"This is a new annotated translation of the Greek poems of Theocritus of Syracuse (first half of the third century B. C. ), the inventor of 'bucolic' or 'pastoral' poetry, the principal model for Virgil in the Eclogues, and hence a major figure in the literary traditions which antiquity bequeathed to Western literature. Although it is the pastoral poems for which he is best known, Theocritus' oeuvre also includes hymns to the gods, brilliant mime depictions of everyday life, and encomia of the great, such as Ptolemy Philadelphus. Theocritus is our best witness to the rich variety of poetic forms which flourished in the Hellenistic age. "--BOOK JACKET.