The Eclogues

Another of the Eclogues’ shepherds, Corydon, laments his love for a young slave, Alexis. In “shreds of song” (Line 5), he addresses the absent Alexis as he tracks him in the heat of day. Reminding Alexis that his youthful beauty will soon fade, Corydon lists the many gifts he could provide should the two become lovers (Lines 16-23). Corydon has many cattle and sheep and is good-looking to boot; he knows this because he recently saw his reflection in seawater (Lines 26-27).

Corydon imagines life with Alexis in his humble cottage: Alexis could shepherd flocks in the meadow with him and learn how to play the pan flute (first taught to mankind by the wild woodland god, Pan) (Lines 29-36). Corydon’s own flute was a gift from another shepherd, Damoetas; Corydon highlights that his rival, Amyntas, was envious of it. Corydon catalogues the many flowers that the nymphs gathered for Alexis (Lines 45-50).

Still, Alexis scorns Corydon’s gifts. A miserable Corydon neglected his duties in pursuit of love, allowing his plants to wither and wild boars to access his springs (Lines 59-61). He rhetorically asks Alexis why he flees when “Gods too have lived in the woods […] Let Pallas Athene dwell / inside the citadels she builds.