Idyll IX, also titled Βουκολιασταί γʹ ('The Third Country Singing-Match'), is a bucolic poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet
Theocritus
Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Life
Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from hi ...
.
[Edmonds, ed. 1919, p. 123.] Daphnis and Menalcas, at the bidding of the poet, sing the joys of the neatherds and of the shepherds life.
[Lang, ed. 1880, p. 50.] Both receive the thanks of the poet, and rustic prizes—a staff and a horn, made of a spiral shell.
Summary
The characters are two neatherds, Daphnis and Menalcas, and the writer himself.
We are to imagine the cattle to have just been driven out to pasture.
There is no challenge and no stake.
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.
The writer now appeals to the
Muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
to tell him the song he himself sang on the occasion, and he sings a six-line song in their praise.
Analysis
J. M. Edmonds thinks this poem "would seem to be merely a poor imitation of the last" (
Idyll VIII Idyll VIII, also called Βουκολιασταί βʹ ('The Second Country Singing-Match'), is a bucolic poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus.Edmonds, ed. 1919, p. 109.
Summary
The characters of this dialogue are the mythical personag ...
).
Doubts have been expressed as to the authenticity of the prelude and concluding verses.
See also
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Idyll VI Idyll VI, otherwise known as Bucolic poem 6, was written by Theocritus in dactylic hexameter. The exact date of its composition is unknown. It references characters that have appeared in other works of literature such as Homer's ''Odyssey'', Ovid's ...
References
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Ancient Greek poems
3rd-century BC poems