Idyll III

Idyll III, also called Κώμος ('The Serenade'), is a bucolic poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus. The poet appears to personate a young goatherd, who after five lines dedicatory to a friend whom he calls Tityrus, serenades his mistress Amaryllis outside her cave. The poem is a monologue, but, like Idyll II, preserves the dialogue-form by means of a dumb character.

Summary

A goatherd, leaving his goats to feed on the hill-side, in the charge of Tityrus, approaches the cavern of Amaryllis, with its veil of ferns and ivy, and attempts to win back the heart of the girl by song. He mingles promises with threats, and repeats in verse the names of the famous lovers of old days, Milanion and Endymion. Failing to move Amaryllis, the goatherd threatens to die where he has thrown himself down, beneath the trees.

Analysis

According to J. M. Edmonds, "The appeal to Amaryllis may be regarded as consisting of three parts each ending with the offer of a gift—apples, garland, a goat—and a fourth part containing a love-song of four stanzas. The reciter would doubtless make a slight pause to mark the rejection of each gift and the failure of the song before the renewal of the cry of despair."

Illustrations

• Flint Theocritus 05Page12 100.jpg

  'Ah, lovely Amaryllis, why no more, as of old, dost thou glance through this cavern after me, nor callest me, thy sweetheart, to thy side'

• Mythological scene with Endymion and Selene sepia (cropped).jpg

  Endymion asleep, watched by Selene; engraved by Cornelis Bloemaert and Theodor Matham after Abraham van Diepenbeeck, c. 1635–8

See also

• Eclogue 2
• Eclogue 8

Sources

Attribution: This article incorporates text from these sources, which is in the public domain.

External links

•  Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Κώμος
• Media related to Idyll III at Wikimedia Commons