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Theocritus, Idyll i 81–91

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

F. J. Williams
F. J. Williams
Affiliation:
The University, Southampton
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Extract

A few years ago R. M. Ogilvie argued against the widely-held view that Theocritus in Idyll i represents the cowherd Daphnis as another Hippolytus, martyred in the cause of Chastity. Nevertheless the view he attacked has been revived in a recent study of Theocritus' pastorals:

‘The chaste Daphnis … died rather than submit to Aphrodite … Both Hippolytus and Daphnis are chaste and wish to preserve their purity at all costs, even that of death … Both heroes are deeply committed to chastity … Daphnis … a true tragic hero, resists all temptation and so pines away to his death.

Type
Notes
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 89 , November 1969 , pp. 121 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1969

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References

1 Ogilvie, R. M., ‘The Song of Thyrsis’ in JHS lxxxii (1962) 106–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Lawall, G., Theocritus' Coan Pastorals (1967) 18–27.Google Scholar Lawall's basic thesis is that ‘there are no “clues”; the poet states all that must be stated … The composition is highly sophisticated, but it is nowhere deliberately obscure or cryptic’ (26–7). Nevertheless, he chooses to interpret the poem by reference to a completely different work, Euripides' Hippolytus; cf. 19: ‘It is Aphrodite who brings about the downfall of both heroes: of Hippolytus through the passion of Phaedra, and of Daphnis in a similar but somewhat elusively presented manner, through the passion of the unnamed maiden.’ (My italics.)

3 I take ἀπ' ὤρεος (77) as ‘from the alp’ (cf. Id. iii 2, 46; iv 35; vii 51) and not, as Ogilvie has it, ‘from a hill which is a prominent feature of the landscape’—a sense which would surely require the definite article.

4 On the significance of the third set of questions, see the stimulating article of Lanowski, G., ‘La Passion de Daphnis’ in Eos xlii 1 (1947) 185–6 and n. 17.Google Scholar

5 Cf. Galatea's taunt to Polyphemus, Id. vi 7. Goatherds in pastoral poetry are normally repre sented as homosexuals at best, often as pederasts or worse; only in the ironical piece Theoc. Id. iii is a goatherd heterosexual. For discussion (and statistics) see van Groningen, B. A., ‘Quelques problèmes de la poésie bucolique grecque’ in Mnemosyne n.s. xi (1958) 313 ff.Google Scholar

6 The recurrence of the word at 91 and at Id. vii 75 may suggest that Theocritus is glancing at the versions of the legend in which Daphnis underwent metamorphosis into a spring, or was assimilated into the waters of his Naiad mistress.

7 E.g., Gow, and Page, , Hellenistic Epigrams 2158 (Leonidas), 3696.Google ScholarEuripides, , Hippolytus 193Google Scholar is not very helpful, though Barrett's discussion is useful.

8 The examples are all taken from Gow, LSJ, and Barrett ad Eur. Hipp. 193.

9 So Gow ad loc., and, apparently, Lawall (22).

10 Similarly in Id. vi 7 Galatea rebukes the shepherd Polyphemus for not yielding to her invitation: he must either be taken up with some unrealistic passion (δύσερως), or else he is homosexual (αἰπόλος); 8–9 explain the situation: cf. Polyphemus' reply, especially 26.

11 Dancing (χορεύειν) is the Nymphs' characteristic activity: cf. the nymphs who lure Hylas to his watery grave, Id. xiii 43, and Hom. Hymn xix 3, 19; Ap. Rhodius i 1223 ff. See also Lawson, J. C., Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1910) 130–62Google Scholar on nymphs in general and in particular on the complications and perils which attend love between men and nymphs.

If we were to suppose that Daphnis' nymph was named, appropriately, Xenea, any apparent inconsistency between the present passage and Id. vii 73 would be removed.

12 Ogilvie (108) argued that the word κώρα did not determine the status of the girl, since T. uses the word indiscriminately of nymphs and human girls; but surely the point is that here ἁ κώρα is clearly contrasted with ταὶ παρθένοι. In Id. xi Polyphemus calls Galatea κόρα (25, 30; cf. 60, 77), but in that poem both Galatea and Polyphemus are, as it were, ‘de-mythologised’; and at Id. xvi 1 and xvii 36 κούρη means no more or less than ‘daughter’.

13 T. clearly implies that Daphnis died by drown ing, as Ogilvie saw, but there are also suggestions of wrestling with Eros (97–8) and even an ambiguous hint of blinding (91 τάκεαι ὀφθαλμώς). Lacon's oath (Id. v 20)

suggests that the details of Daphnis' sufferings were well known.

14 Cf. Séchan, L., ‘Les Magiciennes et l'amour chez Théocrite’ in Annales de la faculté des lettres et sciences humaines d'Aix (Série classique) xxix (1965) 67–100.Google Scholar

15 I regret that Schmidt, E. A.'s discussion of the Daphnis problem, ‘Die Leiden des verliebten Daphnis’ in Hermes xcvi (1968) 539–552Google Scholar, appeared after my own note had gone to press.