Idyll XIX, also titled Κηριοκλέπτης ('The Honey-Stealer'), is a poem doubtfully ascribed to the third-century BC Greek poet Theocritus.[1] Eros complains of the painful stings inflicted by the small bees, and Aphrodite laughingly compares them to the bittersweet darts of love shot by Eros himself.

Analysis

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According to J. M. Edmonds, this little poem probably belongs to a later date than the Bucolic writers, and was brought into the collection merely owing to its resemblance to the Runaway Love of Moschus.[1] The motif is that of a well-known Anacreontic Ode.[2] The idyll has been translated into French by Ronsard.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Edmonds, ed. 1919, p. 233.
  2. ^ a b Lang, ed. 1880, p. 95.

Sources

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

  • Edmonds, J. M., ed. (1919). The Greek Bucolic Poets (3rd ed.). William Heinemann. pp. 233–5.
  • Lang, Andrew, ed. (1880). Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus. London: Macmillan and Co. p. 95.

Further reading

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