Page:The Greek bucolic poets (1912).djvu/15

Rh writes “As Aratus says in the ﬁrst of his Charites,” ἐν Χαρίτων πρώτῃ. Whether Theocritus’ little book contained any of the extant poems we cannot say. It very possibly contained the Cyclops and the Beloved, and from the title it may be judged to have comprised no more than three pieces. One biographical point should be noted here; Theocritus was newly come to Syracuse. We gather from the Charites that Hiero was by no means the first great man to whom Theocritus had gone for patronage, and it is to be remarked that the poet ascribes the indifference with which he had hitherto been received, not to the disturbed state of the country, but to the commercial spirit of the age. There were no doubt other possible patrons than Hiero in Sicily, but peace and tranquillity had not been known there for many years. The same argument may be used to show that his sojourn in Magna Graecia was not during the decade preceding the publication of the Charites. The poem apparently failed like its predecessors; for Theocritus, like his own Aeschinas, was fain to go overseas and seek his fortune at Alexandria.

The voyage to Egypt lay by way of the southern Aegean, and we are credibly informed that he now spent some time at Cos. He doubtless had many old friends to see. It was probably on this voyage that he wrote the Distaff, to accompany the gift he was taking from Syracuse to the wife of his old friend Rh