THEOCRITUS

_TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE_.

BY

C.S. CALVERLEY,

_LATE FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE_.

AUTHOR OF "FLY LEAVES," ETC.

THIRD EDITION.




PREFACE.

I had intended translating all or nearly all these Idylls into blank
verse, as the natural equivalent of Greek or of Latin hexameters; only
deviating into rhyme where occasion seemed to demand it. But I found
that other metres had their special advantages: the fourteen-syllable
line in particular has that, among others, of containing about the same
number of syllables as an ordinary line of Theocritus. And there is also
no doubt something gained by variety.

Several recent writers on the subject have laid down that every
translation of Greek poetry, especially bucolic poetry, must be in rhyme
of some sort. But they have seldom stated, and it is hard to see, why.