Idyll XX

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Idyll XX, also called Βουκολίσκος ('The Young Countryman'), is a bucolic poem doubtfully attributed to the 3rd century BC Greek poet Theocritus.[1] A neatherd, chafing because a city woman disdains him, protests that he is handsome, that Gods have been known to make love to country-folk, and that she deserves no lover at all.[1][2] For grammatical and other reasons, some critics consider this Idyll apocryphal.[3]

A herdsman, who had been contemptuously rejected by Eunica, a girl of the town, protests that he is beautiful, and that Eunica is prouder than Cybele, Selene, and Aphrodite, all of whom loved mortal herdsmen.[3] He calls down upon her the curse of perpetual celibacy.[1]

Analysis

Taunting me, thus she spoke: 'Get thee gone from me! Wouldst thou kiss me, thou—a neatherd?'

This poem is a monologue, but includes dumb characters—the shepherds of line 19.[1] Stylistic considerations belie the tradition which ascribes it to Theocritus.[1][2]

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