CHAPTER IV.

THE ECLOGUES. I. The Eclogues examined in the order of their 130-152 composition Character of the Eclogues indicated by expressions 130 used in them Order and time of their composition 131 Imitative character of the second and third 132 The fifth founded on the death and apotheosis of 137 Julius Caesar Purely Theocritean character of the seventh 138 The first and ninth Eclogues 139 Elements of interest in the sixth 143 The ‘Pollio’ 144 Questions discussed in connexion with that poem 146 The eighth and tenth Eclogues 148 II. Relation of the Eclogues to the Greek Pastoral 152-160 Theocritean origin of Virgil’s Eclogues 152 Primitive pastoral poem among the Greeks 154 The ‘woes of Daphnis’ 155 The love of the Cyclops for Galatea 156 Origin of the pastoral dialogue 157 Artistic form given to these primitive elements by 157 Theocritus Difference between the pastoral life of Sicily and 159 rural life of Italy III. Truth of feeling in the Eclogues 161-173 Inferiority of the Eclogues in truth and vividness of 161 representation Allusive personal references in the Eclogues 161 Mythological and geographical allusions 162 The sentiment of Nature in the Eclogues 164 The love of home and of the land 165 The passion of love 167 Style and rhythm of the Eclogues 168 Their Italian character 172