THEOCRITUS, the most famous of all the pastoral
poets, was the son of Praxagoras and Philine. He was a na-
tive of Syracuse, and flourished about 272 years before the
Christian era.1 The younger Hiero, king of Syracuse, is
celebrated in his verses; but he appears to have found
a more liberal patron in Ptolemy Philadelphus, who at-
tracted him to the Egyptian court, and of whom he speaks
in terms of high commendation. Of his personal history,
we possess no further memorials on which we can place
much reliance. The pastorals of Theocritus, which have
furnished models to all succeeding poets, are remarkable for
their simplicity, very frequently elegant, but sometimes ap-
proaching to rudeness. They are written in the Doric dia-
lect, which is peculiarly adapted for such compositions.
Thirty idylls bear his name, but it has been doubted whether
they were all produced by the same poet. To him are like-
wise ascribed twenty-two epigrams; and the authorship of
one or two fantastic productions he disputes with Simmius.
The first edition of Theocritus, containing only eighteen
idylls, issued from Milan, along with the "Opera et Dies"
of Hesiod. It is a folio volume, without date, but is sup-
posed to have been printed in 1493. The edition of Aldus
appeared in 1495, that of Junta in 1515; and the earliest
edition accompanied with the scholia, at Rome in 1516.
The best of the old editions is that of Daniel Heinsius, Ex
bibliopoli Commeliniano, 1604, 4to. Beside the notes of
the editor, it includes those of Joseph Scaliger and Isaac
Casaubon. Among the more remarkable editions, we must
not overlook that of Reiske, Lipsiae, 1765-6, 2 tom. 4to. He
was speedily followed by a more elegant, though not a more
learned editor, Thomas Warton, Oxon. 1770, 2 tom. 4to.
The preface is elegantly written, and the annotations dis-
play a more than ordinary degree of refined taste, but this
splendid edition is not without its defects. One of these
is the inconvenient arrangement of the Greek scholia, nor
is the rejection of the accents to be commended. A valu-
able edition of Theocritus, including likewise Bion and
Moschus, was published by Valckenaer, Lugd. Bat. 1779,
8vo. The editions of Harles, Jacobs, Dahl, Schäfer, Hein-
dorf, and Wüstemann, have each their share of merit. The
poems of Theocritus are inserted in the first volume of
Brunck's "Anlecta veterum Poetarum Græcorum," and
in the second volume of Gaisford's "Poete Minores Græci."
Oxon. 1816-20, 4 tom. 8vo. The scholia are to be found
in the fourth volume. Of the idylls of this poet, English
translations were published by Thomas Creech in 1681, by
Francis Fawkes in 1767, by Richard Polwhele in 1786,
and by M. J. Chapman in 1836. Polwhele has likewise
translated the epigrams of Theocritus.