Albert Curtis Clark

“ In these poems there are constant divergences, and π appears to give the better recension.
There are important Scholia to Theocritus, or rather to that portion of the poems (i.-xvii. and xxix.) which is found in the best MSS. The most valuable of these are those contained by Ambros. 222 (K) . They are composite in character. The Argument to xii. is ascribed to Eratosthenes, a contemporary of Justinian, while reference is frequently made to the views of Munatius, who lived in the time of Herodes Atticus, and Amarantus, a contemporary of Galen. ”

“ Otherwise they differ little from work done by other poets, such as Callimachus and Apollonius Rhodius. The flattery heaped upon Ptolemy is somewhat nauseous. From another point of view, however, these two poems xvi. and xvii. are supremely interesting, since they are the only ones which can be dated. In xvii. Theocritus celebrates the incestuous marriage of Ptolemy Philadelphus with his sister Arsinoë. This marriage is held to have taken place in 277 B.C., and a recently discovered inscription shows that Arsinoë died in 270, in the fifteenth year of her brother’s reign. ”

“ Polyphemus is depicted as in love with the sea-nymph Galatea and finding solace in song: in vi. he is cured of his passion and naively relates how he repulses the overtures now made to him by Galatea. ”

“ A very corrupt poem, only found in one very late MS., was discovered by Ziegler in 1864._ Asthe subject and style very closely resemble that of xxix., it is assigned to Theocritus by recent editors.
IV. The Epigrams do not call for detailed notice. They do not possess any special merit, and their authenticity is often doubtful. It remains to notice the poems which are now generally considered to be spurious. ”

“ It is, however, likely that Theocritus intentionally used realistic language for the sake of dramatic effect, and the MSS. evidence is in favour of the poem. Eustathius quotes from it as the work of Theocritus.
II. Epics.—Three of these are Hymns, viz., xvi., xvii. and xxii. In xvi. the poet praises Hiero II. of Syracuse, in xvii. Ptolemy Philadelphus, and in xxii. the Dioscuri. The other poems are xiii., the story of Hylas and the Nymphs, and xxiv. the youthful Heracles. It cannot be said that Theocritus exhibits signal merit in his Epics. In xiii. ”