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Aspects of Theocritean Otium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2014

Harriet Edquist
Harriet Edquist*
Affiliation:
Monash University
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Extract

The nature of Theocritean otium (hasychia) is not a new topic in the general field of Theocritean studies; sooner or later those critics who wish to come to terms with the poetic intent of the major Greek bucolic poet will have to arrive at some definition of the precise significance of that movement towards peace, harmony, and spiritual and intellectual fulfilment which provides the overriding impetus in pastoral. Rosenmeyer has done much, possibly more than most, towards a complete description of this ideal (yet enigmatic) state, and he is right, I think, to stress not only the centrality of otium to the bucolic Idylls (‘Otium is a keyword in the discussion of the pastoral’), but the unmistakable Epicurean bias of the work. This affinity with certain fundamental goals of Epicureanism suggests that one is to regard otium as signifying a considerable amount more than that which can be deduced merely from the sum of its physical parts — shade, peace, music, sex. These aspects of existence are undoubtedly present in the poems, but ultimately they tend towards a definition of a more abstracted state, one which touches not simply pastores, Daphnis, and Lycidas, but the lot of man in general.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ramus , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , 1975 , pp. 101 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Aureal Publications 1975

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References

1. The upsurge of interest in Theocritean pastoral that has been evident for the last decade or so is best characterized by the work of Gow, A. S. F., Theocritus (Cambridge 1965Google Scholar); Rosenmeyer, T. G., The Green Cabinet. Theocritus and the European Pastoral Lyric (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1969Google Scholar); and Lawall, G., Theocritus’ Coan Pastorals. A Poetry Book (Washington D.C. 1967Google Scholar). Numerous articles have also appeared which testify to the substantial, and warranted, interest in this genre of poetry.

2. Rosenmeyer (n.l above) 673.

3. Virgil’s use of the word is spare, but specific; see Eclogue 1.6 and 5.61.

4. Rosenmeyer (n.l above) 81.

5. For discussion of the circumstances of Daphnis’ situation, which Theocritus seems to have left deliberately obscure, see, for instance, Ogilvie, R. M., ‘The song of Thyrsis’, JHS 82 (1962), 106–110CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Williams, F. J., ‘Theocritus Idyll i 81–91’, JHS 89 (1969), 121–123CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Segal, C., ‘“Since Daphnis Dies”: The meaning of Theocritus’ First Idyll’, Museum Helveticum 31 (1974), 1–22Google Scholar.

6. Contrast with Segal, C., ‘Simaetha and the Iynx (Theocritus, Idyll II)’, Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica 15 (1973), 43Google Scholar, who says: ‘Her farewell to Selene may even suggest the coming of dawn … and with the dawn lucidity, calm, mastery of passion’.

7. Rosenmeyer (n.1 above) 44 rather perversely insists: ‘It is the poem rather than the poet that conjures up the spirit of Epicurus.’

8. Cf. Rosenmeyer (n.1 above) 81, ‘[Love] is rejected because of what it does to the senses, to the sensibilities, and to the judgement.’

9. The sweetness-motif is noticed by Lawall (n.1 above) 18, and Segal (n.5 above) 6, who demonstrates much of its significance.

10. Cf. Segal (n.5 above) 3: ‘The concentrated weaving of the “beautiful” … cage for the grasshopper is a palpable symbol for poetry.’

11. The significance of the goatherd’s anonymity was suggested to me by Mr A. J. Boyle of Monash University.

12. Segal also notes some of the antitheses by which the poem operates, particularly that between the herdsmen and Daphnis (n.5 above) 15.

13. The connexion between Demeter and the notion of discrimination was suggested to me by Mr A. J. Boyle of Monash University.

14. The ‘real’ identity and function of Lycidas have always been absorbing topics for commentators. Gow (n.1 above), vol. 2, 9–10, summarises much of the controversy well. Lawall (n.1 above) 79ff. goes into the matter in some detail.

15. The symbolic nature of the festival is discussed in detail by Lawall (n.l above) 108ff., who sees it as a summation of Theocritus’ achievement in the first seven Idylls.