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Title: Theocritus

Author: Theocritus

Release Date: March 10, 2004 [EBook #11533]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THEOCRITUS

_TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE_.

BY

C.S. CALVERLEY,

_LATE FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE_.

AUTHOR OF "FLY LEAVES," ETC.

THIRD EDITION.




PREFACE.

I had intended translating all or nearly all these Idylls into blank
verse, as the natural equivalent of Greek or of Latin hexameters; only
deviating into rhyme where occasion seemed to demand it. But I found
that other metres had their special advantages: the fourteen-syllable
line in particular has that, among others, of containing about the same
number of syllables as an ordinary line of Theocritus. And there is also
no doubt something gained by variety.

Several recent writers on the subject have laid down that every
translation of Greek poetry, especially bucolic poetry, must be in rhyme
of some sort. But they have seldom stated, and it is hard to see, why.
There is no rhyme in the original, and _prima facie_ should be none in
the translation. Professor Blackie has, it is true, pointed out the
"assonances, alliterations, and rhymes," which are found in more or less
abundance in Ionic Greek.[A] These may of course be purely accidental,
like the hexameters in Livy or the blank-verse lines in Mr. Dickens's
prose: but accidental or not (it may be said) they are there, and ought
to be recognised. May we not then recognise them by introducing similar
assonances, etc., here and there into the English vers

Julia Pardoe (December 4, 1806 - November 26, 1862), was an English poet, novelist, historian and traveller. She was born at Beverley, Yorkshire, and showed an early interest in literature. She became a prolific and versatile writer, producing in addition to her lively and well-written novels many books on travel, and others dealing with historical subjects. She was a keen observer, and her Oriental travels gave her an accurate and deep knowledge of the peoples and manners of the East.

James Lane Allen (December 21, 1849 February 18, 1925) was an American novelist and short story writer whose work, including the novel A Kentucky Cardinal, often depicted the culture and dialects of his native Kentucky. His work is characteristic of the late-19th century local color era, when writers sought to capture the vernacular in their fiction. Allen has been described as Kentuckys first important novelist.

Theocritus (Greek ), the creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, flourished in the 3rd century BC. Little is known of him beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems (Idylls) commonly attributed to him have little claim to authenticity. It is clear that at a very early date two collections were made, one of which included a number of doubtful poems and formed a corpus of bucolic poetry, while the other was confined to those works which were considered to be by Theocritus himself. He was probably from Sicily, as he refers to Polyphemus, the cyclops in the Odyssey, as his countryman. He also probably lived in Alexandria for a while, where he wrote about everyday life, notably Pharmakeutria. It is also speculated that Theocritus was born in Syracuse, lived on the island, Kos, and lived in Egypt during the time of Ptolemy II.