Theocritus Idyll V.

This idyll presents the highly fraught conversation of two shepherds; a goatherd named Comatas, and a young shepherd named Lacon.

Upon sight of one another, the two shepherds begin accusing the other of the petty theft of Lacon’s pipe and Comatas’s skin-coat.  The bitterly enriched dialogue is evident as Comatas blames Lacon’s ‘foul envious hands’ [12] and eyes for his current nakedness. This feuding dialogue leads to a contest of song, presented by each character in alternate couplets, and largely on the theme of love. This attempt at resolution demonstrates the importance of song and music as a Pastoral convention, relying upon it to prove oneself, in addition to resolving disputes with one another.

Following the initial accusations of theft, the two character’s appear to boast and advertise their spot of land near the river Crathis, evident as Lacon encourages Comatas that ‘[he]’ll sing better sitting under the wild olive and this coppice [as] there’s cool water falling yonder, and grass and a greenbed’ [31-32]. Lacon continues to provoke Comatas, encouraging him to ‘hither, come thou hither, and thou shalt sing thy country-song for the last time’ [44]. After disputing the location for the ‘match o’ country-song’ [60], the two characters disagree once again as they attempt to select an appropriate judge. As the song contest commences, the two shepherds continue to compete against one another, boasting in the love that has been bestowed upon them by ‘The Muses’ [80] and Apollo. The importance of nature’s role in pastoral love is demonstrated as Lacon describes a damsel’s interest and attraction to his solitary kid, as opposed to him as the ‘damsel sees and the damsel says ‘Poor lad, dost milk alone?’’ [85]. Similarly, Comatas describes the attractiveness of Clearist flinging apples, presenting images of a pastoral setting and rural life, not of conventional romance.

Morson halts the singing contest as he concludes that Comatas has won and encourages him to reward this decision with ‘a well-laden platter’ [139]. The images of love and the pastoral presented throughout the singing contest are juxtaposed rather suddenly with extreme violence as Comatas recalls the Melanthius [145]; the goatherd mutilated by Odysseus and Telemachus, whilst also threatening to ‘break every bone’ [144] in the goat’s body he has been awarded with. Such violence, however, demonstrates the circular continuity of life and the natural world, through death, sacrifice and re-birth.

Hollie Redman