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VIRGIL's FIFTH ECLOGUE a Lecture to the Virgil Society, March 1977

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VIRGIL's FIFTH ECLOGUE a Lecture to the Virgil Society, March 1977 VIRGIL’S FIFTH ECLOGUE A lecture to the Virgil Society, March 1977 ' by I.M. DuQuesnay The Song o f Mopsus and the New Daphnis The purpose o f this paper is twofold. In the first part, the song of Mopsus in the fifth Eclogue will be re-examined in relation to the song of Thyrsis in the first Idyll o f Theocritus. The intention here is to illuminate some o f the techniques used by Virgil both in his direct verbal imitations o f Theocritus and in his creation of a new lament for Daphnis which is designed rather to rival and to provide an alternative to that o f Theocritus than simply to follow and be a substitute for the model. The second part o f the paper will be devoted to an examination o f the transformation o f the Theocritean Daphnis into an ‘allegory’ o f Caesar and the political significance o f the poem. In broad outline, both these aspects o f the fifth Eclogue are well understood.1 What is new in this paper is in the detail, the emphasis and in the general conclusions concerning the signifi­ cance o f the poem in its contemporary context. The Song o f Thyrsis, the Song o f Mopsus and the epicedion. The song o f Mopsus in the fifth Eclogue begins with a clear and striking allusion to the opening o f Thyrsis’ song in the first Idyll.2 It is not however a simple translation or a motto. Thyrsis began the lament proper by asking the Nymphs why they were not present to assist Daphnis in his final hour. The implication is that if they had been present they would not have let Daphnis die. Mopsus has inverted this situation. The Nymphs were present at the death o f Daphnis but they could not save him. The pathos o f the Theocritean original is captured by the introduction of a new motif: the mother o f Daphnis embracing and bewailing her dead son. The emotionality of this scene is coupled with a learned allusion. According to the mythographers,3 Daphnis was the son o f a Nymph who had been exposed at birth in a laurel grove (whence his name) and reared by herdsmen. By having the Nymphs present at the death of Daphnis, Virgil is able to reunite the mother, one of the Nymphs, with her son in these most tragic circumstances. The doctrina here serves to reinforce rather than to counteract the emotionality. The idea o f having the mother present may have been inspired by Theocritus, at least indirectly. In the song o f Thyrsis, the first o f the gods to visit the dying Daphnis was Hermes: again according to the mythographers, Hermes was the father of Daphnis.4 Virgil, then, has replaced the father with the mother. In Idyll 1, this opening question is followed by a description o f the mourning o f the animals (71-77): Tfjvov pca> Owes, -rfjvov Xukoi cbpOuccvro, tt|vov x & k SpunoTo A to v fxAocvae S a vo vra. fipXrrs povKoXiKas, M olaai ipiAca, apxer’ doiSaj. iroAAcrf ol Trap ttoctcjI piss, ttoAXo! 51 ts Tccupoi, TroAAai 8£ 5crpaAca xal Trop-ms <£Supcarro. 6 pxete pouKoXiKas, MoTcrai <p!Aai, &PX£T> doiSas- fivO’ *Epnas TTpdrriaTOS drrr' <5>peos, eItte 6£ ‘ Aatpvt,,., . In the song o f Mopsus, the account o f the mourning o f the Nymphs is followed by a description o f the mourning o f the mater (22f), the herdsmen (non ulli, 24), boves (25), (nulla) quadrupes (25f), Poenos leones (27) montesque fe ri silvaeque (28). As often happens in the Eclogues, the concepts in both passages are strikingly similar but verbally and stylistically the two passages are very different. In the Theocritean passage, there is a progression from the wild animals to the tame ones and, finally, Hermes (the father o f Daphnis) is introduced. In the Virgilian passage, this movement is basically reversed: the mother, the tame'animals and then the wild animals. Moreover, although Virgil has reduced and simplified the catalogue o f mourners, he has also made some interesting additions. In the first place, Virgil has added to the list o f mourners montesque feri silvaeque. Although it should be noted that the song o f Thyrsis began with a question to the Nymphs and a list o f their mountain haunts and that this first passage ends with Hermes coming ‘from the mountain’ , this detail has been recognised as a borrowing from the other Theocritean account o f Daphnis in Idyll 7.72-74:s o Se i>T <Jpos w s Tlovw t 2 $ ly^riTcCTO O |3ooToi^ op os 77OV/61TO K«ii bp06^ o!u rlv 68^> y y; This technique o f contaminating two Theocritean models, even on this small scale, is typical o f Virgil’s procedure. It is especially interesting in this poem, because the framework o f Idyll 1 is o f the same type as that o f Eclogue 5: two herdsmen meet and initial conversation is followed by exchange o f songs, o f compliments and o f gifts. This typical similarity is further reinforced by a number o f very specific verbal imitations.6 This borrowing from one o f the songs in Idyll 7 thus serves to underline the compatibility o f Idylls 1 and 7, which are Virgil’s two main models in Eclogue 5. Nonetheless, the most important result o f having the mountains and the forests share in the mourning for the dead Daphnis is considerably to increase his stature in comparison to that of his counterpart in the first Idyll. The second addition to the Theocritean catalogue o f mourners serves a similar purpose: nulla neque amnem / libavit quadripes necgraminis attigit herbam (25f.). The word quadripes denotes any four-legged animal, but in Latin hexameter poetry the word is almost always used to denote a horse.7 The horse is in ancient poetry one of the more noble beasts and it is sometimes objected that horses have no place in Theocritean pastoral. But Virgil, in his imitations of Theocritus, does not confine himself to the precedent o f the bucolic Idylls8 and female horses do appear in Theocritus’ Idyll 2,48f.(B o * x itckol) where they are specifically situated in the hills o f Arcadia. This is not a case of verbal imitation or allusion, which would direct the reader’s attention away from the first Idyll; but it is important to realise that Virgil is a meticulous enough imitator to seek precedent in his model whenever possible. The effect and purpose o f the mourning horses is quite independent of that o f the Theocritean precedent. In part the motif subserves the allegory;9 in part it is again designed to enhance the status and dignity of the dead Daphnis. Finally, it is worth noting how Virgil treats the mourning lions. The ancient scholiasts on Theocritus objected that there were no lions in Sicily and that it was therefore a mistake to have had them lament Daphnis in Idyll 1,72. Virgil meets the criticism head on: through the use o f the epithet Poenos (27) he places the lions firmly in Africa.10 News o f their lamenting is passing on by the mountains and woods and this allows the reader to infer the ‘scientific’11 explanation o f how they came to know o f his death: they had learned o f it from these same mountains and woods which may be supposed, in accordance with the bucolic convention, to have lamented the death o f Daphnis. Again, the effect is to enhance the dignity o f Daphnis and to emphasise the universal effect o f his death and, by implication, his role as a universal benefactor in life. This important theme is picked up in the epitaph, where it is claimed that Daphnis is hinc usque ad sidera notus (43). In these opening lines o f Mopsus’ lament Virgil has thoroughly reworked the opening lines o f the lament of Thyrsis in Idyll 1. The original material has been reordered and compressed by the omission o f simple repetitions and supplemented by the addition o f new material, taken where possible from other Theocritean poems. But lines 29ff., swing away completely from the model o f the first Idyll. There are however parallels and precedents to be found in other Idylls for much o f what follows. Again, it should be stressed that there seems to be no intentional allusion designed to distract the reader’s attention away from the model o f the first Idyll: it seems simply to be part o f the intellectual game that there should be as far as possible Theocritean precedent for the detail and phrasing o f the poem. The transition to the new section is carefully managed. The repetition o f the name Daphnis (29f.) picks up the repeated vocatives Daphni. .. Daphni (25,27); the phrase Poenos. leones prepares for Armenian... tigris (29). The implicit equation o f Daphnis and Dionysus seems harsh because they have such strongly contrast­ ing traditional images. It is therefore worth noting that in Idyll 20,33 ‘the fair Dionysus (w ho) herds the heifer in the vales’ appears amid a series of divine and heroic herdsmen, which includes Anchises and Adonis who themselves make a brief appearance in Idyll 1,106 and 109. Again, the description of the Bacchic rites seems out o f place if the poem is thought o f chiefly as bucolic rather than Theocritean.
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