Theocritus' "Idyll" 14 Stern, Jacob Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1975; 16, 1; ProQuest pg. 51

Theocritus' /dyl/14 
Jacob Stern 

SYMPTOMS OF LovE is the name which Francis Cairns has recently 
given to a genre of ancient poetry, examples of which were first 
collected and discussed by FdixJacoby:1 Callimachus, Ep. 30 and 

43; Catullus 6 and 55; Propertius 1.9; Horace, Odes 1.27; Rufinus, AP 
5.87; Maecius, AP 5.130; Asclepiades, AP 12.135; Theocritus, Idylls 10 
and 14. Instances from drama are found at Menander, Hero 4-39, and, 
possibly, Dyscolus 50-56. The recurring topoi are familiar. A lover dis­
plays certain symptoms (pallor, unkempt hair, thinness, sighing, an 
unsteady gait); he is interrogated by a second speaker as to the cause 
of these symptoms and the identity of his beloved; this interlocutor 
typically mocks the distressed lover and at times may attempt to 
extract a confession from him. The beloved is normally presumed to 
be unworthy of the lover, who sometimes seeks a cure for his distress 
in the advice which the irrisor amoris offers. A symposium is in some 
examples the setting, and the symposiastic custom of toasting the 
beloved is taken by both Jacoby and Cairns2 as a possible origin of the 
genre. 

In Cairns' analysis Theocritus' Idyll 14 affords not one, but two 
typical instances of this genre. In what he calls the • overall example' 
(1-11; 43-70) it is Aeschinas who displays the symptoms (pallor, lean­
ness, unkempt hair) and Thyonichus, the non-lover, who jokingly 
interrogates, extracts the confession of unworthy love, and eventually 
acquiesces in Aeschinas' resolve to find a cure for his love in becoming 
a soldier. In the 'included example' (12-42) there is a reversal of roles: 
it is now Cynisca, Aeschinas' false mistress, who shows the typical 
symptoms of love (blushing, inability to speak); Lycus, the Wolf, who 
is beloved; and Aeschinas who violently scorns, if not all love, at 
least the particular love of Cynisca and Lycus. 

1 F. Cairns, Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry (Edinburgh 1972) 76, 17lf; 
F. Jacoby, "Drei Gedichte des Properz," RhM 69 (1914) 393-413. Cf F. Cairns, "Theocritus 
Idyll 10," Hermes 98 (1970) 38-44. The text used here is Theocritus, ed. A. S. F. Gow (Cam­
bridge 1952), the second volume of which is hereafter dted as Gow. 

• The suggestion appears earlier in P. Troll, De elegiae Romanae origine (Gottingen 1911) 82. 

51 



52 THEOCRITUS' IDYLL 14 

We may rely on Cairns' analysis that in structural terms this idyll 
is a recognizable genre-piece. Elements of diction confirm the im­
pression: Aeschinas' 'trouble' is a 11-lA'Y'JP-a (2) ;3 he is AE1TT6c (3), wears 
KlKwvo£ (4), and presumably resembles the JJxp&c Pythagorist (6).4 In 
the diction of the sermo amatorius Cynisca' s 'insult' is iJ{3ptc (9) ;5 her 
passion for the rival Lycus is fiery (K~</>MyeT' 23; KaTe</>pvyeTo 26), im­
plicitly exemplified by the usual tokens (/1-&Aa 38),6 and pictured in an 
appropriate setting (vvKTdC avcpKTCX£ 47). Aeschinas himself is to find 
the cure (<f>ap/1-aKov 52) for this unfortunate love and return healthy 
(vyn]c 54).7 Yet the full sense in which these traditional elements of 
structure and language are presented has not been appreciated by the 
critics. The intention is not simply to string together recognizable 
topoi, but more precisely to demonstrate the hollowness and super­
ficiality of these conventions by counter-balancing each with an un­
expected reality. In many ways the poem's overall technique is the 
same as that found in Idyll23, where, as Copley has shown,8 there is a 
pattern of making violently literal and exposing as ugly the quaint 
conventions of the paraclausithyron. A comparable, and more humor­
ous, counterpointing of convention and reality can also be found in 
Idylls 3 and 11. Yet it is unclear whether, like the Cyclops of Idyll11,9 

Aeschinas in Idyll14 ever appreciates the difference between the super­
ficial convention and the reality of his situation. Nonetheless, we shall 
see that such self-awareness is at least urged upon him by his 
comrade, Thyonichus. 

3 As noted by schol. ad loc., Scholia in Theocritum vetera, ed. C. Wendel (Stuttgarc 1914), the 
amatory sense is not inevitable; Gow, ad loc., suggests that the sense of 'darling' "fits the 
case." Cf, however, G.]. de Vries, "Theocritea," Mnemosyne 20 (1967) 436. 

'For leanness and pallor see, e.g., Alcaeus 347.5; Callim. Ep. 30.3, 46.5; Theoc. 1.37f, 
2.89f, 10.57, 11.69; AP 5.242.1, 259.4; and further Sex. Propertii Elegiarum Liber I, ed. P. ]. 
Enk (Leiden 1946) ad 1.1.22. 

6 See K. Preston, Studies in the Diction of the Sermo Amatoriils in Roman Comedy (Chicago 
1916) 58f. 

11 The precise meaning of line 38 is much vexed and many emendations have been 
offered: see J. Sitzler, Bursians]ahresb. 133 (1907) 277; 178 (1919) 128; and Gow ad loc. But at 
least the erotic topos in p.a).a can hardly be doubted; see, e.g., Theoc. 5.88, 6.6, 11.10; Rufinus, 
AP 5.60, 62; Plato, AP 5.79, 80; and in general B. 0. Foster, "Notes on the Symbolism of the 
Apple in Classical Antiquity," HSCP 10 (1899) 39-55, esp. 48, where line 38 is rendered: 
"These tears of thine are flowing as love-tokens for him." Cf schol. ad loc. 

7 A commonplace metaphor; see, e.g., Theoc. 11.15; Callim. Ep. 43.1, 46.4f; Maecius, 
AP 5.130.4; Hor. Carm. 1.27.22. 

8 F. 0. Copley, "The Suicide-Paraclausithyron," TAPA 71 (1940) 52-61. 
11 See E. Holtsmark, "Poetry as Self-Enlightenment: Theocritus 11," TAPA 97 (1966) 

253-59. 



JACOB STERN 53 

We may begin with a simple example: the unkempt hair of the 
lover is a recurrent topos, an obvious indication of the lover.10 Aes­
chinas follows the convention: he wears p:vcra~ rroAvc ( 4); his hair is 
aiJcTa.Atol K[K£JIVO£ (4). His beloved, SO he presumes, does not even 
know of these tokens: for all she knows 8pq.KteT£ KiKapp..at ( 46); I 
might have a gauche 'crew-cut' instead of the locks of the lover.11 

Even one of Aeschinas' endless proverbs is in this pattern: he is only 'a 
hair away from madness', Bp~~ ava p.€ccov (9). A conventional topos is 
thus clearly established, but in the last lines of the idyll ( 68-70) 
Thyonichus will emphatically indicate the oncoming reality: 

am) KpOTcXcPWV 7T€AOJ-I.EC8a 
1 \1 \) \' I fl 

rraVTEC YYJPCI.I\£Ot, Kal E1T£CX£PW EC yevvv eprrEL 
\ I < I I\€VKCJ.LVWV 0 XPOVOC. 

The impersonal form of expression in these lines leaves in doubt 
whether we are to presume that Aeschinas himself is in fact already 
turning gray; but even if we do not, the simple picture of a love-lock 
threatened by advancing whiteness provides an instance in which 
convention is contrasted with reality. At one point, to be sure, 
Aeschinas himself indicates at least a partial self-awareness when he 
states p.&Tav Elc avSpa y£v£Lwv (28). Yet this remark refers only to the 
fact that he had failed to note that Cynisca was in love with someone 
else. Awareness of the more critical reality pointed out by Thyonichus 
he never does demonstrate. 

A second instance of such counterpointing in the idyll involves an 
extensive pattern which has to do with food, eating and hunger. The 
belief of Jacoby and Cairns that the origin of this genre may be in the 
conventions of the symposium has already been indicated: cf Horace, 
Odes 1.27; Callimachus, Ep. 43; Asclepiades, AP 12.135.12 In Theocritus' 

1° Emphasis on the lover's hair (whether disheveled, adorned or cut off) is frequent: Anac. 
(Page, PMG) 2; Eur. Cyc. 501; Ar. Eccl. 955; Men. Pk.; Callim. Ep. 30.3; Maecius, AP 5.130.1; 
Meleager, AP 5.175.2; Theoc. 1.34, 2.89, 5.91, 11.10. That the lover's lock turns gray, as 
in the present poem, is also common: Anac. 13.6; Theoc. 30.13; Philodemus, AP 5.112. 

11 "I might have shaved my head ... for all she knows." This meaning, suggested 
secondly by Gow ad loc., and implied, although through a misunderstanding, by schol., 
seems preferable. 

12 For comparable settings see Alciphron 4.8, 11; Luc. DMeretr. 15. The connection of 
wine and love is common: e.g. Callim. Ep. 42.3; Theoc. 2.151f; Rufinus, AP 5.12; Marcus 
Argentarius, AP 5.110; Meleager, AP 5.136, 137; Hedylus, AP 5.199. It is well noted by 
T. Rosenmeyer, The Green Cabinet (Berkeley 1969) 141, that the detailed description of a 
meal in 14.14-17 has no parallel in the bucolic idylls; it is a 'grosser occupation' excluded 
from the pastoral setting. 



54 THEOCRITUS' IDYLL 14 

Idyll14 we find an even fuller description of this conventional feast 
than in the other examples. The critical element, wine, is present, and 
with it the expected toasting of the beloved. In addition, there are 
found on the menu chickens, pig, onions and snails. These foods are 
presumed to represent Theocritus' effort to translate into rustic terms 
the finer delicacies of an urban feast ;13 the latter two, in particular, 
like the traditional wine, are aphrodisiacs and thus also part of the 
generic convention. a The consuming of onions, snails and wine is 
thus meant to indicate a fullness, a feast oflove. Yet as they partake of 
these traditional aphrodisiacs, the unexpected reality emerges: not a 
consummation of love for Aeschinas, but the love of Cynisca for 
Lycus and the violent stupidity of Aeschinas himself. When truth is 
forced upon it, the feast of love proves hollow, and in this case even 
Aeschinas seems to have gained some awareness: rr]vcp 'T£~ 8&Kpva; 
p.ii'Aa p£1wTw (38).15 This remark of Aeschinas, which is sarcastically 
couched within the pattern of foods acting as love-tokens, indicates 
his momentary realization that the topoi are empty when the reality 
is patently different. 

Yet the lesson is short-lived for Aeschinas. The love-feast of the past 
proved useless, so now in the present he plays yet another traditional 
role; he becomes the emaciated, hungry lover: Tav.,.' ll.pa A£1T'Toc (3).16 

Yet just as the reality of whiteness behind his love-lock was pointed 
out to Aeschinas by Thyonichus, the man of reality, so too the truth 
about his 'thinness' is indicated by the joking Thyonichus: his emacia­
tion is as artificial as that of an ascetic who longs for a delicacy, o1TTw 
a'A£vpw (7)P 

A third instance of Aeschinas' shallowness is found in his habit of 
speaking in proverbs and animal fables. It is not, as were the two 
previous examples, a convention of the genre, but instead an idio­
syncrasy of Aeschinas himself. It is clear that Aeschinas does habitually 

11 See Ph.-B. Legrand, Etude sur Thiocrite (Paris 1898) 137, and Cairns, cp.cit. (supra n.1) 
173. The technique of transference from urban to rustic setting is familiar from Idyll3 (see 
Gow64). 

14 Athen. 2.63B, 64A,B; for fJo>.{Joc cf. Ar. Eccl. 1092, and in general Gow ad loc. We may 
reject the ingenious justification for reading KoAxac by 0. Immisch, "Zu Theokrits K yniska," 
RhM 76 (1927) 344. 

u As is acknowledged in n.6, the text ofline 38 is in doubt; I am here accepting the read­
ing which Gow presents. 

14 See n.4; at opposite extremes are Phaedra, Bur. Hipp. 136f, and Catullus 6.13. Cf. also 
among longing animals Id. 4.15-16,20. 

17 See Gow ad 1«. 



JACOB STERN 55 

speak in proverbs and fables, apparently believing that in them the 
truth can be discovered: he is 'a hair's breadth' from madness (8p~~ 
&va p,eccov 9); like the 'wretched Megarians' (Svcnlvot Meyapfj£c 49); 
his mistress Cynisca flees the brawl like a swift xeAtSciw (39); or a 'bull 

h d ' ( 1' I (} \ I , cc "R ' ~ , , <1\ , 43) h to t e woo s atvoc 7JV 1u:ye'Tat 'TLC e~a 'TT'OKa Tavpoc av vl\av ; e 
himself, in his inability to fall out of love, is like a 'mouse in pitch' 
(p,vc ... yevp,e8a 'TT'tccac 51).18 So consistent is this manner of thinking 
in Aeschinas that he is apparently the last person at the symposium 
to appreciate the idyll's main joke. When he hears ov cp8ey~fj; AvKov 
etSec; (22), it sounds, presumably, like merely another fable;19 indeed, 
he admits that he had heard it before and had not bothered to in­
vestigate (27). That there was a reality behind this fable, that Lycus 
was a man, not a wolf, he had perceived only after the jest was re­
peated; even the fact that Wolf's father has a canine name, Labes,20 

had not helped Aeschinas to immediate awareness. 
Whereas in the case of Lycus the human reality is hidden behind 

the animal fable, in the case of Cynisca it is the other way round. To 
Aeschinas she is still xaptecca (8); but the double-entendre of her name 
is as obvious as with Lycus, son of Labes: Cynisca is Lycus' bitch.21 

The relationship of human to animal in Idyll 14 is not unlike what 
Lawall has demonstrated in Idyll 4. 22 Whereas in Idyll 4 animals show 
human emotions, in Idyll 14 humans are identified as animals. The 

18 A. Griffiths, "Notes on the Text of Theocritus," CQ 22 (1972) 103-06, discovers a 
further 'proverb' in line 26, where, following a hint in the marginalia of the Antinoe 
papyrus (Pack2 1487), he would read: Toth-w Tov IO.vpiv£wv i<f>pttyf.To rijvov JpwTa.a he's 
the one that roasting, Clymenus-like passion was for" (106). The reference will now be to 

the mythological Clymenus, "the very archetype of the mortal cherishing, and struggling 
... to resist and conceal, a forbidden passion" (105). It is clear that such a 'proverb' would 
not be of a kind with the others found in the speech of Aeschinas, and, far from demon­
strating his 'shallowness', would be the sole instance of such an "out-of-the-way reference" 
(106) in his narrative. On the other hand, no one could deny that Theocritus is capable of 
such an allusion. I can only indicate that I find the emendation improbable, and that, if it is 
accepted, it would be but a single counter-example to the generally simple quality of 
Aeschinas' speech. 

11 "According to a well known superstition if a wolf saw a man before the man saw the 
wolf, the man became dumb." The Idylls ofTheocritus, ed. R. J. Cholmeley (London 1901) 
288; nonetheless, his assertion is unnecessary that the words .\vKov .,~H must be a state­
ment, not a question; see Gow ad loc. 

2o Cf. Ar. Vesp. 895f. 

n Cf Ar. Ran. 1360; juxtaposed to 'Lycus', the name can hardly fail to call to mind KVwll; 

as Gow notes ad 21 she is an £Talpa. See further Herodas, the Mimes and Fragments, ed. 
W. Headlam and A. D. Knox (Cambridge 1922) ad 4.20: K6vva. ovop.a 11'opvqc (Hsch.). 

II G. Lawall, Theocritus' Coan Pastorals (Washington 1967) 43-47. 



56 THEOCRITUS' IDYLL 14 

irony is that apparently the last person to appreciate the truth about 
Wolf and his Bitch is the very one whose language is superficially 
permeated with proverbial references to swallows, bulls and mice. 
The central, humorous episode of the idyll thus once again demon­
strates the overriding theme: behind the superficial way of speaking 
is a reality not immediately perceived by Aeschinas. 

But if the simple proverb and rustic fable are typical of Aeschinas' 
narrative style, in two instances his language becomes more expan­
sively metaphoric. Cynisca, he says, suddenly breaks into tears (32-33): 

() --\ , ... \ ' 
at~.£pWT£pov 7J rrapa p.aTp£ 

() , •t: \ ,, , () , 
rrap £VOC €<;,a€T7JC KOI\1TW €1TL VfL7JCaca. 

And later, after she has been struck by Aeschinas, she flies off more 
quickly than a swallow (39-40): 

f 1:' A f • ,J..f \ 1:' f 
1-'acTaKa ootca T£KVOLCLV vrrwpooyLOLct X£1\LOWV 
",(, \ I {31 "\\ >I a'f'oppov Taxwa 1T£T£TaL Lov af\1\0V ay£Lp£LV. 

We note in these two metaphors, placed only six lines apart, a simi­
larity of theme: the relationship of mothers to helpless children. In 
the former lines these are human; in the latter, animal: initially, the 
metaphors thus give a further illustration of the interchangeability of 
human and animal which has already been found typical of the 
idyll. Yet it must be remembered that the narrator here is not only 
Theocritus but also Aeschinas: to complain, as Legrand does,23 that 
the second metaphor "detonne etrangement" and lacks "vraisem­
blance" is to miss the point. More accurate is the perception of R. W. 
Garson that Theocritus frequently uses metaphors as characterizing 
devices: "Their very inappropriateness contributes to his gently 
humorous sketches of rustics. "24 For Aeschinas the fanciful inappro­
priateness of the lines is particularly suitable. On the surface, in fact, 
the metaphors are successful: she wept like a child, fled more swiftly 
than a bird. It is in the extraneous details that the 'inappropriateness' 
appears. The reader is led, almost helplessly, to draw out the para­
digm: absurdly Cynisca becomes a six-year-old rrap(Uvoc or a mother 
swallow busily bringing food to her nestlings beneath the eaves. At 
the climax of his narrative Aeschinas is making an effort to create 
lyrical grandeur, but he succeeds only in creating artificiality. The 

2a Legrand, up.cit. (supra n.13) 138. 
21 "Formal Aspt:cts of Theocritean Comparisons," CP 68 (1973) 58; he is speaking of a 

number of passages, not including the lines at hand. 



JACOB STERN 57 

over-wrought metaphors show an unnaturalness in expression which 
is comparable to the unnatural role Aeschinas had played as the lean, 
love-locked lover. 

One final topos appears in the idyll: Aeschinas decides to seek the 
cure for his helpless love by sailing away and enlisting in a foreign 
army. Examples of this motif, the journey as a cure for love, are also 
fairly common.25 Within the idyll itself Aeschinas' own friend Simus 
provides a conventional precedent; he too had traveled away from 
home and had, says Aeschinas, returned ccured' of his love. Of Simus 
we learn that his unfortunate passion had been for a girl whom 
Aeschinas refers to as Tae £m({rrro-)xaAKw (53): the adjective may well 
imply one whose surface conceals a base interior.26 The nickname 
here, like the name CLycus', becomes thus an epitome of the idyll's 
main theme: the superficial exterior is belied by the reality behind it. 
But Simus had returned cured, and now at the end of the narrative, 
with Aeschinas' suggestion of travel and enlistment, there is a hint that 
in his case too a clearer sense of reality is beginning to assert itself. 
The soldier Aeschinas proposes to become is an <average' man, 
admittedly not outstanding in any way: ovT£ KaKteroe I ovn 1rparoe 

~ewe, dfLa,\dc 8€ rte 6 crpanwrac (55[). 
Yet whatever sense of self-awareness this line might contain is 

clouded by the conventional nature of the proposed journey itself; 
and it is to this point that Thyonichus addresses himself. He accepts 
Aeschinas' suggestion but at the same time imposes on the topos a 
particular and somewhat unexpected reality. It must not be simply a 
journey to escape an unfortunate love-affair but specifically an enlist­
ment in the army of Ptolemy Philadelphus, whom Thyonichus then 
proceeds briefly to portray. Lines 61-64 of the idyll have not, in fact, 
been adequately understood by critics. To some this final portrait of 

25 Cf Prop. 1.1.29, 3.2l.lf; Ov. Rem.Am. 213f; Archias, AP 5.59; Alciphron 4.11 (Tov a8.\,ov 
xAa,u60£0V apmXcaV'Ta KCCL 1dATT]V oixtEc8at CTpaT€VCOfL€VOV). In Plut. Amat. 7598 T6?rov J.I.€Ta{3o.\.fJ 
is mentioned along with other accepted cures of love. An inverse of the topos appears at 
Men. Sam. 283f: love forbids a pretended journey. 

26 The suggestion of schol. ad loc. that the adjective means 'shield' (apparently based on 
Sophron) is rightly rejected by Immisch, op.cit. (supra n.l4) 338, and others. Those who 
read bnx&>.Kw explain variously: G. Vollgraff, "Theocritea," Mnemosyne 47 (1919) 353 
("immitis et inexorabilis"); L. Radermacher, "€-rrlxaAKoc," RhM 88 {1939) 188f ("quadran­
taria ... die J1rl xaAK~ zu haben ist"); Gow ad loc. ("brazen nature"). But tJ1Tox&.>..Kw in the 
sense of 'base coin' seems preferable; see Immisch, above: "oben gleissendes Gold und 
darunter Kupfer." The marginalia of the Antinoe papyrus at least confirms the similarity 
to Cynisca: At. 1TOpVT)c. 



58 THEOCRITUS' IDYLL 14 

Ptolemy is merely an undramatic digression :27 how could Theocritus 
so completely forget the 'chagrin' of Aeschinas? To others it is 
apparently the encomium of Ptolemy which represents the poet's 
main purpose. 2s 

But to understand the role of this eulogy of Ptolemy within rather 
than without the rest of the idyll we must appreciate the consistency 
of method. With this final topos, precisely as with the others discussed 
here, first we are offered, through the example of Si~us and the 
suggestion of Aeschinas, the conventional motif: set out on a journey 
to escape an unfortunate love. But then through the voice ofThyoni­
chus, who throughout has revealed the truth behind the affectation,29 

a specific reality is imposed: not any journey, but particularly to 
Ptolemy in Egypt. The poem fails to return to the theme of Aeschinas' 
love precisely because, having exposed the artificiality of that • chagrin', 
Theocritus desires to leave us in the world of reality: with Thyonichus 
and Ptolemy we have left role-playing behind. To stress this point 
Theocritus has chosen to portray a real man, rather than a character 
of mime, at the end of the idyll. The particulars of the portrait con­
firm the interpretation: Ptolemy, we are told, is epwTtK6c (61), but 
with exactly that ability to discriminate which Aeschinas lacked: 
£l8wc Tov c/>t'Mov-ra., Tov ov c/>t'MovT' en JLCi>.Aov (62). So too Ptolemy will 
give when asked; however, a.lTeiv 8€ 8ei ovK bri ?TavTt (64). Moderation 
and the ability to distinguish truth from false show-these are what, 
by his portrayal of Ptolemy, Thyonichus recommends for Aeschinas. 

THE CITY COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK 

September, 1974 

27 E.g. Legrand, op.cit. (supra n.13) 139; cf. Bucoliques Grecs I, ed. Ph. E. Legrand (Paris 
1953) 108: "les vers 61-64 forment ... une sone de parenthese; l'auteur y parle pour son 
propre compte"; M. Sanchez-Wildberger, Theokrit-Interpretationen (ZUrich 1955) 36: 
" ... a us seiner anonymen Rolle zu fallen scheint." 

zs E.g. Vollgraff, op.cit. (supra n.26) 347: "Theocritus autem hoc carmen scripsit, ut 
stipendia Ptolemaei commendaret"; Lawall, op.cit. (supra n.22) 122: "a new purpose: 
flattery of Ptolemy." A. Korte, Hellenistic Poetry, trans. J. Hammer and M. Hadas (New 
York 1929) 310, notes that the "effectiveness is enhanced because the speech is put into the 
mouth of a simple man." The critical attempt to see a masquerade by identifying Thyoni­
chus with Theocritus is rightly rejected by A. Couat, Alexandrian Poetry under the First 
Three Ptolemies, trans. J. Loeb (London 1931) 41; a similar view of references to Ptolemy in 
Herodas 1 is rejected by the most recent editor: Herodas, Mimiambi, ed. I. C. Cunningham 
(Oxford 1971) 57. 

21 " ••• the contrast between the sad and deferential melancholy of Aischinas ... and the 
lively banter of Thyonichus" is indicated by R. M. Ogilvie, "Theocritus, Idyll 14.1.2," 
RBPhil 41 (1963) 110.