Eclogue

selection

amebean, that is, alternating. Of this, the poet said, 'You will sing in responses; the Muses loved the alternating verse.' Although the verb aμeíßeolai (to change one with another, do in turn or alternately) is not limited in Homeric usage to the meaning of responsive utterance, the original idea of the word was clearly 'to change.' Things to be

exchanged must be equal, and so, as is noted in the Origins, the word assumed the broader meaning 'to respond.' This is analogous to the history of the words 'wealth' and 'pay,' which have come to be regarded as synonyms for 'goods' and 'work.' .

Because the shepherds based their poetry upon imitation, from the word eidos, meaning 'shape' or 'image,' they derived a diminutive eidúλλov, 'idyll,' which they applied to short, or modest and unpretentious, poems. Let us also note the origin of the word eclogue." When certain superior poets became disgusted with some of their hurried productions— how often does the wise writer have this experience!—they impulsively destroyed them, and kept only an anthology of their better work. From this practice of 'picking out' or Vselecting came the word eclogue, which bears this meaning in the Greek.

Pastoral poetry has many themes, but love seems to have been the earliest. There are many reasons why this should have been the case. In the first place, that the perpetuity of species might not be endangered, passion was implanted in all animals at the creation. Then, both youths and maidens without distinction acted as shepherds, and were thus not only thrown much together, but easily inflamed by the example of the flocks; as Theocritus most happily words it: 'The goatherd, when he marks the young goats at their pastime, looks on with yearning eyes, and fain would be even as they.' And finally, amorous delights were actually deified in Venus, and of these delights song is the most simple and engaging adjunct. I will not dwell on the thought that youths who lived on milk and meat, who were light-hearted,

Prime

fearless, and susceptible, would, when tempted by the favoring season and retirement, be easily enticed into love. This result was especially encouraged by their nude or lightly-clad condition, for though the virgins were clothed, yet their ordinary garment showed the bare thigh, as its name pavoμnpís indicates. Such is the garment shown in the picture of the Nymphs, where both the arms and thighs are visible. I suppose that the origin of this garment is to be attributed to the goat-skins, which hung from the shoulders, covered the loins, and were strapped around the front of the leg. A similar description will be found in the proper place in my chapter on satirical poetry. What then could be expected of these youth, care-free as they were, well-fed, with bodies which constant exercise served to make robust and vigorous?

First of all, then, there was the amorous monologue. Next came the oaristys (Greek ỏapiorús, familiar converse, 2 fond discourse), in which a lover and maiden either told of their love for one another, or complained of unreciprocated love. Such are the Idylls of the most graceful and exquisite Theocritus. Afterward, either desire for fame, greed of reward, or envious detraction, prompted the use of the poetic dialogue.

The names of various pastorals are also derived from the different kinds of herding. Though Toμ (a herdsman) originally meant any kind of a herdsman, usage confined it to the shepherds. So a derivative, Toμevikά (of or pertaining to shepherds), meant those songs with which the shepherds were wont to entertain themselves or others. Αἰπόλια (herds of goats) and αἰγοπόλια (herds of goats) were the songs of the goatherds; ovßória (of or pertaining to swineherds), the songs of the swineherds; and Bukoλiká (of or pertaining to cattle), the songs of the neatherds. The last variety is held to be the most noble of all, and yet the Libyans, the Scythians, the Parthians, and the Mysians, not to say the Persians, the Arabians, and

the Numidians, esteem those who tend the studs of horses worthy of chief praise. The Greeks have no name for such herdsmen, and yet in Thessaly the horseman was in the highest favor, and in Sicily itself, the parent of bucolic poetry, the herding of horses, peculiarly favored by the natural conditions, was so cultivated by the natives that the Sicilians were thought second to very few peoples, if to any, in this occupation.

It is a mistaken tradition that places the origin of the pastoral in the Persian period, for it is much older. I will tell a story relative to this point, and let you judge for yourself. When the Greeks were reduced in war by the Persians, the rites of Diana Caryatis, customarily performed by virgins, were interrupted. Thereupon some of the country folk took the temple-office upon themselves, and sang the praises of Diana in their own peculiar little songs. Then, since either religion gave these songs the hearty sanction of its approval, or the verses prevailed by their own charm, what had been an accident became a custom, and the custom became an established rite. The surname Caryatis is taken from a village of Laconia called Caryae, which has also given its name to a style of dancing, kapvaтiev, learned from the local heroes, Castor and Pollux. To-day, the names of the dance and of the village are forgottenyea, more, the very names of Sparta and Lacaedemon are unknown—and the Turks call the village Misitra.

Not only are the Greeks at variance as to the time when the pastoral was first sung, but also as to the place. A good many think that it originated in Sicily, and tell this story: When Orestes was bearing away the image of Diana stolen from the Tauri, a Scythian people, he was admonished by the oracle to bathe in the water of seven streams which issued from one source. In accordance with the oracle, when he had come into Italy he found such streams near Rhegium, and bathed. Thereafter he set out for Sicily, and, in the village which Strabo calls Tyndaris, erected the

statue of the goddess, and established worship with musical features, modeled upon the service of the people from whom the image had been stolen. It is not surprising that Orestes was driven thence by the Greeks, and next he took refuge in a grove hard by Aricia, on the right of the Appian way. There he again instituted the solemn worship of the Tauric Diana, in accordance with the Scythian ritual.

There is still another tradition. Once Syracuse was the scene of a disastrous domestic brawl, and the survivors began a massacre. Thereupon steps were taken to placate Diana, who was held to be the author of this domestic calamity, and many of the people brought gifts to her temple. The gifts and the songs appeased the goddess, and the beginning of a yearly festival was thus made. From this episode Diana earned the surname Lya (Greek λúŋ dissolution, separation, hence faction, sedition). Now I take it that the right explanation of the epithet is just the opposite of this: we use the word lues (a plague, pestilence) of a disease which unlooses or undoes our bodies, and so they gave the name to the goddess because she stirred up the intestine discord. Still others, while they recognize and employ the surname, give a third explanation: Before Hiero came to the throne, the island was stricken with a sore disease, and to placate the wrath of the goddess, fieldsports were frequently held, and therefore Diana was called Lya because she unloosed (luisset) the disease.

Some employ the surname Phaselis, rather than Lya. This name had been transplanted from Greece by Antiphemus. It came about as follows: The brother of Antiphemus, Lacius of Argos, sent a colony into the mountain districts of Colophon under the leadership of Mopsus. This Mopsus purchased land from the native shepherdess Cylabra, and built a town called Phaselis. Later, Antiphemus led a colony to Sicily under divine auspices, bearing his household gods. There he built the city of Gela and celebrated the sports of Diana, and in memory of Mopsus gave the

goddess this surname of Phaselis.

Then, because of this, the name Mopsus is often met with in pastoral poetry. Certainly the older writers agree that poetry of pastoral character was met with in Sicily, and called ẞwkoλiaoμós (a singing of pastorals). Derivatives or variants of this title may also be found in Theocritus.

The early shepherds were wont to contend for prizes. These prizes were not vases, cows, or goats, as among their luxurious and wealthy descendants, but bread-cakes made in the image of animals. Sometimes the shepherds sang while sitting down, sometimes while standing, or again while leading the flocks. They were furnished with a bag called TаvσTeрuía, which contained seeds of all kinds, with wine in goatskin bottles, and with a staff, the pedum of the Romans. Of the staff the Greeks had several varieties. There was the κaλáßpoy, so called from its use in governing the flocks, the λaywßóλov (originally a staff or stick for flinging at hares), originally used in venery, and the Kopúvη (a club, often shod with iron), a kind of thickheaded club. There was also the knotty club which Virgil describes, and which we even see to-day, a club made of blackthorn or of cornel wood, and adorned with brass rings. The contestants were also crowned, and we even read of their wearing the horns of deer. The victor received the bread, the bag, and the wine, from the defeated one, and therewith made an offering to the Muses. The vanquished departed into the suburbs and villages, and was not allowed to enter the city. Since he had rightly forfeited his own in the contest, he was expected to beg bread, though begging was contrary to the law. The victor would enter the city of Syracuse, in which he could remain as long as he pleased, and instead of having to beg bread on the strength of a defeat, would sprinkle the thresholds of the citizens with sacrificial fruits or with wine, and offer libation with the following prayer: 'May good fortune be yours, and yours good health. This we bear from the goddess, and she, her