Theocritus of the third century BCE, born at Syracuse, travelled widely in the Greek world. Having studied poetry at Cos with poet and critic Philitas, he composed poetry under patronage, chiefly perhaps at Syracuse and Cos; and then went to Alexandria in Egypt, whose King Ptolemy II (died 246 BCE), pupil of Philitas, befriended him. Here (and at Cos?) he spent the rest of his life. Most lovable of Greek versemakers, Theocritus was the founder of bucolic or pastoral poetry. Of his so-called Idylls, 'Little forms' or pieces (not all are genuine), ten are about pastoral life real or idealised; several are small epics (three are hymns); two are beautiful 'occasional' poems (one about a country walk, one to accompany a gift of a distaff for the wife of his friend Nicias); six are love-poems; several are mimes, striking pictures of common life; and three are specially expressive of his own feelings. The 24 'Epigrams' were apparently inscribed on works of art.
 Moschus of Syracuse, 2nd century BCE, came next. As a grammarian he wrote a (lost) work on Rhodian dialect. Though he was classed as bucolic, his extant poetry (mainly 'Runaway Love' and the story of 'Europa') is not really pastoral, the 'Lament for Bion' not being Moschus's work.
 'Megara' may be by Theocritus; but 'The Dead Adonis' is much later.
 Bion of Phlossa near Smyrna lived in Sicily, probably late 2nd and early 1st century BCE. Most of the extant poems are not really bucolic, but 'Lament for Adonis' is floridly brilliant.
 The so-called Pattern-Poems, included in the bucolic tradition, are found also in the Greek Anthology.

Greek Bucolic Poets: Theocritus. Bion. Moschus (Loeb Classical Library No. 28)

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Excerpt from An Introduction to Comparative Philology for Classical StudentsIn preparing pupils for Classical Scholarships I had long felt the want of a book on Comparative Philology adapted to their attainments, and now in compiling this little Introduction I have tried to supply it. In aiming at simplicity I have felt bound sometimes to sacrifice completeness and omit details; but I hope that what I have said will be found correct as far as it goes. The theory of the Long Sonants I have left alone. I have given more space to the Consonants than to the Vowels. English, especially the History of English, I have treated with some neglect. When it is remembered that the ordinary Sixth-Form boy knows little of Phonetics and nothing of Old English, the reason of these and other inconsistencies will, I hope, be clear. In smaller matters, such as the division of words by hyphens and the marking of quantities, I have sacrificed consistency to clearness. In the case of forms only presumed to have existed, I have omitted to denote this by an asterisk, and have preferred, for instance, fiifinfiev to m6mnmen as the supposed original of fieMafiev. Confusion with English spelling I have tried to avoid by enclosing phonetic spelling, where necessary, in round brackets, and by various expedients such as printing, jp for the usual th, ph, and using wand yfor y, and i.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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