Greek Bucolic Poets

by J.M. Edmonds (Translator), Bion of Smyrna, Moschus

Theocritus of the third century BCE, born at Syracuse, travelled widely in the Greek world. Having studied poetry at Cos with 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 BCE), pupil of Philitas, befriended him. Here (and at Cos?) he spent the rest of his life. Most lovable of Greek versemakers, Theocritus was the founder of bucolic or pastoral poetry. 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 (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, striking pictures of common life; and three are specially expressive of his own feelings. The 24 'Epigrams' were apparently inscribed on works of art. Moschus of Syracuse, 2nd century BCE, came next. As a grammarian he wrote a (lost) work on Rhodian dialect. Though he was classed as bucolic, his extant poetry (mainly 'Runaway Love' and the story of 'Europa') is not really pastoral, the 'Lament for Bion' not being Moschus's work. 'Megara' may be by Theocritus; but 'The Dead Adonis' is much later. Bion of Phlossa near Smyrna lived in Sicily, probably late 2nd and early 1st century BCE. Most of the extant poems are not really bucolic, but 'Lament for Adonis' is floridly brilliant. The so-called Pattern-Poems, included in the bucolic tradition, are found also in the Greek Anthology .

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Ancient, Greece, Fiction

560 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 301

About the author

John Maxwell Edmonds was an English classicist who is notable as the creator of celebrated epitaphs, as well as the translation of Greek lyric poetry and drama.

Reviews

[Addison Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just about nothing is as charming as Theocritus, but man is this ever a Loeb that could do with an update. In general, it's true that the older Loeb poetry volumes are marred by godawful stylistic tendencies, namely a starch-collared Edwardian boarding school instinct to render everything as though it's by an exceptionally bad imitator of Shakespeare or Spenser. That's never truer than here, at the birth of the pastoral. By all means, grab it if you want the Greek, but do yourself the favor of buying the superb Robert Wells translation from Penguin Classics to read along with it. (I'm sorry, there's nothing to be done for Bion and Moschus.) You'll otherwise be wincing through a translation so horrendously misjudged that it makes Theocritus sound like the worst pastiche-artist in history, a writer of pastoral travesties, rather than the real deal, honeyed sunshine that makes the whole tradition respectable, if mainly at the beginning.

[Vivian]

The Lament of Adonis- Bion, Sicily

Quite a lovely elegy.

I cry woe for Adonis and say The beauteous Adonis is dead; and the Loves cry me woe again and say The beauteous Adonis is dead.

Moschus, Sicily: Not sure I care for his work as much as Bion, shame just the one survived.

The Runaway Love - Again Cypris (Aphrodite and Adonis), but pale in comparison to Bion.
Europa - a bit more interesting, engaging and lengthy.
Lament for Bion - in the style of Bion's Lament of Adonis and definitely charming.

You nightingales that complain in the thick leafage, tell to Arethusa’s fountain of Sicily that neatherd Bion is dead, and with him dead is music, and gone with him likewise the Dorian poesy.

A few other fragments are including. Some a bit humorous, short and pithy.

Theocritus, Sicily, Cos, and Alexandria:
Much more a slice of life poet. The Women at the Adonis Festival is humorous and everyday.

SECOND STRANGER
[87] Oh dear, oh dear, ladies! do stop that eternal cooing. (to the bystanders) They’ll weary me to death with their ah-ah-ah-ing.

PRAXINOA
[89] My word! where does that person come from? What business is it of yours if we do coo? Buy your slaves before you order them about, pray. You’re giving your orders to Syracusans. If you must know, we’re Corinthians by extraction, like Bellerophon himself. What we talk’s Peloponnesian. I suppose Dorians may speak Doric, mayn’t they? Persephone! let's have no more masters than the one we’ve got. I shall do just as I like. Pray don’t waste your breath.

[Tomas Riklius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well translated & structured. Highly informative articles written in simple language

[Corydon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Idylls are nothing but interesting. I set on this book for his influence on Vergil, but it turns out to be a collection of great pieces of work. My favourite is Id. 1, for its ekphrasis, and for its elaborate fictional world.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bucolic poets, to my prosaic mind, are much more accessible than the Lyric poets, and the best of these are Moschus' Europa and The Dead Adonis, and Bion's Lament for Adonis and Lament for Bion (now attributed to a student of his).

[Elsie]

cow boat!!!!!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made me want to study Greek. While the often staid, ninety-year-old translations were fairly uninspired, it was a mildly exhaustive collection of poetry not frequently seen outside of Classics departments (Theocritus, maybe more frequently. But Bion and Moschus?), and I enjoyed the inclusion of works not to be found in my other collections, particularly the pattern poems, which is a genre of which I was not aware and now will have to examine further. The inclusion of the original Greek text alongside the English translation will, I do hope, come in handy at some point in my life.

[Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished translating Bion's "Epitaph of Adonis." Blood, crying, necrophilia. What more could you ask for in a poem?

[James Violand · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were Greeks of a later era of antiquity who composed poetry of the pasture and glen. There is only so much a reader can enjoy before the theme runs its course and becomes boring.