Page:A History of Ancient Greek Literature.djvu/409

 PASTORAL POETRY 385 represent, perhaps, in their serious and gentle idealism, the highest level reached by that species of emotion. It is one of these (Id. xxix.) that formulates the oft-repeated sentiment about the place of love or deep friendship in life : " A single nest built in a single tree, Where no wild crawling thing shall ever climbs The appeals to Hiero and Ptolemy are as good as such appeals are entitled to be ; and the little epics, reminding one in form of the expanded Eoiai, are never without passages of exquisite charm and freshness in the midst of a certain general frigidity. The two occasional poems, one describing a country walk in Cos upon a day of fruit-gathering, the other accompanying a present of a distaff to the wife of the poet's friend, Nikias, are not only gems in themselves, but leave the fragrance of a lovable character behind them. The other bucolic poets, BiON and MOSCHUS, are confessed imitators of Theocritus. Bion was a younger contemporary of his model, and probably wrote his Dirge of Adonis for the particular festival referred to in the AdoniazilscB. The Dirge is a magnificent piece of work in its way ; florid, unreal, monotonous, almost oriental in its passionate and extravagant imagery, it exactly suits the subject for which it was composed. There is very likely no genuine emotion whatever at the back of it ; but it carries the imagination by storm, and was calculated to leave such persons as Gorgo and Praxithea in floods of tears. Moschus represents him- self as a pupil of Bion ; and is said to have been a friend of Aristarchus, though his style suggests the product of a later time. It is as ornate as that of a Silver-Age