Continuity and Change in Greek Bucolic Between Theocritus and Virgil

Abstract

Although ancient Greek sources name only two poets after Theocritus (Moschus of Syracuse and Bion of Smyrna), the Theocritean manuscripts and other sources preserve a considerable body of poetry like theirs. Each late bucolic poem works out its own relationship to Theocritus poetry, particularly his dramatic hexameter poems in Doric-colored epic dialect, among which those dealing with pastoral subjects are especially conspicuous models. Bion's 18-line fr. 2 is a dialogue about which season is best, and a few of his and Moschus' shorter fragments show only non-erotic themes; otherwise, all of late bucolic is about eros. Some of the late bucolic discourse follows into Virgil's Eclogues , where it evolves into new ways of thinking about poetry, death, and desire. The song Bion sings before the gods of the Underworld is one of Lethe, that is, oblivion. Keywords: bucolic poets; Greek; non-erotic themes; Theocritus; Virgil