著者

小川 正広

出版者

日本西洋古典学会

雑誌

西洋古典学研究 (ISSN:04479114)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.31, pp.66-81, 1983

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<p>Whether in terms of external or internal criteria, the Sixth Eclogue has been regarded as a poem which owes least to the Theocritean pastoral. This general opinion, however, seems to be inconsistent with the introductry statement in which the poet decides to return to his early manner of bucolic composition. The use of Hesiodic Dichterweihe, which may follow Callimachean example in Aetia, recalls also the application of the same idea to the Seventh Idyll by Theocritus. So this paper attempts to find another principle of unity in the frequent appearance of the.motif of labor and to show in this thematic adaptation from Id. VII Virgil's deep understanding of an important aspect of the Greek pastoral tradition. The Eclogue can be divided into three sections. In the main part, the Song of Silenus, the labor-motii is presented in various types of myth. The opening cosgomonical passage, emphasizing the autonomic movements of the elements in contrast with a similar account in Ovid's Met. I. 5 ff., represents the existence of labor at the origins of the world, while the Pyrrha-episode and the theft of Prometheus mark respectively, with a happy age (Saturnia vegnd) intermediate between them, the beginning and the aggravation of human struggle with nature. In the next stories, where the passions of love are depicted as cause of labores, the realistic description of Pasiphae's painful wandering is enclosed by brief allusions to the sufferings of Hercules and the suitor of Atalanta. The following two sketches can be also paired as failure and success of labor: Phaethon falls to the ground in his dangerous attempt but Gallus ascends on the top of Helicon after a bitter trial as love poet. Lastly, Silenus pictures Scylla and Philomela enduring through adversity even after their transformations into animals. Thus interpreted, the Song will be closely related with the framework. In the introduction, where Virgil talks about his poetics, stress is laid on the special effort to be spent to make a fine work(ludere-deductum dicere carmen-meditabor), and that this artistic labor should not be disjoined from the poet's own painful experiences is suggested by the scene in which Silenus passes a symbolic bondage. These two aspects of poetic creation, recapitulated and integrated by a phrase Phoebo meditante in the ending lines, explain the reason not only for the stylistic refinement but also for the thematic selection of Silenus' Song. Now, this interpretation will invite comparison with Id. VII. Structural affinities and topical resemblances are observed as in the following: (1) The relation between poetic creation and ponos, hinted at first by the opening mention of Burina and Chalcon, finds its full expression in the words of Lycidas : το μελυδριον εζεπονασα. And this locution, with a preceding phrase βουκολικα&b.sigmav;……αρζωμεθ' αοιδα&b.sigmav;, corresponds to agrestem tenui meditabor harundine Musam in Eel.VI. (2) But Lycidas is not thinking of his ponos solely from the artistic point of view, because the first part of his song is clearly concerned with his personal experience of ponos. The deliverance from this predicament, as in the case of Silenus, makes it an essential condition for the second subject of his poem. (3) Mythical ponoi which are narrated in this part (αμφεπονειτο : Daphnis, εζεπονασα&b.sigmav; : Comatas) reflect the former situation of Lycidas himself and remind us of various stories sung by Silenus. In the song of Simichidas, too, the bitterness of love is expressed in the form of fantastic and real trials. (4) The ending description of Thalysia, in which the close connection between bucolic poetry and ponos is symbolically summarized, fulfils the function analogous to the conclusion of Eel. VI. Despite Rosenmeyer's view, recent critics tend to estimate the importance of the ponos-motif in 'Theocritus' larger</p><p>(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)</p>