ECLOGUE, in poetry, a kind of pastoral composition, wherein shepherds are introduced conversing together.
The word is formed from the Greek ελογος, choice; so that, according to the etymology, eclogue should be no more than a select or choice piece; but custom has determined it to a farther signification, viz. a little elegant composition in a simple, natural style and manner.
Idyllion and eclogue, in their primary intention, are the same thing: thus, the idyllia, ΙΔΥΛΛΙΑ, of Theocritus, are pieces wrote perfectly in the same vein with the eclogæ of Virgil. But custom has made a difference between them, and appropriated the name eclogue, to pieces wherein shepherds are introduced speaking; idyllion, to those wrote like the eclogue, in a simple natural style, but without any shepherds in them.