The Greek Bucolic PoetsTHEOCRITUS of the third century B.C., born at Syracuse, travelled widely in the Greek world. Having studied poetry at Cos under poet and critic Philitas, he composed poetry under patronage, chiefly perhaps at Syracuse and Cos; and then went to Alexandria in Egypt, whose King Ptolemy II (died 246 B.C.), pupil of Philitas, befriended him. Here (and at Cos?) he spent the rest of his life. Most lovable of Greek verse-makers, as the founder of bucolic or pastoral poetry Theocritus was supreme in his simple literary domain, though only part of his poetry is pastoral and he used predecessors and contemporaries. Of his so-called Idylls 'Little forms' or pieces (not all are genuine) ten are about pastoral life real or idealised; several are small epics (charming in parts; three are hymns); two are beautiful 'occasional' poems (one about a country-walk, one to accompany a gift of a distaff for the wife of his friend Nicias;) six are love-poems; several are mimes (one famous for vivid realism and modernity, another 'The Spell' equally unforgettable) being striking pictures of common life; and three are specially expressive of his own feelings. The 24 'Epigrams' (nearly all are good and look genuine) were apparently inscribed on works of art. |
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Page 105 - Many an aspen, many an elm bowed and rustled overhead, and hard by, the hallowed water welled purling forth of a cave of the Nymphs, while the brown cricket chirped busily amid the shady leafage, and the tree-frog murmured aloof in the dense thornbrake. Lark and goldfinch sang and turtle moaned, and about the spring the bees hummed and hovered to and fro. All nature smelt of the opulent summer-time, smelt of the season of fruit. Pears lay at our feet, apples on either side, rolling abundantly, and...