds, J. M., ed. (1919). The Greek Bucolic Poets (3rd ed.). William Heinemann. pp. 123–7.
- Lang, Andrew, ed. (1880). Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 50–2.
Further reading
[edit]- Cholmeley, R. J., ed. (1919). The Idylls of Theocritus (2nd ed.). London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. pp. 255–64.
- Gow, A. S. F., ed. (1950). Theocritus. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–9.
- Gow, A. S. F., ed. (1950). Theocritus. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 185–92.
- Parry, Hugh (1987). "Circe and the Poets: Theocritus IX. 35—36". Illinois Classical Studies. 12 (1): 7–21.
External links
[edit]
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Βουκολιασταί (Δάφνις, Μενάλκας και Αιπόλος)- "Theocritus, Idylls, Βουκολιασταὶ Δάφνις καὶ Μενάλκας". Perseus Digital Library.
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