THEOCRITUS AND THE REVERSAL OF LITERARY TRADITION

By

AMANDA JANE CATER

B.A., University College, London, 1982

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS

in

THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS \, f ...... ; ;

We accept this thesis.as conforming to the required standard

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

August 1985

(c) Amanda Jane Cater, 1985 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission.

Department of CLASSICS

The University of British Columbia 1956 Main Mall Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Y3 ABSTRACT

My purpose is to demonstrate Theocritus' treatment of traditional literary genres. I show the specialized character of the bucolic genre by concentrating on the combination of epic, tragic and bucolic elements in selected poems of Theocritus. My concern is the portrayal of characters and character-types from myth and literary tradition and how the traditional literary portrayal has been changed. My discussion of

Theocritus' poetic technique is divided into two parts. The first section deals with Theocritus' method of "reducing" or down-grading figures who have previously been presented and accepted as heroes. This section is introduced by a brief survey of the changing attitudes towards heroes in

Greek literature from Homer to Theocritus. This is followed by a discussion of four poems which illustrate Theocritus' inversion of the standard portrait. This treatment ranges from a humorous recasting of the status of Polyphemos (Idyll 11) and Herakles (Idylls 13 and 24) to a critical portrayal of the Dioscuri (Idyll 22). The second part deals with the technique operating in reverse. In this section, I show how Theocritus juxtaposes epic themes with 'low-life' scenes and how the characters involved are consequently upgraded or 'elevated1. The four poems I select endow their insignificant protagonists with heroic amplitude. In Idyl 1 1, epic and tragic elements are infused into the portrayal of Daphnis the cowherd. Simaetha in Idyll 2 envisages herself as a Medea in a context of bourgeois reality. The mythological material in Idyll 3 achieves humour from the disparity of the goatherd's rustic simplicicy and his awareness of mythological precedents. Idyll 7 expands the anti-heroic material of the

i i Odyssey and describes a goatherd with a difference. In my conclusion I demonstrate the coherence of Theocritus' treatment of epic and dramatic narrative with his programmatic statements. The passages referred to are the epilogue of Idyll 22 (212-23), the characters cited in Idyll 16

(36-57), Simichidas' speech in Idyll 7 (45-48) and the description of the herdman's cup in Idyll 1. (29-61). In the light of this, I link

Theocritus' poetic method to his attitude to the function of literature and its relation to society. TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v

PART I

INTRODUCTION 1

THE CYCLOPS 4

HERAKLES IN LOVE 15

BABY HERAKLES 24

THE TWINS 34

PART II

INTRODUCTION 46

THE NEATHERD 47

SIMAETHA 54

DELPHIS: A POST-SCRIPT 65

THE GOATHERD 67

TWO COMPANIONS 70

CONCLUSION 84

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 89

i v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank Professor H. Edinger for his time, patience and helpful advice throughout the preparation of this thesis. I am also grateful to Professor A. Podlecki for his reading of my paper.

My thanks are also due to CM. Osborne for his careful reading of the text and useful suggestions.

v 1

PART I

INTRODUCTION

The attitude towards the concept of "hero" has ranged from praise in

the verse of Homer and Pindar to doubt in Greek tragedy and the epic of

Apollonius Rhodius to criticism by Theocritus and finally rejection by the

Roman poets. Homeric verse did not question the morality of aggression or

killing, since the heroic code dictated that such conduct brought noble

renown. One of Herakles' great deeds was to take Geryon's cattle, but he

did it without asking or paying. Pindar finds a solution to this qualm

about Right and Wrong, since Herakles is ridding the earth of evil and

destructive forces. The nature of a tragic drama is such that some heroes

must necessarily be cast as villians. Odysseus is often a candidate.

His reputation for cunning wins him admiration in Homeric poetry, since he

lies out of necessity and seldom has deceitful intent. However his

character is blackened by the Greek dramatists. Philoctetes shows his

corruption of Neoptolemus and his cruelty to Hecuba.* By the time of

Apollonius Rhodius1 epic the only way he can preserve the hero as a

sympathetic figure is to strip him of his heroic qualities, thus Jason is

typically amechanos while he casts Herakles as an ambiguous figure.2

*In some cases dramatic polarisation can lead to all the Greeks being cast as villains, as in Eur. Tro. 764: "You Greeks, barbarian are the things you do!" Trans. A.S. Way, Euripides I, Loeb Classical Library, 1912.

^He is nominally a hero but kills Thoedamas "cruelly" to provoke a war (Ap. (Footnote continued) 2

Theocritus introduces a new race of suffering heroes whose finest hour is their Liebestod which shows his rejection of the violent hero.3 The contrast is made explicit in the address to Adonis in Idyll 15: "Thou,

dear Adonis alone of demigods . . . dost visit both earth and Acheron.

Such lot fell not to Agamemnon, nor mighty Aias, that hero of the heavy

anger [ho megas, barumanios hero's] nor Hector . . .".4 Even in the

panegyrics Theocritus manages to avoid almost entirely the usual praise of

bellicosity. Against the figure of Hiero setting out to war girt . . .

proterois isos heroessi (16. 80) is set the overwhelming emphasis on the

rural peace Hiero's victory will bring. "Grant that towns which the hands

of foes have wasted utterly be peopled again by the ancient master. May

these till fertile fields, while sheep in countless thousands grow fat. . .

." (16. 88-91). Theocritus' highest praise of Ptolemy is reserved for

Idyl 1 14, where Thyonichus says he is "The very best - kindly, cultured,

gallant as pleasant as may be; knows his friend and knows his enemy even

better. As a king should be, he's generous to many and doesn't refuse when

asked. . . ." (61-64)

Herakles is presented as a Wunderkind in Idyl 1 245 and an idealised

^(continued) Rh. Arg. 1. 1213-19) and he terrifies the Libyan nymphs (4. 1432f.). ^Such heroes are Daphnis in Idyl 1 1, the Cyclops in 11, Hylas in 13 and Adonis in 15.

4Id. 15. 136-39. All translations from Theocritus are taken from A.S.F. Gow, Theocritus, 2 Vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952) Vol. I.

^G. Giangrande, "Irony in Theocritus: Methods of Literary Interpretation," MPhL 3 (1978): 144. 3

lover in Idyll 13, although his behaviour after the loss of Hylas reveals his ambiguous nature. Idyll 22 presents the greatest problem in that

Theocritus goes out of his way to deliberately denigrate the Dioscuri. The best indication of the characters who are most important to Theocritus is provided in Idyll 16, where he praises the individuals whom Homer made famous. "Never had Odysseus won lasting fame, who . . . came alive to farthest Hades, and escaped . . . the baleful Cyclops; never would the swineherd Eumaeus have been named, nor Philoetius, busied with the cattle of the herd, nor the great-hearted Laertes himself, had not the minstrels of an Ionian bard profited them" (16. 51-57). 4

THE CYCLOPS

"Reduction" is the term I have given to Theocritus' method of presentation in his poems of mythological character. As the term implies, it is the scaling down of a figure who has been generally accepted in literarure as "heroic", who can do no wrong, act in any way he sees fit, even if at another's expense, and in consequence is the saviour of all.

Homeric and Pindaric verse is partly "responsible" for this creation of an ideal. The doubt cast upon this ideal by the Greek tragedians is magnified by Theocritus, but his approach is not a new one. he does not introduce in the characters of Herakles, the Dioscuri, or Pentheus (Idyll 26) many aspects which have not been previously entertained. Euripides recognized

Herakles as the non-intellectual hero, protector of Man by his brute strength. The incident of the Dioscuri and the Apharidae originated in the

Cypria and was set down by Pindar (Nemean 10). Pentheus, in his rejection of the Dionysos cult, received due retribution in Euripides' Bacchae. The novelty of Theocritus' poems is that they shift their focus to particular aspects of these well-known figures which have hitherto been hinted at but not emphasized. Herakles' love for Hylas has little support from earlier literary accounts, but is made the subject of Idyll 13. Herakles was a baby when he strangled the serpents and Pindar devotes a section of the first Nemean ode to this. Theocritus sets the whole scene in the hero's nursery. With the exception of the Apharidae episode in Idyl 1 22,

Theocritus rarely invents, he simply concentrates on trivial and remote aspects of his chosen character's life and personality, such as have not previously been exposed, often for reasons of propriety. He shows clearly 5

he 1s not a blind follower of tradition. His method brings into question the technique of reporting and narrating events. Facts are gathered from various sources, repeated and embellished until the story gains credence.

Theocritus takes a realistic look at myth. By inflating minor elements of a story he is partly being arrogant in demonstrating his knowledge of all there is to know about a particular subject, but he is also saying that this part of his character's life may also have been a fact. In spite of miraculous exploits which a character may perform, Theocritus chooses to examine the alternative tradition.6

Theocritus is also deliberately perverse. In his tendency to see white as black, he will just as readily recognize the converse. This is most evident in his portrayal of the Cyclops. In Homer, he is an enemy of

Odysseus (or, according to Theocritus, a victim) and Euripides presents him as a drunk, grotesque brute who cannot sing a note. ' Theocritus replaces this presentation with a forlorn human lover, "a shepherd of his passion, not sheep".

Idyll 11 announces the superiority of poetry over physical cure as a means to remedy the ailment of unrequited love. Theocritus' "excuse" for his poem is a six-line introductory address to the doctor-poet Nicias. It is unlikely that Theocritus is concerned that an antidote to this affliction may really be found, but is is a fitting prelude to the melancholy request to Galatea.? Reference to other poems is not

6The divinity of the Dioscuri does not impede Theocritus' critical treatment of them. In fact it is a substantial cause of his open degradation of the gods.

^Theocritus generally considers such romantic problems with detached (Footnote continued) 6

necessarily proof of Theocritus' attitude, but in Idyll 6 the Cyclops expresses quite a different sentiment to Galatea, who upbraids him for his indifference to her.8 In Idyll 11 the Cyclops is so casually introduced in line 7 houto goun diag' ho Kuklops that it betrays Theocritus' real intention of endeavouring to find any way at all to get on to the subject of the Cyclops. Instead of a reworked narrative on the most famous incident concerning the Cyclops, we are to hear of the time "when he was in love with Galatea" (8).9 The flavour of what is to follow is suggested by the juxtaposition of the familiarized title ho Kuklops ho gar' hamin (7) and the Homeric horchaios Polyphamos (8). The balanced phrases indicate the two-sided nature of Theocritus' Cyclops, a realistic figure begging his loved one for attention, whose Homeric characteristics are still in evidence. One presentation is superimposed upon the other. His appearance is both of a young man arti geneiasdon peri to stoma tos krotaphos te (9) and of one far from human "..a shaggy brow stretches all over my forehead

- one long single brow from ear to ear; and single is the eye beneath and broad the nostril above my lip" (31-33). These opposing elements create a constant tension, particularly in the Cyclops' song, which forms the body of the poem (19-79).

7(continued) amusement, as exemplified by his treatment of Simaetha (Idyll 2) and the goatherd (Idyll 3).

^Polyphemus is in fact "playing it cool" with Galatea here to cure her of her sophisticated aloofness.

^The literary background to this is obscure and derives from a dithyramb of Philoxenus, which in itself may have been based on a misunderstanding by this poet of the connection of the two figures. See Gow, Theocritus, 2: 118. 7

The 18-line introduction sets up another polarity of medicine and love.

Nicias is the suitable addressee because he is both a doctor and loved by the nine Muses (5-6). Love as a disease is a literary commonplace and medical symptoms were a Hellenistic preoccupation.1° To this extent, the

Cyclops is a Simaetha-figure. His love is a madness (10-11), the effect of this love is physical deterioration katetaketo ... echthiston echoh hupokardion helkos (14-15). Simaetha begs Thestylis to find some remedy for her sore complaint ... chalepas noso heure ti^ machos (2.95) and in the same way the Cyclops seeks a cure: to pharmakon heure (17). Medical cure and emotion are combined in the first three lines of the poem. The two nouns of line one are erota and pharmakon while erota and Pierides frame pharmakon, euchriston and epipaston - abstract versus material.11 However novel his approach, Theocritus cannot pass by the subject of love without mentioning the proverbial dart of Cypris (126). The Homeric line is varied by Theocritus but its insertion is a reminder that the Cyclops' ailment is not new.

The sentiments of the Cyclops are simple to the point of pathetic.

Apples, roses, and ringlets are false foils to the anti-climactic cap of

"downright frenzy" (10-11).12

10For example, Id. 2. 95, Id. 14. 3 and 9, Call. Fr. 56-67 which show the sufferings of Simaetha, Aeschinas, and Kydippe respectively.

^Gow notes that Theocritus speaks only of remedies for external application because love is a wound, Theocritus, 2: 209. In Homer, pharmakos is only_applied outwardly but is used abstractly by Pindar Pyth. 4. 187 epi thanatoi pharmakos eas aretas heuresthai.

12In Idyll 6. 6-7 it is Galatea who pelts Polyphemos with apples. Gow notes that ringlets are not standard love-tokens in antiquity, Theocritus, 2: 211. It is typical of Theocritus to insert something unexpected into an (Footnote continued) 8

The song to Galatea is a piece of Cyclopean psychotherapy. In his attempt to sort out his love problem, he tries to defend and explain

Galatea's adverse reaction to him. The style of his song is deliberately rough and disjointed, as he continually breaks off his ideas. Such breaks occur at lines 30, 42, 50, 54, 63, 67, and 72 where, as each point comes to nothing, he tries to start off afresh in search of the cause of his distress until he finally appears to have sorted himself out (72-79). This progress in self-analysis from distraction to self-possession, is reflected in the forms of address he uses for Galatea. He names her in various ways six times and the vocatives occur more frequently during the initial stages of his debate. The sentiment behind each address ranges from familiarity ~5 leuka Galateia (19), to endearment kora (25) and chariessa kora (30), to unadulterated sentimentality to phi Ion glukumalon (39), and finally the relatively formal Galateia (63). The name Galatea suggests milk and whiteness as she is initially described (20). Colour adjectives dominate the song and enhance its apparent simplicity. The pastures are green (13),

Galatea is white (19), she is whiter than curd (20), the wolf is grey (24), the sea is green (43), the ivy is dark (46), snow is white (48), snowdrops are white (56), and the poppy petals are scarlet (57). The implication of innocence conveyed by this predominance of whiteness is supported by the repetition of "sweetness". Sleep is sweet (22-23) and so is Galatea (39)

l2(continued) otherwise tedious list. Locks of hair might be customarily dedicated by boys to a god (Horn. II. 23. 144-51, Aesch. Cho. 6) or cut off in honour of the dead as AchillesHid for his beloved Patroclus. (Horn II. 23). It is not impossible that Theocritus intends this particular relationship to be inferred from the otherwise perplexing reference, unless he merely wants to be original. Theocritus' references are rarely idle. 9

and the vine is sweet-fruited (46). All combine to give the sense of freshness and rusticity and add to the endearing portrayal of the Cyclops as naive. His unceasing love for her began on the day she was with his mother picking hyacinths. He knows why she flees from him because of his shaggy eyebrow and large nostril. If she could only overlook this, she would find he has so much to offer - herds of cattle, milk, and cheese and he is rearing fawns and bear cubs just for her. If she cannot bear the sight of him, she should remember that his cave is warm and so is his heart. The idea of the Cyclops in his desire to please, professing to pipe

and sing at the same time, is ludicrous (39-40)!3 as js the futility and pathos of the gifts he offers her, as well as his simple exposition such as the repetition of line 45-47. Still exciting no response, he begins on a new tack - why wasn't he born a fish? Then he could have brought her white snowdrops and red poppies. The ridiculous idea is followed by a humourously simplistic afterthought, that he could not bring them both together, since they grow in different seasons. His last attempt consists of the most unattractive assurance that she can shepherd with him, drawing milk and setting cheese (65-66). Having heaped the blame on his mother, as the young are wont to do, he finally recovers some sense of himself and contents himself that there are in fact many more fish in the sea.

It is quite clear that Theocritus is making fun of his subject. If the

Cyclops' drunken aspect is not in evidence, he is nevertheless being presented as a fool. In his demotion from epic status, he becomes an

l^Gow states that the intention here must be alternating music. Theocritus, 2: 215. 10

object of derision. He fails to realise that the girls' offers to sport with them at night (77) are a joke even though he reports that they all titter at him when he listens to them.*4 Theocritus' approach 1s gentle and humorous, but the humour succeeds on two levels. The first level is the obvious naive humour of the Cyclops' pathetic belief that he may succeed with Galatea and the innocence of his requests. The second level is derived from the irony achieved from the literary allusion of certain words and images in the poem. Just as Theocritus manipulates Simichidas in

Idyll 7, making the character say many things of whose true meaning he is not aware, so Theocritus finds another puppet in the Cyclops. In one sense, the Cyclops' character is a dichotomy in that he is at once simple and sophisticated. However, since he does not wilfully make literary allusion as a character in himself, but is unknowingly outwitted, the description is not strictly applicable. I will now review the poem in the light of the more sophisticated humour which Theocritus achieves.

The Cyclops is introduced as lonely and abandoned, singing to the sea in the hope that Galatea might be listening. Achilles is often depicted in heroic isolation beside the seashore^ but more precisly Theocritus intends us to recall Odysseus on Calypso's island, sitting on the rocks looking out to sea in longing for home.16 It is also worth noting that Nausikaa is leukolenos (Od. 6. 601), where Odysseus is overcome by her beauty, just as

!^Gow says kichlizein is of wanton or lascivious laughter. Ibid., p. 220.

15Hom. IK 1.488-492.

16Hom. Od. 5. 156. Gow understates the allusion: "Theocritus is probably conscious also of Odysseus." Theocritus, 2: 212. This is surely the whole point of the image. 11

the Cyclops finds Galatea's whiteness attractive. For a lovelorn figure to be seated on the rocks is not original, but 1t 1s unprecedented for the

Cyclops. This artificial combination occurs frequently 1n the Cyclops' song. The rustic images he associates with Galatea (20-21) are natural comparisons for a shepherd to make, as is the simile at line 24. Yet the language is complex, the alliteration widespread and the four comparative adjectives are so positioned as to create more than one chiastic arrangement.1? The repetition in line 22-23 is so simple that it must be a deliberate attempt to create an extremely unsophisticated Cyclops and yet the lines have a humorous "see-saw" effect, as one imagines Galatea scuttling back and forth in accordance with the Cyclops' waking hours

"...you come when sleep holds me, you're off when sleep leaves me." This is combined with the Homeric echo of glukus hupnos.1**

Galatea is addressed twice as kora (25 and 30) and in each case the expression is not a simple one of emotion. One may wonder why she is depicted picking hyacinths on a hill with the Cyclops' mother. Dover notes the flavour of Old Comedy in the figure of the mother-in-law and the language of 29.19 More allusive than this, kora is the Doric form of Attic kore, the title of Persephone, who went picking flowers in a meadow with

Demeter, before she was snatched away. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter begins

^Galatea is "whiter than curd to look on, softer than the lamb, more skittish than the calf, sleeker (phiarotera) than the unripe grape ..." (20-21). Phiaros (21) appears only six times elsewhere in literature. See ibid., 2: Z~Y2~.

!^See ibid., 2: 213 for references. l^K. J. Dover, Theocritus: Select Poems, (London: Macmillan, 1971) p. 175. 12

with a flower catalogue listing roses, crod, violets, hyacinths, and narcissi, the last named being the flower which causes the earth to open for her.20 Typically, Theocritus has not chosen the most important flower and there is also humour in the lack of the momentous event which the reader would associate with the picking of such a flower. Instead of the gaping of the earth, as the young heroine is seized by her lover, the

Cyclops simply fell in love - erasthen (25).21 Where kora is used a second time (30) it has both its extended meaning of "dolly" or "darling" and its literal meaning since it is significantly used in the Cyclops' description of his brow and the single eye beneath. It would be difficult (and surprising) for Theocritus to consider the Cyclops without alluding in one way or another to the well-known incident with Odysseus. This is subtly achieved with the ironic portrayal of the Cyclops, like Odysseus, on the rock (see above). This is stretched further in the triple meaning of akamaton pur (51), the fire which keeps him warm, the undying fire of his love, and the fire to heat the olive stake with whioi Odysseus blinded the

Cyclops. The allusion is substantiated by the following lines, "I'll let you burn my soul and my one eye too, than which nothing is dearer to me"

(52-53). The innocence of the request combined with the irony of the reference elicits laughter at the Cyclops' expense. Such irony is less subtly achieved in line 61 with the crude anticipation of future events.

/- 20Hom. H. 5. 6f. These five flowers are listed in the Cypria line 43f and are used" by Moschus at the time Europa is carried off byZeus (Mosc. Eur. 63f)

2lFor the Homeric background of hodon hagemoneuon (27), see Gow, Theocritus, 2: 213. 13

The Cyclops hopes some stranger (t^s xenos 61) may come to help him to swim and, since he has no reason to expect visitors, Theocritus' intention 1s obvious. Again, the Cyclops is put in a pathetic light, since his reasons for needing to swim in the event referred to are far from happy.

The self-address at line 72 has literary precedent in heroic monologues in times of trouble.22 The phrase ti ton pheugonta diokeis; (75) picks up ti^ ton phileont' apoballei; (19) and shows the change which has come over the Cyclops. It remains to ascertain whether the Cyclops is cured of his preoccupation with Galatea or not. Gow notices a discrepancy in aeidon

(13).23 Theocritus has initially stated that, although it is hard to find, the Muses (poetry and song) are a cure for love-sickness. Yet at line 13 it is while the Cyclops is singing that he is wasting away with love. He is shown as a useless figure, incapable of leading his life, neglecting his duties (12), and nursing the wound in his breast (15). Theocritus tell us that, by singing, houto goun rhaista diag' ho Kuklops (7) and the idea is repeated in the last line of the poem. No mention is made of an actual cure, merely that by singing, the Cyclops dealt with life more easily.

This is supported by epoimainen ton erota (80). To shepherd love is to nurture it and make it grow stronger. An idea of alleviation is required if the Muses are to provide a remedy and the reader has no assurance that the Cyclops is not going to sing the same song on the next day. The lack of any firm conclusion supports the contention that Theocritus is not concerned with the Cyclops' personal problem which he has invented within

22E.g., Eur. Med. 402, Horn. Od. 20. 17. 23Gow, Theocritus, 2: 211. 14

an artificial framework. The success of the poem Hes in the portrait of a novel Cyclops whose Homeric characteristics are retained but subordinated to other more human qualities. Theocritus has grafted the emotions of a sentimental adolescent on to an epic figure and created a literary hybrid of tradition and realism. 15

HERAKLES IN LOVE

Nicias the doctor-poet of Idyll 11 is again addressed in Idyll 13.

There are indicators in the first line that the two poems might be a pair.

Erota occupies the same position in line 1 before the weak caesura, Nikia begins line 2 of both poems while hos edokeumes in line 1 can be understood to refer to the previous occasion in Idyl 1 11. This may be a key to the fact that Theocritus is going to take up a similar theme. On the surface,

Idyll 11 appears to offer advice to a friend by using the Cyclops as an exemplum and a possible solution to the problem of how to cope with an affair of the heart. In fact, the address to Nicias acts merely as an introduction and an excuse to link the Cyclops with a new theme. In light of this, Theocritus may be preparing the reader for a similar treatment of character in Idyll 13.

The poem deals with an incident also narrated by Apollonius Rhodius24 but, whereas the latter account is closely woven into the framework of a larger epic theme, the Argonautic expedition, Theocritus focuses closely upon this minor episode, the rape of Hylas by the nymphs, and subordinates the event to a depiction of Herakles in an unusual environment. The poet is dealing with a traditional mythological character who is a well-known hero. Contrary to expectation, Theocritus inserts Herakles, famed for his deeds of valour and his courage, into a poem whose subject purports to be love, ouch hamin ton Erota monois etech' (1). After the neat four-line introduction Theocritus wastes no time in getting down to the business of

24Ap. Rh. Arg. I 1187-1357. 16

his poem. Herakles is proudly introduced as ...Amphitruonos ho chalkeokardios huios (5). The five-syllabled epithets are a deliberate

"mouthful" in the almost wholly dactylic line and while the epithet sounds

Homeric, it is unprecedented in literature and this prepares the reader for a new Herakles. The hero's divine parentage is ignored25 and line 20 is devoted to emphasizing the female and mortal side of his ancestry, Alkrnenas huios Mideatidos heroinas. The juxtaposition of line 6 sets the tone for the manner in which Herakles is going to appear, the lion-hearted hero hos ton 1 in hupemeine ton agrion, erato paidos. The object of Herakles' affection is a pretty young lad, "sweet Hylas, with his tresses still unshorn" called ho xanthos at 36. In a father-son relationship Herakles taught Hylas the very qualities by which he himself gained renown, to be agathos and aoidimos (9). These attract attention as epithets of Herakles only within the compass of this poem, since they must be later reconciled with Theocritus' portrayal of Herakles, as well as the charge laid upon him of "deserter" of the Argonauts. The gentle timidity of Hylas in this poem is a humorous indication of the extent of Herakles' success as teacher of these qualities and the manner in which he instructed his pupil is also suspect. That the boy peponamenos eie to Herakles' mind (14) suggests that he was moulded like a piece of clay and the implication of total dominance by Herakles is borne out later in the poem where Hylas occupies a servile role.

The inseparability of the pair is stressed by three similes at lines

10-13, each descibing a time of day in an anti-climactic tricolon.2^ The

25At Ap. Rh. Arg. I 1188, he is huios Dios. 17

object of the comparison is to elucidate choris d'oudepok' es . . . (10) and then to highlight the shocking event of their separation. However the transparency of such emphasis is revealed in the humorous insertion into the Homeric list of the rustic description of evening, "when the chickens looked twittering to their roosting place . . ." (12).27

The story of the expedition begins at line 25 and the narrative is set in motion. Theocritus' adherence to the epic style is shown by the Argo's epithets euedron (21) and koilan (28) and the description of the crew disembarking and preparing the camp (32-35) borrows from Homeric scenes of disembarkation.28 Such comparisons highlight the concise brevity of

Theocritus and the details appear otiose from a poet who is generally so selective and evasive of static narrative. The verbal similarities to

Apollonius Rhodius' description (374f.) have been noced and it seems likely that by such reminiscences, Theocritus is drawing attention to an alternative account to point the superiority of his own.29 One important

26The insertion of these similes at this point in the narrative pays only lip-service to the Homeric style. The point of reference of a Homeric simile to the narrative to which it alludes is often obscure. While illustrating one single point, it can otherwise appear to be a digression, e.g., Horn. IJ_. 16. 7-10. Such is the intention here, but even in Homer, these similes would more likely appear at lines 25-26, where the time aspect of the similes is intrinsic to the narrative.

27This is Theocritus' way of informing the reader that he is following Homer, only not to follow him. In the Palatine Anthology, an epigram is assigned to Theocritus which states Alios ho Chois, ego de Theokritos . . ./ eimi Syrakosion . . . Wilamowitz paraphrases this as^Homer ist ein anderer, ich bin~zwar Epiker, aber nicht Homeriker, sondernHh"ab~e ich meine eigne Muse," which conveys the sentiment "I am he who is not Homer." Cited by David M. Hal perin, Before Pastoral: Theocritus and the Ancient Tradition of Bucolic Poetry (New Haven: Yale University Press, 19"8~3~), pp. 250-253.

28E.g., Horn. II 1. 432-487. 18

detail in which Theocritus diverges from Apollonius Rhodius is in the pairing of Herakles and Telamon for dinner.30 The theme of the poem is the close relationship of Herakles and Hylas who were never parted (10). At line 38 the comradeship of Herakles and Telamon is stressed hoi[ mi an amp ho hetaipoi aei dainunto trapezan and Hylas is their servant. The reason provided for Hylas' errand is to fetch water autoi th' Heraklei kai astemphei Telamoni (37) and in so doing he meets his fate.31 The structure of lines 36-39 reflect Hylas' separation from Herakles. The unusual position of chalkeon angos echon (39), referring to Hylas three lines before shows Hylas as an outsider "framing" Herakles and Telamon placed in between. These four lines are themselves part of a larger well-balanced section (36-42) which may be structurally divided into 36-39, 39-40 and

40-42, where Hylas takes the central position in lines 39-40. Echon stops at the strong caesura of line 39, while tacha feeds instant energy into the narrative and resumes the action from where it was dropped at line 36 with koicheth' which neatly clips the previous description of the bivouac with the sense of "and he was off . . .". Hylas is now out of the protection of his master and totally on his own. The young boy catches sight of a spring and there follows a six-line description of the area (40-45). It is lush

29Gow, Theocritus, 2: 231, compares the accounts and links their difference to the dispute that was believed to have arisen between the Hellenistic poets about how to write epic poetry. Whether or not this existed and whether Apollonius Rhodius' account came first, the similarities are too numerous to be accidental. See ibid., 2: 238.

3^Ap. Rh. Arg. 1. 397 pairs Herakles with Ancaeus for rowing but no mention is made of messing by pairs. Gow, Theocritus 2: 238.

31cf. Ap. Rh. Arg. 1. 1208, where Hylas fetches water not just for this pair but generally for the evening meal. 19 and green and Nymphs dance in the water. Everything has the appearance of beauty and delicacy and at first sight Theocritus seems to be recreating

the idyllic atmosphere of his locus amoenus description at Idyl 1 7

(131-146). However the environment is not what it initially seems. The

dog's tooth is "spreading through the marshes" (eilitenes 42), the wild

celery grows rife (thallonta 42), a plant which is known to be "nurtured

from the marsh",32 the celandine is dark (41)33 and there is green maiden-hair (41) which is noted to grow particularly in watery areas.34

The scene is no pleasant pool, but a low-lying swamp of quite grotesque

aspect. Instead of adding a lighter note to the picture, the nymphs are

described as Numphai akoimetoi, deinai theai agroiotais (44)35 Their names

are noted to have been chosen "partly for the pleasure of the ear",36 but what is attractive about the girl of night Nucheia, who has eyes of spring

and Eunika, "the girl who conquers easily" (45)? The mock-heroic words

eros hapalas phrenas exephob¥sen (48) and the apparent oxymoron of eros and

ekphobein emphasize that in the Theocritean world, elements which are

non-violent in appearance can prove to be dangerous. The verb adds to the

unnerving atmosphere but in its suggestion of panic is also humorous, since

it is difficult to imagine Hylas being capable of instilling fear. The

32Hom. JJk 2. 776.

33GOW sees no reason why this plant should be so described. Gow, Theocritus, 2: 239.

34iheophrastus, H.P. 7. 14. 1.

35circe the witch is similarly enchanting and is also deine. Horn. Od. 10. 136. ~

36GOW, Theocritus, 2: 240. 20

spring itself is simply called kranan (39) and meian hudor (49).37 The water is black, the celandine is dark, the nymph 1s "of the night", and, although the time is not stressed, it can be assumed that it is dark.

Since the nymphs are akoimetoi, this suggests that others would normally be

asleep at this hour while the crew are about to have their evening meal.

Night setting is subtly implied by the similes of the shooting star to

describe Hylas (49-52):

. . . kateripe d'es^ mei an hudor/ athroos, hos hotejjursos ap'ouranou eripen aster/ athroos en pontoi, nautas de tis eipen hetairois/ 'kouphoter', o paides, poieisth' hopla. pleustikos ouros.'

". . . and headlong into the dark pool he fell as when some flaming star

falls from the heavens headlong in the sea and some sailor cries to his

comrades 'make your tackle snug my lads; it is a sailing breeze' (49-52).

The simile is proleptic. Nautas de tis is Jason, who will order the

crew to leave without Herakles. The star, the signal that the weather is

fair, is the cause of the order. Hylas is the cause of Herakles1 prolonged

absence. The star is pursos (50) and Hylas is ho xanthos (36). The

primary point of comparison is the movement of the fall athroos as shown by

its repetition.38 Hylas' small fall may be compared to the star simile which describes the long descent of Athene from Olympus, "As when the son

of . . . Kronos casts down/ a star, portent to sailors or to widespead

armies of peoples/ glittering, and thickly the sparks of fire break from it

37Ap. Rh. Arg. 1. 1222-28 describes the spring as fair-running, kailinaoio (1228) and the area of its situation "a lovely headland," eraton rhion (1223).

38Ap. Rh. Arg. 1. 428 uses this word to describe the fall of an ox which has been sTain by Herakles for sacrifice. 21

. . . "Jy The Homeric parody continues as the nymphs console Hylas with aganoisi . . . epeessin (54). However the Unking of the rape of Hylas with the departure of the crew 1s cleverly managed by the image.

Herakles meanwhile is put into a state of confusion 'tarassomenos' (55)

for his loved one.40 He races after him (oicheto 56), as ever, clutching

his club (57)41

There is something very boorish in his depiction as he bellows for

Hylas hoson bathus eruge laimos (58). The belching connotation of erugein

is supported by the more common connection of laimos with food rather than

speech. His yells contrast with the faint echoing cries of Hylas who is

close by, but in a terrain where reality is fused with unreality. Araia

d'hiketo phiona/ ex hudatos, pareon de mala schedon eideto porro. (59-60).

This is not the heroic world where lions are, for all their ferocity,

lions. Herakles is forced out of his natural environment into akanthais which are for him atriptoisin (64). His reaction at 62, like a lion, is

purely heroic and is out of keeping with the setting. Herakles is now the

victim of a chalepos theos (71) who is the agent of his emotion. Now far

from the Pindaric hero whose semi-divinity can overcome forces of heaven,

he is a raging lover mainomenos (71) whose heart is torn within him.42 The

39Hom. JJ.' 4. 75-77. Trans. Richmond Lattimore, The IIiad of Homer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), p. 567

40For Alexandrian philosophers this contrasted with the Stoic or Cynic sage to whom ataraxia or "freedom from trouble" was the highest good. See G. Karl Galinsky, The Herakles Theme: The Adaptation of the Hero in Literature from Homer to th"e""Twentieth Century~To~xford: OxforcTUmversityTress, T972), chapterTT

4lThis is a standard depiction of Herakles whose "remorseless grip" is frequently referred to. Pindar Nem. 1. 44-45, Theoc. 24. 26. 22

Insult of 1Iponautan (73) which the crew cast upon him, assures Herakles* removal from the heroic mould and the pun of "heroes" (73) and eroese (74) inverts the traditional role of Herakles. This time the crew are the heroes and Herakles is a deserter.43 However, the tone is light-hearted and the absurdity of the subversion of Herakles is stressed by Hylas finally assuming the divinity which mythology had attributed to Herakles, houto men kallistos Hylas makaron arithmeitai (72), as if the poem was an aition of Hylas' immortality. Kertomein (73) can denote a harmless dig in the ribs rather than moral denigration and it is in such a vein that the rest of the crew probably taunted Herakles when he eventually arrived in

Colchis. Lovers, says Theocritus, are schetlioi (66) and often do rash things, as Herakles did in momentarily forgetting his duties. Theocritus has a "practise of subverting traditional heroic figures by depicting them in postures of erotic discomfiture [which] is calculated to appeal to his cultivated readers."44 Theocritus' poem microscopically inflates a tiny incident in the Argonautic expedition to a full-scale drama whose hero is a timid and pretty young boy who meets a tragic death and thereby is raised to the heights of immortality. He reduces a mighty hero to the planes of ordinary life and ordinary love, where he is wholly out of place and fails both in his quest for Hylas and his support of his shipmates. Heroes

^Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 235, calls this "comic strategy". "There is grotesque . . . disproportion between the superhuman vigor of Herakles' quest and its sentimental purpose. ..."

43Lines 73-75 have been dismissed as part of the poem due to their prosaic nature and the criticism they openly cast upon Herakles.

44Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 235. 23

cannot survive in everyday life and upon this premise, for Theocritus, such heroes do not exist in reality. 24

BABY HERAKLES

Having experienced one slight upon his reputation, Herakles now suffers another. From a love relationship, he is now planted in the nursery where

Theocritus completely "bourgeoisifies" the legend originating from Pindar

(Nemean 1. 35-72) and presents the hero in the off-duty mood. There is no climax to the introduction of Herakles who sets the poem in motion, not as pais Dios45 nor as the valiant son of Amphitryon, but as plain "Herakles."

The flavour of the poem is set with poch'(1) "once upon a time."

Theocritus is telling one of those stories we all like to read and invites the reader to settle down to a good tale. However, it must be borne in mind that the beckoning finger of Theocritus is not to be trusted and the reader must be constantly on the alert for surprises. There is constant tension in this poem, which maintains many external manifestations of epic and remains true to certain details of the Pindaric account of this event but which also sets up as a contrast the ordinary human 'hum-drum' way of life in the manner of New Comedy.4**

The story begins J_n medias res and as an ordinary mother would do,

Alkmena is putting her babies in the cradle and rocking them to sleep with a lullaby (1-9). The following section describes the entry of the snakes

45Pind. Nem. 1. 37.

46It is noted that the domestic realism of Theocritus has been overemphasized, which has caused an off-balanced view of the poem as a whole. The realistic treatment is limited to 1-63 wnile Herakles' "heroic search for immortality [is] found latent even in the ordinary details." J. Stern, "Theocritus' Idyll 24," AJPh 95 (1974): 350. 25

and their strangulation by ten-month old Herakles (10-33). Iphicles' cries send the whole household into panic and they race to the scene (34-63)..

The prophet Teiresias is summoned to reveal Herakles' future (64-102) and

Herakles' early education completes what remains of the poem (103-140),.4?

The emphasis on the wome role is much in the Hellenisitic tradition48 and in this poem they are not only domestic managers but the head of the household, while Amphitryon is noticeably in the background.

The first five lines introduce all of the members of the family in one

sentence. Hraklea balances Iphiclea, with ha Mideatis/ Alkmeha occupying a central position (1-2), while the latter phrase stands in symmetry with tan

Pterelaou/ Amphitryon (4-5). Herakles is emphasized no more than the other characters, Alkmena is positioned in the middle of her two sons, and

Amphitryon is placed at the end of the sentence, juxtaposed not with a

standard epithet or reference to his birthplace, but with the name of the king he subdued.4y The babies are put to bed in a shield (4). This detail

47I treat the poem as an entirety of Theocritean authorship. However, where Theocritus chose to end this poem is a subject of debate. Theocritus' style is such that poems are ended with the minimum apparel of closure which is not a feature of this poem. However, the section 105-133 is an example of Theocritus' predilection for lists (e.g., 16. 48-57, 11. 10-11). A structural argument could make 87, 104, and 172 all possible stopping places, since these lines end sections which are complete incidents. One argument against stopping at 172 is that Theocritus likes to compose in diptychs, as he does in poems 1, 2, and 15. Lines 105f. would provide a part II to the poem, with Herakles' youth balancing Herakles' childhood. However, there are already two parts in the action before the prophecy. Also, line 134 is in keeping with the first part of the narrative, which stresses maternal dominance, hence it is fitting that Theocritus would state that Alkmena organized Herakles1 education.

48E.g., Mosch. Megara and Herod. Mim. 4.

49According to some accounts, he killed him. See Gow, Theocritus, 2: 416. 26

is Theocritus' invention and 1t neatly establishes the first tension of epic versus domestic. Weapons are at rest, the shield is now kalon hop!on

(5). A device of war and instrument of defence has become a children's

cradle. In the same way, Amphitryon's sword is described as ever hanging above his bed out of use (43). Theocritus lays weapons and heroes aside

and puts them in the nursery. The setting is cozy, the children have been washed and fed, and are sent to sleep with a lullaby.50 Yet it is not

total tranquillity. Theocritus deliberately upsets the harmony not only by

the mention of the shield but of the method by which it was obtained. It

must be noted that the reader is not wholly settled by the introduction,

not so much by the mention of the shield, but the fact that Theocritus

chooses to state the method by which it was obtained. Theocritus actively

searches for something which can detract in any way from the atmosphere of

peace. The tradition of Amphitryon's victory over Pterelaus affords him a

prime opportunity.5!

Amos de (11) is a signal that action is going to begin.52 A sequence of

gnomic present tenses (11-14) followed by the sudden aorist orsen (15)

illustrates vividly the impetuous attack of the snakes launched by Hera and

emphasizes the strength of her hatred.53 The jealous goddess launches her

50Lines 7 and 8 show Theocritus' interest in popular song, as is evident elsewhere with the shepherds' songs and also Helen's bridal hymn at Id. 18. 9f.

51Dinein (10) is used to describe the manner in which Alkmena rocks the shield. If it is correct, it has to be humorous, since the verb has the sense of whirling round and round until the babies would be quite nauseous! (Cf. Gow, Theocritus, 2: 416). Kinein may be a more fitting verb for the back-and-forth motion required here.

52See Id. 13. 25. 27

beasts at midnight (11-13).M Orion and the Bear are mentioned together in the Hi ad. 55 The epic flavouring is continued with hamos . . . tamos

(11-13) and polumechanos Hera (13) which transfers Odysseus' formulaic epithet to Hera. This is Homeric narrative with a difference and may also be an indication that Theocritus is going to use the Odyssey as a background to his narrative. The most important word is mesonuktion (11).

The darkness of the palace is a good setting for the subsequent illuminations, as the fires flash from the snakes eyes (18-19), the house lights up (22) and Amphitryon's slaves light their torches (52).56

The description of the snakes' entry is notable for its ambiguity

(15-19) as is the consequent reaction of the children. Although the sense is obvious in that it could be none other than the snakes who are the subject of the dual verb lampeske (19), it must also be remembered that there are two snakes and two babies. The snakes were last named at line 14 and are next referred to as to d' (17). Theocritus is being deliberately

53This aspect of the myth is an unsuitable topic for Pindar's poem. Hera's motive is briefly summarized as sperchtheisa thumoi (Nem. 1. 40). She was "nettled in her heart."

54Gow gives considerable discussion to the accuracy of the time reference at 11-12 (Theocritus, 2: 127-28). Theocritus likes to "play" with the standard description of "time when" and imitates the Homeric formulaic approach, often at a point in the narrative when the time reference is not particularly important, e.g., Id^ 13. 10-13 and 25-26. The technique is the same at these lines where th"e intention is to convey, in the Homeric fashion, that it is dark.

55Hom. IK 18. 486-89.

56Stern contrasts the different kinds of light which occur on a mundane level (the torches (52) and Teiresias' fumigation with sulphur (96)) and on the miraculous level (18-19, 22). He links the theme of fire to the common motif in myth of infants who are threatened from a fiery source and cites various cases where a childhood episode depicts an attempt to achieve (Footnote continued) 28

vague. He adopts the same technique at line 23. Alkmehas phi la tekna (22) is followed by etoi hog' euthus ausen . . . (23) where the identification of ho is withheld until line 25.5? Since the reader knows that Herakles is the main subject, one would naturally expect ho g_^ of line 23 to refer to him. Iphicles is not subordinate in importance to Herakles and it could still refer to either one of them. Thus for one brief moment, the reader may ask who is screaming in fright, so that the revelation in line 25 has the sense of "Don't worry, it's Iphicles!" Herakles' name is also delayed to line 26-27 ho d^ enantios . . ./ Heraklees, but it is unmistakable now to whom ho

Theocritus' account of the subduing of the snakes lays emphasis on the grip of Herakles. He attacks them chersin (26) and . . . ampho de barei enedesato desmoi,/ draxamenos pharugos (27-28), while the snakes tried to find release from Herakles' desmou anankaiou (33).58

Lines 34-63 relate the reaction of the household to the miraculous event. It is not Amphitryon but Alkmena who is first to hear the cry of her son, since she is the mother who is psychologically attuned to her

56(continued) immortality. He believes this is the reason for the fire in this poem. Stern, "Idyll 24," pp. 355-56. There is also the example of the infant prodigy in Hdt. 5. 92 where the baby Kypselos smiles at his attackers and prevents his own death. 57pindar adopts the same technique at Nem. 1. 43: ho rT orthon men anteinen. However, the unnamed "he" of Pindar is Herakles. Pindar ignores Iphicles since he is the unheroic brother and thus insignificant, so there can be no debate who the subject is.

58in Pindar's account, the snakes are in dissaisi . . . aphuktois chersin heais. (Nem. 1. 44-55) and in contrast Amphitryon has a sword en cheri (1. WT. 29

child's cries. It takes her six lines of "nagging" to rouse her sleeping husband, who eventually gets up alochoi . . . pithesas (41). The fact that the lights go out is pure comedy and Amphitryon is totally ineffectual, fumbling around in the dark and incapable of rousing his own slaves. He screams for them (ausen 47) just as Iphicles screamed at the snakes (23), and the servants eventually pay heed not to him, but to his serving-woman.

He has no reaction at all to the events of the night and simply puts the boy (ton allon 62) back to bed.59 The only sentiment accorded to him is at line 63 . . . emnasato koitou. The reaction of Pindar's Amphitryon stands in acute contrast: Esta de thambei dusphoroi/ terpnoi te michtheis ("And there he stood possessed with overpowering rapture and delight").60 There is humour in the incongruity of this brawny child being put under a woolly blanket while it is a notable scaling down from the saffron swathing blanket around Pindar's Herakles.61

The literary background of the bedroom scene is Odyssean. Theocritus indicates the source of his allusion by subtly hinting details.

Amphityron's bed is of cedar-wood (43), Odysseus' was of olive.62 The

Phoenician serving-woman sleeps by the cornmi.ll (51). In Book 20 of the

Odyssey, Penelope awakens weeping and Odysseus asks for an omen which is

59Gow remarks that it is as if he had been "roused to turn a cat out of the house or to shut a window." Theocritus, 2: 415.

60Pind. Nenu 1. 55-56.

61Pind. Nem. 1. 36. "The humane characterization of the parents, the sudden awakening of the children . . . the blunt return to bed . . . indicate a superficial attempt at verisimilitude". Stern, "Idyll 24," p. 357.

62Hom. Od. 22. 190-200. 30

uttered by women grinding at the mill (Od. 20. 104). At line 38-39 of

Theocritus' poem, Alkmena remarks that in spite of the dark, "the walls are

all as plain to see as if it were clear dawn." Telemachus remarks to

Odysseus that the house gleams as if it is on fire, mega thauma, and a

divinity is the agent, just as Hera is 1n this poem.63 Penelope takes

Odysseus' bow "from its peg, where it hung in its own case. . . ."64

Amphitryon takes his sword "which ever hung on its peg above his couch of

cedar-wood" (42-43). After the suitors have left Odysseus' palace, he

purifies it with sulphur as Teiresias orders Alkmena to do.65 It is

Alkmena who summons Teiresias and lines 64-102 detail the prophet's

prediction of Herakles' future and his instructions for the purification of

the house. The language of the speech is in the epic style. Alkmena asks

Teiresias for the truth, med' ej t± theoi noeonti poneron,/ aidomenos me

krupte (68-69).66 Her dominant role is further emphasized by the slight

change in the traditional exchange, as she says, "... mala toi phroneonta

didasko" (71) (. . . well thou knowest what I teach thee") which one would

expect to come from Teiresias as prophet. Teiresias mentions first that it

will be Alkmena who will be famous, then her son, who is not named once

throughout the speech. He is toios aner (79) and ... teos huios, apo

sternon platus heros (80), which implies he is big, but only from the chest

63pd. 19. 36.

64pd. 21. 53-54.

650d. 22. 481 and Id^ 24. 96-97.

66The sentiment is that of Oedipus to Teiresias, Soph. O.T. 359^_ Achilles to Calchas, Horn. II. 1. 85 and Achilles to Thetis, oistha. ti e toi tauta iduiel pant'agoreuoT Horn. 1. 365. 31

downwards.67 The ambiguity of 'greater' and 'lesser' is brought out in lines 79-81. Herakles 1s going to be "big" (toios aner 79) while all other beasts and men will be hessones (81). Theocritus' Teiresias does not dwell on any heroic deed of Herakles68 but goes straight on to instructions for purifying the house to remove any remains of this evil event (88-100). The

details of the instructions have many literary precedents which endow the

narrative with an elevated tone. Alkmena must burn the snakes and cast the

ashes away astreptos (96).69 The attention given to such activities is

comically exaggerated when matched with the lack of momentum with which the

incident was treated when it actually occurred. The transition to

Herakles' education is made by the linking statement that the boy was

nurtured at his mother's side neon phuton hos en aloai (103).70 It is

only at line 104 that Herakles is eventually called "the son of Amphitryon,

the Argive."

A list of the characters who helped to educate Herakles begins with his

grammar teacher.71- The old man Linos is huios Apollonos meledoneus

agrupnos heros (106) which is the kind of praise one would have expected

67"It is not^the brawny, big, broad-shouldered men (hoi pi ateis oud' eurunotoi photes) who prove the best at need, but wise men (hoi phronountes) have power everywhere". Soph. Aj^ 1250-51. (trans. F. Storr, Loeb Classical Library, 1913).

68Cf. Pind., Nem. 1. 61-72.

6yMedea tells Jason to return after a sacrifice to Hecate without turning back, Ap. Rh. Arg. 3. 1203-1208. Also, Soph. Q.C. 490, OcK 5. 530.

70Used of Achilles, Horn. IK 18. 56. and of Nausikaa, Horn. Od^ 6. 163.

71A1though Herakles was worshipped for his strength, as the prototype of the muscle-man, he was later intellectual!'zed. See Galinsky, Herakles Theme, chapters 2-4. 32

for Herakles. Theocritus is bringing into prominence the most insignificant of characters and inverts the genre by making them the heroes instead of the obvious candidate. According to other accounts, Linos was killed by Herakles when teaching him music.72

The particular function of music teaching is assigned to the unknown

Eumolpus while Harpalycus of Panopeus (116) is equally obscure. He is a suitable tutor for mighty Herakles, "such was the scowling brow that overhung his grim visage" (118). All of Herakles* schooling was arranged for him by phi la mater (134) while Amphitryon taught him to ride horses

(119-124) and gave him the proverbial lion-skin (135-36). Of all his great privileges, this item is the one thing which is described as giving

Herakles pleasure (136). Theocritus' attention to such a small object within such a wide framework of Herakles' life and experiences is a facet of his poetic philosophy that the little things (short poems, humble figures) should be valued in favour of larger concerns. In Idyll 7. 25-26

Lycidas comments on the singing of the pebbles which spin from Simichidas' boots and this is contrasted to the works which ignorant poets "... heap as high as the peak of mount 0romedon".73 inspite of all the heroic accomplishments he has been taught, Herakles is gratified by the simple life. A small, uncooked lunch, an evening meal of meat and bread and a short garment (137-140) are enough to satisfy him. He is depicted as no more than a land-labourer who leaves in the morning for the day's work and returns in the evening for dinner. The reality of everyday life is the

72Gow, Theocritus, 2: 432.

73Id. 7. 45-48. Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 174. 33

overwhelming picture presented in this poem, while the notion of hero Is satirized in the comic depiction of Herakles who woke up his parents one night only to send his mother into fits of terror and disturb his father from a good night's sleep. 34

THE TWINS

Idyll 22 relates two events concerning the Dioscuri and has a four-part structure. The prologue (1-26) imitates the style and content of the thirty-third Homeric Hymn to the Dioscuri. The core of the poem deals first with an incident involving Polydeuces and recounts a boxing-match between him and Amycus, the king of the Bebrycians (27-134). It is then related how Castor killed Lynceus in the battle of the Dioscuri with the

Apharidae for the daughters of Leucippus (137-211) and the poem ends with an epilogue, again in the manner of a Homeric Hymn (212-223). The poem is considered problematic because the incident concerning Castor is blatantly critical of the Dioscuri. The difficulty arises because Theocritus has initially professed that he is going to hymn, and therefore praise, the pair and also because the section focusing on Castor is incompatible in tone, style, and attitude with the section praising Polydeuces.74 The skirmish with the sons of Aphareus is not only uncomplimentary to the

Dioscuri but details have also been invented to make them appear even more aggressive and immoral.

The episode of Polydeuces and Amycus is an exempt urn of "good" behaviour and is set up as a contrast to the action of Castor in the second. Moulton explains the contrast as a stylistic comment and offers two explanations for this.75 The section on Castor is deliberately plain and in the

74See Gow, "The Twenty-Second Idyll of Theocritus," CR 56 (1942): 11-18 and Theocritus, 2: 383. See also, Anna Rist, The Poems of Theocritus (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, T9~78), pp. 166-176, and Carrol Moulton, "Theocritus and the Dioscuri," GRBS 14 (1973): 41-47. 35

traditional epic style such as Apollonius Rhodius would write, in comparison to the Polydeuces episode, which assumes the unprecedented form of stichomythia and is artistically colourful and unconsciously styled.

The respective success and failure of the first and second episodes communicates the message "see how unconvincing we are when we try to

Homerize our epyllia." Moulton also supplies a moral reason: "The moral

values at stake in the story of [Polydeuces] have a curious reverse echo in

that of Castor".76 In the latter story it is the rights not just of guests

and strangers that are threatened but of hosts and relatives. Therefore

Polydeuces stands for civilising values, Castor for the old heroic mores,

the code of force which Theocritus found as objectionable as the

old-fashioned poetry that embodied it. The whole poem is interpreted as a

comment on the style and subject-matter of traditional epic. As a pair,

the Dioscuri have been chosen as subject for a purely technical reason,

enabling Theocritus to compose a diptych, and both stories contribute to making a unified but essentially literary point.

The analysis may be sound and would be pleasing if there was firmer

ground on which to rest such interpretations, namely the literary quarrel with Apollonius Rhodius. Since this is only conjecture, such analysis as

Moulton's must remain without foundation.77 The historical reality of a

dispute regarding what is stylistically "best" is probably based on the

literature of the poets rather than facts existing outside of their

75Moulton, "The Dioscuri," p. 45-46.

76Ibid., p.44.

77For a discussion of the quarrel, see Gow, Theocritus, 2: 144 and 382. 36

poetry.78

The Alexandrians revered Homer. The aim of reworking Homeric verse was

to bring the poet into the third century and the poets' constant reference

to "old-fashioned poetry" is a token of their praise, not their criticism.

Homeric values may be dead, but not Homeric style. The presentation of

Castor is highly Theocritean in its criticism of the immorality of the

heroic code. It must also be remembered that Polydeuces, the embodiment of

all that is virtuous, takes part in this incident, even though Castor is

the main figure and Polydeuces is referred to only once by name (krateros

Polydeukes 173). Yet, the narrative states quite plainly To men

anarpaxante duo phereten Dios huio (137). This may be surprising after

Theocritus has just stated at 135-36 that, having dealt with Polydeuces, he

is now going to hymn Castor. If Theocritus wanted to contrast Polydeuces

as a paragon of justice, he would surely have excluded him from the

Apharidae incident. I will discuss these two episodes in more detail and

look most carefully at the incident involving Polydeuces which has

generally been neglected by commentators, who agree too readily that it

reflects Good (Polydeuces) and Evil (Amycus). This examination involves

close attention to the portrayal of Amycus and the conversation of the pair

(54-74). I will link my conclusion to the epilogue (212-223).

The first peculiarity of the poem is the treatment of the Dioscuri as

separate entities, since traditionally they are noted for their

inseparability.79 Nemean 10 of Pindar (49-91) relates the episode with the

78The Alexandrians made frequent stylistic comments, e.g., IdL 7. 45-48, Call. Aet. fr. 1. 1-30, Hym. 2. 108-112. 37

Apharidae to emphasize the mutual loyalty of the divinities. The important

fact in Pindar's ode is Polydeuces' choice to live and die on alternate

days in order to be together with his brother. Theocritus breaks with

tradition and focuses on them separately, although both are present in both

episodes.8°

The Argonauts land in the territory of the Bebryces and the Dioscuri wander off to scout the region. Lines 37-43 describe a locus amoenus. The

king is sitting out in the sun, minding his own business. The rock is

smooth (37), the spring ever-flowing (37) and full(38), the water is pure

(38), its pebbles look like crystal or silver (39), the flowers are

fragrant (42) and summer is about to begin (43). The peace and beauty are

emphasized to press the point that anyone entering such a place will

disturb the tranquillity. It is the Dioscuri who are the intruders. The

description of the boxer-king Amycus is like that of a statue - firm and

solid. The narrative freezes as Theocritus focuses on every contour of

this awesome, motionless figure sphurelatos hoi a kolossos (47). Amycus is

very large (huperoplos 44).81 His thickened ears are the mark of a boxer,

his muscles stand out like rounded boulders petroi oloitrochoi (49) and the

hardened flesh surrounding his stethea . . . peloria kai platu noton (46)

presents an image of a hard, round ball. Amycus' shape and size should be

79Gow, Theocritus, p. 384.

8°E.g., in the first episode ampho eremazeskov apoplagchthevtes hetairon (35). This emphasizes their joint separation from the rest of the Argonauts.

SlThis does not have the connotation ofjarrogance which it has of Amycus at Ap. Rh. Arg. 2. 4 huperopleestaton androh, but refers to size. Gow, Theocritus, 2: 389. 38

borne 1n mind for the subsequent fight where he 1s shown as blowing up and then deflating like a balloon. The description has verbal correspondances to the portrait of Homer's Cyclops (a sympathetic character for Theocritus) and Theocritus' Herakles,82 and should inspire amusement rather than terror, yet he is deinos idein (45). The general implication of this phrase is that its subject inspires fear. However the subject's reasons for causing fear may be varied. The chorus find Oedipus deinos horan because he is blind and in a state of neglect from his wanderings.

Odysseus is deinos . . . idesthai because he is covered in blood after slaughtering the suitors.83 Amycus may be deinos idein because he is mutilated as a result of his boxing career. He stimulates shock not because he is a savage but because he is so disfigured. Amycus is also described as megan andra (85), Tituoi enalinkios aner (94), adephagon andra

(115), Amyklaion basilea (122) and finally anieros (134). The latter epithet is openly critical but it is spoken by Amycus himself in the oath he is made to swear by Polydeuces and thus the latter has told him to say it. Similarly, adephagon andra occurs in the three-line section (115-118) where Theocritus parodies Homeric style and poses as the Homeric narrator who pauses for inspiration from the Muse to enable him to continue his story. The word is inserted to draw attention to the otherwise Homeric line and thus to inform the reader that the poet is consciously imitating

82At Od. 9. 187, the Cyclops is entha d'aner . . . pel (Trios, imitated by Theocritus at line 44 entha d'aner huperoplos and line 46 stethea . . . peloria. Herakles in Idyll 24 is also described as platus, or "bulky" and the parallel is supported by the lion-skin which hangs over Amycus' back (51-52). At Ap. Rh. Arg. 2. 32, Amycus has a dark cloak of double fold.

83Soph. O.C. 141 and Horn. Od. 22. 405. 39

and at the same time changing the epic style. The adjective also falls into the category of the other non-disparaging epithets which denote size.84 Theocritus does use traditional epithets for Castor and

Polydeuces, but there are exceptions. It is Polydeuces who is "grim to challenge in boxing" (phoberon . . . p_ux erethizein 2).85 He is also oinopos (34), an epithet of Dionysus,86 and the implication is deliberately ambiguous.

Amycus is charged with molesting strangers and violating the code of hospitality. The evidence for Amycus being actively barbaric is weak. It is Polydeuces who is the intruder and the aggressor, just as much as the pair are in the second episode. Amycus is provoked to anger, which leads him to challenge Polydeuces and his anger is justified. The Homeric code of hospitality is well established in a set sequence of: guest arrives,, is welcomed, bathed, fed, and then asked his name and whereabouts.87 Xeinos is the standard form of address and it is part of the ethical code that the native, not the guest speaks first. Yet it is Polyaeuces who makes the first inquiry of Amycus, chaire, xein', hotis essi. tines brotoi, non hode choros (53-54). The abruptness and impoliteness of this question account for Amycus' unwelcoming reply, "How shall the day be good that brings me

84Hesychius explains the word as being used by the Argives to decribe athletes. See Gow, Theocritus, 2: 397.

85At Eur. PTK 127 he is phoberos to look upon and like a haughty, inhuman giant.

86Eur. Bacc. 438.

87E.g., Nestor asks Telemachus and his band o xeinoi, tines este; pothen . . . (Horn. OcL 3. 71f). A similar ritual ancfinquiry is made by Menelaus (Od. 4. 60TTand by Alcinous (Od. 7. 238-39). 40

men I never saw before?" (55). He is taken aback by the .forward step of

Polydeuces, who draws attention to the notion of wrongdoing by his repetition of adikos in line 56. His very statement that Amycus sees . . . mete adikous met'ex adikon . . . (56) emphasizes its falsehood. In the first four lines of the conversation (54-57), Amycus is each time passive

in that he repeats the initial word of Polydeuces. Amycus' words are notable for their calmness, which makes Polydeuces' question at line 58 even more absurd, since Amycus has done nothing to merit being asked if he

is always savage, perverse and haughty (58).88 Line 59 is perhaps the most

important of the whole exchange, as Amycus replies, "I am such as thou

seest me, but I am not trespassing on your land." Amycus orders

Polydeuces, "Give me no gifts; I have none for thee" (61) which may be

construed in two ways: "Do not talk about gifts, because I am not going to

give you any, even if I had some to give," or, "Do not . . . because I

haven't any to give you, so it would not be on an equal exchange." The

first explanation is more likely in view of Amycus' increasing temper at

this point, but the second is possible. It is Polydeuces who not only

brings up the idea of gifts, but also suggests that Amycus wants payment

for a drink of water (64). It is also he who askes if there will be a

prize for the winner of the boxing match (70). Amycus' concern for acts of

hybris is further emphasized when he says that the prize will be the

recognition of who is master (71). Amycus has not been treated as ruler of

88It is useful to read the stichomythia without the names assigned to each line and consider which words are the more aggressive. At times the reader may feel the utterances of Polydeuces should belong rather to the brutal Amycus. 41

his own land and 1t 1s for this he Intends to fight.

Lines 80-134 describe the fight. Amycus begins at a disadvantage, with the sun in his eyes (86). True to the Homeric fashion, Theocritus does not spare the reader gruesome details, and two sentiments, humour and sympathy, dominate the narrative. Amycus 1s brutally beaten and it is when he is badly wounded and his face swells that Polydeuces confounds and provokes him by "feinting" blows (102). Also, it is when he notices him at a loss amechaneont' (103) that he delivers the most severe blow, at which point the great king is toppled and lies stretched out amongst the flowers (106).

The humour of the image provides relief from the realistic details of

Amycus' physical destruction. However, the gory description is dramatically exaggerated and comments on the clinical realism of Homeric descriptions of death in battle.89 The contrast of the blood-drenched, mutilated king lying in the flowers has a similar effect to the pathos elicited when Odysseus, after hearing Demodocus' song of the Trojan war, wept like a woman.90 The simile shows a side of the Trojan War which the

IIiad rarely conveys and allows a glimpse of what really happened during the war.

Inspite of his battering, Amycus manages to get up again and there is the amusing picture of this rounded figure with a huge swollen face and slit eyes now collapsing into himself like a burst balloon, lurching from one side to another. Theocritus gives the cause of his deflation to his copious perspiration (112). The humour climaxes with the idea of

89E.g., Horn. LU 16. 307-350.

90Hom. Od. 8. 521f. 42

Polydeuces getting stronger, quicker, and redder (113-114), while Amycus gradually diminishes to dwarf size, (ek megalou de / alps' oligos genet'andros (112-13).

Like a Homeric bard, Theocritus now pauses for breath and for inspiration (115-17). He utters the commonplace saying that he is the mouthpiece of the Muse (hupophetes 116), although in the epilogue, he is not only the singer of the songs his Muses give him but is also prompted by his own inspiration (222). Theocritus uses Homeric themes but his poems are his own. Lines 115-7 are somewhat contradicted by the insertion of adephagon andra, which is startling and makes the point that Theocritus is

not purely hupophetes.

The punch-drunk Amycus finally stretches up his hands in admission of

defeat and Theocritus addresses Polydeuces as if to praise him. "Then, 0

boxer Polydeuces, for all thy victory, no grievous hurt didst thou do him"

(131-2). After a fifty-line description of brutal wounding, it is hard to

take this seriously and Theocritus satirizes the hero who nobly spares the

defeated.91 This is capped by the hero forcing Amycus to swear an oath

against willingly (hekon 134) molesting strangers.

Rather than a contrast to the Castor episode, the story of Amycus and

Polydeuces matches well the theme of morality (or lack of it) to the

following narrative. The section deals with three pairs of characters

(137-211). The Dioscuri have seized the daughters of Leucippus who were

already betrothed to the sons of Aphareus. The rape is bad enough in

itself but Theocritus invents details to denigrate further the actions of

91Achilles does not spare his defeated, e.g. Horn. II. 21. 67-121. 43

the Dioscuri. Pindar delicately glosses over the reason for the battle and states that stolen cattle are the cause (Idas amphi bousin pos cholotheis).92 This considerably lessens the offence of the Dioscuri, when in fact the theft of the cattle is the result of the Dioscuri's paying no bride price for the daughters of Leucippus. Theocritus goes out of his way to make the situation worse. He makes the Dioscuri cousins of the

Apharidae (170 and 200) and the Leucippidae the cause of the quarrel, thus

securing the Dioscuri as the aggressors. He needlessly makes the

Leucippidae already affianced to the Apharidae and recounts how the

Dioscuri used both fraud and force to abduct them (148-151). The Apharidae

are presented in a sympathetic light. Lynceus is polite and addresses the

pair as daimonioi (145), philoi andres (154) and philoi (165). He attempts

to use argument first to resolve their differences, but charis d'ouch

hespeto muthois (168). In an attempt to give Castor some speech and save

him from total disgrace, he is assigned lines 171-180. However, it is

likely that all of the lines (145-180) are spoken by Lynceus and that

Castor makes no reply at all.93 In the ensuing fight between Castor and

Lynceus, the latter is put at a disadvantage when he not only loses his

sword but his fingers (196-97). He turns in flight and is killed without a weapon.94 Sympathy is further aroused towards the Apharidae when Zeus, who

92Pind. Nem. 10. 60.

93The reason against the lines being a continuation of Lynceus' speech rests on the difficulty of giving Lynceus line 173, ". . .my brother, mighty Polydeuces" as well as the loss of the initial part of this speech. See F. T. Griffiths, "Theocritus' Silent Dioscuri," GRBS 17 (1976): 353-67.

94The features of the battle description are again Homeric, e.g., lines 201-204 compare with Horn. JJk 14. 436-39. 44

1s against them, deals the final blow to Idas (210-11), just as Athena helped Achilles in his fight with Hector.y5 The gods help those who help themselves.

"Thus, no light thing it is to war with the sons of Tyndareus" (212).

This is indeed an understatement in the light of the previous events. The sentiments expressed in the epilogue are curiously ironical. Theocritus states that all bards are dear to the Dioscuri, to Helen and to Menelaus

(216-17), namely to all characters who are associated with war and destruction. Homer brought recognition to the Greek heroes who sacked Troy but the IIiad does not give praise to the Dioscuri (218).96 Theocritus states that to the Dioscuri he bears 1igeon meiligmata Mouseon (221) but

"soothing" is hardly the tone of the preceding lines.97 Theocritus sings a

Homeric song but he also sings his own and combines che opposing styles

into one: "... I bear the soothing strains of the . . . Muses, such as they give me and my own store provides" (221-22). The gods in this poem

are not praiseworthy. Theocritus asks the reader to reflect upon the true nature of divine action, which in the past has been respected because of

the heroic code and the freedom of the divinities, at the expense of mortals. Their actions are now being questioned and the idea of morality

95Hom. II. 22. 276-77. This act in itself is generally disliked for its deceit. See Conny Nelson, ed., Homer's Odyssey (California: Wadsworth Publishing, 1969), p. 86.

960nly one reference to the Dioscuri occurs in the IIiad (3. 236f) and even here they are already dead. See Gow, Theocritus, 2: 406-407.

97Ligus describes the lyre which makes pleasant music accompanying the sweet-voiced singer of the Linos song on the shield of Achilles, Horn. 18. 569. For the poetic connotations of 1igus, see Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 252. 45

is introduced. A poem which began by luring the reader into thinking it is yet another hymn of praise (1-26) where the gods are powerful and strong and have other gods on their side, turns into quite a different poem, where praise is furthest from Theocritus' intention. 46

PART II

INTRODUCTION

While the previous examples illustrate the removal of a figure from his revered pedestal to a level of credibility, the following poems demonstrate a reversal in the opposite 'direction'. I call this technique elevation, since the central characters are raised from a 'low' level to a status far beyond what literary tradition would credit them with. Such promotion questions the true nature of heroism and reveals Theocritus' belief in the necessity of narrowing the gap between literature and reality. Theocritus does not reject epic as a poetic genre, but he wishes to reassess the values it upholds. By imitating the stylistic features of epic, he tries to make the genre more accessible to the Hellenistic world. "The technique of inversion . . . allows Theocritus to prolong the life of the epic genre by transposing its language, its traditional subject matter and its characters and situations into a contemporary social environment and into a modern form of poetic expression."98

98Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 222. 47

THE NEATHERD

Rather than inverting traditional assumptions about a well-known hero,

Theocritus takes as the central figure of Thyrsis1 song one of highly obscure origin and endows him with qualities far beyond those generally accorded to a humble neatherd. Theocritus presupposes of his reader a certain amount of knowledge of a myth of Daphnis. Such a myth is either lost to us or never existed at all and the modern reader must piece together the facts surrounding Daphnis, which are only gradually revealed as the song progresses." However, his associations With pastoral and with love (although the connections here are ambiguous) make him a suitable choice for the subject of . . . boukolikas . . . aoidas (1. 64).

The song of Thyrsis (1.64-145) is interspersed between sections, with refrains of lengths varying from two to five lines. Thyrsis begins by putting his "stamp" on his song. While being a feature of both poetry and prose, it is also a wise security for shepherds who frequently indulge in singing competitions.100 Such competitions have regular elements of procedure which are observed to varying degrees in the Idylls. One of these elements is the relative politeness between the competitors which ranges from mutual abuse (Comatas and Lacon in Idyll 5) to the "Chinese

yyGow, Theocritus, 2: 1-2, discusses the various traditions.

100See ibid, p. 17 for the "signature" in literature. It is useful to compare the boastful tone of Theognis' Elegies (19-23). "I seal my words of wisdom with your name, Kurnos; no man can steal them now, nor try to slip his trash in with my excellence. And every man will say, 'This is a song that great Theognis, the Megarian sang'". In Theocritus' other amoebian contests only Simichidas in Idyll 7 marks his song as his own (7. 96). 48

politeness" of Thyrsis and the goatherd. In this poem the idea of

competition is maintained only in the structure.101 The first detail about

Daphnis is that he etaketo, (66) which is commonly used of the wasting away

of someone in love.*02 The reader may then presume Daphnis' love is

unrequited. The Nymphs are appealed to because of their absence at a time

when Daphnis needed them most. They are not in Sicily where they should be

(Anapus, Etna, Acis, 68-69) but in Thessaly (Peneius, Pindus, 67). The song

operates with a "zoom lens" technique, from the heights of Thessaly (67),

to Sicily (68-69), to wild animals (71-72), cows (74-75) and finally to

Daphnis (77). He is addressed first by Hermes coming down from the hill

(77), by his rustic companions in the descending hierarchical sequence of

neatherd - shepherd - goatherd (80-81), by Priapus (81) and finally by

Aphrodite (95).103 Hermes does not know who is tormenting Daphnis (78) while Priapus does. The girl is searching for him, yet Daphnis is duseros

(85). Since duseros means one whose relationship to eros causes an adverse

reaction in himself, the conclusion must be that Dapnnis is in love with

the girl but for some reason cannot indulge his passion.104 Priapus stands

101The goatherd promises Thyrsis the prize of a cup if he sings as well as he did in a previous competition (1. 23-24) and his description of that cup (1. 27-63) replaces the usual competitive song and provides a structural balance for the song of Thyrsis (1. 64-145).

102E.g., Simaetha, at the sight of Delphis, says, "to de kallos etaketo" (2. 83).

103The scene may recall Prometheus chained to the rock and visited by various characters. Aesch. P.V. 182f.

104At Id. 6. 7 Galatea calls Polyphemos duseros because he is backward in responding to her advances and there may be a suggestion at 1. 85 that Daphnis is being stubborn. 49

for eroticism, shown by the sexual overtone of his comment that Daphnis is

now like a goatherd who longs to join his goats in sporting with the

nannies (86-88). It is the greatest insult in the pastoral world for a

neatherd to be called goatherd, the lowest of the low. For some reason,

Daphnis cannot join in the dancing and this causes him much distress, as

Priapus taunts him, "takeai ophthalmos hoti ou . . . choreueis" (91).

The reason for his state is eventually revealed with the speech of

Aphrodite (97-98). Daphnis has made a vow that he is stronger than love,

"tu then ton Erota kateucheo . . . lugixein" (97). The verb lugixein is a wrestling term and the image here is of grappling wich Eros in a fight and

getting him into a twist of disadvantage. Aphrodite has obviously won her

bet since she is taunting and triumphant, and she approaches Daphnis 1athre" men gelaoisa, barun d'ana thumon echoisa (96). She is delighted about her

victory over Daphnis but holds back the visible expression of her delight

and "holds up" (ana . . . echoisa) or feigns an expression of grief.106

She adds to this affectation by calling Eros "cruel" (98).

Daphnis sees through the pretense and insults her in the tricolon

100-101. He is going to suffer punishment of death in the face of the

goddess and thus has commited some kind of hybris for which literary

106Line 96 has caused some problem of interpretation as to what Aphrodite is actually doing. Is she really smiling but pretending to be angry or really angry and pretending to smile? G. Zuntz, in "Theocritus 1.95f.," CQ 59 (1960): 37, says 1athre should not be translated "craftily" as Gow does but "not seen." Gel an is a sentiment expressed but it does not have to be outwardly shown. See Od. 9. 413: emon d'engelasse phi Ion ker. Homeric Greeks often hedu gelassan at the discomfiture of others, e.g., II. 12. 270 at the beating of Thersites by Odysseus. Aphrodite in H. Horn. 5. 49 boasts of her powers hedu geloiesasa. Aphrodite in this poem hits a straight face. See also Aesch. Cho. 748, where Clytemnestra "hides laughter" in her eyes. 50

precedent gives the rule that mortals who overstep their mark are generally liable to punishment.1°6 Just as Hippolytus boasted that he was immune from Eros, so Daphnis the neatherd has taken a vow of chastity or made the claim that he will never be affected by love. However, Daphnis has obviously fallen in love against his will. Evidence for this comes at

92-93 which relates that Daphnis "... bore his bitter love, bore it even to his appointed end" and in Aphrodite's words, "Surely, Daphnis, thou didst vow that thou wouldst give Love a fall, but hast thou not thyself been thrown by cruel Love?" (97-98). That Theocritus intends the reader to assume these facts may be supported by Idyl 1 7. 72-77 where Lycidas sings of Daphnis love for Xenea and how he katetaketo (76).

Daphnis eventual reply (100-136) occupies the second half of the song and comes as a surprise after his reticence up to this point. There is dramatic climax in the mental taunting Daphnis receives, from Hermes' mockery, Priapus1 insult and Aphrodite's complacency. Daphnis gives an heroic defense and a biting attack. Before this point in the narrative, the reader is to assume a timorous, lovelorn, lowly neatherd, who has

nothing to say for himself, who is duseros and amechanos (85). In reality,

the reader is being manipulated toward this view by means of the other characters. He is no helpless Promethean figure nor does he irrationally

and impulsively reply to his taunter until he is finally pressured to do so

(92). Although death is inevitable, it is self-willed and even in Hades he will get his revenge (103). Daphnis proceeds to relate three discreditable

l06E.g., Call. Hymn 5, Teiresias is punished with blindness for seeing Demeter bathing at noon. Worse retribution is cast upon Iliadic warriors who boast they are superior to the gods in battle. 51

incidents (again with dramatic climax) of Aphrodite's past. The first incident is her secret liaison with Anchises (ho boukolos 105) and the second 1s her affair with Adonis (109-10), neither of which Aphrodite would want to be reminded of. Daphnis proceeds to unearth the great disgrace of

Aphrodite's battle with Diomedes (112-113) and one may be reminded of her consequent whimpering to her mother when she rushes back to Olympus.107

The implication of Daphnis' challenge is that if she can vanquish him, then she must be strong enough to take on Diomedes again. "Daphnis' taunting of

Aphrodite is his boldest challenge . . ." and he "invokes epic battle scenes in heroic language" (112-113).108 He tells Aphrodite to approach

(asson ioisa 112)lu9 Diomedes and say, "ton boutan niko Daphnin.alla macheu moi" (113). The hybris of the challenge is expressed in the corresponding hybris of style. Daphnis' invocation to Pan at 123-36 contains recondite mythical allusion in the mention of his various haunts and is very different from the rustic level of the goatherd's reference to him at the beginning of the Idyll (15-18).llu In his challenge to Aphrodite, Daphnis has the confidence of a Homeric warrior on the battlefield and he gives her as good as he receives. As Daphnis dies, he orders the whole natural world to be turned upside down (panta d'analla genoito . . . 134) and he becomes the tragic hero who has suffered at the hands of Fate.11* Rather than a

107Hom. U. 5. 330-380. l08c. Segal, Poetry and Myth in Ancient Pastoral (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 196TJT, p. 40T

109Hom. IK 15. 105, 22. 92. ll0Segal, Poetry and Myth, p. 41. 52

Hippolytus, Daphnis is a Phaedra-figure who nobly drives himself towards death, rather than giving way to a forbidden love. The mention of the

Nymphs, as Daphnis falls into the water (eba rhoon 140), may be paralleled with Hylas' fate (13. 49-50). Hylas is also an insignificant figure who by his death achieves a dignity that is far beyond his Dast literary merit.

In comparison with the divinities in the'song, Daphnis emerges the superior

in terms of his values measured against their childlike (Homeric) behaviour. The humble neatherd is elevated to a truly "heroic" status with an "heroic" death indirectly caused by a goddess.112

The combination of rustic and epic elements in this poem is symbolically represented in the cup which is given to Thyrsis. The description of the cup (27-60) maintains a tension between these polar elements, just as the epic mannerisms and tragic suffering of Daphnis

intrude upon and upset an otherwise peaceful pastoral world.113 The two opposing genres cannot exist together and this is symbolised by the

reversal which Daphnis invokes upon nature. "Now violets bear, ye brambles, and ye thorns, bear violets ..." (132f). The natural world is

the most important for Theocritus. While the themes of the literary heroic

^Daphnis may also be paralled to the near-Eastern dying god, Enkidu, in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Enkidu is the wild man brought up with nature which weeps for him when he is dead. This can be compared with the adunaton of 132-36 where Daphnis curses nature.

112The Homeric gods frequently intervene and upset the lives of mortals. E.g., Athena instigated Pandarus to break the Greek and Trojan truce (Horn. II. 3. 72-73) and it is also Athena who directs the spear which kills him THom. II. 5. 290-296).

113See Halperin's discussion of the combination of rustic and epic elements in the cup, in Before Pastoral, pp. 161-189. 53

world still survived in Alexandrian circles, they were an anachronism.

Although Theocritus wished to maintain links with a Greek world which had now crumbled and dissipated, he did not care to revive the old heroic values. An ordinary rustic is set amidst an environment with which he cannot cope and 1n which he cannot survive. Vows of chastity, conversations with goddesses, and attempts to prove the extent of one's nobility have become rusty with age. 54

SIMAETHA

Idyl 1 2 is a monologue by a young woman, Simaetha, lamenting the loss of her lover, Delphi's, whom she has not seen for eleven days and who is reportedly now in love with someone else. The sixteen-line introduction supplies all of the facts concerning the central figure, Simaetha, who is not named until line 101. She is concocting a spell aided by a maid,

Thestylis (1). She is attempting to bring back her lover (3) who has abandoned her after their brief affair (4-6). He must be involved with someone else (6-7).114 Her ex-lover spends his time in the wrestling school (8). Simaetha, dejected and indignant, appeals to Selene above

(112) and Hecate below (12-16) to give her the utmost support in furthering her objective. The main factors are elaborated in the rest of the poem

(17-166), which may be subdivided into the Spell (17-68) and the Affair

(69-158) ending with Simaetha's wish for vengeance. Simaetha's monologue is threaded with a refrain which enhances the repetitious whirl of the iunx

Simaetha spins as she utters her chant. This refrain changes at 69, as she recalls how her meeting with Delphi's began.

The exact social position of Simaetha is not certain.115 She has a maid (1) and a flute-player, Philista (146), but no mention is made of parents and when Thestylis leaves, Simaetha says "Now that I am alone . .

." (64).116 She has borrowed Clearista's wrap to go to the festival (74)

114"Eros" and "Aphrodita" at once characterize Delphi's' interest -- he was not after an affair of the heart.

^See Dover, Select Poems, pp. 95-96. 55

which indicates a lack of personal resources. Delphi's probably enjoys a higher social status since he befriends Eudamippus or "horse trainer", suggesting the wealthier class. Simaetha's attachment to Delphi's and her inablility either to cope with her problem or to see through Delphis's transparent insincerity show her naivety. Youth may play a part in this, but this is only a possibility. Her age is not mentioned and to this extent the label of "teenager" is not relevant.117 A more incisive indication of her social standing may be derived from Simaetha's characterization. Her attitudes are those of a commoner and Theocritus is most unsubtle in his revelation of her bourgeois viewpoint. Yet Simaetha has also been likened to a heroine of Greek tragedy.118 At once a Cyclops, naive and desperate to resolve a love problem, and an awestruck Gorgo or

Praxinoa at the Adonis festival (Idyll 15), Simaetha has also the dignity of a Medea. By weighing each of these traits in the balance, I will show how Theocritus is manipulating Simaetha on both a high and a low level.

Theocritus's attitude to his protagonist is problematic. He is sympathetic to Simaetha, and the poem demonstrates the immorality of women's treatment and the injustice of their lot in life. Yet he also

116Comparison will later be drawn between Simaetha and Medea. Medea too is alone in Corinth, without parents or brothers (Eur. Med. 257). However she is never completely .solo, since the chorus is always present on stage. The absence of other characters shows the increased realism of Theocritus since this is a true monologue.

117E.g. Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 180 calls her a "lovelorn teenager."

118Dover, Select Poems, pp. 95-97, note the intrusion of poetic language side by side with the commonplace and draws parallels to show that Theocritus thought of Simaetha and Delphi's like Apollonius Rhodius' Jason and Medea. 56

pokes fun at her (and Delphi's) in the same manner 1n which he treats the characters of poems 3, 11, and 15. To this end, Theocritus creates what might be termed a conspiracy between himself and the reader, enabling the

latter to penetreate the facts as related by Simaetha and thereby calculate

the extent of her naivety.119 Simaetha is aware that Delphi's has been

cruel to her, but it is quite clear that she still wants him and, given the

opportunity, would forgive him. The uncertainty of her feelings is shown

right from the beginning, where she refers to him as ton emon barun eunta

phi Ion . . . andra (3). Simaetha is totally preoccupied with a man who has

not been to see her for eleven days. In her account of their first

meeting, she describes how she manoeuvred Delphi's to her home. From this

point (lOOf) the narrative speeds up as the important events take place.

Delphi's arrives the instant he learns of the offer and the humour is

maintained with the dramatic holdup at 105: ". . . no sooner was I aware of

him stepping . . . cross my door which falls flat when Simaetha

innocently chooses to mention only the effect his entrance had upon her.

Through Simaetha's report, the reader can interpret the obvious intention

of Del phis as he catches her eye then shiftily averts his glance to the

floor as one who has something to hide.120 Charles Segal notes that

Simaetha understands this to be Delphi's' modesty and that she goes on to -a cite his words innocently (114f). There is little to suggest that she herself has really understood how fully Delphi's' style betrays his character. The reader,

H9For a fuller explanation of authorial distance, see Harry Berger, "The Tradition of Bucolic Representation: Disenchantment and Revision in Theocritus' Seventh Idyll," CSCA 5 (1984): 10-12. 120Apollonius' Jason also does this to Medea but it is due to embarassement as well as his perpetual state of aporia. Note also the raising and lowering of the eyes in lover's bashfulness. Ap. Rh. Arg. 3. 1008-1024. 57

however, from his aesthetic distance, easily catches the meaning of Delphi's' exaggerations and inflated commonplaces. 121

A noted point of Delphi's' insincerity is the convoluted style of 114-116 which reveals his attempt to "think of something fast." This is supported

by his repetition of "I would have come, yes I would. . . ." (118). His

allusion to Dionysos and Herakles (120-1), Cypris (13) and Hephaistos (134)

and to battering down Simaetha's door (127-8) are dramatically exaggerated

and deliberately standard motifs. Del phis' hesitant stuttering is then

replaced by fluent speech, faithfully reported by Simaetha who

unconsciously conveys to the reader that Delphi's has now found his place in

a speech he has delivered many times before ". . .my thanks are due to

Cypris first and . . . lady, thou, second, hast caught me from the flame,

all but consumed.. . .' (130-33). Simaetha initially explains how

Thestylis was informed to tell Delphi's, "Simaitha tu kalei" (101). Even

though this is the kind of irrelevant information that Simaetha might

choose to relate, it seems unnecessary for the reader to know the exact words. However she enables Delphi's to use her name at 114, providing him with "the personal touch" and allowing him to create the pretense of

knowing the woman he is about to bed. Segal shows the contrast between

Delphi's' elaborate speech and Simaetha's simple language and striking

understatement. At 138 she judges herself tachupeithes and when she hears

the local gossip about Delphi's she states esti d'alathes (154).I22 Segal

l2lSegal, Poetry and Myth, p. 79.

l22Ibid., p 80. Gow comments on the unfavourable connotation of hostorgos (112) as "incapable of lasting affection, though not of passion." Theocritus, 2: 55. Again, it is likely Simaetha is unaware of the full (Footnote continued) 58

discusses these points as a sequel to his demonstration that the iunx is connected with "sudden violent love which offers no continuity" and that its use in the poem is ironical.123 Simaetha wants the lasting affection of a relationship but in her ignorance she is unaware of the mythyological association of the iunx. In her hope "for a happy, stable union, . . . the instrument to which she pins her hopes points only to seduction . . . and transient pleasure . . . the iunx by its very nature, can only plunge her more deeply into the realm of changeful and deceptive love."124 Simaetha is a victim of male desire, but it still remains that it is she who summons

Delphi's to her home (96-101) and she who pulls him down on to the bed

(138-39).125

In spite of any empathy aroused for Simaetha, Theocritus is openly prejudiced toward her attitudes and her sex. Her non-intellectual preoccupation with men, local gossip and clothing, pigeon-hole her as

"female". It was typical of women to have few interests of their own and

122(continued) meaning of the word.

123The iunx is commonly understood to be the wryneck bird which can twist its head in a full circle. See Gow, Theocritus, 2: 41 ad n 17. In magic, the bird was spread onto a wheel (which then assumed its name) with its head facing the wrong direction. The symbolic significance is that a beloved who i_s walking away may be turned back round and constrained to return. Katadesomai (3 and 10) is the key word meaning that Simaetha will bind and thus force Delphi's to do what she wants.

124An example is cited (according to Aelian) of a iunx being a land-tortoise who "fulfils his desire and then goes away". The abandoned mate, now pressed into the sand, is left a prey to carnivores. Segal, Poetry and Myth, pp. 76-78.

125In Aristophanes' Acharnians, Simaetha is a whore stolen from the Megarians. a 59

Simaetha makes frequent mention of Timagetus' wrestling school (8, 51, 97) where Delphi's spends his time. In a nostalgic reverie, she lingers upon the Dorian oil flask which Delphi's would leave after each visit (156).

Such a small object gives her the utmost pride to have some connection with her lover's pastime. It is again ironical that she muses upon an object of sexual connotation. At 108-110, on seeing Delphi's, Simaetha describes her inability to speak in terms of babies trying to call to their mother in their sleep. This has been noted as an instance of Simaetha's ability to

12 poeticize "beyond the limits of ordinary usage," 6 Dut ^ is more pertinent as an indication of her focus of reference. According to

Theocritus, this would be a natural parallel for a woman to make, just as

Simaetha also compares her stiffness to a doll's (110). Simaetha's monologue is filled with trivial domestic detail; she went to the procession with her next-door neighbour who was Theumaris' Thracian nurse.

Simaetha accompanies her reference to her with the superstitious euphemism ha makaritis (70) just as one might cross oneself at the mention of the deceased; she wore Clean'sta's wrap and halfway down the road, where

Lycon's is, she saw Delphi's and Eudamippus; the source of her gossip is the mother of Philista, her flute-player and of Melixo. Theocritus is equally sexist toward the men of the poem. Just as women prattle and gossip, so are the men totally engrossed in wrestling. Theocritus' suspicion of heroes is no milder than of athletes. The high regard bestowed upon them by Pindar had long disappeared amongst intellectuals. Theocritus naturally stands against the obvious forms of crude popular judgement; "brawn without

126Dover, Select Poems, p. 95. 60

brains" was not something Theocritus admired, as his portrayal of Herakles amply proves. Delphis and his companion spend all of their time in the wrestling school (98). They have stethea . . . stilbonta (79) while

Delphis steps podi kouphoi (104) and prides himself on being called elaphros/ kai kalos (124-25). Instead of lover's myrtle or bay when he woos, he chooses to wear the white poplar of Herakles (121). Just as

Simaetha is characterized by her child simile (108-10), so Delphis uses running as his only frame of reference "... with thy summons . . . thou didst outrun my coming by no more than I of late outran the charming

Philinus" (114-116). Theocritus can be quite aloof and patronising and finds many bourgeois attitudes deserving of ridicule. However, his interest in the activites of commoners is also a feature of the Hellenistic desire to amass and classify information. Simaetha's belief in the efficacy of her magic may be non-intellectual but Theocritus' interest in sorcery in the poem, combined with a belief in medical terminology, relects how open-minded the Hellenistic world had become.127

In opposition to her basic humility, Simaetha can be distingushed from a Gorgo or a Praxinoa by the literary heroic element of her portrait, namely her epic speech, self-comments, rhetorical questions, statement of passion and mythological reference. Since many of Simaetha's epicisms have been noted by commentators, it will suffice to point out only a few. She calls her heart deilaias (83) and herself me talainan (96).128

127For the information Theocritus provided on magic see ibid., pp. 98-101.

128Medea laments her sufferings in a similar manner and also invokes Artemis: Eur. Med., 95-97, 111-13, 160-63, 277. 61

Her retrospection about the affair begins in the heroic style as she assesses her conduct. She reproaches herself for being too easily won (ha

tachupeithes 138) and calls herself a fool (ha megaloitos 72). Her speech may recall Helen's words in the Odyssey where she calls herself "dog-face"

in regret for her past behaviour. Helen begins her speech with two

rhetorical questions just as Simaetha begins in typical tragic fashion ek

tinos arxomai; tis moi kakon agage touto; (65).129 simaetha is also aware of her mythological forebears, of Theseus and Ariadne (45-46), of the

steeds of rosy Dawn (147-8) and of Circe and Medea (15-16). Simaetha's metaphorical terminology of love as sickness is also a feature of tragedy.

Simaetha asks Thestylis for a remedy for her chalepas noso (95). The

instant effect upon her of the sight of Delphis is exaggerated and comical.

She literally falls to pieces, losing all of her hair and becoming mere

skin and bones (88-90). One can perhaps understand why Delphis never came

back. The association of love and illness is indicative of the Hellenistic

preoccupation with medical symptoms. Callimachus' Kydippe falls love-sick

for Akontios for seven months and becomes equally pale . . . ten d'heile

kakos chloos, el the de nousos.l30 Apollonius Rhodius displays a great

interest in medical features and describes Medea's emotion in such terms.

A faintness overcomes Medea in the sequence of heart, eyes, cheek, knees

and feet.131 The literary origin of such fainting fits is Sappho. In poem

129Hom. Od. 4 138-46 begins , "Who are these men? Shall I tell the truth or not?"

130Call. Aet. 2 75. 12. See also A.S.F. Gow and D.L. Page, The Greek Anthology: The Garland of Philip, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), epigrams 12 and T3~, and Call. Hymn. 3. 53, where he jokes about the doctor Ersistratus' dissection of an eye to find that it has four skins. 62

31 Sappho is physically disturbed by her loved one's distracted attention.

Her heart flutters (31. 6), she cannot talk (7-8), her tongue is paralysed

(9), lepton pur creeps over her skin (9-10), and a chill sweat idros psuchros pours over her (13).132 Madness is another conventional consequence of falling in love chos idon, hos emanen (82). Aeschinas in

Idyll 14 is in the same predicament after Cynisca has abandoned him for the

Wolfman and in his dishevelled state he is "a hair's breadth" from madness

(Id. 14. 9). More significantly, Phaedra refers to her love for Hippolytus as a curse of insanity and similarly confides in her nurse.133

The juxtaposition of the character trait outlined above demonstrates

Theocritus' elevation method. There is no actual development of character and in this, Theocritus' realism is paradoxically highly artifical.

Simaetha is not initially introduced as a chattering bourgeois to later rise to the respected height of an abandoned heroine. The opposing traits are concurrent and such an extraordinary mixture is encapsulated in lines

145-49 where the immediate context is domestic and tne language initially colloquial, but is followed by remarkable Homeric imagery. "But today,

131Ap. Rh. Arg. 3. 963.

132Denys Page, Sappho and Alcaeus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955) p. 21. Unlike Simaetha at 106-7 and Sappho, Apollonius Rhodius' Medea does not sweat, she only blushes, e.g. 3. 725. Dover, Select Poems, p. 107.

133r£ur. Hipp. 241 (emanen), 248 (to de ma in omen on kakon). There was a belief that a woman's insanity may be linked with her virginity and the best cure for the state of hysteria was intercourse. Phaedra's remedy would be be liaison with her step-son but since this is impossible the chorus recommends her to seek relief from Artemis (Eur. Hipp. 161-69). Further discussion of this is provided by M. Lefkowitz, Heroines and Hysterics, (London: Duckworth, 1981). The primary reason for Artemis' (Selene's) presence in Idyll 2 is her influence on sorcery and love charms but Simaetha's invocation to her and attendance at her festival is ironical, since she is hardly a virgin herself. 63

when the steeds of rosy Dawn were bearing her swiftly up the sky from

Ocean, there came to me the mother of Philista, our flute-player, and of

Melixo" (145-8).134 Having dismissed Thestylis, Simaetha embarks upon her

soliloquy. After three rhetorical questions in the tragic manner, the

style suddenly becomes colloquial and the mixture is remarkable. "Now that

I am alone, from what point shall I lament my love? whence shall I begin?

who brought this curse upon me? Eubulus' daughter, our Anaxo, went as

basket-bearer to the grove of Artemis, and in honour of the goddess many

wild beasts were paraded that day about her, and among them a lioness" (2.

64-68).

It might be said that Simaetha only aspires to the greater height of a

tragic heroine but fails to mask her natural mannerisms. An indication of

this occurs early in her monologue where she envisages herself as a "Circe

or a Medea or a golden-haired Perimede" (16). In her effort to remember

these names, she makes a mistake on the last. One might say she is

"almost" a heroine.135 A critical view of Simaetha would see her

performance as self-aggrandizement and as making a great fuss about

bemoaning her lot. It is important to remember that Simaetha engineered

134Such a presentation is an important mark of Theocritus' technique. The following examples from other poems, although previously dealt with, summarize thi£ antithetical juxtaposition. The Cyclops is ho Kuklops he- par' hamin/ horchaios Poluphamos (11. 7-8); Herakles is AmphTtruonos ho chalkeokardios huios/ . . . erato paidos (13. 5-6); in poem 24, having performed the wondrous feat of strangling two snakes, Herakles proceeds to hold out his booty for his father to see and epalleto d'hupsothi chairon/ kourosunai (24. 57-8).

135Gow, Theocritus, 2: 39_. It is likely that Simaetha is referring to the sorceress xanthe*n~Agameden which occupies the same sedes at Horn. II. 11. 740. ~ 64

the whole event and recalls every single detail to work on her own emotions and excite her spirit of vengeance. Conversely, Theocritus may be fusing these opposing aspects to reveal a real Medea. By removing the superhuman qualities with which literature has endowed many of its characters,

Theocritus shows that a Medea would probably have spoken and acted just like Simaetha.I36 Theocritus has deliberately created an inconsistent character and thereby shows that the selective nature of previous literature prevents realistic representation of the life it portrays.

Simaetha's language fluctuates from one level to the next and her character never quite finds its own ground.137 Although individual elements of

Simaetha are true to life, the final product is no more realistic than

Euripides' Medea. Simaetha is a literary-academic construct and a combination of incompatible strands derived from Homer, Sappho, Euripides,

Apollonius Rhodius and the local town gossip. To this extent, Strabo's description of Philitas of Cos as poietes hama kai kritikos (Strab. 14.657) is equally applicable to Theocritus.

136$ee Dover, Select Poems, p 95. l37See Segal, "Thematic Coherence and Levels of Style: Theocritus' Bucolic Idylls," WS 11 (1977): 35-68. 65

DELPHIS: A POSTSCRIPT

It is worthwhile to note the connections made in this poem between Delphis and Apollo. His very name suggests he comes from Delphi and he is often associated with brightness. He comes from the bright (1iparas 51) wrestling school and at 102 Thestylis is to bring back ton liparochron. At 78-79 his and his companion's beards are more golden (xanthotera) than helichryse and their breasts brighter (stilbonta) than the moon. The sun stands in opposition to the moon whom Simaetha invokes (as Selene) to be a counter-force to Delphis (at 11, 33, and 165) and whom she names in the refrain from 69-135. Like Apollo, it is suggested that Delphis is bi-sexual, when Simaetha states twice that she is uncertain whether he is now with a man or a woman (44 and 150). With Apollo's relationships in mind, it is striking that Delphis is juxtaposed with daphnan (23) meaning

"bay leaf" and being so-called after the transformation of Apollo's beloved

Daphne into a bay-tree. At 29 and 96 Delphis is referred to as ho Mundios.

Myndos1 close situation to Kos makes it most likely that Theocritus would be acquainted with their coinage. Of four coins known from Myndos, two have Apollo's head on one side while another has Artemis on one side and two dolphins (delphis) on the reverse side. Another coin is catalogued whose tentative description is a possible Apollo's head on one side and two dolphins on the other.I38 The association with Apollo is pressed no

138A. Forni, A Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum. London: The (Footnote continued) 66

further but it is an undercurrent throughout the poem. Theocritus is making subtle suggestions about Apollo, who is made to lurk behind the scenes of a quite different play. This is typically Theocritean and the reader is never allowed to settle in one particular environment. The association with Delphis delicately disapproves of ADOIIO and suggests that the gods' behaviour has so far been treated too leniently. Theocritus uses a contemporary guise to reflect the faults of tradition and as such, the presentaion of Delphis is an example of Theocritus' reduction method.

^(continued) British Museum, Vol. 18, Plate 22 nos 12, 13 and 14 and p. 138, no. 41. 67

THE GOATHERD

Simaetha has been called "the anonymous child of the city . . . who v

experiences the need to assert her importance on the scheme of things.139

This might be a more appropriate description of the goatherd in Idyll 3 who

is very much Simaetha's rustic counterpart. He displays a similar

combination of divergent qualities and like Simaetha is manipulated by

Theocritus to speak both on a simple level and beyond the ability one would

expect of a goatherd. The poem lacks the serious undertone of the second

poem and Theocritus does not invite any empathy for che nameless goatherd.

Theocritus creates a purely fictitious character who is the object of

gentle ridicule arising from the disparity of the goatherd's naive

stupidity and the emotional exaggeration of the sentiments he expresses.

The tradition urban ritual of paraklausithuron has been transferred to a

rustic setting where a leafy cave opening replaces a barred door.I40 The

goatherd begins with paratactic simplicity: "I go to serenade Amaryllis and

my goats graze on the hill and Tityrus herds them" (1-2). Gifts of apples

and goats (34-35) recall the jilted Cyclops's offerings to Galatea as does

the goatherd's first thought that Amaryllis rejects him because of his

appearance (8-9). However, he has obviously had some previous success with

his beloved since she peeps out of her cave ouketi (6) and has told him where to gather apples (11). He also calls himself her sweetheart - ton

erotulon (7) - although this may be wishful thinking. Just as Simaetha

l39Rist, Poems of Theocritus, p. 37.

140Dover, Select Poems, p. 112. 68

imagines herself to be a tragic sorceress and a victim of cruel Eros, so the goatherd believes he is utterly undone: omoi egon, ti^ patho, ti^ ho dussoos; (24). He threatens to hang himself because Amaryllis finds him ugly (9) while the fires of Eros slowly cut him to tne bone (17). Wildly overstating his case, his dramatic threats fall humorously flat. Amaryllis will make him tear his wreath to pieces and he will leap into the sea, but take his cloak off first (25). Like Simaetha he speaks with trivial detail, revealing the insincerity of his intention. He will dive from the cliff where 01 pis the fisherman watches for the tunny (26); he keeps goats for Amaryllis but Mermnon's swarthy serving-girl wants them too (35-36).

He knows that Amaryllis does not love him because the love-flower shrivelled on his arm (29-30) and Agroio confirmed this, while she was cutting grass by his side (32). His sentimental outburst and the song which follows only serve to give him a headache (52), at which point he lies down, maintaining that it is to offer himself as food to the wolves

(53), but more likely to have a nap.

The absurdity of the poem is stretched even further when the goatherd sings his song (40-51). Citing mythological exempla of men all of whom won their beloved goddesses, he makes the point that at least they attained their desire, however brief and tragic this may have been.141 The knowledge with which Theocritus suddenly endows his humble goatherd is completely out of character and further exceeds the realm of possibility when he mentions Adonis at the breast of Aphrodite (48). Segal notes that this depicts a maternal rather than a romantic relationship and he links it

141Dover, Select Poems, pp. 117-118. 69

to the representation of Isis and Horus.142 The mention of bebaloi (51) or

"uninitiated" suggest that there was a mystery-cult of Demeter and

Iasion.143

The goatherd "brings within the limited enclosure of his conventional and trivial amorous problems . . . the tragic universality of primal fertility myths. He compares his little affair with Amaryllis to an ancient hieros gamos with Demeter recounted in Homer and Hesiod."144

It remains to note that Theocritus squeezes an extra laugh at the goatherd's expense with the double entendre of 13-15, where he wishes he was a bee and could get into Amaryllis' fern-hidden cave.145

142Segal, Poetry and Myth, pp. 67-70.

143Dover, Select Poems, p. 119.

144Segal, Poetry and Myth, pp. 71-72.

145See M. Campbell, "Three Notes on Alexandrian Poetry," Hermes 102 (1974) pp. 38-39. 70

TWO COMPANIONS

In Idyll 7 Simichidas narrates his success in a singing competition with Lycidas, whom he meets on the way to a festival of Demeter. Events and characters are not what they initally seem and the poem has been

interpreted as alluding to contemporary poets and poetry and to Theocritus

himself. "It is natural to assume and it has universally been assumed ...

that the identity between Simichidas and Theocritus is complete."146

Suggestions for another identity of Lycidas have likewise been proposed and

again such suggestions are vital for an understanding of this most

ideologically developed of Theocritus' poems.147 I will discuss the meaning of the poem in light of the conversational exchanges between

Lycidas and Simichidas, the songs they sing, the identity of the pair and

the relevance of the final scene to the poem as a whole.

There is a nine-line introduction before Lycidas appears on the scene,

followed by the meeting of the two countrymen (10-26), the challenge by

Simichidas to a singing competition (27-51), Lycidas' song (52-89),

Simichidas' song (96-127) and an epilogue (128-157). The business of the

poem is speedily narrated by Simichidas. The event happened Es chronos (1)

146Gow, Theocritus, p. 128. Charles Segal, while following the view that the poem is Theocritus' Dichterweihe, summarizes the recent commentary on the poem and states how sophisticated the interpretations have become. "As a result of the criticism of the last three decades it will never again be possible to read Idyll 7, as could Legrand nearly a century ago, as "le recit d'une bonne journee de Theocrite a Cos." Poetry and Myth, p.112.

147F.J. Williams, "A Theophany in Theocritus," CQ N.S. 21 (1971) 137-45, E.L.Brown, "The Lycidas of Theocritus' Idyll 7,'"~HSCPh 85 (1981) 71

(it doesn't really matter); Simichidas, Eucritus and Amyntas were present; they were going from the town (ek polios 2) to the Haleis. All the necesssary information is provided in the first two lines.148 There follows a curious digression on the two illustrious sons of Lycopeus (4-5) ending in a brief locus amoenus description (6-9). The information appears superfluous. However, Theocritus' narrative always has purpose. Lines 3 to 9 are important as an early characterization of Simichidas, who is making a transparent effort to impress his audience by doing some name dropping. He then relates an incident which he believes to be a personal triumph. Blinded by his own arrogance, he fails to comprehend what a complete fool he makes of himself.

Simichidas's meeting with Lycidas and subsequent award of the latter's stick has been interpreted as Simichidas' (Theocritus') poetic

inauguration149 in parody of Hesiod's acceptance by the Muses on Mount

Helicon.150 When considering the formalities of the conversation between

Lycidas and Simichidas, two things should be borne in mind to offset the contrast to the situation Theocritus presents to us. These are the tradition of the amoebian contest and the Hesiodic precedent. A study of

148The scene recalls the beginning of Plato's Republic, where Socrates and Glaucon leave the town to go to a festival and on the way back meet Polemarchos.

149Williams, "A Theophany," p. 137, Segal, Poetry and Myth, p.112, Gow, Theocritus, 2: 142 ad 43.

150The Hesiodic inauguration was generally accepted in the Hellenistic world as a creditable experience for a poet to put into his own terms. In the eighth Mime, Herondas receives his gift of poetry from Dionysos and, more significantly for this poem, Callimachos (Aet. 1. 1. 22f) dreams he is visited by Apollo. 72

Theocritus' rustic competitions (Idylls 1, 5, 6, [7] and 10) reveals regular rules which are adhered to in varying degrees. Rules significant for the present purpose are (a) a meeting followed by abusive teasing, (b) a challenge, (c) the bet of a prize, (d) the challengee sings first, (e) a mistake is made, (f) a decision is made, (g) the prize is awarded. Abusive teasing is not immediately evident here, but the behaviour of the participants comes into question. The reader would assume Lycidas does not know Simichidas but his first words are spoken "with a quiet smile and a twinkling eye and laughter hung about his lips" (19-20). This curious action is repeated at 128-29 when Lycidas hands over the stick hadu gelassas,/ hos paros. There is a great deal of teasing in the first speeches of Simichidas and Lycidas (27-51), but it is highly subtle in contrast to the obvious insults of other contests.151Simichidas, playing the role of experienced herdsman, issues the challenge, but instead of a bet, the prize of.the stick is offered straight away. Simichidas is going to win it whatever he sings. This totally removes any notion of challenge and once received, the stick will have no value as a representation of

Simichidas' poetic capability.152 Simichidas is being treated like a child who wants to race with a great athlete and believes he can win. This is the only instance in all the rustic competitions of a prize being promised beforehand and if Simichidas was as well-versed in country matters as he claims to be, he would be insulted by the offer. Adhering to pastoral

151E.g., Id. 5. 12-44.

152G. Giangrande, "Theocrite, Simichidas et les Thalysies," AC 37 (1968): 530. 73

etiquette, Lycidas sings first, since he has been challenged. Simichidas does not make a technical mistake, which is generally the aim of an opponent - to force him into making an error of response.153 Simichidas' mistake is not subtle and the result is so evident that a decision does not have to be made explicit. The prize, as promised, is awarded. Simichidas is a tourist, having his day out as a herdsman and his peacock-like behaviour indicates his pride in having accomplished what hersdmen like to do. Unfortunately the laugh is on him. Hesiod's Muses are full of scorn for shepherds, calling them generically kak' elenchea, gasteres hoi on.154

Simichidas takes delight in his acceptance not even as a shepherd, but a goatherd, the lowest of the pastoral rank. He receives his "staff", a goatherd's stick. For Hesiod, his staff is "the visible symbol of his new rank as poet."155 He receives it not as a prize (xeineion 129) but a token of friendship like the child's pat on the head after he has raced with the expert. Lycidas is confirmed in his expectation of Simichidas' song and thus his initial laughter is resumed when he hands over the gift (128-29).

He calls Simichidas a sapling (ernos, 44) and as such gives one piece of wood to another.156 Lycidas' stick is old and strong (to lagobolon 128) and is handed to a weak and tender sapling. By this open offer, Lycidas is

153This may be clearly seen in the amoebian exchanges. For an explanation of Comatas' success in Idyll 5, see Gregorio Serrao, Problemi di poesia alessandrina, (Rome: Studi su Teocrito, 1971): 69-90.

154Hes. Theo. 26.

155Giangrande, "Thalysies," p.531, notes the verbal similarity of Hes. Theo. 30 and Id. 7. 129-30.

156odysseus likens Nausikaa to a sapling on Delos (Horn. Od. 6. 162) but the sentiment here is very different. 74

pretending he has been taken in by Simichidas' boasts (27-41) and his response can only be sarcastic "... thou art/ a sapling whom Zeus has fashioned all for the truth (pan ep'alatheiai/). For much I hate the builder who seeks/ to raise his house as high as mount Oromedon. . .

"(44-46). This has the implication "Oh I'm so glad you are telling the

truth, not like those others who In effect, Lycidas is saying to

Simichidas, "you are a liar and immodest." Naturally the hint falls on

deaf ears. Lycidas rubs salt into the non-existent wound by going on to express his hatred of those who blow their own vain trumpets (45-48).

By giving Lycidas the first round in the singing match, Simichidas

hands him the advantage, since Lycidas can set the standard. The most

notable feature of Lycidas' song is its positive quality. I will refer to

both songs in terms of their dulcis and tristis elements.157 The topic of

Lycidas' song (52-89) is his love for Ageanax, who is sailing to Mitylene,

and how Lycidas comforts himself when he has gone. The main elements are

hope, fulfilment and celebration. May Ageanax have a fair voyage and let

the winds be favourable (52). Lycidas' loves Ageanax (thermos eros,

56). If fair weather attends him Lycidas will wreathe his brows with

flowers, drink wine and eat beans (63-66). He will have the warmth of a

fire, food and a soft couch (piomai malakos 69) to the accompaniment of two

shepherds. The subjects of their songs, internal to Lycidas' song (71-89),

are Daphnis and Comatas. Daphnis' unrequited love tor Xenea and the fate

of Comatas detract from the dulcis tone of the song as a whole. However

157yerg. Ec. 7. 8-15 illustrates this method of comparison, dulcior is matched by amarior, candidior by horridior. In each case, the response is inferior. 75

nature has a positive response to both figures.lbU Simichidas' reply

(91-95), a prelude to his own song, is not in tune with his previously feigned modesty (27-41). On both occasions, he addresses Lycidas as Lukida phi 1 e (27 and 91) and at 27-29 he concedes Lycidas his expertise as a piper, suriktan meg' hupeirochon (28). Simichidas also dons the cloak of

'herdsman' and says he is glad Lycidas is successful and yet kat' emon noon isopharizein/ elpomai (30-31). Simichidas believes his boasts will lure

Lycidas into a competition and that his challenges may strike Lycidas' competitive spirit. After all, this is what herdsmen do before they sing

(the abusive teasing element). Simichidas assumes that Lycidas, as a fellow countryman, has the whole day to spend with him (xuna gar hodos xuna de kai aos, 35) and issues the challenge (boukoliasdometha) believing they may perhaps both learn something from each other (36). His excitability is demonstrated by his mounting self-praise, from doubt to assertion of fact.

"I too am a clear voice of the Muse and all call me the best of singers"

(37-38).159 Simichidas continues with his clever lictle game. Thinking that he may have gone too far with this previous boast, he retracts from it by saying that of course he does not believe them (38-39). This is followed by the biggest boast of all, as Simichidas informs Lycidas that he cannot be that good, since, in his opinion, kat' emon noon (39), he is not yet ready to compete with Sicelidas or Philetas! Simichidas is delighted with his own cunning and finds it necessary to inform his audience that his words have all been part of his act. Hos ephamen epitades (42) has the

158For Daphnis at 74 and Comatas at 80-82.

159Pind. 01. 6. 91f. 76

sense of a dig in the ribs to a friend whom he wants to be in on the joke.

"You see, I was doing it on purpose - do you get it?" Simichidas' audience is of course ahead of him.

The process of separation by which a narrator comes to stand apart from the character he is creating is now complete. The reader only gradually becomes aware that Simichidas is not speaking for himself and that, on a higher level, authorial manipulation is taking place. It is the process of revelation from author to reader, and exists as a "process" only in the sphere of the reader's realization of the author's technique.160 In the interval between the two songs (90-95), Simichidas is made to adopt the

Hesiodic pose "... the nymphs have taught me as I tended my herds ..."

(92). 161 since the reader knows Simichidas is not a herdsman, it is evident that Simichidas is a mouthpiece for Theocritus and, as a fictitious character, is not conscious of the meaning of his words or their origin.

Simichidas proposes to select from his repertoire of songs not any one, but the very best (panton meg' hupeirochon, 94). It is also worth noting the comparison of his pompous command all' hupakouson (95) and Lycidas' own request to Simichidas hore, philos, ei toi areskei/ touth' (50-51).

It is surprising that Simichidas' song is not universally acknowledged as "bad". The point of the 'game' is that Simichidas must match in some way the features of his opponent's song. If Lycidas' song is dulcis then so must Simichidas' be. Simichidas knows he must put his "stamp" on his song, as Lycidas did (55). He must also sing about love. He obviously has

160See Berger, "Bucolic Representation," pp. 10-15.

161The Muses are replaced by Nymphs; Segal, Poetry and Myth, p. 130. 77

a suitable song in store and adapts it for the present purposes. Lycidas sang of his own "hot love" for a boy. Simichidas solves his problem by attaching two lines to the beginning of his ready-made piece, lines about his love for a girl (96-7). Having done this, he is going to sing not of his own, but of someone else's (Aratus') love for a boy. The following digression on Aristis (99-102) appears superfluous but functions beyond

Simichidas' awareness (see below). For Simichidas they are "padding" and a chance to show his verbal dexterity with the pun on the name esthlos aner, meg' aristos (100), even though the phrase is cliched. In only seven lines six different characters have been named. This is a feature of the rest of the song, as names of places, tribes, and rivers are scattered throughout, accumulating at 111-116, where there are two references in almost every line. Simichidas' attempt to be sophisticated and display his learning only makes the reader confused. Such references are a feature of the learned style of Alexandrian "scholar-poets", a style which Theocritus is exaggerating through Simichidas. This confusion is added to by the paradoxical lack of important information. Aratus loves an unnamed boy

(102): let Pan come and put him (ton) in the arms of another, tenoio (104), whom one may presume is Aratus; Pan shall put either Philinus or someone else in his arms; Aratus is aflame to his very marrow with love for the boy

(102), but if Pan cannot find Philinus, then anyone will do.

The central section, addressed to Pan (106-114), is highly repetitive, mentioning six kinds of revenge to be taken on the god if he will not give help. The invocation complete, the subject switches again, this time calling upon the loves to wound Philinus (115-119). The song ends with reference to another unknown, Moion, and is framed with superstitious 78

statements similar to the goatherd's speech in Idyll 3. The main feature of Simichidas' song is unfulfilled love and thus it is tristis. Lines

109-114 are wholly negative: may Pan be bitten, scratched, sleep in nettles and cold, desolate places. Even in summer may he be as far away as possible. If Pan will consent to help, then one would expect him to be duly rewarded and praised. Instead, the wish is in the negative sense and refers to unpleasant flogging. "May you not be flogged ..." (106-108).

When positive aspects are mentioned, the sweet stream of Hyetis (115) and

Oecus, seat of golden-haired Dione (116), Pan must leave these places behind. Phi linus is to be delivered to numbing pain and strangled

(123-125). It is fitting that the final prayer hopes that unlovely (me kala) things be kept away (127).

Theocritus' technique of up- and downgrading traditional figures may be seen in a most complex form in this poem, where the inversion method takes place in what may be described as a "see-saw" fashion. Simichidas the townsman (superior) meets a smelly goatherd (inferior). Simichidas then tries to assert his superiority in song-making in the role of an inferior being (goatherd) and unwittingly proves himself inferior. Simichidas casts himself as poet, Theocritus casts him as an unsuccessful "would-be" poet.

Lycidas rises from the lowest postion of goatherd to the highest position, in literary terms, of successful poet. This leads one to probe further into what kind of being Lycidas actually is.

Commentators have seen that Lycidas may be a god dressed up as a goatherd. This is supported by the parallels to the epic motif of Mortal encountering Deity. The meeting imitates closely Odysseus' encounter with the swineherd, Eumaeus.162 Also, Athena appears to Odysseus andri demas 79

eikuia neoi . . . and smiles at him, which provides a further explanation

for Lycidas' mysterious smile (in addition to his obvious amusement at

163 Simichidas). \n Book 24 of the IIiad, Hermes appears to Priam kouroi .

. . eoikos (347) at the moment when he has just passed the tomb of IIus.

There is close verbal similarity of Lycidas' first question to Simichidas

(21-23) and Hermes' words when he asks Priam, "where . . . are you thus

guiding your mules . . . through the immortal night while other mortals are

sleeping?"164 Lycidas' substitution of country elements adds humour to

the allusion and is another aspect of Theocritus' fusion of divergent

literary elements. Lines 13-14 of the four-and-a-half line description of

Lycidas are deliberatley ambiguous ...es d'aipolos, oude ke tis nin

/egnoiesen idon, epei aipoloi exoch' eoikei. The attention given to

Lycidas' appearance is intentionally prolonged, as is the emphasis on how

like a goatherd he is. "... He was exceedingly like a goatherd" can mean

he was like one because he actually was one or, that he was only like one

and not one at all. This latter meaning is more probable, since the

presentation has epic parallels and is part of Theocritus' reversal of the

epic motif.166 The point of Lycidas' unsavoury appearance is to provide

the contrast to the shining, youthful appearance of Homeric gods in

disguise.

162See Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 226-27.

163Hom. Od. 13. 222 and 287.

164Hom. Il_. 24. 362-63.

166For the method of Umkehrung, see Giangrande, "Thalysies," pp. 494-531 passim. 80

Williams gives the specific identification of Lycidas as Apollo. This is derived from the name Lycidas, his place of origin, (Kudonikos aner) and his destination, Pyxa.166 Elaborating on these "carefully planted clues",

Williams goes on to point out the irony in Lycidas' words (45-46) where he refers to mount Oromedon, because this alludes specifically to the cult of

Apollo. Lycidas' words may then be reinterpreted as meaning "I hate the poet (tekton) who thinks he is as good as I (Apollo) am!" In addition, when Simichidas' refers to Aristis in his song, he calls him a man "whom

Phoebus himself would not grudge ... to sing" (100-101). Theocritus has used an opportunity here to plant another lead to Apollo and this also emphasizes Simichidas' ignorance of whom he is competing with. A less pointed suggestion of Apollo may be contained in Lycidas' own song when he gives the places of origin of the two shepherds who will pipe to him heis men Acharneus,/ heis de Lukopitas (71-72). Acharneus refers to the Attic deme Acharnes and as such is another random place name, characteristic of

Theocritus' purely colourful geography.167 The word may also suggest ha

Charneos, the festival of Charneias which celebrates Apollo. The allusion in Lukopitas is not so clear, but it is significant that Lukoreia was a village in Delphi.168 Thus, the final "back-slide" in the inversion technique is that Lycidas is simultaneouly up- and downgraded. As a goatherd, he is elevated to the position of an accomplished poet, even of

166Williams, "A Theophany," pp. 138-140.

167Gow, Theocritus, 2: 150 ad 71f.

168Luko*reia: polis Del phi dos. en hjM timatai Apollon. Cf. R. Pfeiffer, Callimachus, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1953) 1: 68. Lukoreus appears first in Call. Ly. 2. 18 as a cognomen of Apollo. 81

the god of poetry himself. As Apollo, he is reduced to the level of a rough-looking goatherd, who smells of rennet. It remains to discover why

Apollo in particular should be chosen as the god to confront Simichidas.

Apollo is traditionally connected with herdsmen and is god of poetry. In

Callimachus' poetic inauguration Apollo appears to Callimachus in a dream as Apollon Lukios and tells Callimachus what is good and bad poetry.169

Similarly, in this poem, Simichidas as a trial poet is informed by Lycidas what kind of poetry is the best (45-48).

The singing match over, the pair go their separate ways and Simichidas lies down with his friends in what appears to be the perfect place

(131-157). "The dusky cicadas were busy with their chatter" (tettiges

lalageuntes echon ponon, 139), "while far-away the tree-frog cried in the

dense thorn-brake" ( ha d'ololugon / telothen en pukinaisi baton truzesken

akanthais, 140). Such words would be highly significant within the

Hellenistic circle. Callimachus compares himself to a cicada and according

to Plato, the cicada is the favourite of the Muses.170 The goatherd awards

the cup,to Thyrsis because he sings better than the cicada.171 Truzesken

(140) recalls the grouching of Callimachus' enemy poets, the Telechines, who epitruzousin his work.172 The tree-frog grumbles in the dense

thorn-brake. Akanthobatai is the name given to a clan of grammarians who

169Call. Aet. 1. 1. 22. See Williams, "A Theophany," p. 141 and 144-45.

170Call. Aet. 1. fr.l. 29-35, Plat., Phaed. 259.

171 J_d. 1. 148. akris is analogous to tettix and is used symbolically of poetry, see ,Id. 7. 41 and Id. 1. 52.

172Call. Aet. 1. fr.l. 1. 82

tear up others' poetry by the roots, "... unhappy bookworms that walk on thorns".173 The scene at the end of this poem is of the "good" poets doing their work (echon ponon, 130)174 while the threatening critics are always present, but are only in the background and ineffectual. The presence of the tree-frog merely unsettles the otherwise harmonious occasion. A similarly disconcerting effect is produced by the two mythological allusions (148-152). These examples introduce an unwanted sinister note into the most relaxed of scenes. Both are instances of heroes (Herakles and Odysseus) intruding into rustic scenes and the outcome of their intervention is violent in both cases.

Sacred water (hieron hudor 136) falls nearby. Later, the Castalian

Nymphs "mingle" nektar for the friends to drink (153-154). The Castalian

Nymphs are pure water, while nektar (153) is very strong wine.176 The

Hellenistic poets recognized a tradition of describing poets as either water- or wine-drinkers.176 Theocritus advocates mixing strong wine and pure water (153-154). In poetic terms, Theocritus is saying good poetry can be produced using the techniques of a Callimachus and a Homer. This is

173A.P. 11 322.

174For the connotations of ponein, see Berger, "Bucolic Representation," pp. 17-19.

175polyphemos is served nektar by Odysseus. Horn. Od. 9. 359.

176A group of "thorn-gathering poets" (. . . poieton phulon akanthologon A.P. 11. 20. 2) is criticized because they write decorative and pedantic verse. Such poets drink 1i ton hudor from krenes . . . hi eres (4) and are contrasted with Archilochus and Homer who are wine-drinkers. Callimachus is proud of the fact that he is a water-drinker, Aet. 1. fr.l. 32-34. See also, Call. Aet. 1. fr.178. 85 (a party), and fr.BTR, against Archilochus' drunkeness. Gow and Page, The Garland of Philip cites Hor. Ep. 1. 19. 1. vivere non possunt carmina 7~quae scribuntur aquae potoribus. 83

his recipe for the best kind of poetry and is precisely the practise

Theocritus follows. Just as a fan winnows the pure corn from the chaff

(155-156), so Theocritus ends his poem by planting his shovel in the heap of corn, having got rid of the worst kinds of verse and leaving only the best of poems. 84

CONCLUSION

If art reflects life, then life for Theocritus is complex. His presentation of characters as fusions of differing levels of language and attitudes bespeaks a world where people and values are inconstant. It is a world where a Herakles can fall in love or a Simaetha can recall Theseus and Ariadne. The victories of Philip and Alexander had greatly affected the Greek world with the result that "[i]n huge countries like Egypt and

Syria,Greek communities, surrounded by a sea of alien subjects, hugged their education and their language as marks of their status and as reminders of what they were and what they were resolved to remain."177 By the time of Alexander's death, suspicion and cynicism had been aroused amongst the intelligentsia towards the image of a conqueror. Homeric verse offers an insight into the reality of war only rarely and indirectly but when it does, it betrays the truth about the consequences of heroic behaviour. The Trojan war occurred because the law of hospitable conduct had been violated. Menelaus defended his rights while others sought to gain glory by dying on the battlefield. Upon hearing the story of the war,

Odysseus wept

As a woman weeps, lying over the body of her dear husband,/ who fell fighting for her city and people as he tried to beat off the pitiless day from city and children;/ she sees him dying and gasping for breath,/ and winding her body about him she cries high and shrill, while the men behind her,/ hitting her with their spear butts on the back and the

177K. J. Dover, ed., Ancient Greek Literature, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980) p.134. 85

shoulders,/ force her up and lead her away into slavery, to have hard work and sorrow,/ and her cheeks are wracked with pitiful weeping.1-'8

This is what really happened at Troy, but the nature of epic is such that reality is hidden behind a screen of artifice. Human beings do not perform miracles, they do not have superhuman strength, nor do they converse in elaborate language. In his panegyric of Hiero, Theocritus states the importance of not rising above one's station.

"It is ever the task of Zeus' daughters, ever that of bards, to hymn the immortals and the glorious deeds of heroes. The Muses are goddesses and hymn their fellow-gods, but we are mortals here below, and, being such, of mortals let us sing".!?9 Theocritus rejects the pretensions of the heroic code and is thankful that Homer benefited civilisation not with

Achilles or Agamemnon, but with the Cyclops, the swineherd Eumaeus,

Philoetius and his cattle and old Laertes.180 Domestic details might be mundane and small objects might be trivial but they are reality and as such deserve attention. Constant aspiration towards fictitious heights results in the importance of 'little' things being overlooked. Expectations that reach beyond what life can possibly give are assuredly unfulfilled.

Behaviour larger than life is purely fiction and Theocritus urges his reader not to believe in or admire the perfect being. The ambiguous nature with which he endows his characters tarnishes their superficial veneer and

178Hom. Od. 8. 523-30. Trans. Richmond Lattimore, The Odyssey of Homer, (New YorkT Harper and Row, 1965) pp. 134-35.

179Id. 16. 1-4.

180Id. 16. 53-57. 86

teaches that magnanimous conduct 1s not desirable. Theocritus' attitude is symptomatic of Alexandrian society, where the poet

. . . had ceased to occupy the clearly defined social and public position of a Tyrtaeus, a Solon, an Aeschylus. The poet's world becomes more inward, self-conscious, self-reflective. Thus he inevitably becomes aware of his ambiguous relation to reality. Indeed, from Euripides on, he is persistently engaged in the task of questioning just what 'reality' is.181

Theocritus' poetic method illustrates the distance between fact and fiction. His verse is in hexameters and he employs a wide range of dialects and styles which may appear simultaneously in one poem or one speech. His poetry is consciously crafted and artificial. Poetic composition for Theocritus is art for art's sake and his adaptation of traditional themes is a feature of his contrived style. He may assimilate the mannerisms of epic into his poetry but not the old values. Theocritus makes his characters simultaneously ancient heroes and modern boors and the humour this elicits rises from the knowlege that the combination is realistically impossible. The novel feature of Theocritus' bucolic poetry is the use of old themes in settings which are totally his own.182

His poetic theory is best illustrated by the description of the cup which

the goatherd gives to Thyrsis in the first poem.183 jne CUp combines

181segal, Poetry and Myth, p. 44.

182ne states in the epilogue of Idyl 1 22 that he bears the songs of the Muses but he also adds to these his "own store" of inspiration (Id. 22. 212-23). ~

183jd. i. 29-61. Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 161-89 discusses the cup extensively in terms of its symbolic significance for Theocritean poetry and links its individual elements to the style and thematics of the Idylls. Particularly notable is the discussion of kissybion. p.167-74. 87

rustic and epic elements in the same way as Theocritus' poems. . The duplicity of its nature is summed up in its description as aipolikon thaema

(Id. 1. 56), a miracle in the eyes of a goatherd. Considerable effort has been made to piece together the physical components of this cup in an attempt to envisage it as an actual object.184 The failure of such attempts reveals the deliberate intention of Theocritus. As separate components of a cup, the material, rim, handles, base and bowl are all

'possible'. As a single structure, the elements combine only in so far as the cup is a literary creation. In the same way, the elements which make up Theocritean characters may be individually credible but, when absorbed into one, they become absurd.

Theocritus' view of himself as poet is defined in the third picture on the cup. It is of a small boy completely absorbed in the task of weaving a tiny grasshopper cage.186 He is so involved in his task that the potential danger of two foxes intending to steal his lunch does not distract him from his task. The whole description emphasizes 'smallness'. The position of the boy is described in relation to the fisherman on the cup as "a little way from" him (tutthon d'hosson apothen 45); he is "a little boy" ( oligos tis koros 47) and a "little child" (paidion 50).186 The small aspects of

184See the discussions of A.M. Dale, "Kissybion", CR 2 (1952): 129-32, A.S.F. Gow, "The Cup in the First Idyll of Theocritus", JHS 33 (1913): 207-22, and Ph. E. Legrand, Etude Sur Theocrite, (Paris: Bibliotheque des Etudes Franchises D'Athenes et de Rome, 1898) p. 223. Legrand offers the most reasonable conclusion, that "l'auteur . . . ne decrivait . . . aucun objet concret, ne se faisait aucune idee precise du skyphos qu'il imaginait."

186For the traditional associations of weaving (plekein) and the creation of poetry, see Pind. 01. 6. 86-7, id. Nem. 7. 77, Baccyl. 19. 8. For the associations of grasshoppers (akrides) see above, p. 79). 88

life are much more significant for Theocritus than are the weighty themes of long epic narrative written by would-be poets of the day who try to emulate Homer. The treatment of theme and character in the Idylls stands in direct opposition to the kind of poetry which the "crowing cocks" would produce — the builders who seek to build their "house as high as the peak of mount Oromedon" (7. 46-48).

186Halperin, Before Pastoral, p. 181. 89

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