Eclogue 8

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Engraving of Pastoral 8: Dryden's Virgil, 1709

Eclogue 8 (Ecloga VIII; Bucolica VIII) is a pastoral poem by the Latin poet Virgil. It is supposed to have been written in BC 39, and is inscribed to Pollio, whose military exploits are alluded to in verses 6–13.

Summary

This poem, imitated from Theocritus, consists of two parts, sung in rivalry by the shepherds Damon and Alphesiboeus, whom the poet represents himself to have overheard. The first part tells the sorrows of a shepherd at the loss of his love (Idyll III). The last tells the magic arts employed by a maiden skilled in sorcery to win back the love of the inconstant Daphnis (Idyll II): hence the title sometimes given to it of Pharmaceutria ('The Sorceress'). It is an amoebaeic poem addressed to Pollio on the occasion of his victory over the Parthini, an Illyrian people on the borders of Dalmatia, in 39 BC.

Sources

Attribution: This article incorporates text from these sources, which is in the public domain.