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

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

• Cyrus of Panopolis

References

Sources

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

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

• Edmonds, J. M., ed. (1919). The Greek Bucolic Poets (3rd ed.). William Heinemann. pp. 237–43.
• Lang, Andrew, ed. (1880). Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 96–8.

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.

External links

•  Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Βουκολίσκος
• "Theocritus, Idylls, Βουκολίσκος". Perseus Digital Library.